Page 19 of More To Us

"Van's right," I say, noticing the somber look on Dylan's face. "You seem depressed. What's going on?"

He blows out a breath and rubs his face. "It's stupid."

"What's stupid?" I ask, sitting next to him.

"If I tell you guys this," he looks at me, then Van, "neither one of you laughs at me or I'll kick your asses."

"Yeah, okay," I say.

He waits for Van to agree to it, but Van puts his hands up. "I can't promise you that. I wouldn't be me if I didn't give you shit. And besides, you deserve it after giving me grief over the lyrics I write after a breakup." He puts his hand over his heart. "I'm baring my soul, man, and you just stomp all over it." He fakes a frown and then laughs.

I ignore him and focus on Dylan. "Just tell us."

Dylan sighs. "Fine." He shakes his head. "I know it's stupid, but I wanted her to be here tonight. And I had this strange feeling that she would be."

"I thought you said she moved to New York," Van says.

"She did, but she could've come back to visit. Maybe she has family here. I wouldn't know because she wouldn't tell me anything about herself."

"So you're depressed because she's not here?" I ask.

"I told you it was stupid. And what's even more stupid is that I actually felt like she really was here. Like I could feel her presence, but I think I was just feeling her through the song."

"Damn, this girl really messed you up," Van says. "Is that why you haven't hooked up with anyone since you did it with her?"

"You haven't had sex since May?" I ask, unable to hide the shock in my voice. As lead singer, Dylan gets a lot of girls offering to have sex with him.

"No," he mutters.

"You've been on a lot of dates since then," I say.

"Yeah, but I didn't let them get that far."

"Shit, I had no idea. So why are you holding out for this girl? She doesn't live here anymore, and you don't even know her last name."

He stares at me. "Sound familiar? You're obsessing about some girl you met for like a minute."

"That's true," Van says. "What the hell's wrong with you guys?"

"I don't know," I say, more to myself than them. I have no idea why I'm so desperate to see that girl again. She showed no interest in dating me, and now she's probably mad at me, and yet I still want to see her again.

We finish up at the bar, then go get something to eat. After that, Van and Dylan head back to their house and I go to mine. It's not really mine. It's my dad's house. I still live here. I need to get my own place but I haven't gotten around to it.

"How'd it go?" my dad asks, startling me. It's two in the morning so I thought he was in bed. He's sitting in the living room with just a single light on, reading a magazine.

"You scared the shit out of me." I sit on the couch. "What are you doing up this late?"

"I had to review some contracts that have to go out tomorrow. I didn't finish up until ten. I had a late dinner and now I have heartburn. I took something, but I'm waiting for it to kick in."

My dad works too much. So do my brothers. Wheeler Construction is growing so fast that we have more business than we can handle. I should be working more than I do and I feel guilty that I'm not, but if I did, I wouldn't have time for the band.

"You shouldn't be working that late," I say. "It's not good for you."

"The work had to get done and I've already got your brothers working overtime."

"I could take on some more hours."

He shakes his head. "I don't want you doing more hours of construction. It's hard on the body, even for someone in as good a shape as you." He sets his magazine down. "But I did want to talk to you about being more involved in the business."

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