How to Be a Rock Star's Ex-Girlfriend (2 page)

“I can’t just walk over and talk to him. It’s not like we’re on that level of friendship.” I could not imagine what he would say if I just popped over to chat. I would never hear the end of it. I would be stuck listening to how hot we would be together and how good things would be if we got together, if I knew what he meant. “Do you want me to end up cutting off my own ears, just so I don’t have to listen to him? You know how he is!”

“I still say he’s not that bad. Just ask him about tonight. He’s always popping up wherever we are. I bet he’s planning on going to that shindig at Shaken.”

Tonight was the annual, “Forget it’s winter, put on summer clothes” party at our favorite dance club, Shaken. As in shaken, not stirred. After a few months of winter in Minnesota, it was just what we needed. My friends and I had been looking forward to it for weeks. It was the perfect cover story for getting an introduction to the new guy that I had yet to see.

“Alright, how do I look?” I smoothed my knee length black skirt. “What about the boots? Are they too slutty?” I was wearing my new black boots that hit mid-calf and gave me an extra four inches in height. I had already asked her about the boots, once when I bought them, and again when I put them on this morning.

“As I said an hour ago, the boots are gorgeous, and I plan to steal them from you soon! Now go, before you have to be back to your store!” She dismissed me with a wave of her hand, and called over her shoulder, “and fill me in at lunch!”

Laughing to myself, I made the quick trip to the gate of Musi-cland. Dylan was straightening the giant cutout of Nysnc that promoted their upcoming cd.

“Planning on taking that home with you when the promo’s over?” Nothing like a quick jab at homophobic humor to get the conversation started.

“Very funny, Ava! What’s new?” Dylan came closer to the gate to continue talking to me. From the cocky smile on his face, I knew I had been right about how he would feel if I came over, of my own free will, to talk. “You’re much cuter then any of these guys. Maybe you’ll let me take you home instead!”

Oh, yeah. I was right about Dylan! Rather then waste my time with small talk, I went ahead and asked him about the party. It couldn’t get any worse then it already was. “Are you headed to the Summer in the Winter party tonight?”

“I’ll be there, you know I never miss an excuse to party! Plus, I have to take my boy out and introduce him to the town.”

“Your boy?” I tried to make my question sound as innocent as possible, although I knew that his boy had to be the hottie Cara was talking about. I was totally lucky, since I had been wondering how I could find out about this guy, without being completely obvious. Although, I had noticed that most guys were pretty oblivious when it came to stuff like that. I probably could’ve walked over and asked to meet the new guy, and he wouldn’t have thought twice about it.

“Yeah, my buddy from high school just moved back. I got him a job here while we work on our band.”

Dylan’s in a band? I thought to myself, well he has the ego of a rock star! I’d always had a thing for dirty rockers, too bad Dylan didn’t fit the bill. He was a little to clean cut, a little too preppy to be called a true rocker. I hadn’t noticed any tattoos, either. Like I said, too bad! “You’ll have to bring him by our table tonight, so we can meet him. What’s his name?”

“He has one of those goofy made up names, Braden. We used to give him shit that his parents couldn’t decide whether to name him Brandon or Brady, so they made their own version of both!”

I nodded like I was totally interested in the history of this guy’s name. I mean, give me a break! If this guy wasn’t good looking, I was planning on forgetting his name two minutes after I heard it. All I really wanted to do was get a good look at him. I wondered if he was as cute as Cara thought. What if she forgot to wear her contacts today? Besides that, I wasn’t looking for myself. Cara was the one that wanted to know all about him. I guess I could tell her the oh, so not funny story about his name

I took a quick look at the watch I only wear for work. When I was younger I used to read all the Sweet Valley High books, and ever since I read that Jessica (one of the twins) didn’t wear a watch because she lived on ‘Jessica Time’ I refused to wear one. Silly, huh? But, hey, I was only twelve at the time and I still kind of like the idea of ‘Ava Time’. Unfortunately, it was a necessary work place accessory. And right now that piece of jewelry was telling me that I had to head back to my store. Thank god, I needed to get away from all the testosterone. “Oh, I have to go open! I guess I’ll see you and Braden tonight.”

I was a little bummed that I hadn’t gotten a chance to see this friend of his, but at least I had some gossip for Cara. I had just turned to walk away when I heard Dylan, “Wait, Ava! Here he is. I’ll introduce you now.”

I fixed my best smile on my face and turned to see the new mystery man.

Oh, my god! I finally understood the overused phrase, my heart stopped! I forgot that I was supposed to be checking him out for Cara. I pretty much forgot everything, even my own name. I was gazing at the perfect guy. At least he was my perfect guy.

Ever since we were teenagers, my friends and I made lists that named the top requirements that our boyfriends had to have. At thirteen, it included owning a pair of roller blades for Friday nights at Rollerland and the ability to skate backwards. When we were sixteen, a car and driver’s license was number one. Now that we’re twenty-one, each of us has our own idea of what’s important in a potential date. Sophie, the third member of our fabulous trio, wants a man with clear career goals, a nice car, and good table manners. Cara looks for a hot body, skills and energy in the bedroom, and an adventurous spirit.

Then there’s me. My list consists of four simple things. The guys I look twice at must have good hair, a job to show that they have some ambition, a firm grasp on their personal hygiene, and the ability to converse intelligently. In that moment, I felt as if I was looking at my list come to life. And I hadn’t even heard him speak yet! He could have been a deaf, mute for all I cared!

Although, there was not a written requirement on the subject, height was a major factor in deciding whether or not to accept a date. Standing perfectly straight, I only measure five feet, four inches. I’m not about to go out with a man that towers over me. I don’t want to crane my neck to kiss him goodnight! But he couldn’t be too short, either. I love wearing heels, and if I end up taller then a guy when wearing them, I would have to say bye-bye.

Braden was definitely the right height, not too tall, maybe 5’11” or 6’. His sandy blonde hair was well groomed, satisfying item one on my list. I also noticed that his eyes were a deep brown, right before I took in the fact that his Musicland t-shirt was just tight

enough to show that he worked out and he had a tattoo on his right bicep.

Did I mention that I have a weakness for guys with tattoos? It must be the whole bad boy thing again! I forgot how to breathe.

“Hi. Dylan told me that a lot of pretty girls worked in this mall. Maybe it won’t be such a waste of time working here after all!”

I smiled and tried to think of something clever to say in reply. It was useless, I was incapable of communicating. I just stood there, nodding and smiling. Thank god I had a good excuse to get out of there fast. “It’s great to meet you. I better open the store. Umm, I’ll see you both tonight. Later!”

I waved and moved quickly toward The Bookworm. How embarrassing! I was usually so good with the male population. For years I’ve been teasing and flirting my way through boyfriends, only to find myself now at a loss for words. Did this mean that I had finally met my match?

I took a deep breath and really thought about it. Well, considering that I had been around for twenty-one years and hadn’t yet met anyone that really grabbed my attention, I put it down to an exaggerated reaction to a cute boy. It had been awhile since someone new and exciting had come into my life. I was overdue for a boy freak out. Me, meet my match? I don’t think so!

I leaned against my desk, put my hand to my heart that was still thumping just a little too hard, and slowly exhaled. I had already been fairly excited to attend the bash tonight, but it looked like I had another reason to look forward to the party!

CHAPTER 2
 

“So, isn’t he adorable?” Cara grilled me on my meeting with Braden from the minute she walked into our apartment. We had already spent most of our lunch breaks talking about him, how cute he was, how silly his name was, etc. “They stopped by for lattes this afternoon. What a cutie! If I wasn’t already spoken for …”

Cara was always spoken for in some way. Each guy that she met had the capacity to be “the one”. I stopped considering her “boyfriends” as anything serious a long time ago. I guess that was why I didn’t even think about the man of the hour when she asked me to scope out the new guy. She was always saying things like “Tonight I want a basketball player.” By the end of the night, she would leave with a basketball player. At the moment, she was seeing Kevin, an attractive, but not so smart guy from her accounting class. She had signed up to be a peer tutor to earn extra college credits. Kevin was her first assignment.

“Speaking of men, are you meeting Kevin or is he coming here to pick you up?”

“Meeting him there. Pre-party time is always girl time! Sophie’s coming over, too, right?”

Sophie is our closest friend, and as I mentioned earlier, she completed our gang. Like Charlie’s Angels, The Three Bears, and Snap, Crackle, and Pop, it just wasn’t the same without all three of us!

We had all met when we were attending church camp at the early age of ten. Although, we lived in the same small Minnesota town, Anderson Lake, which is about forty minutes from where we live now, the time away from home cemented our friendship. We bonded over the bad food, our hatred of the hard bunks, and a growing interest in the boys on the other side of camp.

For the entire week we were there, we ate together, talked about everything, and shared clothes. We were like the sisters that we always wanted to have. There were plenty of tears and hugs when the week ended. We knew that our parents wouldn’t let us be together constantly like we were at camp. We would have to settle for marathon phone calls and sleepovers on Friday nights.

Cara and I went to the same junior high the following year, while Sophie’s parents sent her to the private school in town. We all begged and pleaded for Sophie’s parents’ to change their minds and send her to public school, but for the next few years, they stuck to their decision.

But by the time we hit high school, we were finally able to convince them, and we were together in class and inseparable. We told each other everything, went everywhere together, triple dated, and shopped until we dropped. It was the same now. It was just recently that Sophie moved out of our apartment and in with her boyfriend.

“Sophie will be here any minute. She was going to pick up some clothes from her house after work.”

Sophie was a teller at the Wells Fargo bank in town. She was also the only one of us with a set schedule, nine to five, Monday through Friday. She claimed that it made her the adult of the group, and she was right about the adult part. I doubt that it was the job that did it though!

Sophie had always been more serious then Cara or me. I believe that her private school background affected her more then she let on. Her parents were always a bit stricter with her then ours were. There were plenty of times when we had to beg and plead for them to let her go with us to a concert or to a late movie with our boy-

friends. She was always trying to please them by getting good grades and being responsible. She balanced out our little trio, with Cara on the wild end and me somewhere in the middle. Anyway, she had always felt like it was her job to try to keep us out of trouble, and it all worked out and made us closer.

The doorbell sounded a second before a moving pile of clothes burst through the door.

“Help, I’m losing valuable articles of clothing!” Sophie’s voice was a muffled cry coming through the fabric.

“Did you bring everything in your closest?” Cara came out of the bathroom clothed only in her favorite jeans and a green bra. “What can I borrow? I have nothing to wear!” This was a common statement from all of us, although between the three of us, we could cloth a third world country. And we hadn’t stopped sharing things since our week at camp.

“Take whatever you want, if I can wear your pink heels with the little bows on them. I have that strapless top in pink and cream stripes, but no shoes.”

The clothes were dumped on my bed and the ritual of getting ready to go out started. It had become a tradition for us to gather together, throw all our clothes and makeup in a pile, listen to some ‘girl’ music, and have a few drinks while we made ourselves beautiful. At times it was the most fun part of the night. When the guys you met sucked and the drinks were expensive, you could always count on the pre-party time with the girls.

We all had our own look, our own style, but we mixed well together. We always said that we made quite a team. Cara turned heads with her red hair, while Sophie’s petite figure made men of all ages long to protect her. I’ve always felt that my look fell somewhere between innocent schoolgirl and porn star. My face, even with makeup, came across as young, but my thick dark hair and large chest led thoughts in a different direction. At work and around my family I had always downplayed the dirtier sides of my appearance, but for a night on the town, I channeled my inner Jenna Jamison and went all out! Bring out the black eyeliner and the pushup bra.

In the bathroom Cara was filling Sophie in on the new guy, while I checked the fridge for ice. “Are you ready for a drink, Cara? Sophie?” I moved to the doorway and looked in. I wanted to get in on this conversation before it got too out of control.

“How hot is this guy, Ava?” Sophie lined her left eye with dark brown liquid liner, surveyed the results, and quickly did her right one. “You should ask him out.” This is why I needed to be a part of this talk. I knew that once the two of them put their heads together, they would decide that I should be fixed up.