Page 96 of Electric Touch

“She was a bitch to Tia, you mean,” Dylan snarls.

“It’s dealt with,” I tell them. “Plus, Riley has been keeping her distance. I guess seeing me with someone else was hard for her.”

“Good,” Ciro says, looking out of the window. “Now, can we drop this shit before I get my period?”

Dylan changes the subject and we don’t mention the issue with Riley again.

When we get to the club, we’re ushered to the VIP area. Something that is becoming the norm for us. Two servers bring over bottles of beer and tequila shots. Like Jack said, Riley was already here with her two friends. They join us, but they’re on the outskirts of the group. Especially when the other bands show up and things get more rowdy. Jack has set his sights on Sharlene, flirting around her for most of the night.

I’m engrossed in conversation, but I catch her eye a couple of times. Riley always looks away first. Maybe we need a conversation, a proper one, without the memory of what we once had. I hadn’t intended to jump into something with another woman so fast. No rule says you can’t meet another person after a bad break-up. There are no time stipulations.

I never realised it would be this fast for me. My relationship with Adrestia is different from the one with Riley. That relationship seems… immature. The term puppy love used to piss me off, because it was a lot more than that. We changed as we got older, wanting different things. Riley just realised it before I did.

It doesn’t hurt so much anymore to think breaking up was for the best. When I see Alessa and Jordan together, or Adam with Jenna, I see something different from what I had with Riley. It was a bitter pill to swallow, after being torn apart by it all. Now I see it might have been the best thing that could have happened.

Adrestia is so well put together, so assured of herself and what she wants. She cares about people, strives every day to be the best she can. Looking back on it with eyes wide open, Riley didn’t have any of those traits. She loves being in the band, sure, but she has never been a driving force. She doesn’t express what she wants or where she sees things going. As awful as it makes me feel, she may only have gone along with it because it was what I wanted. Maybe she finally realised what she wanted was more important.

I’m not mad about it, not anymore. That is one hell of a fucking revelation, coming to me sitting in a club. As the night goes on, I wish Adrestia was here.

We’ve gotten so much closer after the day we spent watching the sun rise and set. We can talk for hours. I’d always thought the comfortable silences with Riley were because we were happy. Until Adrestia came along and filled my life with her crazy facts. And her insatiable need for knowledge and genuine enjoyment of learning new things. She doesn’t stagnate. And she has given her time to me.

Fuck, I know I care about her. How couldn’t I? Something more? Have I really gone there? It doesn’t scare me to think that. I’m not sure how she feels, but she’d appreciate it if I asked her. There is no pussy footing around anything, as far as she is concerned. I take out my phone.

Nash: Hey, how goes the studying, you’re not still working, are you?

Adrestia: No one else is going to do it for me

Nash: All work and no play

Adrestia: Who am I going to play with? You’re the one who left the state

She does not know how much that pleases me.

Nash: If it’s any consolation, I’d rather be there. Watching you work in sexy glasses with a pen between your teeth.

Adrestia: When have I ever done that?

Nash: Never, but you should. It’s hot.

Adrestia: I don’t even wear glasses

Nash: You should

Adrestia: I have 20/20 vision Nash

Nash: Humour me. What would you want to see me in? What gets you hot?

Adrestia: Are we sexting right now?

Nash: I’d love to, but I’m in a club

Adrestia: So why are you texting me?

Nash: Because you’re more interesting

Adrestia: Of course I am

I laugh again. A loud whoop has me lifting my head from my phone. Sharlene is giving Jack a lap dance. Riley is looking at me again. I ignore her.

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