I’d never been in a relationship before, so this was all new to me, but chicks didn’t run away from me. I knew we had issues we still had to deal with from before Christmas break, but something with her wasn’t right, and she was going to fucking tell me what the problem was.
“Hey, dipshit,” I said when I walked through the garage door at my place.
I smacked Vin on the back of his head and veered toward the sound system.
“Fucker!” Vin shot back. “Where the fuck have you been all damn day?”
“At work. Where the fuck do you think I’ve been?”
“Following around your piece of ass like a whipped motherfucker.”
“What did you say about Ari?” I growled, taking two steps toward Vin.
Miller intervened, “Can we go two days without you two at each other’s throats?”
Vin glared at Miller and crashed back into the couch. He still hadn’t gotten over the fact that Miller had hooked up with my cousin, Sydney, at the ski lodge the weekend we’d performed at the Poconos music festival. Vin had taken Syd’s virginity in high school and acted as if he had some claim over her. The truth was, she was even more of a slut than I had been before Ari, and that was fucking saying something.
McAvoy walked into the room a minute later, surveyed what was going on, and then reached for a joint. “I’m probably going to need this, aren’t I?”
I ignored them and inserted the EP into our stereo. “Just listen to this.”
The music blasted through our sound system. McAvoy slowly put the joint back behind his ear, Vin leaned forward in his seat, and Miller’s jaw dropped open.
“Is that us?” Miller asked.
“No. I gave someone else the rights to our songs.”
“We sound fucking killer!” Vin cheered.
“Corey put together an entire EP for us.”
We spent the next twenty minutes of practice listening to the recordings. We had put them together to ensure we’d look more professional if Pacific lost interest.
Except Pacific hadn’t lost interest—as much as I wanted them to.
“Hey, have you heard from Pacific lately?” I fucking hated saying Hollis’s name. The guy was an asshole who had preyed on my relationship with Ari. He would have to figure out his place with us before I’d even consider signing with them.
“Hollis sent me the final deets about The Drift tour. He wants us to meet him at the NYC kickoff,” Miller said.
“He wants us to fucking hang out with Donovan and his shit bandmates?” I stood and stopped the track that was playing.
“Bro,” Miller said, “be glad that he wants to see us at all after what went down with Donovan.”
“The motherfucker deserved it for what he did to Ari.”
Signing with Hollis was one thing, but the thought of being around Donovan Jenkins made my blood boil. That asshole had kissed Ari and insinuated that he’d fucked her. It was one thing to want us broken up, but it was another to actually act on it.
“Where is Ari anyway?” Miller asked.
That was a good fucking question. Normally, we’d already be a half hour into rehearsal and working on perfecting the new song I’d dropped on Miller last week. Ari hadn’t missed a rehearsal since we got back together. She might be lost in a mountain of chemistry homework on the weathered couch, but she would still be here.
I was used to singing “Life Raft” to my life raft.
So, where the hell was she?
Incoming call: Grant McDermott
I bit my lip and then silenced my phone. I couldn’t talk to him right now, not here. I’d thought I would have been done with this already and then on my way to band rehearsal like normal. Everything had run over, and I didn’t want to tell Grant that I’d come here.
I glanced around the examination room and then swallowed hard. I couldn’t keep my feet from tapping anxiously on the linoleum tiles as I waited for the doctor to come back. I couldn’t believe I was even here right now.
Incoming call: Grant McDermott
God, can’t you give me a minute, Grant? I deliberately ended the call that time. Maybe he would get the picture.
Knock, knock.
The door cracked open. “Aribel,” the doctor said.
“Hi,” I said softly.
The doctor closed the door behind her and took a seat on the rolling stool next to the computer. “Well, you’re not pregnant.”
I sagged forward in the seat. That was so good to hear. I hadn’t missed a period or anything, but even with condoms, accidents could happen.
“The rest of the tests will come in later this week. A nurse will give you a call to let you know the results. Here’s your prescription.” The doctor handed over a piece of paper. “If you’re still concerned about anything, feel free to give me a call at anytime. I still suggest sending the young man you’re seeing over for peace of mind.”
“I’ll take that into consideration. Thank you.” I folded the piece of paper in half and stuck it into my purse with a sigh.
“Just check out at the front desk before you leave.”
“Thank you again,” I said before hurrying out of the office.
As soon as I exited the office, I pulled my phone back out. My finger hovered over the spot to give Grant a call back. I should have told him about coming here, but I hadn’t wanted to freak him out over nothing. I still didn’t want to freak him out.
“Ugh!” I exited out of the screen and dialed my brother’s number instead.
“Aribel?” he answered.
“Hey, Aaron.”
“What’s up?”
“Just having a slight mental breakdown, and I needed to talk to my big brother.”
“You’re having a mental breakdown?” he asked in disbelief. “What? Is O-chem causing you problems?”
I laughed hollowly. “No. School is fine. It’s more…guy-related.”
“I see. Well, this is a first. My little sister is all grown-up.” He chuckled softly.
“This isn’t a joke, Aaron! I just left the doctor!”
“What? What happened? Are you pregnant?” He sounded pissed.
“No! Christ, Aaron, no,” I said, flustered. I hadn’t meant for this conversation to happen this way. I opened the door to my BMW and sank into the driver’s side. “I don’t know how to be this girl.”
“What kind of girl?”
“Look…I don’t even know what I’m saying. I really like this guy.” No way was I about to directly tell him about Grant. He wouldn’t understand why I was dating someone like Grant. “But being with him terrifies me. Have you ever been in that kind of situation?”