“Just a water.”
“A water?” Jackson asked, dumbfounded.
“Yeah…”
“Why?”
Reid spoke up for me. “Because that’s what she wants.”
I ignored him, looking over at Jackson. “I don’t drink much.”
Jackson chortled. “Oh, God. You two are the perfect match, then. Reid doesn’t drink either.”
I couldn’t help the next words that flew out of my mouth. “Oh, that’s right, and when he does drink, he pukes on all of his fans.”
I sucked in all the air I could after I said it. Reid’s stare bored into mine, and then I saw the slight flicker of his mouth. Jackson and Finn were both losing it beside me, and Jane’s eyes were so wide I could see every inch of white that surrounded her pupil. She mouthed, Oh my God, and then silently laughed. I looked back at Reid, waiting for that snarky smile to reappear.
Before he had the chance to smile, though, someone came up from behind him.
“If it isn’t my brotha from anotha motha!”
Reid turned around quickly, just in time for Jamison Bayne, last decade’s most successful guitar player, to wrap his arms around him. I couldn’t believe that Reid was friends with Jamison Bayne. In fact, I couldn’t believe that Reid had friends at all.
I saw the slight smile on Reid’s face as he pulled back and looked up at Jami’s face. Jami was recognizable, even to someone like me who didn’t pay too much attention to the previous decade’s musicians. But not knowing Jami Bayne was a sin. He was all my parents listened to when I was growing up. He had long, straight, hay-colored hair pushed back behind both of his ears. He was dressed similarly to Reid, in all black, except Jami’s shirt was unbuttoned in the front, showing some of his sun-kissed, albeit wrinkly, skin.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d make it,” Jami said to Reid.
Reid sighed and adjusted the buttons on his cuffs. “Anyone else’s birthday? I would have missed. But yours? I couldn’t do that to you.”
Jami cocked a smile. “How ya been since…”
Reid shifted on his feet, looking uneasy. I thought Jackson and Finn got the hint as they slid out of the booth, pulling Jane with them. She glanced back at me, and I shook my head, letting her know I’d be fine waiting with Reid. I was his date, after all, right?
So I stayed in the booth, with my hands in my lap, feeling as stupid as a turtle participating in a race. Should I stay or should I go?
“Who’s this?” Jami asked, peeking around Reid’s body. “Is this… your date?!”
“No… well…” Reid looked uncomfortable as he moved his gaze back to Jami. I gulped and shifted uncomfortably in my seat with my red-stained lips clamped together.
“She technically is, but just for press. You know how it is.”
Jami threw his head back and laughed. “Ah, yes. The dreadful marketing tactics…” Then he peered around Reid once more, his icy-blue eyes landing on mine. “Well, are you going to introduce us, or…?”
I grinned as I slid out of the booth. I was pretending I wasn’t as nervous as I really was, because, don’t get me wrong, I was practically sweating. But after meeting Reid and being crammed in a bus with him looking all cool and hot with his guitar every night, I was happy to say that my stress levels had become more manageable.
“Hi, I’m Brooklyn,” I said, sticking my hand out to shake Jami’s.
Jami’s eyes twinkled with mischief as he took my ha
nd and shook it gently. Then he pulled me in a little closer and brought it up to his mouth, his warm lips kissing it tenderly. I blushed, looking away, but that was when Reid cleared his throat.
Jami, still holding onto my hand, lazily brought his head over to Reid. His lips turned upward, and Reid raised an eyebrow. “Just as I thought.”
Jami let go of my hand when Reid asked, “What?”
“Oh, nothing.” Then he turned and winked at me before whispering something into Reid’s ear.
Reid shook his head and gave him a cryptic look.