Authors: Breigh Forstner
“So what should we do about the next video?” Luke asked as we were enjoying the sights of the people running in and out of the coffee shop.
“I’m totally down for the one that Bryn wrote,” Tyler suggested.
“‘Straight from the Heart’?”
“Yeah why not? It’s heavier than ‘You Were Young’ music wise, but we don’t want the next single to be just like the first, am I right?” Tyler looked over at me, as if he was challenging me to fight his opinion. I usually did.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Luke replied. “We should get the cameras and record it ourselves, or get a hold of Richard Marx again and do like a live video.”
“Hell yeah, this is perfect.” Vince rubbed his hands together. Then he turned to me. “What do you think, Pelton?”
“Sounds fine to me. Let’s talk to B after they get back from shopping and get it figured out. We could shoot it at one of the shows next week if we plan it right,” I replied, and I was already getting anxious for next week. I knew Bryn would freak out knowing the song
she
had written would be the next single and music video. Actually she’d probably tell me to shut up and that it wasn’t true. Or start picking apart the lyrics and complain about them.
Regardless, it was going to happen and it was going to be fucking brilliant.
***
“I can’t believe we just heard that!” Gina shouted as we exited the store, about a dozen bags of clothes, boots and hats between the three of us. “That bitch has nerve…”
“It’s okay,” I said as calmly as I could. Psh, who was I thinking? I was pissed. Beyond. I had just overheard my now enemy saying that she was going to try to seduce Cale tonight. I replayed the conversation over and over in my head as we headed back to meet up with the guys since Cale texted me to let us know they had been spotted at the coffee shop.
“What do you think of this outfit?” Bethany asked me as she did a spin in front of the gigantic mirror we had in our dressing room. She had on a pink and white plaid button down shirt, a pink cami underneath, light blue jeans with holes in the knees and shiny matching pink cowgirl boots. “I feel like I could go live on a farm now.”
“You look beautiful as always. But of course I’m supposed to say that!” I giggled, taking a look in the mirror at my outfit similar to her and Gina’s. My green plaid button down t-shirt blended in nicely with my green eyes, and I had managed to find a pair of all black boots with green streaks on them, completing my outfit that I was dead set on wearing tonight. We continued spinning around and cracking jokes at each other until I heard a familiar laugh coming from another dressing room.
We instantly grew quiet.
“You really need to chill, Kallie. She or her friends haven’t done a damn thing to you.” I recognized the other voice as her sister Krystal. The three of us looked from one to the other and stood as close to the closed curtain as we could, trying not to blow our cover.
“She’s weak and pathetic, sis. Seriously, why are you taking her side? Cale will dump her ass so fast it’ll make her head spin. It’s just a matter of time, and he’ll get tired of her good girl act…”
“That bitch,” Gina spat, and immediately covered her mouth. My stomach was churning. Was this girl really that relentless in trying to win
my
boyfriend?
“Move onto someone else, Kallie, and don’t try to steal other girls’ boyfriends,” Krystal scolded. I knew I liked this girl for a reason!
“Single or not, he’s who I want so nothing is going to stand in my path. You of all people know how that goes. I just need a piece of dirt on her to expose to the world and her little career with Everlasting will be history and BOOM! Cale won’t have a choice but to end up with me…”
I rolled my eyes. She was way too desperate.
“That doesn’t even make any sense!” Krystal shouted. “Just please, though. Promise me at least until the tour is done that you leave Bryn and her friends alone. I like them and I hate having tension on the road.”
“Oh, sister you are so naive sometimes, I swear,” Kallie groaned. “But I’m buying this outfit. Let’s get out of here and go practice with the boys or something to take my mind of this shit.”
“I’m sorry, Bryn, but she had no right to even try to stake her claim. It just makes her look like a home wrecker,” Bethany growled in frustration. The Everlasting tour bus now just down the block and in our sight.
Thank goodness.
“Someone just needs to slap the shit out of her and be done with it.”
I just shook my head and tried not to let Kallie’s words get to me. I still had no idea why she was out to get me or why she despised everything about me, but I wasn’t going to let it affect my performance. Get through the next few weeks and I hopefully would never have to deal with her again. I knew if I were to strike back that the tension at the shows would be too thick and it wasn’t fair to put everyone through it.
“I’ll do it without a problem,” Gina blurted out as she was texting. “Hate’s a strong word and I usually don’t like to say it. But I really
hate
Kallie Cooper.”
“Alright, alright!” I tried to deter the conversation. “So Bethany, how was last night?”
Bethany’s face flushed red from embarrassment. “Were we
that
loud?”
Both Gina and I nodded. “Uh yeah, I was ready to walk in and dump some water on you. I’m pretty sure the whole damn bus heard you guys.”
“I’m sorry,” she pleaded, but I knew she wasn’t really sorry.
“Sooo are you two official yet?” I winked and she shrugged as we crossed the road.
“I don’t know,” she replied honestly. “He’s the only guy I’ve ever been with so I mean, I’d like to
hope
we’re official.”
My mouth dropped in surprise. “Wait…you told me you were with someone out in LA…”
“I chickened out.” Bethany frowned. “Plus I wasn’t ready. I don’t know…it just felt right. Luke has been such a nice guy to me from the time we met and it was everything I thought it would be.”
Gina and I stuck a finger down our throats. This girl had it bad.
“Well, well, well. Ladies, you buy anything for us?” Cale smirked as we approached the side of the bus where the guys were standing, Luke and Raptor smoking. I dropped my bags and he squeezed me into an enormous bear hug. I exhaled slowly as he dropped me back to the ground.
He must be in a good mood,
I thought as I picked up the bags again and Cale generously took one from me.
“Nooo. Next time I will, I promise.” I smiled, deciding not to bring up what had happened in the clothing store with Kallie. Let it be. “You wouldn’t have fit in with us anyway.”
Cale chuckled, holding a hand to his heart. “Aw now I’m offended.” He turned to Tyler, who was just ending a phone call. “Did you just hear her?”
Tyler looked up from his phone and glared at Cale with dark circles under his eyes, but when his gaze locked on me, his lips formed a small smile. “I didn’t hear a word. Sorry, bud.” He patted Cale on the back and winked as me as he stepped back onto the bus.
“Jackass!” Cale shouted towards him and I laughed under my breath.
***
When we made it to the theatre in Dallas, the line to get into the place was insane. Like, almost wrapped around the entire building. Seeing the faces of these people that are waiting in line to see us was priceless. I always got a giddy feeling inside and a case of the itchy fingers; I couldn’t wait to shred on stage.
I stayed true to my word and wore my new ensemble. Cale howled at me when I came into the dressing room. The first thing I noticed was how pale he looked. He didn’t look that pale when we were talking and cuddling on the bus, so I was hoping he wasn’t coming down with anything.
“Are you okay?” I ignored his advances. “You seemed fine just a while ago.”
Cale stumbled towards me again, almost falling flat on his face. Luckily he caught himself and replied, “What are you talking about, Bryn? I’ve had a few drinks already, but I’m perfectly capable to go onstage.”
I put my hands on my hips. “No you’re not, you dick. Don’t play that with me of all people.” I tried guiding him to the closest chair to us. “You need to sit and have some water or something. You really don’t look good at all.” Here I was, grabbing him a bottle of water and feeling all motherly.
“I’m…perfectly….fine…” Cale repeated slowly, trying to avoid meeting my eyes.
“Okay seriously, someone tell me I’m not exaggerating!” I shouted, and Raptor walked over and draped an arm around me.
“It might be something in the drinks,” Raptor whispered in my ear. “Don’t worry about it. If he falls off stage that’s his fucking problem.”
“You act like you don’t even care,” I murmured.
“This has happened dozens of times before you joined the group, Bryn. Trust me.” Luke came over to my other side. “Sometimes you get the wrong combinations together and Cale gets pale, passes out, and stumbles around too much. You just have to ignore it because no matter how many times you tell him to stop drinking, he won’t.”
I shrugged it off, watching him drink the water I gave him and standing back up as if nothing had happened. I was weak when it came to Cale, I was slowly realizing that. As soon as he stood up, he pinned me against the wall in a strong embrace, telling me how much he loved me and how he couldn’t wait to get me alone.
Of course I ate it all up.
We separated after a few more minutes and watched the end of The Brittle Soul’s set.
“I’ll be right back, B just going to use the bathroom,” he said before kissing me below my earlobe. “Don’t get into any trouble.”
I tipped my head back and laughed. “Me…trouble? You must have me mistaken for someone else,” I replied sarcastically, smacking his ass as he whistled in return.
I watched the final song, my body swaying along to the beat, and I felt someone’s presence from behind me.
“All you need is the hat, my friend, and you will look like an official Texan,” Tyler spoke up, startling me. “I forgot to hassle you about that earlier, sorry. I just had to do it.” He opened his mouth and flashed a smile. Why did he have to be so damn good looking with a frickin perfect smile? If it was anyone else, minus Cale, I would’ve smacked them for startling me, but of course somehow Tyler was different. Different with a white toothed smile that I was surprised hadn’t gotten him more girls.
I tried to pull a pissed off look, but my lips turned the opposite way I wanted them to no matter how hard I tried to fight it. “Why do you always manage to sneak up on me when I’m alone?” I asked.
“Maybe I’m stalking you,” He replied jokingly. “Just kidding about the stalking. Call it right place at the right time, I guess. Am I being creepy or something?”
“No, but at some point we need to talk about that last kiss,” I pointed out.
“You mean last
two
…” Tyler corrected me and I stomped on his foot with my boots.
“Obviously. I remember,” I retorted, gesturing between our bodies. “This whole kissing Bryn whenever she’s upset thing can’t happen anymore. Someone’s going to catch us or worse yet, Cale will find out and both our asses will be out of the band.”
“You’re blaming it all on me now?” Tyler said in a loud whisper. “I wasn’t the one that stormed in on the other person after seeing their boyfriend kiss another girl on stage, kissing them full on the lips. I was just trying to look out for you—”
“Which you don’t need to!” I cut him off. “Kissing me is not looking out for me. It’s going to get us into deep shit.”
Tyler took a couple of steps so he could face me, blocking my view of the stage.
“So what? You’re over dramatizing something that does not need to be, Bryn! It’s not like you fucked me or anything, so you didn’t even cheat on Cale. Stop whining and arguing about everything, I’m not going to keep running to your side every time you don’t like how something goes or you wind up crying again for one reason or another.” Tyler took a deep breath and continued. “Now I realize why my cousin cheated on you.”
Leaving me stunned and wordless, he stomped off before I could have a chance to do or say anything.
Deciding to confront him, I sped up to him just before he could reach the bathroom. “You ever say anything like that to me again, so help me I’ll stick that drumstick up your ass and kick you in the balls so hard you’ll never get up again.”
And of course what did he do?
Smirked. Of all things.
Come on, Cale, hurry up and rescue me…
“I’m seriously doubting you would do any of that, Bryn,” he replied, offering me his hand. I took it and he dragged me into a hug. “I’m sorry about what I said referring to Ethan. But how about we call this whole thing a truce. Forget we ever kissed, and just be the best of friends?”
“You’re such a guy.” I rolled my eyes. “But promise me one thing, okay?”
“Of course. What is it, B?”
I looked him dead in the eye and said, “Don’t…kiss…me…again.” I articulated each word so he got the message loud and clear. Whatever we had between us couldn’t and wouldn’t happen. Ever. I was with Cale, despite our issues, and I didn’t see myself leaving him anytime soon. Whatever Tyler felt towards me, he needed to shove it aside and move on with someone else.
He saluted me and entered the bathroom. “Yes, ma’am. As hard as that’ll be, I can’t hurt my best friend.”
As hard as that will be…
Cale opened the door just as Tyler went in. His face didn’t look as pale but his pupils were a bright shade of red. “Everything okay, hun?”
“Yeah. Tyler and I were just talking, that’s all,” I replied quickly, forcing a smile to my face. Why did I have a bad feeling something was really wrong with Cale? “You okay?”
“Better than ever. Some water on the face helped. I don’t feel so sick now,” he answered, but I could tell from the way he was biting the inside of his cheek that was a full blown lie. His hands slid into the back pockets on my jeans, lightly cupping my butt and giving it a squeeze. “I love you so much. Thank you for being there for me,” he gently whispered against the skin of my neck, giving me chills.
I didn’t say anything back, enjoying the warmth of his body against mine, but the lingering thought in my mind that something was wrong with still weighed heavily on me. But for now I’d stop thinking so negatively and start thinking about how close was getting to this man every day we spent with each other.
“I love you too,” I murmured, enjoying our silence minus the music playing on stage in one direction and music from the dressing rooms in the other.