He looks at me expectantly. I have a stage high from our first live performance—the cameras moving all around us, the screaming crowd that was so much bigger than we had expected. Even as we walked into the venue, there were fans. Little clusters of kids and women, men and teens, waiting by the doors, in the parking lot, by the bathrooms. Someone even asked me for an autograph.Whose life is this?I would do just about anything right now. I feel invincible. “Sure, I’m in.”
“Here’s the deal,” Pax says, setting down a deck of cards that I hadn’t noticed he was holding. “We all start by throwing in a pick.” He picks up a red triangle with a black bird on it and drops it back onto the table. I dig one of my Your Future X picks out of my pocket, and Reese throws in a black Playboy pick as I give him a questioning glance.
He shrugs his shoulders. “What?”
“Nothing, I just forget you’re twelve years old sometimes,” I say.
Reese just rolls his eyes and looks back to Pax, who is shuffling the cards, setting them in piles on the table.
Out in the hallway, bands are being shuffled from one stagingarea to another. I can hear the overly dramatic voice of the former-rockstar host as he intros The Phillips.
“When it’s your turn, you pick a card.” Pax flips over the top card on the pile closest to him and sets it down for us all to see. He goes through a list of rules that I’m not completely convinced he isn’t making up on the spot. Take a drink for this, give a drink for that. It sounds like a really complicated version of Truth or Dare. Some of the cards require us to find girls to kiss backstage, others let us give out a dare to someone else.
I imagine Reese harassing the entire population of women hanging around backstage. “What is this, a slumber party?” Everyone ignores me.
“What about face cards?” Reese says, leaning forward in his chair, his elbows resting on his knees. He’sreallyinto this.
Pax is still running through the complicated list of probably-made-up rules. And they all lead to a lot of drinking—it sounds like a hot mess waiting to happen.Thank God we’ve already played our set.“Walk us through as we go?”
Pax has a wicked look in his eye. “Absolutely. Let’s do this.”
After a few rounds, Pax is the first to pull a kiss card. “Watch and learn,” he says, dropping the card to the floor. We all turn to watch as he makes his way to the other side of the room where three girls are huddled together, holding plastic cups. Their eyes are fixed on the row of doors that lead to dressing rooms for the host and the guest performer of the night. The girls—two blondes and a brunette all in their early twenties—straighten when they see Pax approach. The tallest of them is wearing a purple Future X shirt that she’s cut at an angle across her stomach, and ripped down the neck, revealing a lot of skin.It’s probably not what Vee had in mind when she picked out the T-shirts.Pax leans into her ear, and with a teasing smile, she kisses him. Then she scribbles on a piece of paper and tucks it in his pocket. Pax turns to the other two girls, and they each hand him scraps ofpaper that he shoves into his jeans for extra points. When he returns to the game, it’s with the blonde he kissed in tow.
“Guys, this is Bri,” he says, as she sits down on the chair next to him.
Her eyes don’t meet any of ours. “Hey.”
If I hadn’t just seen her kiss a stranger, I would think she was shy. Reese draws a king of spades, then lets out an annoyed grunt when Pax tells him to close his eyes and take a pick from the table. He fishes around in the pile and when he opens his eyes and sees the purple pick in his hand, I can’t help but laugh at the tortured look on his face. This may be the best thing to happen to me since we came on tour.
Pax gives me a knowing look. “He’s all yours. Whatever you want him to do.”
“I want you to go talk to Jenn.” I nod toward the tour’s surly publicist, standing by the exit with her arms crossed. She’s not much older than us, but she’s scary, with her clipboard-waving and her constant yelling, and the way she’s always jabbing her pen at someone. But I swear, Reese has a thing for her. She’s one of the few girls I’ve seen him talk to without any indecent proposals or nausea-inducing innuendo.
A cocky grin spreads across Reese’s face. “Nice.”
“Tell her you need the bus to make a pit stop at a pharmacy.” I stare at him, begging him to ask.
He squints his eyes at me. “Why?”
“You need to refill your prescription. For your—you know—rash.”
“Hell, no.” Reese throws the card down on the floor like it’s dirty. “What’s the penalty for not doing it?” He’s looking over at Jenn, likeshe’sthe one who needs the prescription.
“Not an option,” Pax says.
I’m not sure I’ve ever smiled so much. “Better jump on it, buddy.”
Reese glares at me before walking toward Jenn. His hands are shoved deep into his pockets, his eyes focused on the floor. He shifts nervously from foot to foot as he speaks to her. I know the exact moment he says it, because I watch her eyes go wide and then she just nods at him as she grimaces. Like she’s just smelled something rancid.This is priceless.
Reese returns to his seat and tips back his bottle.
“Not needed, man,” Pax says.
Reese shakes his head at us. “Trust me, it’s needed.”
We all burst into laughter. Everyone except Reese, who is flicking beer caps onto the floor.
My third turn, when I have to draw a pick, I breathe a sigh of relief as I grab Sid’s. Until Reese leans over and whispers something into his ear, eliciting a confused look from Sid.I’m in trouble.
