The small crowd inside the Bean Stream could be seen clearly through the window. I didn’t know exactly how this would play out, but I thought I’d better tag along.
Alexis got wind of it and insisted on joining us, which only made me feel more uneasy.
Robbo, a freshman on the team, was playing at the café’s open mic night, which was held once a month on a Thursday. And judging from the snickers and jeers coming from the guys behind me, we weren’t here for moral support.
I didn’t get coffee here often, but Robbo was a decent kid, and maybe I could help lessen the blow somehow.
Alexis linked her arm through mine the second we walked inside. The little bell’s tinkle was faint underneath the sound of someone adjusting an amp on the tiny makeshift stage.
“Oh, free table over there.” Alexis grinned and tugged my arm until we were seated on some purple and gold stools near the door to the store room on the left side of the stage.
The guys filled the remaining seats around us and the booth behind, Ed hollering the second Robbo peeked his head outside the store room where he must have been warming up. “Come on, rock star!”
Laughter ensued, and I flagged a passing waitress to ask for a coffee. Alexis shook her head when I asked if she wanted anything.
Under the guise of stretching, I pulled my arm from hers, then let my eyes roam over the small yet charming cafe. It kind of reminded me of the one we had back home—just with way more young adults and way less elderly reading the town paper and eating scones.
I sipped my coffee when it arrived, Alexis nudging her toe up the leg of my jeans as we waited for Robbo to come out.
I didn’t know whether I should be worried or relieved about the lack of activity in my pants.
My thoughts tugged back and forth between being here and wondering what I’d be doing if I were someplace else. With someone else.
The past week had almost driven me out of my own head. I was so sick of this game of tug-of-war. Awake or asleep, I only saw brown eyes surrounded by a head full of unruly golden hair. All I could think about was her touch on my hand, her lips on mine—and felt like the worst son of a bitch for something I was helpless to control.
My dick decided to harden, and I coughed, shifting my leg away from Alexis and feeling even worse.
A young girl playing a ukulele took a small bow to a short, clipped applause and vacated the stage, heading into the store room as Robbo finally moved onto the stage.
“Hey,” he said, resting his guitar against his leg as he adjusted the mic stand and pulled the stool closer. “So, ah, this is my first time.”
“Whoo, you naughty boy!” Ed called out.
“Yeah, at least let us buy you a drink first!” Callum hooted.
More laughter followed, and Robbo ducked his head. I knew he was trying to laugh it off, and if he was nervous, he didn’t show it. “What I was going to say, before I was rudely interrupted, is that this is my first time playing here in Gray Springs.” He sat down and positioned his guitar. “So try to go easy on me.”
“I’ll go easy on you, baby!” Burrows called out before he promptly shut the fuck up when Robbo flipped his hair from his forehead and proceeded to floor us with a voice that seemed to come out of nowhere and everywhere.
Dude could sing like nothing I’d ever heard live, which admittedly wasn’t much, but still. He kept his gaze focused down as he played a cover from the Rolling Stones.
“You guys are dickheads. He doesn’t even suck,” Callum said, getting up from his seat on the stool near Alexis right before Robbo’s time ended.
“Shut up, Welsh.” Burrows stuck a straw in his mouth and chomped down on it.
“Yeah, how were we supposed to know he was any good?” Paul laughed.
Callum just shook his head, checking his phone before tucking it back into his pocket. “Whatever, I’m out.”
“What? Dude, the guy’s a serious chick magnet.” Ed gestured to the girls sitting on the other side of the stage. “Look.”
Alexis scoffed, crossing her leg over the other and snapping her gum.
Callum’s gaze shifted from the girls to the door as someone walked in. Not just someone.
Daisy.
His posture morphed until he seemed to stand two feet taller. “Maybe I’ll hang around a bit longer.”
My hand tensed around my mug, and I vaguely remembered that I should be mindful of the woman sitting next to me, but I couldn’t remove my eyes from Daisy or stop every synapsis in my body from firing into hyperdrive as I watched Callum stalk over toward the counter where she was ordering.
It was almost eight at night, and I just knew she was ordering a hot chocolate.
“Sweet. We’re gonna get Grellerson to grab us some beers after,” Burrows said to Callum’s back.
“Say it a little louder, dickwad. I just love getting pulled over by campus security and having them steal all our shit,” Paul grumbled.
Daisy looked over at the stage after ordering, her eyes widening a fraction when they met mine. She was wearing some kind of green sweater dress with small pom-poms on it. Her hair was tossed into a beautiful mess on top of her head, and her cheeks were slightly pink. My dick jolted at the same time my heart pounded heavily.
“Hey,” Alexis said, her fingers grabbing my chin to turn me to face her.
Judging by the cheering, Robbo’s time slot had come to an end. The girls standing near the stage and a few other patrons hooted and hollered for more.
Robbo’s shy voice came through the microphone as I tried to wipe my features clean. “Thanks, guys. Ah, yeah. I guess I can do one more.”
“What’s up? Wanna go?” I asked Alexis when she just continued to stare. Hanging out in coffee shops wasn’t really my thing, and I’d usually be cool with bailing. Plus, Robbo was doing just fine. But now, well, the muscles in my neck strained as I tried to keep myself from turning my head back to the reason my heart was using my stomach as a trampoline.
Alexis’s blue eyes searched mine some more, or more like scrutinized. “No, I was going to ask if you wanted something else.” She gestured to my coffee, her lip disappearing behind her teeth. “But maybe we should go.”
Trying to keep my tone neutral, I picked up my mug. “Nah, I’m good to hang out a bit longer.”
“Okay, then dance with me.”
I almost spat out my coffee. “What?”
She laughed a little, standing up. “Come on.”
Robbo’s voice crooned another Stones song through the cafe, “Wild Horses” this time, making the hairs on the back of my neck and arms rise.
I stood warily, glancing around. The guys had fists in their mouths as they watched Alexis grab my hand and drag me to the front of the stage where only a few girls were swaying side by side.
“Lex …”
“Shush, just put your hands on me and hold me.” She grabbed my hands, situating them on her hips before wrapping her arms around my neck.
And just like that, I was taken back to my fifteenth birthday, one of the only times I willingly danced. That fact had everything to do with the woman I could feel burning holes into my back with her eyes. My head spun, and my hands felt clammy. I felt like I was betraying her in some way.
We swayed side to side, Alexis leaning her head on my chest as the guys’ laughter and catcalls subsided.
Eventually, we turned enough for me to catch sight of Callum tucking a stray piece of Daisy’s hair behind her ear as they stood by the side of the counter.
When she lifted her head, our eyes connecting again, my breath froze in my lungs at the brief sight of her pain.
Callum said something, and she smiled; a small laugh I couldn’t hear, but would give anything to, left her mouth as she looked back up at him.
My hands clenched around Alexis’s hips, and I barely stopped myself from squeezing them out of frustration. But not before I heard a little moan leave her mouth. Shit.
And still, my gaze remained stuck. Daisy was holding her takeout cup with both hands; those eyes still on Callum even though I knew she was aware of me more than anything else in the small shop.
He just had to look at her, and I wanted to walk over there and tip her damn drink over his fucking head. When he continued to find ways to touch her and make her smile, I wanted to tear his head from his shoulders and use it at practice for the next week.
While I kept her locked in my room where no one else could touch her.
I shook myself out of my violent thoughts. Thoughts that should alarm the hell out of me but felt justified right now; that is, until Alexis looked up at me, batting her lashes.
I couldn’t do this. At that moment, it hit me like a brick to the forehead. I suddenly had no idea why I hadn’t done anything about this messed-up situation already. But when I opened my mouth to say so, Alexis rose onto her toes and tilted my head down to slip her tongue inside it.
Looking over her shoulder before I pulled away, I saw Daisy and Callum walk outside and vanish down the lamp-lit street.
The song ended, Robbo’s voice fading into the quiet chatter that started after another round of raucous applause.
Alexis asked, “Wanna get out of here?” Her teeth nipped at my chin, but my brain was still trying to figure out where Daisy might be and why she’d left with Callum. “It’s been a while, Quinn.”
I cleared my throat. “Lex, I think I … I don’t even know.” I felt flustered, too hot.
Her confused frown had me looking away and more guilt swimming throughout my veins. I walked back over to our table where I finished off my coffee, the guys all getting up to pester Robbo outside the store room.
Alexis followed. “Seriously? This is bullshit.”
“What? You wanted to come here with us.”
“I thought it’d be fun. We need fun, Quinn. But I thought we’d gotten past this already.”
Trying to control my breathing, I put the mug down, staring at her with narrowed eyes. “Past what?”
She rolled her eyes, throwing her arm out to where Daisy had been standing just minutes before. “Daisy. You turn into some kind of zombie whenever you’ve seen her or she’s mentioned.”
I didn’t know what I was supposed to say. I decided to try the truth, my shoulders slumping with relief at maybe setting some of this right-side up again. I’d been hanging upside down for too damn long.
I loved Alexis, but this wasn’t fair. It wasn’t the kind of love she deserved. Not when I’d loved someone else since before I even knew what the word meant. “Lex, maybe we should talk about this someplace else.”
She stared at me for another long moment, then her eyes flickered and she picked up her purse. “You know what? I need to call Tina. I told her I’d maybe stop by afterward.”
No. I needed to finally tell her what’d happened, what I’d done, and shook my head. “Wait, but you said …”
“She just broke up with her high school boyfriend and is taking it really hard, okay?” She looped her purse strap over her shoulder and grabbed my chin to lay a quick kiss on my lips. “Love you.”
She walked away, but I wasn’t ready to let this go. I thought she wanted me to be honest. “Lex, wait,” I said, skirting clusters of students as I jogged to the door. “You were right the other day. I think we—”
She held up a hand, a forced smile on her face as she opened the door. “Call me tomorrow. We’ll hang out again, maybe catch a movie and some dinner.”
She didn’t wait for an answer as the door shut behind her, the little bell jangling like a gong inside my head.
I threw my hands into my hair, stepping out of the way for someone to walk inside.
My gut sank, the remnants of coffee souring on my tongue.