Page 26 of Your Rhythm
Okay, I lied. It’s shit. It’s just us and the crew at a pub downtown. I’m going to bail soon.
Coincidentally,I reply,I’m at a pub downtown too, and also probably going to bail soon.
He asks me what the place is called and it turns out he’s just across the street. I haven’t even typed out another message when he tells me to give him five minutes.
I did just tell you I’m about to bail,I text him,but okay.
At exactly the five minute mark, Matt Pearson comes striding into the room.
He seems to glide through the crowd like it’s his superpower. People slide out of the way and watch him from over their shoulders. I don’t think any of them even know who he is; he just seems to move with a rhythm that’s impossible to ignore.
I swallow down the last of my beer and brace myself for Mission Impossible.
Rule Number Two,I chant to myself as he walks up and leans against the wall beside me.Remember Rule Number Two.
“You know when I said I was going to bail, I meant I was going to bed.”
Great. One sentence into the conversation and I bring up the topic of going to bed.
“I did too, but I figured we could at least bail together. Seems less pathetic that way.”
“Are you calling me pathetic?”
“Not directly.” He shifts to face me, bracing one forearm on the wall above his head. “Although, when I see a cute girl standing alone in a corner at a crowded bar with an empty beer, I can’t help getting sympathetic.”
“Maybe I like standing alone in corners.”
I ignore the ‘cute’ comment, and how he’s so close I can feel the heat of him on my skin. That damn eyebrow piercing is doing things to heart rate.
Matt chuckles. “You should hang out with Cole. That’s all he ever does. Where are you staying, anyway? DidLa Gareput you up in some fancy suite?”
“Ha,” I bark. “La Garebarely gave me enough money to get here. I’m staying with her.”
I gesture over to where I last saw Lily, and find her with her tongue down the brunette girl’s throat as every guy in a ten-foot radius leers at them. I’m going to have to step in soon if I want a place to sleep tonight.
“It looks like she might have forgotten about that, though,” I mutter.
Matt follows the direction of my gaze.
“That’s disgusting,” he says firmly.
My jaw drops open and I jump away from him. “Excuse me?”
He looks confused for a moment before understanding passes over him and he rushes to explain himself.
“Notthem. Jesus, Kay, I’m not a monster.” He points towards the crowd of guys surrounding Lily and her conquest. “I mean all those douchebags swarming around them. I just want to go over and tell them all to get a fucking life.”
His fists clench, and he looks like he’s about ready to go and do just that. I stare at him for a few seconds, feeling a touch of the same awe I did after his speech during my interview this evening.
“Oh, don’t worry,” I tell him, after getting my composure back, “she’s perfectly capable of doing that herself. I am kind of pissed, though.”
I fill him in on Lily’s track record with hosting me. He laughs at my expense and then agrees that it is pretty shitty of her.
“She has good intentions,” I explain. “It’s just when boobs come into the equation, she kind of forgets about them.”
Matt grins and looks away. “Well, I can’t blame her for that.”
I’m trying to think of a comeback when the song filling the bar switches and ‘Bad Habit’ by The Kooks comes on. Matt starts tapping the beat out on the wall, mouthing along with the words.
