Page 17 of Not Your Little Girl Anymore

I clench my hands into fists as I listen to Chase go on about everything I need to consider. He’s worried that he made the wrong decision fighting for this band, and I can’t speak for the others, but I’m starting to feel that way too.

Over the past two years, Chase has gone out of his way to make us known. It’s comical to think about how we were once amateurs, screwing around for fun, and now we are in the top fifty bands in the state.

We’d get together Friday nights—Samantha, James, Tyler, and I—and go to different pubs in and out of town to play. For a while, it was more of a getaway. None of us had expected to be in the right bar at the right time. Chase is the anchor to our success, and it’s not that I don’t take his opinions seriously. I do, very much so.

But right now, I have zero intentions of leaving Brooklyn. Not when my aunt was so close to coming to the last event held in town. I know because I saw her at the entrance of Cold Brew Cafe. She paused before going inside, looking over the flier Samantha taped to the window.

Then there is Summer. The key to fixing my entire screwed-up life.

“This is a great opportunity, Alec. If we take this deal, we have a bigger chance of becoming known worldwide. It’s everything we’ve talked about the past year.” Samantha pulls a stool out and sits next to Chase in the center of the music studio.

“Don’t forget the money,” Chase adds.

My teeth grit, but it goes unnoticed. “Denverson. If we’re granted a spot, how long are we going to be there?”

Chase flips through the binder in his lap and skims over the schedule he always keeps on him. “Four. Five days max.”

I take a deep breath and think for a minute. “Are they willing to push the event to the twenty-sixth?” Samantha’s eyes narrow, but I ignore it, keeping my eyes on Chase.

“There is a huge possibility. Jesse, the owner, said she was eager to have you guys play there. I can ask her if she is willing to reschedule.”

I nod, chewing the inside of my lip. Samantha’s eyes move from Chase to me, and going by her now tight expression, she is unhappy with me.

“If she is unwilling to reschedule, you all lose the opportunity of a lifetime. Do you understand that?”

“I understand.”

“Great.” His tone is unamused. Chase closes his binder and heads to the door. “I’ll call as soon as I speak with her.”

When Chase leaves, Samantha doesn’t move. She stares at me with disappointment. I pinch the bridge of my nose and walk to the far right of the music studio to my guitar case, shuffling for the pack of cigarettes I stuffed in there before I came downstairs.

I can feel Samantha’s stare dig into the back of my head, aggravation rushing through my body.

“I can feel you looking at me,” I say, buckling my case back up before turning around.

Her lips purse and she shakes her head. “You do realize that you basically told Chase to fuck off, right?”

“Actually, I asked to reschedule, which is common. If they want us there so badly, they’ll be willing to swap dates to suit our needs.” I shrug.

Sam crosses her arms over her chest. “And what exactly are ‘our’ needs?”

I take a minute to think about that. I tell her, “I have a few personal things I need to take care of.”

She walks toward me, her eyes squinting. “Remind me… what personal things? Because I know you tell me just about everything, even when I don’t want to hear it.”

I walk to the coat rack hanging on the wall and slip my leather jacket on. “I don’t tell you everything.”

That’s not a lie. We’ve known each other for years, so I do tell Samantha a lot. She’s my best friend, but there are a handful of things that I keep to myself. This personal matter is one of them.

She presses her lips together and nods.

I ignore her snark and grab my guitar case.

“This isn’t about that girl, is it?” The anger in her voice is evident.

My heart lodges in my throat. The better side of me would be honest with Samantha and tell her, but doing so would only lead her to stop me. And I’m not sure I want to. Which only infuriates me.

The plan of getting Summer to fall for me to get under her father’s skin and use her as a pawn to have my charges dropped sounded great in my head but after our interaction yesterday…there is a piece of me that feels something. Something I can’t quite figure out.

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