“I can tell, honey.”He leaned back and gave me a once-over pointedly.
I chuckled.“I’ve known him since high school.”
“Hey!”Diego interrupted.“I forgot to tell you.Bettina’s sister texted me the other day.She’s gonna hook me up with an engineer in Pittsburgh, so I can do a new demo with some different stuff on it.”
“No shit?”I put an arm around his shoulder and kissed his hair.“That’s great.”
“Yeah.I guess her agent has a friend here or something.I don’t know, but it’s kinda cool to be, like, working back towards the thing I wanted in the first place.”
“You’re wasted if you’re not on the stage,” Shawn said.He slurred the wordstagea little.
“And you’re just wasted,” Bryn pointed out, taking the tequila shot on the table in front of him and slamming it into their own mouth.
“Biiiiiiiiitch,” Shawn said, mimicking a Key & Peele sketch.
“So, what do we have to do?”I wondered.“When can you get started?”
“I dunno.I just got this woman’s info, and I gotta set up a time.I guess Bettina’s sister does all her own recording in a booth at home, but I’d just be, like, sitting in my closet in the middle of the night, hoping no sirens go off if I tried it.Plus my mic is garbage and I need a pop filter.I can worry about all that after I get the demo done; get my own setup eventually.”
“You should make a wish list for your birthday.Got almost two months to shop,” I suggested.
“Please.My friends are broke as fuck, and I amnotinviting my family to my party here.”Then he paused and seemed to consider.“Annie does wanna have a birthday dinner for me tho.And I was gonna say yes because she’s a legit cook.”
“We could—” I started to suggest he use his family party as an excuse to get him set up for voice work.
But Shawn leaned across me and said, “So he’s an old high school flame, huh?”
The dangers of having conversations in loud bars after midnight, I guessed.I couldn’t be annoyed, though, because the way Diego scrunched up his nose and rolled his eyes at Shawn was adorable.
“I am,” I said with a confidence I did not feel.Then laughed.
“But obviously you’ve been out of the picture the last few years…” Shawn made a gesture that said he expected me to pick up that ball and run with it.
“Nope,” Diego said almost cheerfully.
“Eight years,” I admitted.
Diego sighed, trying to look annoyed.Then burst out laughing as Shawn gave a high-pitched, “Oooooooh, girl!Piping hot tea.”
“You sound like an elder millennial trying to sound cool,” Bryn, who looked about the same age as Shawn, told him.
“I am,” Shawn said impatiently.“Duh.”
“Did you just sayduh?”Alyssa wondered.
Shawn ignored her in favor of further questioning for me and Diego.“Why?”
“Why eight years?”Diego asked.
“Yes!That’s forever!”
“I went to school,” I replied.
“On a college football scholarship,” Diego added with a smirk.So much for not wanting to answer questions, huh?
I chuckled, amazed that the story didn’t have the power to hurt me anymore.Hadn’t realized that before just now.Wildly enough, it seemed Diego felt the same because his grin had his eyes all scrunched up and his gap flashing.
“I called it,” Bryn said.“Jock and nerd.”
