“What? Oh Jim? Yeah, he’s cool,” said the guy closest to her. He looked her up and down and ran his hand through his long, stringy brown hair. “What’s your name,sweetheart?”
“Zoey,” she said as she kicked Jim a little harder. Stillnothing.
“Well, hey there, Zoey. I’m Joe. I’m the lead singer ofWreckIt.”
Zoey rolled her eyes. Every lead singer was the same. They all thought they were perfect and every woman’s dream. She wouldn’t deny that the cockiness most lead singers had was hot, but on this zit-infested no-talent, it reeked ofdesperation.
“That’s nice, Joe. Nice meeting you,” she said as she began to mop up the mess around the still-passed-outJim.
“Okay, I can take a hint. I’m sure someone as pretty as you has a boyfriend,right?”
Zoey sighed. Looking over towards Joe and his other band mates, she saw they were all looking at her. Practically staring. She wondered if they ever saw a girlbefore.
“No, no boyfriend,” Zoey said. “I’m really busy getting ready for college and just don’t havethetime.”
It wasn’t a complete lie. She did have a lot she wanted to do this last summer before college, but if the right guy came along, then of course she’d have time for him. The thing was the right guy never came along. For whatever reason, most guys seemed to stay awayfromher.
“Are you blowing me off?” Joe said, his face scrunching up as if he was confused. “Because seriously, you’re pretty, but you really could lose some weight. I just figured you might want to have agoodtime.”
And there it was. Zoey recognized that she offended Joe’s enormous, overinflated ego. Pretending it was Joe’s neck, she gripped the mop hard then angrily finished mopping up the mess around Jim. Spinning around, she pushed the bucket towards the entrance of the room. She couldn’t get out of there fastenough.
“Hey Zoey?” Joe said just before she stepped into the dark hallway. “You’d be hot if you lost thatfatass.”
Joe and the rest of his band laughed. Zoey stopped, set the mop in the pail so it wouldn’t fall out, and then eyed each of the young men. Grinding her teeth, she tried convincing herself to just let it be and walk out the door, but there was no way she could let thathappennow.
“You know what, Joe? I might have a fat ass, but I can do something about it. No matter what you do, you’ll always beanass.”
“Ooh, slammed!” she heard one of the other guys say as she lefttheroom.
After returning the mop and bucket back to the janitor’s closet, Zoey recognized a regular in the LA music scene. Cade Summers was the lead singer for an up and coming band, Tan Lines. He was cute with an athletic build and long, shaggy, light brown hair. She had never seen him without sunglasses, which to her was code for how full of himself hereallywas.
She probably wouldn't have noticed him if it wasn't for where he was standing just outside the backstage entrance. The lights from the stage lit him up enough that he didn't blend into the background. Wearing his usual black leather pants and a black button-down shirt hanging loose, she wondered how long he had been hiding before shenoticedhim.
As she approached to say hi, the band on stage began their next set.Boom boom.There it was again. But she refused to listen. She knew the bandwasbad.
"There's my girl," Cade said as he looked at her then back towards the stage. "I was wondering if my brown-eyed muse was heretonight.”
“Ha! Muse. Yeah right. I wish you guys wouldn’t call me that,” Zoey said. “You’re going to give the new bands thewrongidea.”
Cade always flirted with her, but she never thought anything of it. He was the lead singer of a band, he flirted witheveryone.
“It’s true though. You’ve got something. Why do you think I keep coming back? I guess you don’t realize it, but there’s a few of us bands that keep coming back here because of you, not because of what we think this placeoffers.”
“You’re insane, youknowthat?”
“I’ll show you. Step closer. You gotta hear this,”hesaid.
“Seriously, no,” Zoey said with her hands up as she shook her head. “I’ve heard enough of this band alreadytonight.”
“I’m disappointed, Zoey. You’re not paying enough attention. Justlisten.”
Boom boom!The sound started from within her and then spread to her fingertips as it vibrated her entire body. She couldn’t ignore it anymore. If Cade was pointing out the music, then she must be missingsomething.
Slowly, she let out a long breath and relaxed as she tuned in. The music was even worse than she imagined. But there was something.Boom boom.And that was when she realized it. She looked up at Cade andsmiled.
“You’re hearing it now, aren’t you?” heasked.
“The drummer. Is he reallyplayingthat?”
