Page 24 of Don't Bang a Bandmate

I look up from it, and we finally make eye contact, her eyes soft and friendly behind her glasses.

I nod in reply, and she goes back to her conversation.

7

JORDAN

Bronson

You seem tense.

What did Bronson mean by that?

That I look stressed? The last time he told me I looked stressed, he wasn’t exactly subtle in suggesting ways torelievethat stress. Was that text his way of actually being subtle? Was that his way of leaving the door between us unlocked, so to speak? Or was that just him being a friend?

The latter. Definitely the latter.

It was a one-time thing.

I said so. He said so.

It was definitely just one friend checking in on another friend. And it’s not like that’s odd behavior from him. Bronson checks in with me all the time. Always has.

Or... is it possible all those times weren’t just him checking in at all? Was he offering to help merelievemy tension back then and I just… didn’t notice?

Oh, gosh!

What if I just didn’t notice?

I swipe up on our text conversation as Criminal Records plays throughStrawberry Daiquirisagain. The song echoes loudly in the empty Botsford Plaza ballroom as I scroll through days and weeks and years of past text messages. Mostly mine, obviously, but there are several of his one-word responses I’m suddenly reading with a different light.

Sure.

Sounds good.

brt

brt?!

What did he mean bythat?

It was in reply to “Band meeting in ten minutes.” And he said he’dbe right there. Noton my wayorneed a minute.Just that he’dbe right there.

He’s always been right there when I needed him.

I look up from my phone as Knox and Addison’s dueling guitars lead into a drum solo. Jonah’s bass keeps time with Katrina’s keyboard as Bronson bangs his drums. It might look wild and random to the untrained eye, but Bronson’s arms and wrists act with purposeful grace, his foot hitting his bass drum with delicate precision on the beat.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The sound digs into my chest, penetrating deeper with each one.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

I cross my legs, a light throbbing making itself known between them.

Bang. Bang.

Bang.

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