Page 9 of One Night

"No. She didn't know I was in a band. She didn't even know who I was."

The band I'm in is just a local band but we play a lot so we're pretty well known around Chicago. We get a lot of attention from girls, especially because of Austin, who plays lead guitar. He's the youngest of the Wheeler brothers, and every girl wants to date a Wheeler. Austin's the only single one left so girls come to our concerts just to see if he'll go out with them.

"Maybe she was just pretending she didn't know you so you'd sleep with her," Kevin says as he swipes through his phone. "Everyone knows you stay away from the groupies."

"You sure you didn't see her leaving? Blond hair. Petite. Wearing a white blouse and a short black skirt. Freaking gorgeous."

He looks up from his phone and motions to his bed. "You didn't do anything kinky, did you? Because if you did, you're washing all my shit."

"There was nothing kinky. We didn't even touch the sheets. Now did you see her or not?"

"No. I already told you, she wasn't here."

"You didn't see her downstairs?"

He shrugs. "There's people down there but I didn't notice who. They're passed out from last night."

I race to the door and say to Kevin, "See ya later."

"Hey, what about my bed?" I hear him yelling after me. "Get your ass back here and wash this shit!"

Hurrying down to the main level, I search the living room but all I find are bodies passed out from last night. Some on the sofa. Some on the floor. But no Amber.

Next I go to the kitchen. Dave is there, his head in the fridge, reaching to get something. Dave and I had product management class together last semester.

"Dave," I say, trying to get his attention.

My voice startled him and he bumps his head on the fridge as he stands up. "Shit." He shuts the fridge door while rubbing the back of his head. "What the hell? Can't you knock or something?

I go up to him. "Did you see a girl leaving here this morning? Blond hair, blue eyes, wearing a white shirt and black skirt? Super hot."

"Nope." He picks up the orange juice container from the counter and takes several big gulps, his throat moving as he swallows it down.

"Are you sure you didn't see her? Did you see anyone leaving here this morning?"

He finishes the orange juice, then tosses the container in the trash. "I didn't see anyone. I just woke up. I passed out on the pool table last night. My back's killing me." He cringes as he tries to straighten his back.

"I gotta go. I'll see ya later." I head for the door.

"When are you guys playing next?"

"Tonight. At the bar on Fifth and Ash." I hurry out of there. Dave's a talker and I don't have time to chat.

When I get outside, I search the street for her car but I don't even know what kind of car she drives. Maybe she doesn't have a car. Maybe she took the bus or came with a friend. A friend. Maybe that's why she left. Because her friend was leaving.

How am I ever going to find her? She says she's leaving for New York today. She can't leave. Not yet. I need to find her first and convince her to try to make this work. I'm not a fan of long-distance relationships, but I'm willing to try. Anything to keep this girl in my life.

Last night was...indescribable. Unlike anything I've ever experienced. I've never felt so strongly about someone that quickly. It was like there was some kind of spell on us, drawing us to each other and igniting a spark that lit a massive fire that just kept burning. I've never moved that fast with a girl and yet it didn't feel wrong. Everything about last night felt right. Like it was meant to be. Fate.

I wasn't kidding when I told Amber I'm somewhat of a romantic. I've never actually told anyone that, and even last night, I tried to make light of it. But the truth is, I have a romantic side. I secretly write love songs that will never see the light of day but that let me pour my heart out in notes and lyrics. That's why I never finish a song. If I did, I might actually have to perform it, and doing so is putting too much of myself out there and that's just not me. I like to keep that side of me hidden, reserved only for the right person. And I think that person is Amber.

Just thinking about her draws up all kinds of emotion. Powerful, real emotion that I shouldn't be feeling for someone I met just a few hours ago. But my romantic side believes in fate. In love at first sight. In soulmates. So it's entirely possible that all those elements came together last night when they brought me to Amber.

I wasn't even going to go to the party. Van and I were planning to go to a movie, but then he met a girl when we were out having dinner at the brewery down the street and he ended up going back to her place. So I decided to check out the frat party that Dave had invited me to earlier in the week. I'd planned to stay maybe an hour or two and then leave to go work on my music. But then I saw her. And I couldn't leave.

"Where you been?" Van asks as I walk in the house. We rent a house just down from campus. It's small and shitty and smells like stale beer but it's our own little slice of heaven, away from our families, who both live in town. There's no way I could live at home and neither could Van. We need our freedom.

"I went to that party," I tell him. "The one Dave invited us to."

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