Page 23 of Ticket to the Stars: Part Two

I didn’t know if Pope would do something stupid. I wanted to say he wouldn’t, that he’d never try anything,never hurt her… but a man lost to rage and helplessness, a man who’d lost everything he’d worked so hard for, might have nothing to lose.

And that was a scary thought. I didn’t want to be forced to choose between my brother and Angel. I’d already had to make the conscious decision to choose Black Sacrament over Pope. Brothers were supposed to have each other’s backs through thick and thin, but that wasn’t how things were with me and Pope.

Man, this sucked.

Chapter Eleven – Angel

Anytime a track came back to us, finalized, we huddled together and listened. Things were coming along great—album-wise. Ramona had gotten us a three-night show at the Greenbay Stadium in a month. We would be showing off our first three singles from the Double Feature album, a surprise to the audience, a new one each night.

My mom had cooled it over the whole Priest-kissing-me-while-onstage thing, thankfully. My sister, on the other hand, was just as annoying about what she wanted me to do as ever. She thought our relationship was still a trial, that things weren’t official yet, and she wouldn’t let up until it was a done deal.

Alexa couldn’t believe I hadn’t gotten, in her words, dicked down yet. She asked me multiple times a week what the hell I was waiting for.

And… I didn’t know. I didn’t know what I was waiting for. I was with the guys constantly. Living with them, seeing them at all hours of the day and night, it was impossible not to know them.

I think I had more than crushes on them, but how could I know for certain? How did anyone know, for that matter, whether they were in love or just in really, really deep like? Ugh. Listen to me. Did that even make sense?

One night, I was sitting on the couch with all three of them. The world outside was one of night, all the lights off in the suite, save for the light coming from the TV. We were watching the originalJurassic Parkmovie; Bishop had apparently never seen it.

I know, I know. Who the hell hadn’t seenJurassic Park?

We’d made popcorn, drizzled a shit ton of butter and salt on it, like it was movie theater popcorn and we were in for the most fattening time of our lives. We’d also gotten loads of candy, our selection currently splayed out on the coffee table before us. Priest was to my right, while Bishop was to my left. Deacon was sitting on the floor just before me, his back leaning against the couch in between my knees.

I wouldn’t say this was a normal occurrence for us, but it kind of was. The guys knew I didn’t like to go out, so westuck to the suite on the nights we had free, AKA the nights we could relax. They wanted to do whatever I wanted.

After one particular scene in the movie, Bishop huffed, “Oh, come on. The thing has eyes. Why would not moving make it suddenly not see you? Doesn’t that make having eyes pointless if you can only see things that are moving in front of you?” He whipped his head in my direction, looking for my input.

I wasn’t the one who said anything, though; it was Priest: “Yeah, they basically say the opposite in later movies and make fun of this part.”

“Spoiler alert,” Bishop muttered.

“What’s so spoiler-y about it? They’re dinosaurs, they wreak havoc, eat some people, tear other people apart. Scientists keep doing it even though they shouldn’t, life finds a way and all that. There, just summarized all of the movies for you,” Priest spoke with a lopsided smile, though the smile was more for me and less for Bishop. He leaned in closer to me and whispered, “He really is insufferable. Are you sure you want to keep dating him?”

“I heard that,” Bishop said, and I could only chuckle.

These guys. They were ridiculous, and yet when I thought about them, when I really thought about them, my heart did something funny in my chest.

Was I in love with these guys? I’d never been in love before. I didn’t know what it felt like. How did you know?

Deacon must’ve had a twisted sense of humor, because every time someone got torn apart on the screen, helaughed, the absolute madman. Priest yawned and lifted an arm, nonchalantly draping it around my shoulders.

“Dude,” Bishop hissed, “that’s my shoulder you’re touching right now.”

As I turned to see Priest’s fingers on Bishop’s shoulder, Priest leaned forward to see around me as he said, “Is it? Oh, yep. It is. Would you look at that. Sorry, bro.” The fingers that had been previously tracing shapes on Bishop’s shoulder moved to mine, where they stayed.

I chuckled quietly. I couldn’t help it. These guys could be so silly. They weren’t just the moody rock stars you’d think they’d be. They were actual people with personalities, and somehow I found myself smack dab in the middle of the three of them, constantly being pulled to each of them.

Time passed. We were at the end of the movie, about half an hour left, if my memory served. I’d stopped paying attention to the movie a while back, too lost in my own thoughts.

What had been weighing on me lately came out of my mouth without a filter: “How do you know when you’re in love?” Once I realized I’d said it, I clapped my hands over my mouth and widened my eyes as heat flushed through me.

All of the guys turned to face me. Deacon even spun around on his knees in front of me so he could look at me. All three of their stares were on me. It was a good thing the room was dark, because if there was any more light, they would’ve seen the furious blush on my cheeks.

How embarrassing. Ugh. I wanted to run and hide in my room, but in order to run away, I’d have to trip over Deacon and Priest’s long legs to get to the hall. It wouldn’t be a fast getaway.

“What makes you ask, Angel?” Priest’s voice took on that seductive, low tone, the same tone he took when we were alone and he wanted to get me all riled up. It was very similar to his voice on stage, when he was talking into the microphone, all gravelly and sexy.

“Uh, no reason,” I quickly said. “No reason at all. Let’s just finish the movie and forget I said anything.” A desperate plea for the guys to overlook my stupid question, but I had the feeling none of them would.

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