“Here! Here!” Zakk replied, shoving away from the couch. Of course, that was when his phone decided to ring, again.
“Who is it?” Zakk asked, prompting Dez to pick up the phone.
“I don’t know, just says private number.”
“Let it ring. I’m not in the mood for someone running a line of bullshit about the warranty to a car I don’t even own. Doesn’t matter how many times you click the button to be taken off the list, they just call again and again and again and if it isn’t them, it’s the people claiming the iPhone I supposedly ordered is about to be shipped. All the times I’ve ignored those calls and guess what. Not once has an iPhone shown up here.
“Better make ‘em doubles,” Dez groaned when his phone lit up halfway through Zakk pouring the first drink. “I don’t know anyone with an 800 number.”
“You think Winter meant it when he said he was quitting?” Zakk asked as he added more Southern Comfort.
“Yeah, actually I do. We were talking about it outside of Stryker’s while you all were inside trying to order the greasiest burgers you could find.”
“Okay. I don’t get it,” Zakk remarked. “How is it that you and Tripp can’t stand one another and you and Winter, his fuckin’ twin, get along phenomenally?”
“’Cause I know what it’s like to have someone suck the joy out of the music.”
“Please tell me Riley isn’t doing that?”
“No. Playing with Tattered Angel has been the best musical experience of my life. I love the music more now than the first time I walked out on a stage. But I remember what it was like to hate it, that’s where I was at when Riley found me in that dishwashing room. Now I just need him to not ruin all the other thoughts I’ve been having lately.”
“Such as?”
Fishing into his pocket, Dez soon pulled his hand out with a small silver box that he opened to show Zakk the two engraved black bands inside.
“Whoa…”
Huffing, Dez looked at them sadly before snapping the lit shut and tucking them away again.
“When did you get those?”
“Remember the afternoon I stormed over here pissed because Riley’d been blowing up my phone all day…”
“Oh man.”
“I wanted them to be perfect, so yeah, maybe I went to a lot of different stores and tweaked several lines until I had the perfect one to put on the rings…
“Then he had to go asking who you were with and what you were doing and suggesting shit in the messages he left.”
“Yeah.”
“So, you’ve been carrying those around for the last two months?”
“More like six weeks, the jeweler I chose was backed up with settings and engravings. Figured it would give me time to plan something special. Meaningful, not just dinner and oh, careful you don’t swallow the ring in the bottom of the champaign glass. Hell Riley doesn’t even like champagne.”
Damn, Zakk truly felt for him. That was a huge step. A first for both Dez and Riley, and now it seemed like it was derailed indefinitely.
“I shoulda just done it when he was ranting about me not answering the phone. At least that would have shut him up in a good way.”
Yeah, that was a question that begged asking. “So how did you shut him up?”
“Locked myself in the music room and didn’t come out until dawn, so if he was still ranting it’s not like I heard anything.”
“Which I take it pissed him off more.”
“We may have had some words about it, which ended with a couple days of not talking to each other.”
“Dez, maybe…”