He wished he and Skyler were spending this break together. Some time alone without all the band chaos would have been good for them.
Instead, here Trevor was, walking into Poison, his favorite coffee shop in downtown L.A., and feeling miserable about it. He scanned the crowded shop, realizing he didn’t know what Sierra looked like. He was pretty sure Maggie had sent him a picture, but he hadn’t bothered to look at it. It didn’t matter what he thought of her—she was his girlfriend regardless.
A girl stood up from her seat and waved at him. Becauseduh. She knew whathelooked like. He made his way over and greeted her with a smile and a hug as if he knew her. Once they sat down, he took a better look at her. She was pretty, he could admit that, with brown eyes, and straight, light brown hair that hung halfway down her back. And she was dressed casually, a gray cardigan over a tight black shirt, and jeans with sandals.
But she wasn’t Skyler.
Spying the array of books and notebooks spread out on the table, he remembered being told Sierra was in college. She already had a coffee in front of her too.
“I would’ve gotten your drink for you,” he said grudgingly.
She shrugged and took a small sip. “It’s fine. I got here early and figured I could use the caffeine to help me get through my Stats assignment.”
“Are you a math major?”
“Oh god, no,” she said with a grimace. “Hospitality management. I want to be an event planner. Weddings, corporate functions, all of it. The only thing that sucks is you do need some math skills, which is not my strong suit.”
“Got it,” he said. He told her he was going to grab something for himself and went to stand in the short line. As he waited, he reminded himself to be nice to her. If she hadn’t agreed to do this, some other girl would have.
And she seemed pleasant enough. Which was good, because if she was awful, it would make everything ten times worse. But an irrational voice in the back of his head told him he shouldn’t like her, that it would be disloyal to Skyler.
When he sat back down with her, he tried his best to make small talk, hoping it looked a lot more natural than it felt. He’d already caught a girl in the corner of the shop stealing glances at them, and he needed to sell this or he’d be in even more trouble.
Eventually, though, Sierra broke an uncomfortable silence by asking, “Do you mind if I study for a while?” And when he raised an eyebrow, she added, “Is that weird? Sorry, but I need to get this done.”
It was a little weird, probably, but then again, this whole thing was weird, so he didn’t care. “Go for it,” he told her. “I’ll keep myself entertained.”
She gave him a small, grateful smile and then paid him no more attention. Trevor took out his phone to check his Twitter mentions, and replied to a few fans. Then he started texting with Skyler, but he made sure to reach out and touch Sierra’s free hand occasionally so that it didn’t look like they were completely indifferent to each other. Each time, she looked up and smiled knowingly, not moving her hand away until she needed it.
And honestly, this wasn’t too bad. If dating Sierra required such little effort from him, he could make it work.
Skyler was going tomurder him. Murder him and dump his body in the river. Trevor was pretty sure he’d seen a river on the way to the hotel.
He’d fulfilled his fake boyfriend duties over break by going on two additional outings with Sierra after the coffee shop. Now all he wanted to dowas reunite with Skyler at the next stop of their tour. But Skyler was going to murder him.
A rapid knocking on the hotel door simultaneously cut through and amped up his stress. He sent a worried glance over his shoulder, then braced himself before going to let his boyfriend in.
Skyler didn’t even let him pull the door fully open before he flung himself into Trevor’s arms. “Hi! Holy shit, I missed you, let’s never do that again, okay?”
“Okay,” Trevor agreed, holding him tightly and rubbing a hand down his back.
Skyler walked him backward, not letting go, until they were standing in the main area of the suite. Trevor could tell the exact moment he saw who was sitting on the bed, because he sucked in a quick breath and his arms dropped away from Trevor’s waist, leaving Trevor feeling instantly cold even though the temperature in the room was perfect.
“What the hell?” Skyler’s head whipped back and forth between Trevor and Sierra a couple times before he fixed his narrowed eyes on Trevor. “What is this? Why—”
“I should have told you,” Trevor said, holding up his hands in a placating gesture as he cut him off. “But I didn’t find out until the last minute that she was flying out here with me.”
“And she’sstaying? In ourroom?”
“I’m so sorry. I know this is nuts, but I made sure they got us adjoining rooms, so we’ll sleep in yours, okay? It’s going to be fine, baby, I promise.”
Skyler stepped away from him. “Don’t call me that. Not in front of your girlfriend.”
Trevor sighed. He knew this would go over badly. “Please don’t be upset. You know this wasn’t my idea, and it’s not what I want. But we’ll figure out how to make it work, okay? I won’t let it get between us. Sierra’s only here because she was told to be, and it’s awkward for her too. So can you try to calm down and meet her, and then we’ll go into the other room and talk more? Please?”
He watched as Skyler’s anger slowly deflated. And now he just looked hurt, which was worse. Trevor would rather Skyler be angry than see his face like this, but he didn’t want him yelling in front of Sierra.
“Come on,” he urged. Taking Skyler’s hand, he gently tugged him over to the bed. Where Sierra had clearly heard everything, though she was doing her best, nose buried in a textbook, to pretend she hadn’t.
