Ever since Sam had been exposed as Sami Jo—the pop sensation—Hans had begun working with her to get her settled in the industry. Mach enjoyed having her around. Enjoyed having them all around. But he appreciated the quiet as everyone but Tanner headed back to the house.
Tanner would know that Mach didn’t want to talk it out. He’d understand the value of quiet. The only sound being that of the pool lapping against the stairs.
"So…" Tanner said, the little splashes of his hands in the water a telltale sign he was paddling closer. "What’s new?"
On second thought, perhaps, Mach had given him too much credit on the understanding part.
"Can we not?" Mach asked, folding his hands across his chest, and letting the Vitamin D from the sun do its thing and infuse him with a hit of happiness. "I want to lie here and think about nothing."
"Okay," Tanner agreed, chipper as fuck. "We’ll float here while you don’t think about Darla."
Mach snort laughed at that announcement.
The datehadended on fine terms. Darla even took the time to do a few quick pics for the photographers out front of the bar. He walked her to her purple VW Bug. What had he expected her to drive? He didn’t know, but her vehicle was so Darla he couldn’t help but dig it.
That had been that.
She drove away and still—
"It’s like she’s there. In my brain like a bongo solo that won’t stop," Mach said. "I can’t get her to stop."
"I know the feeling," Tanner replied.
He and Sam were still fairly new. And they’d had some challenges. But their situation was different because they were perfect for each other. That much was clear from the beginning.
"Darla doesn’t even like me," Mach said to Tanner. To himself. To the world at large.
The last time he’d been rejected so thoroughly was during his first high school experience. Before he knew the importance of checking vulnerability at the door. Before everything got fucked. Before he’d gone to live with Dan, and met Tanner, dropped out for good and finished up with a GED instead of a diploma. Dan was the foster dad who took him in. Tanner was the foster brother who gave him purpose. They were his found family, and they’d introduced him to Dimefront. His forever family.
He didn’t know much about his parents, and he didn’t understand a lot about family. They’d died when he was still too little to remember, and there wasn’t any extended family to take him in. Friends did for a while, but he was a hard kid going through some serious stuff. He was… unlovable.
"She saves lives," Mach said, rubbing his hands over his face.
He was a rock star by accident. How it all went down? No one would believe him. If he hadn’t lived it, he wouldn’t either. But Dimefront wasn’t only a band to Mach, they were his family.
So he was a rock star by accident, but Darla saved lives on the regular on purpose.
When Tanner said nothing else, Mach kept going. "I mean, she was seriously not into me."
"That sounds like a stretch. I saw the way she looked at you."
Mach lifted a shoulder. The shit of this whole thing was that he wasn’t interested in anything long term, anyway. Didn’t do long term. Hell, he didn’t do relationships. He hooked up. Kept things light.
But when Darla told him no? Well, the flicker of uncertainty bloomed in his chest in a way he hadn’t felt in ages. That was a place he hadn’t been in a long fucking time.
"It’s okay to like her," Tanner said, gentle like this was the territory that would get him knocked off his sauce packet. "I mean, if she’s got the power to get in your head, she must be pretty special."
They were quiet for a bit, letting the pool work its magic.
"You know, when you put yourself on Nocturnal Cupid, I actually thought it was a good idea," Tanner said. This was a surprise because everyone rode Mach’s ass about it.
Mach cracked an eyelid and lifted his sunglasses to get a better look at Tanner. "Why the hell would you think that?"
"Because it is a good idea for you to go out on a date. Get to know an actual person. Not just…"
Not a secret that Mach hooked up. It’s what he did. It was safe. No attachment and no feelings. But Tanner had found his slice of happy and apparently he wanted Mach to get a taste of the same.
"Keep your heart eyes out of my life," Mach said with a laugh and a decent splash of pool water. He rolled off the pizza slice into the cold. It enveloped him, holding his body in stasis to float between where he came from and where he was headed. But he couldn’t stay that way forever. So he swam to the surface, then to the side. He couldn’t say for certain where he was headed next. Probably off to fuck up the next thing.
