Riven (Riven 1)

After we walked a few more blocks, I said, “So, this styling thing. Are they gonna try and get me to wear different stuff?”

“What, and mess with the great fashion impresario Theo Decker’s signature style? Not a chance.” He smirked. “They’ll probably buy you exactly what you have on now, only it’ll cost twice as much. Where do you get your jeans, anyway, dude. They do this thing that always looks awesome.”

“Uh. They’re…Levi’s, I think? What thing?”

“They’re all creased behind your knees so it looks…” He rolled his eyes like he was aware he sounded ridiculous. “It looks cool, okay? Shut up,” he muttered when I laughed at him.

“Seriously? Uh, they get creased behind my knees because I wear them and they get sweaty and then I don’t wash them, probably. Wow, I thought I was just lazy and filthy, but it turns out it’s totally my brand!”

Ethan swatted at me, and I elbowed him, and he knocked my hat off.

“Ethan!” I cried, in mock horror. “Not the hat, it’s my signature look!”

He snorted with amusement, and slung an arm around my shoulders, steering me toward whatever fashion hell awaited us.

Chapter 16

Caleb

Something was different about Theo, but I’d be damned if I could tell what it was. He’d gotten to the house half an hour ago and I kept squinting at him, trying to figure it out. Finally, he crossed his arms over his chest and cocked a hip, all irritated and prickly. “What?”

“Just…there’s something different. What is it?”

Theo’s shoulders jerked in something that was almost a shrug. I looked at him closely. Everything was as it usually was. Worn, tight jeans that hugged his long legs and cupped his ass, looking effortlessly sexy. A soft black T-shirt. His hair messy around his face…was that it? His hair?

“Did you get a haircut or something?”

Theo turned red and threw up his hands. “I got styled.”

“I…don’t know what that means in this context,” I said.

Theo rolled his eyes, looking embarrassed. “The others hired this, like, style team to…style us. They gave us clothes like goddamned paper dolls and…did something to my hair.”

“Those aren’t your clothes?”

“They’re, like, Theo’s clothes 2.0. Exact replicas of everything I already own, only fancier. Why? I do not know.”

His exasperation was sort of hilarious, and when he swiped at his hair irritatedly he reminded me of a kitten.

“They combed out my hair so it was all perfectly smooth, then they put shit in it and messed it up again. Like, what is your job description, come on.”

I chuckled and explored his hair. It did have something in it. Some kind of styling paste or wax. I leaned in. “It smells like…Florida.”

“What?”

“Like sunblock and those coconut frozen drinks and sun. I went to the beach for vacation once. In Florida. That’s what your hair smells like.”

Theo sniffed at the tips of his hair and made a face. “It smells like shit.”

I nodded. “Yeah, not my favorite.”

“Fuck this, I’m going to take a shower.”

* * *

—

Later that night we were lying in bed. Theo, thankfully, smelled like Theo again, and I was playing with his hair.

“I talked to Ethan today, about not liking the whole fame thing. It turns out I’m a jerk.”

“Why are you a jerk?”

“I kinda…I just assumed the rest of the band was having the same experiences as me, I guess. Like, that they were just dealing better with all the fame stuff. And it made me feel like a fuckup, you know, because if they were handling it fine, and still excited about touring and all that, then what was my problem? But Ethan says he doesn’t even get recognized when he goes out. And he said Coco and Ven sometimes do, but not so much that it gets in the way of stuff much.”

“You’re the lead singer,” I said. “You’re the face of the band.”

Theo tucked his face into my neck and I lost his next words.

“What?”

“I feel so clueless. I seriously just assumed. All that shit that Ven would get so mad about, like an article using a picture of just me instead of the whole band? I totally understood that because it’s ridiculous. I’m one-fourth of the band. I got pissed because he would get mad at me, when I had nothing to do with it. But I got it. I just seriously didn’t realize that behind it was also this…difference in how people saw us. I’m…I don’t know. Like, listening to myself say it I sound ridiculous, but I just didn’t know. So stupid,” he muttered.

I felt a swell of affection for him. It was naïve of him not to realize the jealousy behind his bandmates’ resentment. It was clueless to assume that Riven’s drummer got anything like the attention as their lead singer. It was. But it was also so very, very Theo.