6. Aribel
1515 Words
6
Aribel
“Grant, sorry I missed your calls earlier. I got stuck at school and just got home. Call me when you get this.”
I ended the voicemail and frowned down at my iPhone. It was strange for Grant not to answer my calls. That was the third one in a row.
After I’d spoken to Aaron and calmed down, I’d realized that I was overreacting. And some of his advice sunk in. Maybe I was just in love and scared about what that meant. I had never been in this position before.
I’d treated love like my chemistry homework. Every equation had an answer and when combined properly created a fixed outcome. But there were no fixed outcomes with Grant. There wasn’t even an equation. It was just a whole lot of insanity.
I didn’t want to be afraid of it, but in my world nothing changed, and Grant was an unbelievable amount of change. I’d thought when I was home in Boston that I was stifled in such a controlled environment, and maybe a part of me was. However, living in a world without any control wasn’t exactly me either.
The only thing I really knew was that I needed to talk to Grant and figure everything out. Grant got my blood boiling, raised my heart rate, ignited passion within myself I hadn’t known existed under my cool exterior.
I didn’t want to lose that. I didn’t want to lose him. And I needed to lay it all out there like I always did. Either he accepted me or he didn’t. I live life freaking out over whether or not Grant would fit into my world and whether or not I’d fit into his. On so many levels…we already did.
Cheyenne appeared a couple minutes later in a skintight black dress and stilettos with all of her curly red hair piled on top of her head. “Hey, why aren’t you dressed?” Cheyenne asked.
“What…do you mean?” I asked. “Why are you so dressed up?”
“Didn’t you get the memo? The guys are at the League.”
I scrunched my eyebrows together. “They don’t have a show tonight.”
“Well, they blasted all over social media that they’re there and want all of their fans to come down for the show for some Bank Avenue group.”
“I’ve never heard of them.” I entered the name into Google. There weren’t many hits, but I found a small website that showed the band. “Oh Jesus.”
“What?” Cheyenne came around and glanced over my shoulder. “Oh.”
The lead singer was smoking hot. She had pixie cut black hair and exotic almond-shaped eyes. In the picture, she had on black leather pants and a tiny lace bra with electric blue high heels.
“Now why would the guys want to go to see Bank Avenue and have all of their followers see them?” I asked.
“Someone wants to f**k that girl.”
We glanced at each other and Cheyenne sighed. “Come on. I’ll do your make-up.”
Ten minutes later, I was in a blue strapless dress that Cheyenne had insisted on. She was coating my face in product. I’d drawn the line at her messing with my hair. I wasn’t going to the League to party. I was going to find out what the f**k was going on with my boyfriend. I knew that I’d been off, but that didn’t mean he had a free pass. We’d been there before. He should know better.
“Are you sure I can’t do something to your hair?” Cheyenne asked. She brushed her fingers through it, and I swatted her hand away.
“Let’s just go. Who knows what kind of debauchery they could get into already?”
“All right, Aribel.” Cheyenne stepped back and knocked into my purse. It fell over onto the floor and spilled the contents including the prescription birth control I had picked up from the pharmacy earlier.
Cheyenne’s eyebrows rose. “Whoa. Things are serious, aren’t they?”
I snatched the prescription out of her hand and stuffed it into a drawer out of sight. “Forget you saw that.” I quickly scooped up the remaining contents and threw them back in my bag.
“What? It’s just the pill. I’ve been on it since I was sixteen.”
“Well, I’m not you, and I haven’t told Grant. So, forget about it.”
Cheyenne laughed. “Whatever you want. But I think he’ll be excited. Then you won’t have to use a condom.”
I blanched.
Her laugh turned into a cackle. “Oh my sweet innocent Aribel.”
“Leave me alone, Cheyenne.” I stuck my finger in her face. “And don’t say a word.”
She mimed zipping her lips. Her eyes twinkled with delight. She loved taunting me about this s**t. I grabbed my purse and left the apartment. We got into Cheyenne’s car, and she zoomed toward the League.
“Where are Gabi and Shelby anyway?” I asked.
Cheyenne shrugged. “Studying I think. If I know them though, they’re probably ditching the library and on their way to see the guys. No one ignores an SOS.”
I sulked further into the seat. No wonder Grant was ignoring my calls. How many groupies was I about to walk through to get to him?
Another thought nagged at me. What would happen if they got signed and went on tour? With all of his vices around him all the time. I wanted to trust Grant, but everyone had limits with the amount of temptation surrounding them.
“Girl, I can see the worry all over your face. Just relax. Grant’s crazy about you. I’m sure it’s fine.”
“He hasn’t returned my messages today,” I whispered.
“Probably because he was out with the guys and didn’t hear it. Don’t think the worst until we find out what’s going on.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Since when did you become the sensible one?”
“As soon as you fell in love with Grant McDermott of all people.”
“Yeah. What was I thinking?” I asked.
“Best s*x you ever had?”
I glared at her. “Honestly?”
“Oh right, the only s*x you’ve ever had.”
“Don’t fault me because I’m not a w***e like you, Cheyenne.”
She shrugged her shoulders and smirked as she pulled into the League parking lot. “We can’t all have such high aspirations as me.”
“Oh, is that what you call it?”
“So, I like rock star d**k. I don’t see you complaining.”
“No complaints here,” I grumbled. No complaints about the s*x at least. Just all the complications that came with it.
The parking lot was packed full. Cheyenne finally found a spot on the street a couple blocks down, and we walked the short trek back to the bar. I braced myself for pandemonium before following Cheyenne through the door.
The League looked like every other night when ContraBand was in the house. Female bodies filled more than three-quarters of the room and there was a crowd of screaming people by the stage. Cheyenne grabbed my hand as she elbowed her way through the crowd. We stopped once we reached the table where Miller, McAvoy, and Vin sat staring up at the stage with s**t eating grins on their faces.
Where the hell was Grant if all the guys were here? My eyes traveled away from the table and up to the stage. My heart sank.
It was like the entire time I’d been getting through the crowd I hadn’t truly paid attention to what was going on. I knew Bank Avenue was playing. I knew the lead singer was gorgeous. But I hadn’t anticipated this.
Grant was on stage, holding a microphone in his hand, singing with the lead singer of Bank Avenue. No singing to the lead singer.
And not just any song…my song.
My hand fell onto the back of Miller’s chair as ice filled my veins. What the f**k was happening?
“s**t, Ari,” Miller cried over the music. He stood abruptly. “This is not what it looks like.”
I threw my hand up in the air. “Save it.”
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something more, but it was good for him that he realized it was a lost cause.
All I could do was stare as my boyfriend serenaded another woman with the song he had written for me. Cold fury took over and rational thought fled my mind. The only thing that was there was Grant standing on stage in my favorite pair of his jeans and a black button-up rolled up to his elbows. His hair was perfectly tousled. His expression had the serenity that always took over when he got lost in his music.
Then his eyes flickered open at the end of the second verse, and he stared straight ahead at the skinny b***h in an outfit much the same as I had found on their website.
The chorus seemed to play over and over again. Their harmony blended together as if they had done this before.
Every time I see you. You make me feel better.
Every single day. You push away the pain.
You push away the memories.
You’re my life raft. In an endless ocean.
You saved me from drowning.
You saved me from myself.
You’re my life raft. In an endless ocean.
I waited there paralyzed until the end. The crowd erupted into cheers. Grant cracked a confident smile, looking out across the room at his many admirers. I knew the instant his eyes landed on me, and I could read his lips all the way across the bar.
Oh f**k.
- Writer
