Page 14 of Busted Dreams

A light chuckle at my ear from Beck said he knew exactly what he was doing. With a final pat on my stomach, he stopped.Thank God.

“So tomorrow, I have to ride the bus up to Fort Collins. Who are you riding with, Astrid?” Rhys stretched out in his seat, pushing his sweatpants clad legs out so far, they nearly touched Jonah’s feet.

I shrugged. I hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“I can take her.” Thatcher stroked a thumb down the arch of my foot, and my eyes rolled back in my head. At least I was able to hold in any embarrassing noises.

“Oh, where are you going?” Trinity dropped her phone in her lap, twisting her head so her perfectly styled ponytail swung behind her.

“Rhys has a big hockey game tomorrow. So we’re all going to support. You two in?” Thatch turned to Jonah and Beck to get their answer.

“Sure,” Jonah said immediately, burrowing into the plaid couch just as Beck shook his head.

“Nah, I have a show tomorrow night, so I have to warm up and get there early.”

“Don’t forget, tomorrow morning you owe me an hour to try out my idea,” I nearly whispered in Beck’s ear.

“What’s this?” Rhys piped in.

Everyone stared at me, including Trinity, to see what I had planned for in the morning. With all of this attention, it seemed more climatic than it actually was. When in reality, it was just a hopeful idea by a half-cocked teenager trying to help her friend see his potential.

Boyfriend?

Beck was definitely more than a friend, but what constituted boyfriend status?

“I had an idea on how to get Beck some more exposure by using TikTok. He’s agreed to let me try it.”

Hugging me a little tighter, he nuzzled his stubbly chin over the top of my head. “I said I’d go along with it as long as you’re my cameraman and photographer. You go where I go.”

A nasty look started to slide over Trinity’s face before her expression cleared completely. It was eerie to see someone with features so similar to Thatcher’s show so much hatred, even if I only caught brief glimpses. But what did she hate about us?

“I’d love to go with you guys tomorrow. I’ve never seen a hockey game in person before,” she smiled sickly sweet.

I didn’t think there was a person here who missed the way Jonah tensed at her words. I’d have to ask him about her later. She did seem like she had a crush on Jonah that clearly wasn’t reciprocated. They threw off the vibes of a younger sister crushing on her older brother’s friend, only it didn’t seem cute like it would be in most situations.

Being the good brother that he was, Thatcher shrugged. “That’s cool. I have plenty of room in my car.”

“Actually, I could ride with Jonah if you wanted to spend some time with Astrid.” She picked her phone back up nonchalantly.

“Nope, I don’t have enough gas money at the moment to get me there and back. Can you take all of us, Thatcher?” Jonah lifted a finger to push his glasses up, but stopped as soon as he realized there was nothing there. He’d stopped wearing the fake glasses around us, but hadn’t given them up completely at school. I was working on him though. Opinions from the fake and superficial people at school meant less than nothing, and I wanted him to see that.

“Road trip!” Trinity tossed both hands up, and her phone went flying, landing by Rhys on the cushion. She giggled and snatched it up before plopping back down in her seat.

“Back to this TikTok thing.” Rhys crossed his arms, looking relaxed instead of hyped up on adrenaline. “What’re your ideas?”

To my knowledge, I’d never seen any of the guys on TikTok. I only came across it because I saw a compilation of videos on IG. I downloaded the app and fell into a rabbit hole that stole hours from my life. But I learned some very important things.

One, photographers showing how they made their shots didn’t get nearly enough clout.

Two, attractive men who could sing were going viral.

Beck didn’t believe me, but I’d bet my living situation he would go viral within a few videos with the right content. And it was going to be fun to show him. It would also help me get my mind off of my scholarship finals.

“I don’t want to share anything yet. I want to do some test runs first to see how to operate the app. Then I’ll tell you my content ideas.” My words were brisk and firm.

“Good enough for me.” Beck shifted underneath me, and I slid a little further into his chest.

A few hard knocks came at the door, and Thatcher hopped up to get it.

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