Edge of Glory (Friendship, Texas Book 1) (5 page)

I raised my eyebrows. "Does Ma know you're driving out to Dallas this late?"

"You don't tell her about Dallas and I won't tell her about your new boyfriend."

I rolled my eyes. "He's not my boyfriend."

"Whatever he is that has you closing the screen and making out in the restaurant, I'm sure Ma would want to know what her only daughter is doing. Dad too."

I swallowed hard and pointed out the door. "They're in the entertainment center."

He raised his eyebrows. "Why the hell would you put my jeans in there?"

"Because I needed room for my stuff, so I shoved them somewhere."

He smirked then leaned in and kissed my forehead. "You're lucky I love you, kid."

My phone vibrated in my apron pocket. I expected another message from Sofie, but prayed it was something from Jay.

Slowly I crept toward the back of the kitchen and pulled out my phone. My whole face lit up when I saw that it was a message from Jay.

What are you doing tonight?

A simple question and yet I couldn't think of a simple answer. Anything I thought of sounded lame, so I just went with the truth.

Working until at least ten.

Hang out after?

Ma always said nothing good came after ten o'clock, which was a lie because Saturday Night Live was on at ten-thirty.

Technically I didn't have a curfew or anything that I needed to be home for, yet I still mulled on it before finally just going with what I wanted.

Yeah.

Awesome. Meet you at the First Baptist church at ten?

Church? Maybe it was so my parents wouldn't see us or something. I didn't have too much time to think on it before Dad's voice boomed over the kitchen.

Quickly I put my phone back in my apron and tried to sneak back to the dining room.

"Rosalia?"

Shit.

Slowly I turned toward my dad and tried to keep my face neutral. "Yeah?"

"Were you on your phone?"

"Uh..."

I wanted to lie, say I was eating breadsticks or something, but I was a sucky liar.

"Yeah. Um. Sorry. I was talking to a friend, who, uh, wanted to meet up after work."

He furrowed his brows. "What did I tell you about being on your phone with Sofie all night? She's a nice girl, but she knows you're working."

I let out an internal sigh of relief. At least I didn't have to tell him who it really was.

"I know. Sorry, Dad."

"You can see her after work, and if she's going to keep trying to get your attention anyway, tell her to stop in. I could use another hostess."

"Oh, yeah, sure I'll tell her." I forced the biggest smile I could and went back to the dining area, staring at the clock and waiting for ten o'clock.

***

The temperature had dropped, but I was always told it was way colder in January in other parts of the country.

It still didn't stop me from speed walking like an old lady to the First Baptist church at the end of the street.

There weren't any lights on outside, but a few cars were parked around back. A single bulb hung over the back door that I only knew led to the basement because Sofie used to make me go to youth group with her so she could meet older boys.

Jay was standing against the building, rubbing his hands together.

"Hang out around old churches often?" I asked, trying to walk with a bit of swagger, but realized I looked like I had a problem, so I went back to walking normal.

"Just when I'm waiting for beautiful girls to meet up with me."

I bit my lip, trying to think of a good response, but I wasn't used to compliments like that, even though Jay seemed to be handing a lot of them out.

"Come on. Let's go." He took my hand in his and then opened the door to the church basement with the other.

"We're going to church?" I raised an eyebrow.

He just smiled, looking over his shoulder. "Not quite."

I followed the old cement steps and kept my hand on the wall. Most places in Texas didn't have basements, but older homes with root cellars were sometimes converted.

The faint sounds of a bass hit my ears and it wasn't until we were at the bottom of the stairs that I saw the entire room light up. The walls were plain white with white linoleum floors and in the middle of all of that white was a black drum set and two guys on a guitar and a bass, strumming along to the beat of the music.

The guy behind the guitar I would have recognized anywhere, Eddie Justice. The country music star had some kind of big falling out with his fiancee and was rumored to be staying at his parents' ranch. Of course that was what Sofie told me she read online and I hadn't actually seen him. But now here he was in the flesh, in the church basement.

And next to him on bass was Joey Bianchi. My last boyfriend. If you could really call a week relationship with some groping, a boyfriend.

Even weirder, on drums was Noah Riley.

Noah was a year younger than me, but in a small town everyone knew everyone. Especially when he was the deaf kid in class.

He lost his hearing in kindergarten after doctors discovered a brain tumor the size of a softball, and when it was removed it damaged some of his nerves, I guess. He was definitely an attractive guy with his longer brown hair that curled around his ears so you couldn't see his hearing aids and he had dimples that made every girl melt, but I wasn't focused on his looks.

I was focused on the fact that this was the weirdest mix of people I'd ever seen playing music together.

Eddie stopped playing and signaled to the other guys, flashing a big grin in our direction. "Hey, Jay, wasn't sure you'd show up," he said with his slight twang.

All the guys bumped fists and then Jay came back to me, putting his arm around my waist. "Lia, this is Eddie, Noah, and I think you know Joey."

"Hey, y'all," I said, doing a pathetic little wave.

"So this is the girl you won't stop talking about?" Eddie asked.

I looked down at the floor, trying to keep from showing the cheesy grin that spread across my face.

"Yeah. This is her. She's the one who has better taste in music than you."

"Whatever you say, man." Eddie laughed.

"So...how did this all happen?" I asked, pointing between the three guys.

Eddie smiled, pointing at Noah. "Well, Noah cleans my pool and plays piano here, so I asked him if he ever wanted to accompany me on something. He told me that he also plays drums and his friend Joey plays bass, so a few months ago we started getting together, here, where Noah's drums are, and jamming at least once a week. It helps to try something different."

"Cool. I can dig that." I winced at my own weird wording. Why couldn't I be normal and say normal things?

Eddie raised an eyebrow, turning toward Jay. "So are you going to play or what?"

Jay squeezed my hand and smiled. "You okay with that?"

"Oh. Uh. Yeah. Sure."

Great. Now I was going to be the girl that just sat and watched a guy hang out with his friends. I knew this had to be too good to be true.

Jay whispered a few things to Joey and then Joey handed him the bass before Joey sauntered over to me.

"Hey."

"Uh...hey." I didn't directly look at the guy. Last time I saw him he wasn't exactly the nicest.

"So...you and the swimmer?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Yeah. I guess."

"That's good. You deserve a good guy."

"Hey, quit hitting on Jay's woman, Bianchi!" Eddie said with a laugh.

My eyes trailed to Jay, with the bass slung over him. Was there anything this guy couldn't do?

Eddie strummed a few chords and turned to Noah who joined in with the drums then Jay with the bass.

I immediately recognized the beat and then Eddie's smooth voice started to croon the words to "Stay With Me" by The Dictators. It wasn't the exact punk rock version, but more of country vibe.

Jay's eyes met mine and never left.

The guy I’d been staring at on TV and on the Internet for months was now real and he was playing one of my favorite songs. The song we talked about the night we met.

I didn't want the song to end and I wanted it to play on repeat forever.

When the guys were done playing, Jay gave Joey back his bass, and we stayed for a few more songs before Jay finally said he had to be home for early practice.

We said our goodbyes to the guys and I walked with Jay to the parking lot.

"That was not what I expected tonight," I admitted, standing under the single light bulb near the door to the basement.

"I know. It was lame, you can say it."

I shook my head. "No. Not in the least. It was actually really cool. I had no idea you played an instrument."

"I'm not very good. I'm better with things in the water."

"I disagree. I thought that was awesome. I've never had a guy play a country rendition of The Dictators for me."

He stepped closer, leaning in so his words were a whisper on my lips. "There's a first time for everything."

Without thinking, I pressed my lips to his, feeling his warm tongue against mine and an involuntary moan escaped low in my throat.

He smiled, only breaking the kiss slightly to kiss me again and again.

I wanted to stay in that moment forever with him, but then the door opened and I gasped, jumping back a foot.

Eddie appeared in the doorway first, smiling and looking between us. "I guess you two had other motives for leaving."

"We were just saying goodbye." I tried to remain calm, but my swollen lips and red face probably gave everything away.

"Whatever you two say." Eddie smiled.

Jay leaned in and gave me one more small kiss. "See you soon?"

"Oh, yeah."

***

"So what's it like being the girlfriend of a celebrity?"

Sofie swept a second coat of lime green nail polish on her big toe. It was our usual Saturday afternoon routine:  sitting on my bedroom floor, painting our nails, and gossiping.

Our life was very glam.

I shrugged, wiping the side of my pinky toe. "I haven't really had a boyfriend, aside from whatever Joey was, and I don't know if this thing with Jay counts. Or what we are."

I’d stayed up late the past two nights talking to Jay on FaceTime. I was dragging ass at work and school, but it was worth it. I wasn't even sure what we talked about half of the time. Usually it was nonsense, but I always found myself falling asleep with a smile on my face.

I wiggled my toes, hoping that I wouldn't get the polish all over my carpet. It probably wasn't our smartest idea to paint our toenails on carpet, but it was something we had done since we were practically in diapers, so there was really no point in changing it up now.

"So are you going to keep that poster of him up?" She nodded toward the poster above my twin size bed, nestled between a picture of Sicily and another of my high school diploma. Jay had commented on the poster more than once and I kept meaning to take it down.

"Doesn't it feel weird having someone that you're kind of dating plastered on your wall? Or does that like make it even better?" She wiggled her eyebrows.

"I guess I can take it down…" I stood up, wiping my hands on my purple velour sweat pants.

"Do you think that he has a giant poster of you in your work apron plastered on his wall?" she questioned as I stepped onto my bed.

"No…"  I tried to balance, but felt like my feet were slipping on the pink polyester comforter. "He didn’t have any pictures of me up when I was at his place and I haven't seen any when we FaceTime."

I gripped onto the poster and started to slowly peel it back, taking the tape with it.

"Oh em gee!" Sofie jumped up off the floor.

"What?" I yanked the last piece of tape off as I turned toward Sofie.

"You've been in his bedroom? And Facetiming him every night?" Her mouth gaped open as she flopped down at the end of my bed.

"Yeah, I thought I told you that." I rolled up the poster and tossed it beside my desk before jumping down next to Sofie.

"Uh, no, and I think being in the bedroom of your dream guy is a pretty important thing that you should have told your best friend." She fiddled with the multiple bangles on her arms, twirling them around and around.

"Well it's not like we did anything. I mean Dana called like almost right after I got there and I ran out like an idiot," I reasoned. She didn't need to know all of the details. I hadn't told her about watching Eddie Justice play in the basement and Jay learning the song for me.

I mean, I should have, she was my best friend, but it was a memory I wanted to keep. Something that was just between Jay and me.

I also wasn't sure if she would go to the church basement looking for Eddie.

"Do your parents know you were in his bedroom?" She was overly eager. I could almost see the spit gathering in the rubber bands that engulfed her metal mouth.

"Sofie, I don't tell my parents everything! I'm an adult." I hit her in the arm with one of my throw pillows.

An adult that still lives with her parents and listens to their rules.

"Ow." She rubbed her arm. "Do they know you're talking to him?"