Rowdy Boy

Cole’s eyes flicker, and he taps his foot. “Here we go.”

“You’re that dude from TRIGGER, aren’t you?” Sam’s jaw slowly drops. “Oh my God, it really is you.”

She looks like she’s on the verge of squealing, but the sound never manages to slip from her tightly sealed lips.

“Yep, it’s me,” Cole replies, raising his brows.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe it,” Sam says, completely ignoring me. “But what are you doing here?”

Cole snorts. “I’m with her, actually.”

Sam looks mortified. “With … you?” She looks at me now, and my whole face turns red as a beet. “He’s the boy you’ve been talking about?”

Okay, I didn’t think I could get any redder, but here we are. Especially with Cole looking like he wants to laugh over my embarrassment.

I rub my lips together. “Yep.”

“Oh, my God,” she mutters, still in shock. She leans in closer. “Can I …?”

“Sure,” I say, and I look at him over my shoulder. “She wants an autograph.”

He snorts and grabs a pen from his pocket. “Hold out your arm.”

She does what he asks, and he scribbles his signature onto her skin.

A squeal escapes from her mouth. “Eek.” She can barely contain her excitement. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” Cole replies, a bit embarrassed because everyone in this diner is looking at him. I’m pretty sure not everyone knows who he is … yet. But most people of our age do, and that apparently includes my best friend.

Behind Sam, Nate stares at all of us. “Hey, Nate,” I say.

He throws up a hand without saying a word, so I guess we’ll get to that later. He was always the quiet type.

“I didn’t know you were a TRIGGER fan,” I say to Sam.

“Only since like a few months,” she says, rolling her eyes at me. “But we don’t talk about music that often.”

“Sorry about that.” I scratch the back of my head. “Been a little busy with my new school.”

She smirks. “Yeah, I can see that.” She leans in, and whispers in my ear, “Good catch.”

I almost choke on my own words. “Thanks.”

“I mean it, he’s hot. And famous,” she whispers. “How did you do it?”

Cole snorts.

So he could hear it. Damn.

“Long story,” I reply.

She grabs my hand and pulls me to the bench. “C’mon, tell me all about it.”

I sigh, and we all sit down so I can tell her everything that happened since I left school for Black Mountain Academy, but I leave out some of the details that put Cole in a bad light. I’ll tell her someday when we’re alone, but I just don’t want to make him feel bad.

When I’ve mentioned all there is to know, she’s still leaning in, barely having touched her ice cream. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.” I lean back against the seat, and Cole throws his arm around my shoulder.

“I still can’t believe you managed to get a fucking rock star for a boyfriend.”

“Hey,” Nate interrupts while throwing Sam a look. “This here is just as fine.”

She snorts and lowers her eyes at him. “Yeah, yeah, no need to get jealous.” She pecks him on the cheek. “I’m already yours.”

“Good,” Nate retorts, and he smiles when he sees Cole pulling me closer to him.

“I’m not the catch. She is,” Cole says, making my heart flutter. “I’m the lucky one here.”

I place a hand on his chest and give him a little kiss against the jaw. “That’s sweet.”

“Sweet?” He leans back, raising a brow at me. “Don’t start swearing at me now.”

When the laughter dies out, Sam finally picks up her giant cup of ice cream and spoons some into her mouth.

“So, I heard you were looking for a bass player,” she mumbles while looking at Cole. “That true?”

He shifts in his seat and clears his throat. “Yeah, well …”

“He has an audition, and they desperately need an additional guitarist to make it. Temporarily, until they find a new permanent one,” I fill in. Cole’s always trying to protect his image, but he doesn’t have to be ashamed of losing one of his band members, not in front of my friends.

“But you’ll keep it tight-lipped, won’t you?” I ask.

“My lips are sealed,” she replies. “Don’t worry.”

“Good,” Cole replies a little too snarky. “So who is the guitarist then?”

Sam leans back and eyes her boyfriend.

Cole frowns and narrows his eyes. “What … him?” He points at Nate as if he can’t believe it.

“I rap, mostly,” Nate replies. “But I’ve been playing the bass on my off days for years. My dad forced me to focus on football while I was in high school, but music … that’s my real passion.”

“Music?” Cole cocks his head as if he didn’t peg him to be that type.

“Don’t believe me?” Nate raises a brow at him. He leans under the table and fishes out an actual guitar case that was stuck between their legs.