“T-yan here won’t tell his new girlfriend he’s in a band.” Arnaud leaned back into his chair, flipping his gaze between Luka and Jaewon from where he sat at the head of the table. He’d dyed his hair back to black with only a small section of the former blond framing his face. “He’s doing aHannah Montana.”
“Uh—”
“Best of both worlds?” Arnaud’s eyes went wide and he seemed dangerously close to bursting into song before Reno held a hand up to stop him.
Jaewon threatened Arnaud with a fork. “Don’t, or I stick this in your hand.”
“At least let the wine get here before you flirt with me.” Arnaud shuffled back into his seat and crossed his arms, and when Reno glanced at Luka, he seemed completely out of his depth.
Luka closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at Reno, giving him an adorably helpless expression before Luka flipped open the menu and browsed through it.
“Hear me out; I have a plan," Jaewon said, setting the fork down and pointing his long finger at Arnaud instead. “I’m taking her to dinner next week, on a real date.”
“Oh yeah?” Sebastian thanked the waitress for the wine, then said they needed a few more minutes to decide. When she wasgone again and out of the private room, he asked, “You gonna tell her she has to be your new partner because your old one dipped out on you and Maxine is a perfect match to fill in?”
“That's theLizzie McGuiremovie," Arnaud interrupted. “You’re getting your Disney Channel movies mixed up.”
“You’re the one who made us watch them.” Sebastian poured himself a glass, then offered it to Luka, who agreed, looking at least happy to be seated between Sebastian and Reno and not between whatever was going on with Jaewon and Arnaud. “I’d rather go back to watching the Barbie movies.”
Reno leaned over to tell Luka, “It gets really boring on the road.”
Luka shook his head. “How does she not know who you are?”
“She doesn’t listen to metal, or really get on the internet, or pay attention to much outside of school and the neighborhood," Jaewon said, a bit sheepishly. “I should have told her when I first bumped into her in my building, but I got all tongue-tied.”
Sebastian raised his glass. “She is stunning.”
“And smart," Arnaud said, nodding. “Much too smart for you.”
Luka turned his head to whisper in Reno’s ear and it sent chills down Reno’s spine.
“Will you order for me? I don’t know what any of this is other than the plantains.”
“I will get you a plate of plantains then,” Reno joked, and Luka scowled at him. “Of course I’ll order for you. Pass me the white wine?”
“Hey!" Jaewon waved at them. “I’m explaining my master plan.”
Luka turned his focus back to Jaewon. “Sorry. How rude of me. Do go ahead,” he said, making Arnaud snort.
Luka poured Reno a glass of wine while Jaewon launched into a speech.
“So first," Jaewon started, flinging his long, straight hair away from his face and over the back of the chair. “I will take her to dinner. I will wear a suit and bring a rose, and I will ask her to be my girlfriend.”
“You haven’t even asked her to be your girlfriend?” Sebastian raised an eyebrow.
“Cállate?1.” Jaewon flipped Sebastian off, earning himself a laugh from everyone. “I can’t ask a girl to bemygirl if she doesn’t know who I am. I’ll wine and dine her, and after I ask her to be my girlfriend, I’m going to stop her and tell her that before she can actually answer me, she needs to see something.”
“Let me guess, you’ll show her one of our music videos?” Reno had his arms crossed over his chest, taking in the ridiculousness of the situation. When he peeked at Luka, he looked similarly entertained.
“No, I'll show her my Instagram.” Jaewon’s eyes flicked up as the waitress returned to take their orders. She went around the table, then politely excused herself as quickly as she could. It was one of the reasons they liked coming here—the service was quiet and discreet, and they never minded opening up the back room for them—and the food was good enough for Sebastian not to complain. “Anyone can pull up a YouTube video, but only I can log into my Instagram.”
“That's fair," Reno relented. “When is this?”
“Next week.”
“Good. This has gone on long enough. Get it out of the way before we have to leave again.” Reno pointed an accusing finger at his friend, who had the audacity to roll his eyes.
Reno ignored the scoff and the response of: “We don’t leave for months…” from Jaewon before Arnaud turned his attention to Luka.
