Page 25 of Brand
I busted out laughing as his pinched fingers moved up and down his shoulder like he was trying to show me what he meant about the straps.
The bells jingled, and we both snapped our attention to see who was walking into the shop. Our moment, or whatever I should have called it, was gone and I could actually breathe again as Brand hopped up and walked over to greet the guy that had just walked in. His next appointment, I assumed, which meant he would be busy for a while. And if luck were on my side, he wouldn’t ask me to sit in on this one.
I may have needed a few minutes. Or an hour. Something. I had to take a moment tonotfigure out what was going on with me. The last thing I should have been doing was entertaining any sort of ideas that might have been going on in my head.
With the two of them tucked away in Brand’s room, the front was quiet. I had no idea what Blade and Sketch were doing, and for a second I debated on getting up to go find out. But in the end, I pulled out my sketchbook and flipped to a blank page. I let my mind get lost in the lines that my hand created. That was what I needed right then. My calm.
The shop music blared in the background and usually, I just tuned it out. It was an odd mix set on shuffle and after a while, I was able to pick out which songs were added by which guy.
However, the odd, soft strumming of a guitar rang out, followed quickly by a mix of two women singing caught my attention right away. I came to a dead stop, my hand paused with the tip of the pencil pressed against the paper.
“Is this Tegan and Sara?” I asked no one in particular. I think I was just so shocked to hear it there.
“Fuck yeah, it is,” Sketch said as he crossed the shop to me. “Fucking Tegan and Sara are the shit!”
I giggled like a fool. To say that Sketch was predictable was such a false statement it wasn’t even funny. The guy gave me whiplash with how he could be all over the place sometimes. I wouldn’t lie, I kind of loved it…most of the time.
Then like he couldn’t help it, he started humming along toWhere Does The Good Go. Something about it seemed to speak to Sketch’s soul. Like I could see it wasn’t just a song to him. I wondered why, but I didn’t think we were at that point that I could ask. Then I started singing along because, well, I just couldn’t help it.
“Nah, this is the one we need right now.” Like the ADD Sketch I’d pretty much gotten used to, he scrolled through the tablet and hit something just as the song was almost over. “Come on, C-money, let me hear those vocals and see your dance moves.”
He grabbed my hand and swung me around to the open area between the rooms asBoyfriendstarted to play through the speakers.
So we danced and sang like no one was watching. I had to say it was a bit liberating. And I didn’t give a care that Blade had made his way out and was standing with his shoulder leaning on his door frame, chuckling and shaking his head at us. Or that the buzz had stopped coming from Brand’s room and his head was cocked in my direction, half smile on his face, making just one of those sexy dimples pop.
Why does he have to be gay?
I thought this to myself as my eyes locked onto Brand’s again. He was talking to the guy he was working on, but the music was too loud for me to hear what they were saying.
Then Sketch let out a loud laugh in my ear and my eyes went wide as I realized that I had not thought it, but rather mumbled it out loud.
“Oh you poor thing,” Sketch said shaking his head. “Don’t worry, I don’t think anyone but me heard you.”
He spun me before pulling me back in and he did some eighties pop dance moves that he actually pulled off really well. I laughed, the awkward moment forgotten.
I honestly couldn’t say the last time I’d had that amazing of a time. And there I was, not having to worry about what people were thinking and not caring that I was making a fool of myself.
