Page 18 of Hard Rock Desires
Shit, I didn’t know. I wasn’t any good at this stuff, except when it came to writing lyrics.
But I feltsomething, that was for sure.
“Zain, cutie!” Finn called out. He was standing on the glass coffee table with two shot glasses in his outstretched hands. “Come join the fun!”
Grace stiffened beside me.
“We’re cool, man,” I called back.
“Your loss!” Finn retorted. He knocked back the two shots in rapid succession and stomped a foot down on the table repeatedly with a half-cackle, half-grimace. He swayed and caught himself just before he tumbled off the edge of the table.
“I’m fine!” he called out. Everyone cheered.
“Things are getting kind of rowdy over there.” Grace sounded almost nervous. “Is everyone going to be okay?”
“Don’t worry, we haven’t had a broken bone at our parties in months,” I said.
She looked at me, scandalized. I flashed a grin.
“Kidding,” I said.
She pursed her pretty lips. “Not funny.”
I felt a tinge of guilt. I didn’t know why, but it seemed like this kind of thing — the drinking and the partying — was making her nervous. It couldn’t have just been that she didn’t drink herself. I had to think there was more to it.
I didn’t want to probe. I didn’t think she’d like that. But I did want to know more. I wanted to understand.
I had no idea why I felt this way, but damned if I didn’t want to know what made her tick.
“We just need to let loose sometimes, you know?” I said. “Let off steam.”
“I get that.”
She looked into the palm of her hand. She’d collected the shreds of paper she’d been picking off from the water bottle label. She closed her fist, squeezing the bits into a ball. She was clearly uncomfortable. I had to change the topic.
“So if you don’t drink and party, what do you do to let off steam?” I asked.
“Uh—” She looked like I’d caught her off guard. “I don’t know. I don’t do much, aside from going to classes and studying. I need to keep up good grades for my scholarships.”
“What’s your major?” I asked. She must have been pretty smart.
“Business.” She shrugged. “I haven’t figured out what I want to do yet, but I’d like to know how to not run it into the ground when I do.”
“Open a bakery,” I said impulsively.
“I’d have to learn not to burn down a kitchen first.” She laughed. “It’s like I told you, my sister was the baker, not me.”
I winced. “Ouch. That bad, huh?”
“I’d always mess up the measurements.” Her eyes went distant with a nostalgic smile on her face. “Or I’d forget something in the oven. Somehow she always managed to salvage things.”
“Those sound like good memories,” I said.
“They are.” Her eyes cleared as they met mine. “What do you do?” she asked. “When you’re not being the hotshot rock star, that is.”
I smirked and put an arm around her shoulder.
“Love, I’m a hotshot rock star no matter what I’m doing,” I said.
