Incidental Happenstance (15 page)

            “Is it?” replied the caller.

            It was definitely not Dylan. “Who is this?”

            “It’s Jace. Were you expecting someone else?” Immediately Tia recognized a condescending tone in his voice.

            He’d never called her before and she couldn’t imagine why he’d be calling her now, especially at seven fifteen in the morning, but she tried not to sound too surprised. “Oh. Hi Jace. Well, I sure wasn’t expecting you. What’s up?”

            “I’m sure you weren’t. I missed you last night at the club. Did you have a nice evening?”

            “Yes…” she answered cautiously. He sounded angry, and she couldn’t imagine why. “Thanks for asking?” She purposely put a question in her voice.
What was going on
?

            “Well. I’m glad.” He certainly didn’t sound glad, and Tia wrinkled her face in confusion.

            “Jace, is something wrong?”

            “I guess you could say that. I was talking to Ryan, and he mentioned a three in the morning phone call where you told Lexi that you hooked up some guy last night.” He paused for a moment, and then lowered his voice menacingly. “Is it true?”

            “Well, I don’t see that it’s any of your business, really, but yes, I met someone. Why are you so interested?”

            “Why am I interested?” His tone was really unpleasant now, and Tia still couldn’t figure out why. “Why? Well I guess I would have appreciated hearing it from you!”

            She could feel the heat rising in her face and she sank into a chair. “What are you talking about? Since when do I consult you about anything that goes on in my life? I’m a little confused here, Jace. You want to tell me what’s going on?”

            He continued as if she hadn’t even spoken. “It’s not like we were having problems or anything. Why would you go out slumming and hook up with some random guy? What did I do? Were you going to tell me, or just dump me and not even have the courtesy to let me know?”

            Tia moved the phone from her ear and stared at the receiver. Was she hearing this correctly? What was he talking about? She felt a slow boil starting in her blood, and let it bleed into her own tone.

            “What is this, high school?” she said hotly. “When were we ever going out? What do you mean, ‘dump you?’ Are you sure you have the right number?”

            “Oh, come on Tia. You haven’t been seeing anyone but me for almost a year now. It isn’t fair for you to deny it just to suit your situation.”

            “Whoa. Whoa!” Holy crap, the boy was delonal! “Listen Jace, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you have things a little mixed up here. We’ve never even been on one date. You’ve never asked me out. As a matter of fact, this is the first time we’ve ever even had a phone conversation. You never even asked for my number! How is that a relationship? Besides, you’ve been dating Ditzy for months now!”

            “Her name is Bitsy, and she’s nothing to me. A man’s got needs, and until you were ready, I had to fill them somewhere.”

            “Are you
serious
?? You can’t really believe any of this.”

            “We see each other at least a couple times a week. We’ve had dinner together dozens of times…”

            “As part of a group,” she interrupted hotly. “Holy shit, and you think that makes us in a relationship? Listen, Jace, I’m sorry if you got the wrong impression, but you’re Ryan’s friend, and you two are always together, and since Lexi and I are always together at the club, it just ended up that way. There was no design to it—it was just convenient, that’s all. I never led you on in any way, and we’ve never had more than a casual conversation.”

            “We never had a date, because I was respecting your space! I knew you were still pining over what’s-his-name—“

            “Nick. His name was Nick. Have some fucking respect.” She had completely lost her patience now, and there was venom in her voice.

            “—Nick, whatever. And I didn’t want to make a move until you were ready. I
was
trying to be respectful, and look where that got me. Obviously you were ready and I missed the memo, so you went and threw yourself at some sleazebag in cowboy boots.”

            OK, now she was really pissed. “I do
not
appreciate your tone, Jace, and you have no right to talk to me this way. I’m going to spell this out for you one time, and listen good.” She said each word clearly, and spoke slowly for effect. “Again, I’m sorry if you feel misled in some way, but we never had a relationship. You were a friend of a friend, and we hung out together socially, occasionally, as part of a group. That’s it. I consider you a friend, so don’t ruin it by blowing this all out of proportion!”

            “Out of proportion!? This running off with some loser from a dive bar is out of proportion? I understand you have to get back on your feet, but why not with me? I’ve been nothing but patient and kind while you dealt with your situation, and this is how you treat me?”

            “Oh,” she said coldly. “You mean my situation with what’s-his-name? We never discussed it, not once, nor did we discuss dating or having a relationship! This is coming out of left field for me, and I really don’t appreciate it!” She could feel her excellent mood slipping; the heat of anger burning her cheeks.

            His voice sounded so angry she was almost frightened. “So I never asked you out. Fine. So then let’s…”

            “Jace, this conversation is over. I can’t believe the way you’re talking to me, and I’m actually shocked that you could be so rude. You need to calm down, and so do I. This is going nowhere.”

     I       “Wait--”

            She hit the end button on the phone and sat back on the couch. She wanted to pound something and realized that that was the weakness with cordless phones—and cell phones too, for that matter—no matter how badly you wanted to slam the phone down in someone’s ear, all you could do was hit a button and maybe, at best, they’d get a beep. Someone needed to come up with an ap that mimicked a real hang-up.

She sat for a moment, regulating her breathing. Where the hell did that come from? She had never considered Jace anything more than a friend, and hadn’t ever gotten the impression that he felt anything for her other than friendship, either, despite what Lexi said yesterday. She certainly wouldn’t date him, even if she hadn’t met Dylan. Not only was he conceited and pretentious, but he wasn’t at all her type. He was a nice enough guy on the surface, but Jace was number one in his own world, and everything else was second—she could never be with someone like that. The phone rang again in her hand, startling her from her thoughts.

            This time she looked at the Caller ID. When she saw Jace’s name, she set the phone down to let the machine pick it up.

            “Look, it’s me again.” There was a long pause. “I’m sorry I didn’t handle things well a bit ago, and I’m hoping you’ll just talk to me. Please pick up.” The hum of the machine’s recording device was the only sound in the room. “OK,” he sighed after a few moments of silence. “So you won’t talk to me. I understand that you’re mad. I’m sorry I was so pissed off. It’s just that I thought we were starting something and…let’s give it a try. Let me take you to dinner. A real date—just the two of us. We can get to know each other on a different level and see where things take us.”

            “Yeah, right,” she said to the machine.

            “Please. You won’t be sorry. You pick the time. And the place. Just call me back. Please, Tia. I’m sorry.” He sounded whiny now, and she frowned at the direction of his voice.
When hell freezes over
, she thought, and then the machine recorded another moment of silence before clicking off.

            Tia’s heart was thumping in her chest as the security guard led her to the backstage entrance. She’d walked past a group of about a dozen girls hanging around the entrance hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the band members or flirt their way into getting backstage passes, and they were none too happy to see her stroll right through the little gate after a brief word with the guard on duty. She’d taken considerably more time getting ready today—she dressed in what she hoped was a much more flattering outfit, had done her hair, and had carefully applied her makeup. She felt happy today, seeing Dylan, despite the disaster earlier in the day. In the end, though, she had no trouble putting Jace’s phone call out of her mind when she thought about seeing Dylan again, and she was already smiling when the guard swung open the heavy metal door.

            He was standing at the top of a short staircase, leaning languidly against the wall and smiling down at her. Her heart and stomch seemed to switch places when she saw him, his dark blonde waves hanging messily around his face and bringing out the blue in his eyes. He was even sexier than she remembered, and she blushed with the sudden heat that flooded through her body.

            “Hey there,” he said.

            “Hey yourself,” she replied, and then he was down the stairs, pulling her into his arms for a slow and romantic kiss that brought even more heat.

            “I was worried you wouldn’t come,” he admitted.

            “Really,” she said, matter-of-factly. “And I was afraid you’d tell them not to let me in.”

            He held her out at arm’s length and looked her up and down. “You are really beautiful, Tia. I’m so glad you’re here.”

            She blushed again, and felt the heat creeping through her body. “And you…”

            “A little different without the mullet right?” He grinned, putting his hands on his head in an exaggerated self-conscious gesture, messing his locks. “What, you don’t like it? Should I put the wig back on?” He raised one eyebrow at her, and smiled warmly.

            “You’d be wonderful no matter what kind of hair you had,” she whispered, and his heart nearly melted at the honesty in her eyes. He could get used to a girl like this, he thought, better be careful. “But I do like this much better,” she added, running her fingers slowly through the soft curls.

            He pulled her into another embrace and kissed the top of her head. “Welcome to my place of business,” he said, “for today, anyway.”

            “I have to admit,” she said, glancing around at the gray walls and concrete floors, “not as glamorous as I imagined.”

            “Oh, it does get better,” he said. Then he leaned down and whispered in her ear, “but not much. Come on, I told the guys I’d introduce you as soon as you got here.”

            He led her down a maze of hallways into a large common room that was like a small cafeteria. Long tables held food, and soft drinks and beer bottles floated in large bowls of icy water. Flower arrangements were scattered about, and numerous fruit baskets and other gifts were mixed in. There was a small kitchen, and a few round tables with space for about two dozen people to be comfortable. Along the walls were a couple of faded sofas, a few reclining chairs, and a large flat screen TV.

            “This is the general hang-out area,” Dylan said as they walked into the room. “And these are the blokes that earn me my paychecks and make me look good.” The rest of the band members got up from their seats and came over to greet her.

            “So this is the little lady we’ve been hearing so much about today,” Bo Collins said. He looked Tia up and down. “Damn, dude, you said she wasn’t that good lookin’,” he said with a wicked smile. “What are you blind? She’s gorgeous!”

            Dylan just laughed and punched him on the arm. “I said
you
weren’t that good lookin’. What are you, deaf?” They both laughed at each otherjokes like two old friends who knew each other well.

            “Bo Collins,” he introduced himself, “and if this loser doesn’t treat you right, you just let me know, and I’ll steal you away from him.” He smirked at Dylan, and took Tia’s hand in his own and kissed the back of it.

            “Back off, Bobo, before I have to shove one of your drumsticks up your ass,” Dylan said with mock irritation.

            Bo flashed his famous huge smile, white teeth against the creamy chocolate color of his face. “You’d have to take your head out of there first, Little Strummer Boy, but I’d love to see you try.”  Dylan grinned back.

            The exchange was laughed off by the rest of the guys; they’d obvious seen it before; spending so much time on the road with the same people had to give you a unique relationship.

            The rest of the band members were introduced in turn; Ty Waters; bass, Tommy Fletcher; keyboards, Angelo Isley; everything else—he played woodwind and brass, and filled in with extra guitar when needed. Tia shook their hands, and was once again struck by how average they seemed in their jeans and t-shirts, sitting around a casual space, bullshitting each other like any group of friends. They greeted her warmly, with handshakes and hugs, and let her know in no uncertain terms that she was all Dylan had talked about the entire day while he stood slyly by and just smiled at her. They weren’t larger than life, well, except for Bo maybe, who at six-four was built like a football player; they were just a bunch of guys who genuinely liked each other and loved playing music together. Still, she was among greatness—her musical idols, and she had to let them know it.