“If it comes down to it, I’ll leave.”
Killian’s eyes widened even more. “What?! Oh, no, no, no, no, no. No, that’s a very bad idea.”
“Well, if that’s the only choice – ”
“No, no, no, no, no, that’s – let’s not even discuss that,” he said, his fingers twitching even more spasmodically.
“Here,” Ryan said, handing over an electric guitar.
Killian sighed in relief as he slipped the strap over his shoulder and started immediately dancing his fingers across the strings,
plink plink plink
. His body and face both relaxed noticeably. “Thank you.”
“Why’d you leave your guitar at home?” I asked.
“Well… I was trying to be normal.”
Good luck with that,
I thought.
We all walked into the backyard and caught Riley pouring Jack Daniels into the goldfish pond.
“RILEY!” Ryan shouted.
“Dude, they’re
fishes,
they have a boring life, let them live a little,” Riley shouted back.
“Hello, Riley,” Killian said as he sat down in one of the patio chairs.
“What up, guv’nor,” she said in a bad English accent.
“May I?” Killian asked as he fished a joint out of his black trenchcoat.
Ryan sighed. “…sure. Why not.”
The guitarist lit up happily, and within seconds was back to the Killian I knew: serene, placid, imperturbable.
Ryan cleared his throat. “I, uh… I think we need to clear the air about me and Kaitlyn.”
“You mean you and Yoko,” Riley snarled.
Killian looked over at her, confused – and then smiled. “Ah. Clever.”
“Hear that, Yoko?” Riley said to me. “I’m clev-ah.”
I just gave her a sour look.
“Look, it’s not what you think it is,” Ryan said. “Derek and Kaitlyn broke up in Vegas. Derek… uh…”
Ryan looked over at me hesitantly, as though asking how he should proceed with a delicate subject.
I was about to say something, but Riley interrupted.
“You fucked with the bro code!” she yelled drunkenly at Ryan.
“What?”
“The
bro
code!”
“What do
you
know about the bro code?” Ryan asked, amused.
“A fuckin’ hell of a lot more than
you,
apparently! You don’t fuck a bro’s ho! Bros before hoes! The bro code!”
Ryan suddenly got very dark. I had only seen him that pissed a couple of times – and
never
with Riley.
“Do not
ever
use that word in connection with Kaitlyn again,” he said, and I could hear the menace in his voice.
I thought Riley would fight back, but she didn’t. She looked down petulantly at the ground. “Well… you broke the bro code.”
“He cheated on me,” I said.
Killian coughed on his joint – something I’d also never seen before.
“Surprise, surprise,” Riley sneered.
“Why are you acting like this?” I snapped. “
You
were the one who told me in Seattle I should ditch Derek and start dating Ryan!”
Ryan and Killian both turned to look at Riley – who blushed pink.
This was an afternoon of firsts, alright.
“I was drunk,” she mumbled.
“You’re
always
drunk,” I pointed out.
“You said that?” Ryan asked Riley. He was obviously touched.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” she answered, obviously annoyed I had told on her. “But I didn’t think you’d actually
do
it!”
“Surprise, surprise,” I jeered.
“Anyway,” Ryan continued, “I took Kaitlyn with me to South Dakota, but we didn’t… become involved for a long while. It just happened naturally.”
Riley snorted. “Is that what they call it when you’ve been wantin’ to fuck somebody for four years?”
Now it was Ryan’s turn to blush. “Riley – ”
“Whatever,” she griped. “I’m bored.”
“You can go anytime you want,” I said.
“Don’t go actin’ like this is your house, Yoko.”
“Riley – ” Ryan glowered.
“
Whatever.
Can I get a burger or somethin’? I’m starvin’.”
We spent the rest of the evening grilling out. Ryan played them some of the things he had been working on in South Dakota, and Killian and Riley joined in – Killian on his guitar, Riley on an electronic drum pad that Ryan brought out from the studio. It turned into a really cool jam session, a backyard concert just for me – and any neighbors who happened to be within earshot. Killian stayed chill, Riley forgot to be angry, and everything was fun and laid back.
That changed the next morning when Miles showed up.
75
The band manager showed up around 11AM without warning. When Ryan opened the door, Miles burst in like a well-dressed tornado.
“What the FUCK are you trying to do?!” he yelled at Ryan as he stormed past. “Being in the number one band in the world wasn’t good enough for you, you had to go and bollocks it up, you stupid bastard!”
“Hello to you, too,” Ryan said.
I heard him from the kitchen and was trying to sneak out the back way, but Miles saw me through the living room door.