“Sure she did. She’s just a talented, talented girl, isn’t she?”
“That’s it!” I said, ready to throw that punch yet again.
“Jeez!” Jason exclaimed, dragging my body against his to prevent Tom getting the beating I wanted to throw his way. “What happened between you two? Do you know her?” Jason asked Tom, ignoring my earlier answer.
“No.”
“Then what the hell is up with you guys? You claim you don’t know one another but you’re at each other’s throats. What? Did he hit on you, January, and you turned him down?”
We both turned beat red, my throat and face heating to that unnatural red, giving me away.
“Ah,” Jason said, jumping to the wrong conclusion. I wasn’t going to correct him, his scenario put me in a better light and shunned this guy Tom, but what surprised me was Tom didn’t correct Jason, he just stared at me harshly. “Dude, January, if Thomas Eriksson hits on you, you let him down easy. He’s got a broken heart the size of Montana.”
Tom shifted uncomfortably in his place. “I don’t know what the f**k you’re talking about.”
“Come on! It’s obvious, dumbass. In New York you’re one person, you jump at the chance to move to Austin, you change everything about yourself here. You’ve been screwed over. Bad, from what I can see.”
I stood there, watching both of them exchange a conversation I could tell I wasn’t meant to hear. Jason, realizing this, shook his head and turned toward me.
“Listen, January, Tom is a talent scout for Seven Seas. Ever heard of them?”
“I’m not a complete idiot,” I answered.
“The jury’s still out on that,” Tom said under his breath.
“I’m Tom’s boss,” Jason said quickly, hedging my reaction. “Though, now I’m not so sure anymore.” Tom shrugged as if it meant nothing to him, this dream job, making Jason sigh. “Anyway, I’d like to offer you a position at Seven.”
“What?” Tom and I said together, again. We turned to each other in disgust, pissed that we picked the same word.
“Seriously?” I continued on. I couldn’t believe it.
“Seriously. You’d have to move to New York, though. Can you swing that?”
“Of course. I’m free as a bird.” Tom snorted, but I ignored it.
“Good, it’s gopher work for right now, but eventually, with some grooming, you can start scouting with a veteran.”
“Oh my God, thank you, Jason,” I said hugging him in a moment of unprecedented girliness. Jason was genuinely surprised and I felt a little embarrassed, my neck turning beet red.
“It’s cool. I want you at this address,” he said, handing me a business card, “in two weeks. It doesn’t pay shit but neither does scouting, just ask Tom here.” He smiled but the smile fell when we looked on Tom. “Uh, anyway, it’s worth it. You’ve got an in with the execs and if you play your cards right, you can make some pretty decent cheese in time. Plus, it’s a cool gig for musicians like yourself.”
“So awesome. Thank you, Jason. I’m stoked.”
I shook Jason’s hand excitedly and told him I’d see him in New York in two weeks. I didn’t even acknowledge Tom, turned and headed for the stage and let the crowd swallow me up, but somehow I felt Tom’s stare, heavy and hot on the back of my neck and I clenched my hands.
Don’t turn around. Don’t turn around.
I turned around and there he stood, his eyes practically undressing me and I shivered from his hard stare. What do you want me from me? I begged him silently. I wanted him, this stranger, to want me as badly as I wanted him. I wanted him to part the crowd around me, scoop me up and drag me back to his car. I wanted his hands on my neck, my hair, my back, my body. I wanted his lips on mine. I wanted him with a fierceness I didn’t find ladylike. I also wanted to sock him in the throat. What is happening to me!
His labored breath was visible from the twenty feet away I stood from him and when he was done perusing my body, he turned away in obvious disgust. Gah! My body shivered in reaction to his scrutiny. Even his stare set me on fire. What is wrong with me?
I shook my head and turned to meet The Belle Jar backstage. It didn’t matter. In two weeks, I’d be living in Jersey with Grandma Betty and commuting back and forth to the city that never sleeps and as far away from this guy as I could get.
New York City, here I come.
Chapter Two
Something You Misplaced
Six months later....
Thomas
Jason signed The Belle Jar almost immediately which made me unusually happy, but that wasn’t because I felt guilty about screwing over their friend, January. No, it was because they were a genuinely talented band and they were going to make the label millions, therefore making me indispensable. It wasn’t because I thought about the kiss I’d shared with January more than I thought about Kelly lately or that I found January to be the hottest chick I’d ever seen. No, it was for the band. The band.
Even if I was into January, which I’m not saying I was, because she was a virtual stranger, she was over seventeen-hundred miles away in New York City, ironically trading places with the old me it seemed. Jason talked about her nonstop, which made me extraordinarily uncomfortable. He teased me incessantly about how she turned me down and about how she blew through the label like a perfumed tornado when she arrived, impressing everyone and solidifying her as a label necessity. Oh, and that apparently she was dating the guy who delivered everyone’s mail? Seriously, January? That guy doesn’t even shower!