Page 28 of Your Rhythm
I break away, turning to step into the room.
“Just take the other fucking bed.”
* * *
It’spast two in the morning when I’m finally settled into one of the double beds, wearing a tank top of Matt’s that fits me like a dress. I’m sitting with my back against the headboard, blankets pulled up to my chest as I wait for him to come out of the bathroom and get into bed.
This was necessary, I tell myself.It was unprofessional, but necessary. I had nowhere else to sleep.
I repeat that over and over again, trying to drown out the fact that I know I could have chased after Lily at the bar and made her keep her promise.
Totally, totally necessary.
Matt steps out of the bathroom, still in his jeans and t-shirt. I pretend to be reading something on my phone as I listen to him unbuckle his belt and drop the jeans on the floor before pulling back the crisp hotel sheets.
“Been wondering what that was.”
I look up and see him sitting up against the headboard like me, pointing over at my shoulder. I follow his gaze to my tattoo, exposed except for the strap of the tank top. A black ink drawing of a round shield covers the front of my shoulder, crossed by a sword whose tip ends just beneath my collar bone.
“It’s nice,” Matt says. “Really well done.”
“I got it in Hamilton,” I tell him. “That’s where I’m from.”
He doesn’t push for any more information about the design.
“Hamilton, eh?” He stretches his arms up in the air, and I make myself look away from the muscles rolling under his own ink. “I’m from Sudbury. Moved to Montreal to go to McGill.”
“And that’s how you met Ace,” I add.
“Yeah,” Matt agrees. “Until he flunked out.”
“And then you travelled Europe together for a summer and realized how much you wanted to start a band. You saw JP perform at an open mic one night and asked him to join you. Ace already knew Cole through friends of friends and offered him a spot as your bassist. Your first gig was a house party. You recorded your debut EP in JP’s uncle’s basement.”
Matt gawks at me and I smirk. “I read your Wikipedia page. It’s kind of my job.”
He recovers himself after a moment and shakes his head. “Pretty good, but you’re missing some details. For example, Ace actually found Cole through his weed dealer, but we like to keep that off Wikipedia.”
I laugh and tilt my head to the side. “Should you really be confiding in a journalist?”
“Maybe not.” He reaches for the lamp on the table between us. “But I have this weird feeling I can trust you.”
I feel my heartbeat quicken. “Guess you’ll have to wait and see.”
The light clicks off and we’re both hidden in shadow. I hear Matt shifting around in bed and lay back on my pillow, after setting my glasses down on the nightstand. I know I should be sleeping like the dead right now, after getting up so early to catch the bus to Ottawa, but my breath seems to be getting faster, not slower, as I lie in the dark next to Matt’s bed. It would be so easy to whisper his name, to pull back the blankets and slip in beside him, let him lift his tank top up over my head...
“Did you like the show?”
I go completely still. I thought he’d be asleep by now.
“I—I did,” I stammer. “I think you already know it wasn’t flawless, but I mean, the energy...The crowd was just...I haven’t felt anything like that in a while.”
For some reason, it’s easier to be honest with the light off.
“You play like it’s everything you have.”
“I told you,” he answers, “it is.”
“It really means that much to you, doesn’t it?”
