Page 87 of Flipping the Script

“What the hell? When did I buy those?”

“You didn’t.” He flopped down on the couch and started peeling off the wrapper. “I stuck them in there a few weeks ago as an emergency stash in case you ran out of good stuff.”

“Of course you did.” I huffed out a laugh. “I still have that chocolate Easter bunny you hid in the back of my pantry. Well, most of it. The ears and butt got eaten the last time Isaac and Jamie came over.”

“Oh, right. I forgot I put that there. Remind me when you run out of these.” He wiggled the ice cream at me, then took a big bite.

“Are you sure everything is fine?”

He waved his hand dismissively and finished swallowing. “All good. Do you have any plans tonight?”

“Not anymore.”

He shot me a questioning look.

“I was supposed to meet up with Isaac and Jamie, but they had to bail.”

“Is the reason as weird as I think it is?” he asked with a knowing grin.

“Well, if you’re thinking that they’re both covered in purple body paint that isn’t coming off, then yes. It’s as weird as that.”

He snickered. “Those guys are crazy. But it sucks your plans got canceled. Want to come to a show with us?”

“What show, and who’s us?”

“Hannah and me. And Sebastian’s show.”

“Sebastian’s show?” I spluttered.

He shot me a weird look. “Yeah. He’s performing at The Honest Lawyer tonight.”

“Why have I heard that name before? Is that one of the bars you used to go to when you were in college?”

“Yup. It’s on the west side, close to student housing, but the crowd is usually older. Grad students or locals, so it’s a chill vibe.”

“And he’s doing a show there? Like his band?”

Adam shook his head. “Nope. No band. Just him.”

“He does that?”

“Sometimes.” He shrugged. “He hasn’t done a ton of them or anything, but he’s played a few. We’ve gone to all of them so far.”

“Really? How does that even work?”

Adam gave me a strange look. “He gets up on stage and sings, just like any other show…”

“I know that.” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. It wasn’t Adam’s fault I was stumbling over my words like a dumbass. “I just meant how do solo shows work with his kind of music? Doesn’t he need a band and lots of amps and stuff? Or does he use recordings?”

“Nope.” Adam stuffed the last of his dessert in his mouth and paused while he chewed. “His solo stuff is different from when he was with Vessel. He still does unplugged covers of their songssince he wrote most of them, but he mostly performs his solo stuff now.”

“Solo stuff?”

I’d only ever known Sebastian to be in bands. His high school band had broken up just before grad, and he’d formed Vessel within a few months of leaving town.

I knew he’d written songs for other bands for collaborations, but I hadn’t realized he’d also written most of his band’s songs too.

Adam balled up the wrapper from his dessert and tossed it into one of the open containers on the table. “Two points!” He raised his arms in a laying down victory pose, then dropped them back onto his chest with a dullthud. “Yup. He told me he sells most of what he writes, but he’s testing out new sounds and seeing people’s reactions to them at his shows.”

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