Page 61 of Reverb

They all paused in surprise, turning in my direction. Axel’s eyes went wide.

I cleared my throat, and then I said it. “Sienna Maplethorpe and I are dating.”

There was a second of silence. And then the room filled with a round of applause.

“Finally,” Denver said. “We thought you’d never admit it.”

Axel wiped a fake tear from his eye. “Stone finally has a girlfriend. Gosh, they grow up so fast.”

Neal put his hands on his hips. “I feel like my virgin little brother finally got asked to the prom. I’m so proud.”

“For fuck’s sake,” I said. “Shut up, all of you.”

“Do you need me to explain how condoms work?” Axel asked. “I can draw you a diagram.”

“Now, remember.” Neal held up his hands. “She’s a real, live woman, not a girl in a porn video. If you talk to her, she’ll answer. It’s pretty wild if you’re not used to it.”

“They have opinions and stuff,” Denver added. “Sometimes they like to say things. Then you say things back. If you need practice, let us know. Also, they like it when you bathe once in a while.”

I sighed. “I don’t know why I’m in this fucking band.”

The door opened and Brit walked in. She’d come to pick up Axel and drive him home. “What’s going on?” she asked, looking around at us. “This looks like a band meeting.”

“Look, Stone.” Axel took his girlfriend’s shoulders and moved her in front of him. “If you need to practice talking to a woman, I’ve got one right here. Brit, say something to Stone. He just admitted he has a girlfriend.”

Brit blinked in surprise, then looked amused. “Hi, Stone,” she said. “Are you finally going to admit that you’re dating Sienna? Because I guessed it a long time ago.”

I scowled at her. “You too?”

She rolled her eyes. “I was on the tour, remember? It took me about twenty minutes to figure out you were roommates. Sienna was all, ‘Oh, no, nothing’s going on, he’s so terrible, I hate him.’ Like it wasn’t obvious she was into you.”

“At least you didn’t get threatened,” Neal said to her. “He almost punched my face in when I learned the big secret.”

“It wasn’t the most well-kept of secrets,” Denver said.

Axel threw up his hands. “Why was I the only oblivious one? I was right there on the tour. I need to pay closer attention. I guess I just assumed no woman would actually choose to come within ten feet of Stone.”

“Shut up, all of you,” I said. “Jesus, I’m sorry I said anything.”

Brit crossed her arms. “So, is it serious or what? Sienna has been all moony lately, but she won’t tell me anything.”

I scratched the back of my neck. Sienna wasn’t moony over me. And she definitely hadn’t been into me during the tour. Brit was reading everything all wrong. “We’re keeping it quiet until the articles are out,” I managed. “We’re not getting married or anything. We’re taking it slow.”

She gave me an assessing look. I liked Brit. She was hot, with pinup curves and a sharp sense of humor. She owned a hair salon, and even when she wore sweats, like she did now, she somehow looked like a million bucks.

I’d spent years worrying about Axel, watching him fade into addiction, then climb his way out again. I’d seen him at the depths of his misery. The fact that he was happy and healthy now, and that Brit was part of the reason, meant that I would owe her a debt forever.

“Maplethorpe just moved out of her parents’ place two days ago,” I said. “She’s just starting her career. It’s too early to do all the serious shit.”

“That’s true,” Brit said. “You should definitely go slow. But try to romance her a bit. No guy has ever done that for her.”

Romance her? Had I ever romanced Sienna? What the fuck did that even mean? And what guys had Sienna talked to Brit about? We didn’t talk about her previous boyfriends. Probably because I’d rather die.

“You’ve confused him,” Axel said to Brit.

“Take her out to dinner,” Brit explained. “Do nice things for her. Don’t bother with flowers or any of that bullshit. Sienna’s too smart for that. She doesn’t need dramatic speeches, either. Just think of something she’d really like.”

I pinched the spot at the top of my nose, between my eyes. “Fuck, this sounds complicated.”

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