by Leila Lucas
Chapter Nine
DYLAN
“Man, how the fuck are we meant to perform normally tonight?” I set up the microphone stand on the stage.
“We just do. Pretend she’s not there.”
“Seriously?” I laugh. Ben is the biggest control freak when it comes to the band, so him pretending to play it cool is hilarious.
“No. We can’t fuck it up. Our whole career depends on this moment tonight.” He rubs his hands over his face. He looks like shit, completely exhausted and stressed out.
Putting our videos online finally paid off. They’ve been getting more and more popular over the years. In this case, the super important person is sitting at the table talking on her phone and drinking water. A tall, dark-haired woman is sitting alone at the corner of the bar. She looks like an everyday patron in here, unknown to anyone else but us. She has our chance at a career in the palm of her hands. Her name is Celine Green and she’s a talent scout for a big record company in L.A.
“She’s hot.” Ben sees me staring at her.
“Dude, no.”
“What?”
“Don’t even think about it. You could ruin everything.”
“No girl has left my bed unsatisfied.”
“Just don’t.”
“Okay, fine. If she’s not interested in us, can I anyway?”
“No.”
“What if she says she’ll take us on if I sleep with her?”
“Sure.” I roll my eyes. I know he’s just annoying me with all this solely to take my mind off being nervous because the band is the most important thing to him, and it doesn’t matter how hot the woman is, it’s not worth it.
“Did you tell Vikki and Chloe to come?” He’s scrolling through his phone.
“Why would I?”
“I don’t know. Because we’ve all hung out a few times?” he asks with a what kind of stupid question is that look on his face. I presume that is the look on my face for 90 percent of Ben’s questions and ideas.
“I texted Chloe. She said she’ll be here in an hour and that she’s excited,” he reads from his phone.
“Chloe? You have her number?”
“Yeh.”
“How? Why?” Why the fuck do I care?
“She gave it to me a few weeks ago before we hooked up,” he says.
“What the fuck?” This is not happening. Chloe and I aren’t together, we’re barely even friends, but I thought there was a small chance she was into me.
I stare at him and he just bursts out laughing, with his finger pointed at my face.
“Oh, man.” He catches his breath. “You should have seen your face.” He shakes his head.
He’s fucking with me.
“It was Vikki. I don’t have Chloe’s number.”
I shake my head at him. “You’re an asshole.”
He keeps laughing as he walks out of the bar to the van.
* * *
“You need to do a song at the end.” Ben takes one of the drinks Chloe bought for everyone at the table.
“This isn’t the time to experiment.”
“She has a blank look on her face.” He side-eyes me toward Celine, who did look disinterested the entire time.
“I’m sure she wasn’t bored. She’s probably not meant to give off any vibe,” Vikki adds.
“I’m not doing a song.” Not to gloat, but I can write songs like it’s nothing, but I’ll never be as good as Ben when it comes to performing.
“You have to.” Ben throws the beer bottle cap at me, just missing my head.
“No.”
“We need to show her we’re versatile. Do it once and you don’t have to ever again.”
“What if I fuck it up?”
“You won’t. You know your songs better than anyone else. Plus, she looks like she’d rather be somewhere else anyway. Need to spice things up.”
“Do it shirtless!” Vikki says way too loudly, causing a few people to look our way.
“YES!” Ben high fives Vikki and they keep going on with their brilliant ideas, which I kept ignoring after I heard them suggest stripping and twerking. I never noticed this before, but I’m pretty sure Vikki is the female version of Ben, just much better looking.
“Why don’t you sing the song you did the first time we watched you?” Chloe says.
“Oh yeah! That was very swoon worthy.” Vikki claps with excitement.
“It was sooooooo dreamy.” Jackson fans his face.
“Shut up, Jackson.”
“Dyl, please. Dyl, please. Dyl, please. Dyl, please. Dyl, pl—” Ben whines.
“Fine.”
“Shirtless?” Jackson asks.
“No, shirtless isn’t happening. I’ll just sing ‘Home’. The people liked it last time.” I look at Chloe and she smiles. It’s definitely not the best song, but there are no crazy high notes that only Ben could pull off.
“Okay, we’re up again. If she doesn’t show even the smallest amount of emotion we’re all going shirtless.” Ben gets up and we all follow him to the stage.
“Well, now I’m hoping she shows no emotion.” Vikki raises her eyebrows excitedly.
CHLOE
“You two look like the biggest tourists right now.” Jackson hangs his sunglasses on the collar of his T-shirt. We have two phones, an iPad, and a notebook spread across the small table. All screens have various photos of locations in Nashville, notebook filled with dot points. “You two going on an adventure or something?” He leans over to read what I jotted down.
“Chloe needs some inspiration for her book. We can’t seem to find the perfect place,” Vikki says as she scrolls through an Instagram account.
“BEN!” Jackson yells out, making everyone look up at him. “BEN! The ladies need you.”
“Don’t they all?” Ben yells back as he’s walking to our table. Thankfully Noah’s is pretty quiet at the moment. Otherwise Patsy wouldn’t be too happy with the screaming back and forth between these two. “Ladies.” Ben bows, making Vikki giggle. “I’m at your service.”
“I’m in a bit of a writing rut and need some location inspiration.” All my books so far have been based in big cities, but I wanted to set the next one in a small town. I always found that experiencing the location myself helps me fill in all the small details in the book. “Isolated, pretty trees, couple walking dogs.” I try to help Ben, who looks to be deep in thought.
“Something romantic,” Vikki adds.
“And cosy.”
“Sounds like my bed.” Jackson winks. Ben hits him over the head.
“I’m not good with romantic and all that, but I know someone who might help, so I’ll get back to you with that,” he says as he’s looking down at his phone and texting.
“Can I have a croissant now?”
“You didn’t even help!” Vikki slaps his hand as he reaches for the fresh batch Patsy brought us.
“It’s the thought that counts,” Jackson says as he grabs a croissant and passes it to Ben.
Chapter Ten
CHLOE
“I know this probably isn’t what you had in mind, but you need to wait until the sun comes up.” Dylan pulls over and once he turns the headlights off, it’s completely dark.
“Well, I can’t really tell. You could be taking me to your secret dungeon where you keep other girls you’ve lured.” I side-eye him even though he can’t see me.
“See! Already inspired to write a story.” He laughs.
Dylan instructs me to stay in the car until he turns the lights on. Sitting alone in a car at three in the morning in an unknown location is as terrifying as you’d expect. But Dylan assured me this place is exactly what I asked for and it had to be seen at sunrise. I trust Dylan, but I also know better than to go somewhere with a boy without informing my best friend. Within a minute of him going, rows and rows of fairy lights turn on, illuminating a huge wood cabin.
Dylan jogs back and opens my door and takes my bag in one hand and puts his other hand out for me. He al
ready saw me struggle to get into his truck, so it was sweet of him to stop me from falling flat on my face in the dark.
“Wow, it’s so pretty,” I say, pretending not to notice that I haven’t let go of his hand yet. The fairy lights are tied around the tree stomps and others attached from one tree to another, giving the illusion of stars.
“It’s my family’s cabin. They rent it out when we aren’t using it and it became popular for small weddings, so Mom put those up to make it pretty.” He looks over and smiles at me. I feel his hand slip from mine and it took a lot of willpower not to squeeze it so he can’t let go. But I close the truck door and follow him to the cabin. We pass a cute porch to get through the big wooden doors. Dylan puts my bag on the huge sectional that hardly even takes up a fraction of the main room.
“This is a mansion cabin.”
“It’s pretty big,” he agrees. “Our entire family would be here during summers, so it never felt like a big place. Now that it’s just us two it’s definitely an overkill.” He laughs. Just us two. “I did promise you a coffee when we got here, so make yourself comfortable and I’ll get to it.” Sweet, gorgeous, funny, and makes me coffee. I feel like someone up there is testing my willpower now. Chloe wants to be single for twelve months? Let’s get the best man we can find and put them in a cabin together.
While Dylan is making me a much-needed coffee I walk upstairs to check out the bedrooms. We’re not sleeping over, but I want to see the rest of the place. There’s a long hallway with several doors on both sides. I peek into a few and the bedrooms are all very similar. Minimal decor, big beds, and huge windows. One bedroom had the most amazing built-in bunk beds I have ever seen in my life. There is a slide between the four beds lined up against the wall. A slide. I don’t even need to see the rest of the rooms because this one wins. All the neutral tones and small homey touches make this enormous cabin feel very cosy. Before I turn to go back downstairs a huge frame catches my eye. It’s a group photo of about twenty people in front of a lake.
“That’s my family. Now you see why this place never felt huge.” He hands me a mug that would be mistaken for a bowl. But I don’t complain because I need my brain to function for me tonight. I have to write and I have a good feeling about this place.
“Thank you.” I take a step closer and try to find Dylan in the photo.
“I would have been around twelve then.” He gives me a hint.
“That’s you and Ben?” I finally spot two boys who look like twins. I point and he nods. “Which one is you?”
“On the left. Nobody could really tell us apart for most of our younger years. Same haircuts and the same clothes Mom dressed us in. When we became teenagers our individuality really came through.”
“You were cute!” Still are. “And those are your grandparents in the middle?”
“Yeah, they hosted the summers here every year, so this is where we came every year. Mostly without my dad because he was always working, but this time he surprised us and I think it’s the only and last time we were all together in the one spot.” He goes a bit quiet as he reminisces. “My grandparents both died the following year. After that it just wasn’t the same. And we had gotten older, so most of us went our separate ways. It made my mom sad that the place was neglected, so she renovated it and now people make their own happy memories here.”
“That’s sweet. Well, sad, about your grandparents but sweet of your mom,” I correct myself.
DYLAN
“Are there bears around here?” she asks in all seriousness.
“Probably.”
She looks at me, not knowing if she should believe me or not. I’ve never seen a bear here, but the cabin is pretty secluded in a forest. There are few more cabins, but they’re on the other side of the lake and I’m guessing they’re usually empty.
“What do I do if one comes up to me?”
“I don’t think they’ll just come and say hi to you. They’re not dogs. They’ll just lunge at you and eat you,” I say nonchalantly.
“That’s not funny! I’ve seen videos of them opening doors and fridges. They’re very smart.”
“Do you want me to stay out here with you? I can sit on the other side of the porch on my laptop while you write here. This way if bears come they’ll get me first.”
“What if they come from this side?” She looks over, trying to see behind her.
“Then you die first.”
“Should have bought bear spray,” she mumbles while she adjusts the blankets and pillows I brought out for her on the porch swing.
“Chloe?”
“Hmmm?” She doesn’t look up from her laptop.
“If a bear comes on your side I’ll run and save you in time.” I falsely reassure her. As much as I would love to save Chloe, there’s probably no way I’d be fast enough. Can’t believe we’re still going on about the bears. It’s not something that even remotely crossed my mind today. Or any other time I’ve been here.
“Thank you.” She looks up at me and smiles.
I take my laptop and my notebook and get comfortable on the porch swing on the other side of the door. I intentionally lie diagonally across the swing so I have a nice view of her over my laptop because I really love watching her face when she writes. I don’t know if writing face is a thing, but she has the cutest one. I can see her feeling the emotions she’s putting down. My favorite is when she sweetly smiles at the screen when she writes something she’s proud of. She got stuck into her writing right away, and I spent the hour pretending to do things on my laptop while I watched her.
As the sky slowly gets brighter and the sun starts rising Chloe looks away from her laptop more and more. When the lake becomes visible enough she puts on her boots and one of the blankets around herself.
“I’m going to get a closer look.”
“Just be careful. Two of my little cousins died when the alligator came up really fast.” I try really hard to keep a straight face even when she’s frowning at me with her mouth half open.
“You’re lying.” She squints at me.
“It was even worse when my aunt Betty tried to save them and these bears ran right towar—”
“Dylan, that’s not funny.” She tightens the blanket around her shoulders and walks to the lake. I’m glad I stayed on the porch because the view from here is so perfect I had to grab my phone to take a photo. The sky is now reflecting off the lake, with the only thing standing out being Chloe’s silhouette. She watched the sunrise and I watched her.
CHLOE
Not going to lie, I had no idea what to expect from this trip. I was content enough being in a quiet outdoor space with very limited service, but when the sun began to rise and the light hit the lake I understood why he brought me here. It’s cozy, it’s secluded, and it’s romantic. It’s everything I needed it to be. Unfortunately for me, I’m not in a romantic situation, but if I were I’d be living out my characters’ love life right now. In all honesty, Dylan was so quiet that I barely noticed him there. I was aware of him because I felt safer with him sitting close by, but he never distracted me.
“It’s beautiful.” I walk back to the porch before the sun blinds me. His proud smile makes me want to go over and kiss him. I have the urge to ask him why he took a night off work to be here, why he didn’t just hand me the key, but I keep my questions to myself. Mostly because I want to pretend it’s because he wanted to be alone with me.
“I’m going to make us some coffee while you write. You cool to stay out here with the bears?” He smirks.
“I think so.” I laugh. I’m clearly not an outdoorsy person. I’ve never been camping in my life. I’ve lived in big cities and never had any interest in the outdoors. I don’t know what bears do, where they go, or what flavor human they like.
Dylan’s magical location clearly worked because I’ve been writing for hours nonstop. I don’t know what it is, but it took me out of my slump immediately. It’s so effective that I didn’t realize I haven’t had the coffee Dy
lan made almost three hours ago. I can’t even remember if he ever brought the coffee out. I close my laptop and walk over to his swing. His phone is sitting next to his laptop, but it doesn’t look like he ever came back. I didn’t have to walk far into the house before I saw Dylan sleeping on the sectional. For a grown man with tattoos he looks beyond adorable when he sleeps. I never noticed how long his eyelashes are, or how detailed his tattoo sleeve is. I creepily watch him for a little too long because I normally don’t get the chance to study him without getting caught while he’s awake.
I finally walk away from him and go pack up all our stuff and lock up behind me—because, bears—and put a blanket over Dylan. I’m starving and tired, but he must be beyond exhausted if he fell asleep while waiting for the coffee to brew. I feel terrible that he sat outside with me instead of sleeping through the night like a normal person.
DYLAN
Chloe’s fear of bears was pretty hilarious. Sure, I wasn’t even aware if bears did roam around here or not, but at least I wasn’t as scared as she was. But I am right now. Because Chloe is nowhere to be found. I somehow lost a grown woman in a cabin in the woods. Did bears actually get to her even though she locked the front door and all our belongings are inside? Did she walk around and get lost? Did someone do something to her? Fuck. What if she’s actually missing? I go back upstairs for the third time and go through every corner of every single bedroom, bathroom, and the games room. I know the kids’ bedroom has a small hiding spot inside the wall that I didn’t check, although it’s usually stuffed with toys when the place is empty. Nope, no Chloe in there. As I go to open the wardrobe door I hear a creak to my right. It definitely came from one side of the bunk beds, but they’re empty. What the fuck is going on? While my slow brain is trying to figure out if this was some sort of weird dream or not, I see Chloe sit up from one of the top beds, rubbing her eyes. I could kiss and kill her at the same time right now.