London Falling (21 page)

There was a long line snaking the entrance to the concert. My outfit was carefully planned for tonight, but I didn’t think about standing outside in the cool spring air when I choose the black skirt. I stood on my toes, searching for Beau. The guy in front of me was too tall to see past.

“London. Hey.” Beau tapped me on the shoulder while I strained to examine the crowd.

Caught off guard by the contact, I stammered, “Hey.” I wanted his arms around me or a kiss, but shoulder tapping was the only touch I felt.

“Come on. My friend works the door. We can go on in.” He walked toward the door. Of course he had a connection at Cat’s Cradle. He knew everyone.

I heard a few snarky comments as we breezed past the anxious concertgoers. Thankful to be inside, I smiled at Beau.

“I’ll be right back. I see someone I know.” Before I could even respond, Beau dashed through the throng gathered in front of the stage and disappeared.

Alone, I looked around the quaint concert hall. It was dark. The roadies were on stage completing the final sound tests before the Bayou Brothers took the stage. I knew things were not the same between us, but I couldn’t believe Beau took off like that. We were supposed to be on a fake date. A real fake date.

Not wanting to look like a wallflower, I walked to the bar to get a bottled water. I sipped the water and waited. I had lost Beau in the growing crowd. I tipped the bottle back and felt a hand graze my butt. I whipped around to see who had touched me.

“Derek? What are you doing here?”

“Hey, London. Didn’t think I’d see you here either.” He had a mischievous smile on his face that made me squirm. “I thought you knew how much I liked the Bayou Brothers. I’ve seen them at least six times.”

I had never paid attention to what kind of music Derek liked. I probably wouldn’t have guessed bluegrass-Cajun-funk.

“Yeah. I’m here with someone.” I looked over my shoulder, hoping that my someone would walk up any second.

“Don’t tell me it’s that blog guy again.” His eyes narrowed. “I get that you are committed to your class project, but did you have to quit Encore?”

The water bottle was my only distraction tactic. I took another swallow and avoided Derek’s question.

“I wrote
Betray Me
with you in mind. Come back to Encore. There’s time for you to rehearse. We’ll pretend none of this other stuff ever happened.” His hand landed on my hip and was resting on my waist.

“Derek? What are you doing?” I took a step back. He had invaded my personal space one too many times.

“Come on, London. I know why you left.” He stepped closer.

“I left because I wanted to spend my last months at Carolina doing something else besides being stuck in the basement.” I raised my hand to his chest. “And whatever it is you think you’re doing, you need to stop.”

The lights flickered on the stage and everyone around us started cheering.

“You don’t mean that.” He leaned toward me and I recognized a lustful look in his eye. One that I never wanted to see from him.

I didn’t have much space to move. The room was packed, and I was shoulder to shoulder with Bayou Brothers fans.

“Nina is my best friend. Please, just go, Derek. Leave me alone.”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with Nina.” He reached for my waist again, but I was wedged next to a tall man, oblivious to my problem.

“Derek, seriously, back off.” I was starting to panic. Derek was acting deranged and deaf. I had never seen him like this.

“Man. You heard her. Back off.” Beau emerged from the sea of fans. I don’t know how much of the conversation he overheard between Derek and me, but it was enough.

Derek ignored him. “London, come on. Why don’t you watch the show with me? Leave this jackass.” His hand lunged for me.

“No. She’s my date. We’ve both asked you to leave—nicely.” Beau stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Derek.

“Then why did you leave her here?” Derek stood his ground.

Beau leaned forward and I could hear the low murmur of his voice, but I couldn’t make out any of his words. I didn’t see what happened next, only Derek tunneling through the crowd and out of my line of sight.

“You ok?” Beau looked worried—the kind of worried that made me melt.

“I’m fine. I could handle him.” I had to shout over the instrumental bars. The band was starting up.

“Good. I won’t leave again. Sorry.” He turned toward the stage and threw a fist in the air, then leaned toward my ear. “See? I knew he was a jerk.” I thought I saw a smile sneak across his face. He immediately focused on the stage. The Bayou Brothers were ready to start.

I looked at Beau. I wasn’t sure if he was sorry he left me standing alone in a pit of guys, sorry that Derek was being an ass, or sorry we were broken up. The banjo sounds filled the room and one of the brothers with the longest beard I had seen, struck the strings on his fiddle. This was no place to think through anything.

***

“Good concert?” Beau asked as we walked outside.

I stood on the sidewalk, hugging my jacket tightly. “Yes. They were awesome.” They were so much better in person than on the radio. “Thanks for the date.” I waited, hoping he would ask me to get coffee or a drink. Almost all of our dates were two parts.

“Cool. See you in class Tuesday?” His hands were in his front pockets and he was backing up.

“Yes. See you Tuesday.” I waved.
Shit.
It was only a one-part date. I guess I would be spending the rest of the night with my roomies and zombies.

***

I closed the front door behind me, expecting Nina and Candace to be waiting for me in the living room.

“Hello?” I called out in the quiet house.

“Oh, hey, babe. It’s just me.” Candace was in the kitchen retrieving a bag of popcorn from the microwave.

“Where’s Nina?”

“Derek texted her about thirty minutes ago. She went over to his place.” Candace dumped the popcorn in a bowl and threw a second bag in the microwave.

“What? She’s with Derek?” My stomach flipped. I wasn’t prepared for how I was going to tell her what happened with him tonight, but I intended to let her know what a royal asshole he was. I couldn’t let my best friend waste another second on him. He was officially disgusting.

“You look like something’s wrong, London. Was the date that bad?”

“Yeah. I mean not the part with Beau. Something bad happened. Candace, there’s something I have to tell Nina.”

“Let’s go in the living room. Here’s your popcorn. The zombies can wait.”

I followed her to the couch, grabbed Ugly Quilt, and told her how Derek pounced on me at the Bayou Brothers concert. I didn’t want to think about how far it would have gone if Beau hadn’t shown up.

“Holy shit. This is bad, London. And by the way, he is slime. Not even slime. What’s lower than slime?” Candace looked horrified.

“I know. It makes me sick. But I have to tell Nina. And she’s over there with him right now—probably—you know.”

“Ewww.” Candace had stopped eating her popcorn.

“What should I do?” I realized it had been months since I had been alone with Candace. I couldn’t think of the last time she had helped me through a crisis. It was always Nina. This time Nina was involved in the crisis. Candace couldn’t have chosen a better time to reemerge.

“We can’t call her now.” Candace made a face. “But first thing tomorrow, you have to tell her.”

“She is going to freak out. She has been in love with Derek since our freshman year.”

“He is such a loser. Maybe we should go over there right now. I don’t care what they’re doing.” Candace was getting worked up.

“No. No. Tomorrow morning will have to be soon enough. Will you do it with me? You don’t have to tell her, of course. Just be here?”

Candace smiled. “I will be here. For both of you.” She picked up a piece of popcorn and tossed it in her mouth. “Now, for the fun part. Tell me about Beau.”

I sighed and launched into my recount of our fake date.

***

The pancakes were on the table and Candace had already cleared the counter from our messy production line. Nina should be here any second.

“Don’t worry, London. She’s going to be ok.” Candace tried to reassure me, but it wasn’t working.

My palms were sweaty. When I heard the front door open, I shook my hands by my side like I did every time before the curtain went up. It usually calmed me. I pushed the syrup to the center of the table.

“Hey, babe.” Candace greeted Nina.

She glanced over the orange juice glasses and the pancakes on the table. “Derek told me you’d try something like this.”

Candace and I exchanged puzzled looks.

“What do you mean?” I was nervous to ask her.

“London, I’m not mad. Derek told me what happened last night.”

Again, I looked at my other roommate. I was utterly confused.

“What exactly did he tell you?” I shook my hands again, and slapped them against my leg to stop the calming ritual.

“He told me you hit on him, but I knew it was probably just to make Beau jealous. Sounds like it worked.”

I didn’t know what to say. Derek had twisted everything around and Nina bought every lying word. Why did he even care if Nina was mad? He was just using her and stringing her along. It didn’t matter anymore what his intentions were—I knew mine.

“Nina, he’s lying.” That was as bluntly as I could state it.

“What are you talking about? You didn’t hit on him at the concert to make Beau jealous?”

“No. It was the other way around.”

“What? Derek hit on
you
? That’s not how it happened. It can’t be.”

I sighed. I knew I was breaking Nina’s heart, but it was far worse to let her end up with a conniving bastard. “It wasn’t the first time, Nina. He did it on opening night of
Spoiled Hearts
.”

“And you’re just now telling me? This isn’t possible. You’re the one who is lying and twisting this all around.” Her eyes seethed with anger.

“I should have said something then, but I just thought I misinterpreted the whole thing—until last night. There was no misinterpreting. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

“I slept with him! Twice! Both times after he hit on you!” Her voice filled the kitchen. Candace stayed planted by the counter. “You couldn’t have told me before I did that? And it wasn’t even good the second time!”

“I didn’t know what to do. Please believe me. I didn’t want him to be an asshole. I just thought it was creative moodiness or something. Nina, I’m sorry.”

“You’ve said that. Thanks.” She grabbed the plate of pancakes and walked down the hall.

“Nina?” Candace called.

We heard her bedroom door close with a bang. She left us standing in the kitchen, pancake-less. I slouched into the closest chair.

“What a disaster.”

“She’s going to be ok, London. You had to tell her. Just give her some time. She’ll come around. I haven’t been here much this semester, but I do know you two are too close to let a guy come between your friendship. She just needs time.”

“Thanks, Candace.”

“I’m going to run over to Pearce’s now. He’s probably starving. I usually do his grocery shopping on Sunday.” She picked up her keys.

“You do Pearce’s grocery shopping?”

She winked. “I do anything he wants.”

Ugh.
I could only take one asshole a day. “Ok. See you later.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I had to get ready for date eight with Beau without Nina’s help. After an entire week, she still wasn’t talking to me. Dealing with a broken heart was enough for her to handle without me adding to her pile of problems. Our friendship could withstand this; we had been through too much over the past four years. I could wait until she was ready to open up even though all I wanted to do was sit on her bed and talk.

It was finally April. That meant campus was budding with flowers, birds were chirping, the daylight hours were growing longer, and the days until graduation were growing shorter. Spring also meant baseball, at least that’s what Beau’s text said.