We were standing backstage at The National in Richmond, Virginia. Generation Rejects had gotten on another tour. This one opening for a band called Cuban Cadillac. They were pretty cool and they seemed to get on well with the guys.
“I’d be able to find you anywhere, baby,” Cole smiled before sucking my bottom lip between his teeth and biting down just hard enough to make me squirm.
“Mmm,” I moaned, knowing it would drive him wild. And it did. His eyes gleamed and I had just enough time to brace myself against the wall before he pounced. His arms went around me. One hand slithered up into my hair and gripped tightly while his other grabbed ahold of my ass cheek and gave a vicious squeeze.
His tongue had just pushed its way into my mouth when we were interrupted.
“Five minutes, Cole!” Mitch yelled and I had to laugh as my boyfriend groaned in frustration.
“That f**ker sure knows how to kill the mood,” he complained, resting his forehead against mine.
“You can’t keep your audience waiting.” I told him.
Cole gave my butt a healthy smack and I let out a squeak of alarm.
“We’ll finish this later,” he promised, giving me one more kiss before walking off toward the stage.
“I love you!” I called out. Cole grabbed the material of his shirt over his heart and closed his eyes, tilting his head back.
“Get’s me right here, each and every time you say that, babe,” he said, patting his chest. I grinned like the love-sick fool that I was.
Maysie and Jordan were making out in the corner and I laughed as Cole went up behind the drummer and started thrusting his groin against him.
Jordan elbowed Cole in the gut.
At one time that would have led to a knockdown drag-out fight.
But those two had come a long way.
Instead, Cole grabbed his stomach and punched Jordan in the arm. Then the two were smiling at each other.
Garrett and Mitch yelled for both of them and the four members of Generation Rejects ran up to the side of the stage, laughing and talking. It was hard to believe that just six months ago they almost called it quits.
It gave me a renewed sense of faith to know that their friendship had been stronger than their egos.
And sometimes good comes from the bad.
Their decision to stay on with Pirate Records had been the best thing they could have ever done.
Their debut album, Current Static, debuted in the Top 40 and it had been climbing steadily ever since. They were definitely on the rise. Their former manager, Jose, had been dead wrong. Generation Rejects weren’t a mid-level band. They were set to go all the way.
“You ready to go out there and watch them?” Gracie asked, looping her arm through mine.
“Shouldn’t we wait for Maysie to come with us?” I asked, looking over at our other friend who was chatting with a petite brunette with pretty eyes and a shy smile.
“She looks busy. She’ll find us,” Gracie said quickly, tugging on my hand. I rolled my eyes.
“You just don’t want to want to talk to Sophie,” I surmised. Sophie was Mitch’s girlfriend and had been since two weeks after Gracie and Mitch slept together.
Sophie was a sweet girl. Cute in an unassuming way. But that didn’t matter. Because she was dating the guy Gracie was secretly in love with. And for that reason alone, Gracie would never be comfortable around her.
In fact, she avoided the couple like the plague. Which was difficult when her entire social circle revolved around the band Mitch played in.
I thought it was sad. Mitch and Gracie, in my opinion, were destined to be together. But they were two people who just couldn’t get it right.
And even though Mitch seemed crazy about Sophie, I still saw the way his eyes followed Gracie whenever she walked into a room. The dark, smoldering hunger obvious to anyone who chanced a look in his direction.
And I knew my roommate well enough to read the longing on her face as she watched Mitch on stage or the despair when she saw him with his girlfriend.
It was damn depressing.
“It has nothing to do with Sophie,” Gracie spat out. Ouch. Touchy subject.
We handed our tickets to the ushers and pushed our way through the crowd. The place was packed, but we had prime seats right at the front. It was my favorite spot to watch a Rejects show. I loved to be part of the crowd, soaking them in as I had done the very first time.
The lights went down and the spotlight came on. Gracie and I started screaming with the rest of the audience. Soon Garrett, Jordan, Mitch, and finally Cole jogged onto the stage. The roar was deafening.
Jordan did a run on his kit and Garrett played a few chords.
And then Cole took the mic and looked down. His eyes met mine.
I love you, he mouthed to me.
The girls behind me started yelling their heads off.
“Oh my god, did you see what he just said? He told me he loved me!” a girl screeched to her friend.
At one time I would have turned around and smacked her in the face. Or I would have “accidentally” elbowed her in the tit.
But I had grown up a lot in the last six months.
I had matured. I was secure in my relationship.
Cole loved me. He proved it time and time again.
I didn’t have to doubt him.
Sure, I still felt the simmering rage of jealousy when I saw him talk to another girl.
Yeah, I had some trust issues I was continuing to work on.
But I knew he was mine. His eyes, his body, his heart was only for me.
I had become a bigger person. And I could stand in a group of women who were fawning all over my boyfriend, screaming their heads off, and saying they loved him, and not lose my mind. Because I knew at the end of the night, when the crowd was gone and the music was over, he would be with me. And only me.
Forever.
I looked over my shoulder and could only shake my head at their ridiculousness. I didn’t feel the need to let them know he was mine. I had grown past such silly gestures of ownership.
“I know what’ll get his attention,” the skank in the barely there skirt yelled to her friend.
She lifted her shirt and showed the world, including my boyfriend, her boobs.
I said I had grown up but that didn’t make me a saint. And there were some things that still pushed my buttons.
Skanks flashing Cole their body parts were definitely one of them.
I took Gracie’s soda from her hands. “I need to borrow this,” I told her. She looked at me confused.
Then I turned around and dumped the contents all over Miss Slutface, drenching her in cola.
“AHH!” she screamed, lowering her shirt back over her now sticky br**sts.