Page 7 of Hey Girl

“What made you come up with this?”

She worries her lips with her teeth, and goes a very pretty rosy red. It makes me smile. "Oh, um...I-I thought...well, w-with respect, you're all very...um...w-well, rock stars do t-top many women's list of f-fantasy g-g-guys, and..." She's damn near cringing, and won't look up from the papers in front of her. I guess she didn’t rehearse a response to any questions like this. Her shoulders hunch up almost to her ears, like she wants to disappear.

"So it's because we're all hot," I quip, smirking.

She mutters something that sounds like, "You said it, not me," but I might have imagined it.

Or maybe not. "Can anyone else hear a word this girl says?" Josh says quietly, but not quietly enough. She flinches, and then closes her eyes in embarrassment.

"Hey, jackoff," I bark. "she's doing great. Leave her the fuck alone."

I notice both Jack and Matt glancing up in my peripheral, but I turn back to Rebecca immediately.

“Ignore him, sweetheart, you’re doing great,” I assure her. “Continue.” I gesture a hand at her to encourage her to keep talking.

She pulls in another long breath, closing her eyes. I wonder why she does that? Maybe it helps her relax. I should try that some time.

She speaks again, marginally louder this time. “I’ve gone through your albums and have noticed a… sh-shift. Your edgy vibe has stayed perfectly c-consistent, but on this album the p-passion seems to be…m-m-more romantically d-driven.”

Jack looks up again from one of the mock-ups. “Holy shit,” he looks between her and the different creations in front of him. “You’re right, it just clicked, there’s no question.”

Matt nods at him and then at Rebecca. “I didn’t see it either at first, but now…that outside perspective…” he looks back at the designs and lets out a breath before glancing back up to the shy little waif. “Bravo.”

“Pffft,” Josh scoffs. “That’s because fifty percent of this band found wives and have their heads up their asses.”

Jack and Matt are secure enough in themselves to ignore his shit.

I, on the other hand, am getting really fucked off that he keeps making this sweet girl cringe and blush. And not the good sort of blush. The uncomfortable, embarrassed sort.

"Josh, if I can manage to sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up as a courtesy to this woman, I'm sure you can do the same. And also, the only guy around here wearing his sphincter as a necklace is you."

“Chris…” Matt utters my name across the table in a drawn-out hiss, leveling me with a glare that’s asking if I’m cool or if he needs to go get the ketamine.

“Wow,” Josh scoffs again, trying to look unimpressed. “Who put piss and vinegar in your BLAST this morning?”

“Your mom, dickhead,” I swiftly snap at him over my shoulder before turning back to Rebecca, who’s tightened into herself even more and now burying her whole face into her hand. That has to hurt, pressing her glasses into her face.

This time, I decide to give her a moment and look down to appraise her brilliant designs instead. I see what looks like gunmetal and steel twisted together in an arrangement of roses. Another has a pitch-black sky with glowing bright stars falling like rain and crashing down on an umbrella and bursting into sparks. These are incredible.

“It makes a statement that we’re pivoting off of what we’ve been doing,” Jack voices out loud, not lifting his eyes from the design. “We wouldn’t even need to announce it, fans will just see the artwork and they’ll know.”

We proceed to pore over the mock-ups for another half hour, and I’m surprised to see it went by so quickly. We narrowed it down to our five favorite concepts, and the little creative genius we met with seemed to warm up and relax - just a little. She even smiled my way a couple of times, at least I think she did. It was quick as a flash, but I’m almost certain I saw it. And it was really pretty.

Sadly, when it was over, she wasted no time with post-meeting chatter and rapidly gathered up her things, dashing outof the room like it was on fire and leaving a few papers flying in her wake.

Well. I glare at Josh. I can tell Ron with full confidence that it wasn't me who scared her.

3

CHRIS

Jack and Matt want to go prancing home to their wives when the meeting concludes, of course, which leaves me to my own devices once again. Thank God for the vending machine with my favorite beloved energy drinks in the hallway by the men’s room. After some extremely painful deliberation that mayyyyy have resulted in a few totally manly tears, I go with Surf’s Up Sunshine Surprise as my flavor of choice. Perfect. This puppy will last me all the way back to the parking lot.

When the elevator doors open, I step into the car that is empty except for…Rebecca! I’m totally gonna fist bump her…until I remember she’s, like, clinically shy, or whatever. How such a quiet and timid little thing could crank out such epically badass images that represents our vibe so well is a fuckin’ mystery.

We’re the only ones on this elevator as it slowly descends, but she seems afraid of taking up even a scrap of the entire eight feet. She was already standing in the corner, but she looks like she’s trying to fold herself into it completely now. Her back and armsare ramrod straight and her shoulders are hunched in like she’s trying to compact herself into a sardine can. She keeps her eyes glued to the floor buttons, like looking away will shatter her to pieces.

“Hey,” I try to cheerfully greet as I cheers her with my BLAST can. She gives a barely perceptible nod as she studies her shoes. I cock my head and an eyebrow at her and give her my Disney Prince smile, but she doesn’t even look up to see. Well, fuck. That smile doesn’t usually drop panties or anything but it at least gets a return smile most of the time.

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