Our Song (9 page)

“You can’t even give us a
little
hint?” DeSean questioned.  

“All we can really say is that it’s different from anything we’ve ever done before,” he replied.

Well, I supposed he was at least telling the truth on that one. Simply collaborating with one another
was
different than anything we’d ever done before.

“Well, I know I, for one, will be looking forward to it. I have one more question before I let you guys go.” He paused for a long moment. “It’s a little personal, but tell us…is there anything going on romantically between the two of you?”

I laughed. “No, nothing’s going on.”
We actually sort of hate each other.

“Ah, too bad,” DeSean commented. “I was hoping.”

“She’s just out of my league,” Colton said.

“Really? I didn’t think
anyone
could be out of
your
league,” DeSean said.

“Oh, trust me. That’s because you don’t know Viola Pierce.” Colton avoided my gaze.

I just sat there staring at him, dumbfounded. What the actual fuck?

The rest of the interview was a bit of a blur. When Colton hung up the phone, I said, “What the hell was that ‘she’s out of my league’ bullshit all about?”

“Well, we have to do
something
to make the fans think you’re more likeable,” he replied as he took a bite out of his bagel. “Besides, I’m technically telling the truth. You
are
out of my league.”

“How do you figure?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

“You’re in a league of your own.”

What the hell was
that
supposed to mean?

Chapter 12

That had to have been an insult.

I had a feeling our entire songwriting session was headed into dangerous territory unless I could find a way to keep my snappy comebacks to myself.

You’re the only one who thinks Sebastian is secretly in love with Ariel and
I’m
in a league of my own? Ha, okay.

There. That should’ve been enough to hold me over for a while, unless he made more douchebaggy remarks (which I was sure he would).

When we went into my office, he made himself comfortable on the sofa. I headed for my desk, grabbing my guitar on the way.

“I feel like you’re so far away from me. Why don’t you sit down over here?” He patted the cushion next to him.

I hesitated for a moment, but when I glanced over my shoulder and into those light eyes, I knew there was no way I could say no. I wasn’t sure how
any
girl could resist Colton King telling her to sit next to him. He was just that adorable.

I took a deep breath and crossed the room, sitting beside him. We were so close our knees were lightly touching and if either of us were to move our arms, we would end up knocking each other in the ribs. We were so close I could feel his warm breath against my neck.

“Happy?” I asked.

“No. Now I feel claustrophobic.”

“Oh.” I started scooting my butt over, but he slipped an arm around my waist, pinning my hip against his.

“I was just kidding.” A few long moments passed before he finally cleared his throat. “Forty-two.”

Did he just tell me I was
number
forty-two? As in, the forty-second girl he’d slept with? I had to admit the number was a lot lower than I’d originally expected it to be.

“Forty-two?” I asked.

He nodded. “My ex sent me forty-two text messages without a response. So, I have things covered on the crazy girl side of things.”

I
am
the crazy girl side of things
. I couldn’t help but feel bothered by his comment.
“Maybe if you’d replied to her, she wouldn’t have felt the need to send you forty-two texts.”

“I
guess
. But it’s a little hard to text in the shower, with all the water pouring over me.”

I shrugged. “You should learn to take risks.”

“I should risk dropping my phone in water just to answer a girl’s forty-two texts?” He looked amused again. “Okay, clingy. Tell me how many texts
you’ve
blown someone’s phone up with.”

“Not forty-two,” I said, probably a little too quickly. Technically, it was the truth; I hadn’t sent that many texts in
one day
, just over a period of 42 (and then some) days.

He nodded. “Girls. You’re all the same.”

I shot him a look. “I’ll have you know that I’ve gotten some crazy texts, too.”

“Oh, yeah? From who?” He didn’t sound too convinced.

“Foot Fetish Guy,” I replied.

“Foot Fetish Guy?” He laughed. “I can’t wait to hear about this one.”

“Yeah, that’s my nickname for him. Ironically, I met him while he was working at a shoe store. He would text me all day every day asking what type of shoes I was wearing or begging me to send him pictures of my feet.”

“Wow. And did you send them to him?”

“I did at first. I didn’t think it was an obsession, you know?” I explained. “But then, he would start bitching over what color of nail polish I wore or how certain pairs of shoes didn’t look sexy enough with my arches. It got to be too much and I ended it, but for months later, he continued to send me pictures of
his
feet, like they were supposed to make me fall for him.”

“Wow. You are a crazy guy magnet,” Colton noted.

“I am
not
,” I insisted. “I’ve dated lots of sane guys.”

“Yeah? So far, your crazy to sane guy ratio isn’t looking so good. First, we have the guy who ghosted you. Then we have the guy with the foot fet—”

“The first guy ghosting me doesn’t mean he was
crazy
,” I pointed out.

“Well, I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here. A guy ghosts a girl for one of two reasons. He’s too immature for a real relationship, so he just ends it with you without giving you a reason, in which case, I think he’s a little crazy.”

“And the other reason would be?” I asked.

“That you’re just bat-shit insane and he wanted to get out before you could, I don’t know, kill him a thousand times.” He shot me a smirk.

I rolled my eyes. “You take my song lyrics
way
too literally.”

“That’s just me. I don’t believe in hidden meanings behind songs and poems and shit. You know that poem by Robert Frost? ‘The Road Not Taken’?” Colton asked.

I nodded.

“Everyone thinks it has some deep meaning, but you know what I think? I think some dude just came to two roads and decided to take the one no one else took so he could avoid traffic.”

“I can never tell if you’re being serious,” I commented.

“Here’s a hint: I never joke.” His amused blue eyes locked on mine. “As fun as this all is, we should maybe try to actually get some words down today.”

“Oh, yeah, right.” I sat up straighter, remembering the reason he was here. Normally, the words just seemed to flow when I wrote music by myself, but I felt more distracted than usual when he was here.

“What’s the
craziest
thing you’ve ever texted someone?” Colton asked.

“Who says I’ve ever sent crazy texts?” I quickly shot back at him. In my swiftest attempt to change the subject without actually owning up to the crazy girl texts I’d sent, I said, “I think I have our first verse.”

He stared back at me intently. “What is it?”

“Shhh, don’t talk. I need to write it down.” That would buy me some time to actually
think
of a first verse, considering I didn’t even really have one in mind.  

Grabbing my songbook from him, I opened a blank page.

A few moments later, I scribbled down the first thing that came to mind, and hoped it wasn’t laughable.

Baby, when I gave you my number

I didn’t know

That you were gonna start

Blowin’ up my phone

My friends said you were crazy

But I didn’t listen

Now you got me wishin’

My battery would die

I think texting me gives you a high

Once I’d written all of the words down, I read them over. For a first verse that had been written entirely on a whim, it actually didn’t sound half-bad, if I did say so myself.

Proud of my accomplishment, I handed the songbook back to Colton for him to read.

His eyes poured over the words, and after a few moments, he nodded. “Yeah, this is good—really good, actually. Do you want to practice it?”

“Okay,” I agreed, lifting my guitar. As we strummed the chords, we both began to sing the first verse, our voices falling into sync with one another.

“This is good,” he said again once we’d gone through it three times.

“Yeah, it is.” I couldn’t help but smile at my accomplishment.

“I guess since you wrote the first verse, I should probably try to come up with a chorus,” Colton said. “You know…so as not to break the fifty-fifty rule.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

He seemed to consider it for a moment when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and glanced down at the caller ID. His eyes clouded over with a dark look and he stood up abruptly. “Shit. I forgot that I was supposed to be somewhere this morning. I hate to cut this short, but I really need to go. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. No problem.” I shrugged it off, even though I couldn’t help but wonder what was so important that he needed to leave so suddenly. On the other hand, it couldn’t have been
that
important if he hadn’t remembered it in the first place…could it?

I supposed there was always a chance he was late for a date with Mystery Girl. Ugh.

“Do you want to resume again tomorrow?” Colton asked.

“Yeah, sounds good,” I agreed as I rose to my feet. I led him out of my office and to the front door.  As he stepped out into the hallway, I closed the door behind him and leaned against it.

I breathed a sigh of relief. The song we were putting together was
exactly
the type of song Jimmy Jones had wanted me to write. And for the first time in a long time, I actually
felt
happy while writing it.

Chapter 13

Later that night, Skylar and I sat on bar stools at a round table, waiting for Finn to arrive. We’d chosen to go to the Wild Frog, an upscale bar that saw a good deal of celebrity attention. So far, we’d already had sightings of Kimye and Miley Cyrus and her latest beau.

The nice thing about this bar was that, while lots of celebs came here, everyone pretty much knew to leave everyone else alone. It was one of the places you came to if you needed some peace and quiet.

“You know, it feels like it’s been
forever
since I’ve seen Finn,” Skylar said as she sipped her fuzzy navel. “You know, the version of him that isn’t picking my ass up and putting me in a hotel.”

“Well, yeah, considering it’s been forever since you’ve been in L.A.,” I pointed out. “I’m really glad you’re back, by the way.” And that was the truth. It felt good to have my best friend back in town. There things I could do with Skylar that I just couldn’t do with Finn. I mean, yeah, he was always down to see the latest chick flicks with me (when he wasn’t too busy running his business), but gossiping about guys and shoe shopping wasn’t his cup of tea.

“I’m really glad to be back, too,” she replied with a smile.

At that moment, I spotted Finn out of the corner of my eye as he made his way over to us.

“There he is,” I said, pointing my chin at him.

Finn waved as he got closer to our table. When he plopped down onto a barstool next to Skylar, he said, “Hey, guys. You wouldn’t
believe
who’s outside.”

“Please tell me it’s
not
Colton,” I replied, taking a gulp of my drink. It felt like the boy popped up anywhere I was and, somehow, I was the only one who didn’t find it really exciting. Not that I would’ve minded seeing him…

“It’s not Colton,” Finn assured me. “Adam Levine is out there.”

“I
love
Adam Levine!” Skylar squealed, bouncing on her barstool excitedly. “I need to ask him for an autograph later. And if he’ll marry me.”

“I hate to break it to you, but he’s already married.”

“So? A man can have more than one wife,” she joked with an eye roll.

“Speaking of marriage… are
you
dating anyone?” Finn asked her.

“No,” she replied with a distant look in her eyes.

“Really? There wasn’t someone in Nashville?”

“There was, but he’s no longer in the picture.” Her dark eyes darted away from him. “I don’t really feel like talking about it. It’s a sore subject. But tell me about your matchmaking business! Viola mentioned it. I’m so excited for you. I remember when you used to be obsessed with the show
Tough Love
. I feel like you’re the next Steve Ward.”

His lips lifted into a smile. “Thanks. Steve Ward is pretty much my idol. It’s been a lot of fun and even more than that, I just feel like I’m really doing something for the greater good, you know? Helping people find the right match for them isn’t easy. It’s actually sort of frustrating sometimes, but when I see a relationship work out, it all seems worth it.”

“That’s awesome. How do you go about finding someone’s perfect match?” Skylar asked, sounding intrigued.

As Finn began to explain his entire matchmaking process to her, I began to zone out and looked around the room. My eyes caught on someone gazing at me with dark brown eyes from across the bar, and I nearly choked on my Tequila Sunrise.
Shit.

It would be just my fucking luck that Jake fucking Palmer would be only feet away from me. Not only that, but he was gazing in my direction
and
his arm was draped around the waist of his model girlfriend. All I could seem to focus on was the fact that, for the first time since he’d left me, the two of us were in the same fucking room as one another. Kill me.  

A wave of panic washed over me and I took a huge gulp of my drink. What if he came over to me? What if he called me out on all of the text messages I’d sent him since we’d broken up? Or, even worse, what if his girlfriend came over and called me out on it? Either way, it would’ve been embarrassing.

I had a mental battle with myself on what to do. Every ounce of my being wanted to pay my tab and get the hell out of there, but I knew that would make me look weak and pathetic. I was supposed to be rebuilding my image and proving that I was just fine without him. Strong, fierce fighters didn’t just bolt any time they had a confrontation with their ex-boyfriend—especially not when he was with his new girlfriend.

So, the wise part of me won out. Whether I wanted to or not, I needed to stay at the bar, at least for a little while longer—just long enough to make it look like my exit had nothing to do with seeing him. In the meantime, I needed to give off the impression that he was the least of my current worries and that I was really having fun with my friends.

Ugh. I wasn’t sure how I could make it seem like I was enjoying myself when my biggest focus was on not trying not to puke everywhere. Just saying.

I knew that the only way I was going to get through this was with a lot more alcohol. I walked over to the bar and ordered a rum and Coke.

In case you’re wondering, I knew I was mixing different types of alcohol. That was exactly what I intended to do. I knew the hangover was going to suck more the next day, but I couldn’t focus too much on the future; I needed to focus on the here and now. And right now, I needed the strongest, quickest buzz possible, which meant rum, tequila, vodka, whiskey, and gin were
all
on the menu for tonight. The drunker I was able to get, the better.

“Wow, so can you tell me who your clients are?” Skylar was asking Finn as I sat back down with my drink in hand.

He shook his head. “Sorry. I wish I could, but they all have non-disclosure agreements,” he explained.

“Oh, you just wait, Finn. When you’re all good and drunk, I’m going to ask you that question again and next time you’ll open up to me,” she said with a wink.

A horrified expression crossed his face. “You wouldn’t dare, Sky!”

“Try me.” She shot him a devilish grin.

“Remind me not to get drunk when I’m around you,” he replied with a laugh. Glancing over at me, he raised his eyebrows. “Are you okay, Vi? You’re being awfully quiet.”

“I’m okay.” I paused. One look at his face told me he didn’t believe me and that he wasn’t going to let it drop so easily without an explanation, so I blurted, “Don’t look now, but Jake is in the corner over there with his new girlfriend.”

Guess what
both
of my brilliant friends decided to do at the same time? They both turned their heads in the direction I’d motioned to at a moment when Jake was, of course, looking our way. Go freaking figure.

Fuck my life.

“Way to make it obvious, guys,” I muttered, taking a huge gulp of my drink and darting my eyes away, hoping that it would somehow make it seem less obvious, even though we’d basically been caught red-handed talking about him. Ugh.

“She’s so not pretty,” Skylar said, glancing over at me. “You know that, right?”

“I don’t think she’s that bad.” I shrugged.

“From a straight guy’s perspective, I can honestly say Skylar’s right,” Finn told me reassuringly. “Homeboy really downgraded.”

“Okay, you guys, but it’s not all about looks,” I reminded them. “Clearly, she must have
something
that attracts him to her.”

“Well, it’s certainly not her boobs, because she looks pretty damn flat-chested, if you ask me,” Skylar noted. Then she added with a shrug, “Maybe he’ll just fuck anything with a hole.”

I nearly choked on my Rum and Coke. I couldn’t believe that we were having this discussion about my ex-boyfriend—the guy who I’d, at one point, believed I would spend the rest of my life with.

It was crazy how much your life could change in just a year. Shit, it was crazy how much your life could change in a
week
, considering I’d burned those songs I’d thought would help me win him back.

“Trust me, Vi. Eventually, he’s going to wake up and realize what he lost,” Finn told me quietly.

“It’s okay. I’m actually over it. I’m over
him
,” I said firmly, paying close attention to how it felt to say those words. Normally, when I experimented with how it felt and sounded to say that I was over him out loud, I didn’t even come close to believing myself. But for the first time ever, I had to admit that I sounded pretty damn convincing. Maybe I really
was
over it.

“Well, that’s good,” Skylar commented. “If we’re being completely honest, I don’t think he’s
that
cute. I think you can do better.”

“Are you sure you’re really over him?” Finn studied my face questioningly.

This was part of what set my friendships with the two of them apart from one another. Skylar had been gone for so long that she hadn’t gotten to witness firsthand just how in love I’d been with Jake. She hadn’t seen the two of us together—aside from in the tabloids—or the way he’d swept me off my feet like I was some sort of princess in the beginning. And she definitely had no idea how broken I’d been when it all came crashing down around me.

Finn had been there in the background the entire time, watching it all go down. So, of course it was going to be more difficult for me to convince him that I was really over it.

“Yeah, well it’s clear that he’s already moved on,” I said. “I think it’s about time that I do the same. But I do feel over it right now.”

He nodded, but I could tell from the look in his green eyes that he wasn’t at all convinced.

“I just want to enjoy myself,” I told them. “Do you guys want to do shots with me?”

“I’m down,” Skylar agreed with a grin.

“I think I’m going to skip this one out,” Finn said.

She wrinkled her nose at him. “Party pooper.”

“Well, maybe I would do shots if
someone
didn’t threaten to try to get details about my business out of me while I was drunk,” he replied with a laugh. “But I’ll watch you two get drunk. Someone needs to make sure you get home safely, anyway.”

And so our crazy night of drinking began.