On The Floor (Second Story) (12 page)

Jake. He’s setting up a drum kit on the stage.

I clear my throat and try to put the smile back on my face. “Is that the rest of your band up there?” Jenna and Nate both look up on stage. Nate smiles, and Jenna whips her head back in my direction with a look of shock on her face. I know, Jenna, I know.

“Yep, that’s them,” he says smiling and waving.

Jenna and I both turn around quickly so that, hopefully, Jake won’t see our faces. I need a minute to process this before he sees me.

Jenna must sense this, because she grabs my hand and says, “Rachel, will you come with me to the bathroom?”

“Sure,” I say looking at her and widening my eyes. I look back over at Nate and smile. “We’ll be back in a minute.”

I go to leave and he stands and wraps his arms around me, giving me a quick peck on the lips. Even though Jake is right up on stage, I can’t deny that there is something there with Nate. I smile at him.

“Hurry back,” he says, sitting back down and smiling.

I follow Jenna to the bathroom, and when we get inside she turns around to look at me. “First of all, you and Nate are super cute together.”

“Thanks,” I say smiling. And for a moment I forget about Jake. That moment ends fairly quickly.

“Second, Jake and Nate are in the same band?! How the hell did we not know this?” she asks.

“It just never came up.”

“What are you going to do?” she asks me.

“Well, nothing. Jake wants to be friends. Nate wants to be more. So, I’ll be friendly with Jake, and more with Nate. It might be awkward at first for me, but I’m sure it will get better as Jake and I get back to normal.”

“But Jake has feelings for you. I’m sure of it,” she says concerned.

“Well, until he’s ready to say something to me about it, I’m with Nate. And if he ever does say something, then I’ll handle it then.” All of this is so much easier said than done.

“Okaaay…” she says, her voice full of skepticism. “You ready to go back out there?”

“Yep,” I say smiling at her. “Wait! Do you think he already knows I’m dating Nate?” I ask as we walk out of the bathroom and towards the table.

“Well, we’re about to find out,” she whispers as we come up to the table, which is now almost full with Jake, Nate, and the two other members of their band.

Jake’s back is to me when I get to the table. Nate stands up and comes over to hold my hand, giving me another sweet kiss. Then he gestures to my seat and holds my hand as I climb up onto the bar height chair. “So, Rachel, these are the other members of Second Story.” He gestures around the group as he introduces me. “That’s Toby, Brian, and Jake. Guys this is Rachel,” he says looking over at me and smiling.

I look at all of them and give a small smile. Apparently, Nate doesn’t know that I already know Jake. “Hey! Nice to meet you guys.”

“Yeah, you too Rachel!” says Toby smiling.

“Glad you came tonight!” says Brian.

“The guy you were talking about is Nate?” Jake asks. He could have said something like, ‘We already know each other, we work together,’ or ‘We’ve met, we actually work together.’ But instead he blurts that out? This is getting awkward. Especially, since based on his facial expression, it looks like he is pissed. What is going on with him?

Everyone looks between me and Jake, confusion written all over everyone’s face. Except Jenna, she is staring at me with wide eyes.

“You two already know each other?” Nate asks me, gesturing between Jake and me.

“Uh, yeah. We work on the same floor at the dorm,” I say to Nate, a fake smile on my face. “I told him a little bit about you.”

“You just said you were dating someone. You didn’t tell me it was Nate.” He seems kind of pissed as he looks between Nate and me.

“Well, I didn’t know you knew him,” I grind out, looking back at Jake. He’s pissing me off by his reaction. Why is he so mad? This feels like a lover’s quarrel. He’s just finding out that two of his friends are dating.

“Wait. This is
Rachel
?” Nate asks Jake. “I can’t believe I didn’t put that together,” he says more to himself, than anyone else.

The mood is tense. Nate has let go of my hand and is looking down at the table. What is going on? I look up at Jenna and she looks just as confused as me. I widen my eyes, trying to ask for some help.

She gets the hint. “Hey, don’t you guys go on soon?”

Nate shakes his head, bringing himself out of his own thoughts. “Uh, yeah. About ten minutes.” Then he looks at me. “Uh, Rachel, can I talk to you?” he asks quietly.

“Sure,” I say getting up to follow him over to the hallway near the bathrooms.

When we get there, he turns around to face me. He looks sad. “Um, I really like you, Rachel, but I don’t think we should see each other anymore. There’s just… it’s… Jake…” he trails off.

“I really like you too, Nate. If you’re worried about me and Jake, we’re just friends. He’s made it pretty clear to me that there is nothing there. He’ll be fine with us dating. He’s just surprised,” I tell him.

“Are you sure? It seemed pretty tense. I thought there was more between you guys than what he’s told us. It would make sense. He hasn’t been hooking up with girls after the shows, or when we go out. We just figured he was busy between his job and his responsibilities as the AM. But he talks about you all the time and we were giving him a hard time about it. He always insists that you’re just friends, but after the way he just acted…” Nate trails off.

Jake has been talking about me to his friends?

“Well, he was telling the truth. We’re just friends,” I say smiling reassuringly at Nate.

“Okay,” he says with a small smile. He still seems nervous about the whole situation. “You’re sure there’s nothing there?”

“I’m sure,” I say, and I almost believe it myself. “I want to be with you.” I go up on my toes and kiss him. This kiss is a little longer than the ones before. I reach up and push my fingers into his hair, his hands move a little lower on my back. He runs his tongue along my lower lip, and I part them, allowing entrance. The kiss turns sensual and hungry. He grabs me tighter and I pull his head down to deepen the kiss even further.

That’s when we hear someone clear their throat. We separate and I turn around to meet Jake’s stare. I’m expecting there to be the same anger in his expression that was on his face at the table. But instead, he looks sad and hurt.

He clears his throat again before talking. “We’re up, Nate,” he says quickly, turning away and walking toward the stage.

Nate looks back down at me and smiles. He leans down and gives me one last quick kiss before he follows Jake out of the hallway.

I take a deep breath and head back out to meet Jenna by our table.

She looks at me and shakes her head, throwing her arms up in question. “What the hell was that with you and Jake?”

“I have no idea! Why do you think he was so angry?” I am so confused.

“Jealous?” she says guessing.

“He made it pretty clear. We’re friends. He can’t be mad at me for dating someone else, even if it is his friend. It’s not like we were ever anything more. At least to him,” I finish quietly.

“You’re delusional!” says Jenna.

Any further conversation is cut off by the sound from the stage.

“How’s everybody doing tonight?” Jake says into the microphone.

The crowd starts cheering. They seem to know the band well.

“As most of you guys know, we’re Second Story. Thanks for coming out! Hope you enjoy the show!” he says. He seems to be looking everywhere but at me.

They start off playing
Bold as Love
by John Mayer. Jenna and I start swaying to the music, a smile on my face while I try to keep my eyes on Nate. He looks really good playing the drums. I can see the muscles in his arms flex as his sticks make contact and he has his eyes on me every time he looks up. But before I know it, my gaze is on Jake. And watching him play the guitar and sing has my stomach in knots.

When it’s time for his solo, he steps back from the microphone a little bit and closes his eyes. He bites his lower lip, concentrating on his music. I see all the muscles in his arms flex as he plays. But unlike my reaction to Nate, watching Jake play has me nearly panting. My smile is gone and my lips are parted. I’ve stopped moving to the music as I watch him strum. He literally has me mesmerized.

I watch his fingers glide and move across as he plays, and I imagine they are on me. They start in my hair and dance down touching my lips as they slide down my body. My neck, the sides of my breasts, my hips, my thighs. They grip me, make my body tremble and my need swell. My breathing is shallow and my heart is racing as the guitar solo slows.

His eyes open and they find mine. I see the heat in his eyes. Like he knows that he just made love to me with his music. He releases his lip from his teeth and runs his tongue along it. With each shallow breath, I want him. I need him.

And he knows it.

As the song ends, Jenna elbows me and looks from me to Nate. I shake myself out of my haze and smile up at Nate as I cheer. He has a weird look on his face and I know he saw my reaction while I was watching Jake.

I feel like a total bitch.

They play a few more songs and I try my hardest to keep my eyes on Nate, but every once in a while, I shift my focus to Jake. I keep my glances brief, but every time I look over and see his face while he sings and plays, I melt.

About a half hour into their set, everyone leaves the stage but Jake. They all walk backstage, and I hear Jake start talking.

“So this is the part where everyone else gets to take a break and I get to play some of the stuff I’ve been working on. Today, I’m going to do something a little different. I’m in a different kind of mood,” he says lifting an eyebrow and giving the crowd a half smile. When he stops talking he looks right at me, and our eyes lock. My pulse quickens and my breath catches.

Then he starts playing an acoustic version of
Ho Hey
, by the Lumineers. He closes his eyes as he starts to sing, and I can see all of the emotion on his face. Everything that I see written on his face, is what I feel in my heart. He’s telling me that he is done fighting against what we have. What we’re feeling. He wants to be good enough for me. He wants to try.

We belong together.

Even more, he belongs with me. I belong with him.

We belong to each other.

I agree with him. Completely.

The crowd is singing with him now, but I can barely hear anything outside of his deep, sensual voice. When he starts to sing the second verse, he opens his eyes and looks right into mine. And they stay on me for the rest of the song.

He doesn’t want to be friends. He wants me to choose him.

And I do. I choose him.

I soak up every word of his musical confession. I will remember this moment forever. It is etched in my heart and soul for the rest of my life.

When the song ends, the rest of the band comes on stage and Jake breaks eye contact with me. I feel Jenna pull me through the crowd to the bathroom.

She looks at me, and my expression is still full of surprise. I am stunned. Jenna has been right the whole time. Jake has feelings for me.

“Oh. My. God! I told you so!” she says pointing at me. “What are you going to do?”

“Be with him.” It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever decided in my life. There was really never even a choice to be made.

We stay far away from the stage for the rest of the show. When they finish, I see some girls go up to the band and start giggling and flirting. I can see both Jake and Nate looking for me. I make eye contact with Nate. I need to talk to him before anything happens between me and Jake.

Nate comes over to me. “You want to head home?” he asks.

I nod my head and wave goodbye to Jenna as we leave the bar.

The car ride home is quiet. And awkward. When we get to the dorm, he gets out and opens my car door, walking me to the dorm entrance.

“So,” he pauses. “There’s more than friendship there, huh?” he says sadly, looking down at the ground.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to lead you on. I really do like you. It’s just, this thing with Jake… There is this… I can’t explain it,” I say with regret on my face and in my voice. “I’m so, so sorry…”

He looks back at me. “I like you, but I understand. I’m sure he’s been feeling this way for a lot longer than I have. He cares about you a lot. I can tell. I couldn’t hurt my friend like that, even if you wanted to be with me. He has already been hurt too many times in his life.”

“I’m so sorry, Nate,” I say again. I don’t know what else to say. “When I told you there was nothing there, I didn’t know I was lying. He always made it clear we were only friends.”

“It’s ok, Rachel. Jake deserves someone who cares about him the way I know you will. The way you already do,” he says with a small smile on his face. “See you around, Rachel,” he says, turning walking back to his car.

I walk into the building and head straight up to my floor, but I don’t go to my room. Instead, I head for Jake’s room. I know he’s not there yet, but I can’t wait to talk to him. Be with him.

So I sit and wait. And think about Jake. 

Chapter 9

I jerk awake when I hear someone giggling.

Where am I? Why does my neck hurt?

I open my eyes and realize where I am. I am still sitting in front of Jake’s door. But now Jake is standing in front of me looking confused.

I am blinking and waking up when I notice someone standing halfway behind him.

It’s a girl.

No. She’s a woman.

A beautiful woman.

He is looking down at me with coldness in his eyes.

“What time is it?” I ask him.

“Almost two,” he bites out.

I look from him to the woman and then I actually process what is going on here. They are holding hands outside of his room at two in the morning.

Hook-up.

“Um, I guess I fell asleep. I wanted to talk to you, but never mind,” I say, starting to get angry with him for leading me on that way. He knew what he was doing when he looked into my eyes and sang those words. What did he want to get out of this?