I enjoyed watching you create on the balcony. Didn’t come close to what it was like to listen to you play for the others, though.
Would have thought you’d be bored.
Bored right now, sitting here staring out the window.
Have you had lunch yet?
No. Was waiting, hoping to have it with you.
Shit, okay, now that hit me right in the feels, but in a good way. Damn. Before I could conjure up a response, there was a knock on my door, and I opened it to find Kit and his electric drums standing on the other side, so I stepped aside so he could come in.
“Hey, do you mind if Steel comes over and hangs out while we work on, um, what are we supposed to be working on?"
“I figured you didn’t remember, and I don’t mind. He’s your friend. If you want him to listen while we work, it’s fine with me.”
“He, um, he’s trying to be more than a friend,” I blurted, since it seemed like my mouth didn’t have any more restraint than my fingers did. “We were more than friends for a little while. Just, lately I’ve wondered if maybe there was something building between us, and I don’t want to fuck it up by going backwards if you’ve got an issue with keeping things open while I figure it the fuck out.”
He laid his electric drum kit on the coffee table in front of the couch and turned around to face me.
“I’m fine with open,” he replied. “Or keeping shit casual until you figure out what you want. In the end the band comes first, no matter what happens.”
“Agreed.”
“Then tell him to come over,” Kit declared. “Early feedback is always welcome.”
"Yeah, it is,” I replied before texting Steel. “He hasn’t had lunch yet either, so we should probably get our order in before we start working. So, what don’t I remember?”
“Knightly making a comment about being blissfully buzzed and you guys deciding that it would make an amazing song title, which it does, and that you should write it since he’s retired.”
“Meh, he’s only retired because he and his bandmates had a falling out, and he refuses to make things right with them or form another one himself.”
“How long have they been broken up?”
“Like, two years, give or take. We’ll go long periods without talking, then he’ll hit me up or show up out of the blue like he did yesterday.”
“Do you guys always get drunk when you hang out?”
When I really thought about it, I couldn’t remember a single time when we’d gotten together without alcohol involved.
“Yup.”
“That should tell you something right there.”
“It’s starting to.”
“Good, because it didn’t seem like you were having a good time last night,” he said.
“I’ll admit that it would have been a lot more fun if Knightly hadn’t been there.”
“I hope you remember that the next time he raises his ugly head at an event.”
“I always thought he was kinda hot,” I admitted. “Which is probably why I’ve put up with his shit for so long.”
“There’s no denying that he’s fun to look at, until he opens his mouth and his douchiness spews out.”
“He’s never been good at sitting still and looking pretty.”
He snorted at that and shook his head at me. “Yeah, I picked that up last night.”