Thoughtless

Chapter 3

My New Job

Listening to the band play their full set was amazing. They really were good at what they did and Kellan was unbelievable. I was a little surprised that someone hadn't scooped him up yet. He was the poster child for a bankable rock star - talented, seductive and smoking hot. And they already had quite the fan base; almost immediately upon starting their set, the floor around the stage had crowded with people.

Denny pulled me out to the floor near the edge of the pack, where we had more room to dance and move about. The song they were playing was extremely catchy and easy to dance to, and Denny twirled me around, then brought me tight to him as we danced close together. I laughed and slung my arms around his neck. Then he dipped me and I laughed harder. Most of the D-Bags songs were fast, but Denny and I were comfortable with each other and danced together easily.

Occasionally, I would glance up at the group onstage. Kellan would gently keep time to the music with his body as he smiled flirtatiously through his words. He was captivating to watch and I found myself doing it more and more frequently as the night went on. While watching the way his body swayed while he sang, I happened to notice Griffin look over at Matt suddenly, then scowl deeply. Somehow, without ever looking at him or missing a note on his guitar, Matt managed to flip him off, making Denny and I giggle and Griffin roll his eyes. Evan watched over the group, slowly shaking his head and laughing as well. Kellan didn't seem to witness the exchange, or he was just ignoring it, his eyes focused on the adoring crowd instead.

For some of the songs, Kellan would pick up his guitar and play along with Matt. His guitar wasn't amplified like Matt's, and the different sounds blended together nicely. He started off an intro to a slower song by himself, and I couldn't help but notice how good he was on it, probably as good as Matt. Most of the people around the front of the stage were still cavorting and dancing, even though the song was slower, but some of the couples near Denny and I were starting to slow dance.

Denny pulled me close, slipping his arms around my waist. He grinned at me goofily, in a way that I immensely loved, and pulled me tight against him. I sighed happily and brought my arms around his neck again. Running my fingers through his dark hair, I gave him a soft kiss. As the music swelled and picked up intensity, I hugged him tight and laid my head on his shoulder, breathing in his wonderful, familiar scent. Looking out over his shoulder, I watched Kellan on stage. He was smiling sweetly at me during a break in the vocals and I smiled back. Then he winked at me and I blinked in surprise. He laughed at that, finding my reaction highly amusing.

They played one more fast-paced song after that, most of the couples going back to regular dancing, Denny and I choosing to stay locked together, smiling at each other and softly kissing. When that song finished, Kellan's speaking voice broke through the noise of the crowd.

"Thank you for coming out tonight." He paused, waiting for the crowd's sudden eruption of screams to die down. After a minute, he smiled charmingly and held up a finger. "I want to take a second to introduce you all to my new roommates."

His finger pointed right at Denny and me. I blushed deeply and Denny laughed, moving to my side, his arms still around my waist. I looked over at him, biting my lip and wishing we had left after the slow song. He grinned and kissed my cheek while Kellan told the whole bar our names.

I buried my head in Denny's shoulder, mortified, while Kellan cheerily said, "Now, you'll all be happy to know that Kiera is joining the happy little family here at Pete's, starting Monday night." The crowd screamed again...I had no idea why, and I blushed even deeper and glared up at Kellan, wishing he would be quiet. He laughed at my look. "I want you all to be nice to her..." he looked over to the D-Bag beside him who was grinning indecently at me, "...especially you Griffin."

He said good night to the crowd, that hollered yet again, and then he sat down on the edge of the stage. My embarrassment fading, now that the attention was no longer focused on me, I thought to go up and tell him how great he was. It apparently wasn't necessary though. Almost instantly, about five girls hovered around him. One brought him a beer, one played with his hair, and one even made herself quite comfortable on his lap. I'm pretty sure at some point I saw her lick his neck. After witnessing that, I figured he didn't need any encouraging words from me, and I could just tell him something nice in the morning.

Denny and I left soon after the band finished, and practically stumbled to bed in our tiredness. I don't know exactly when I heard Kellan get home, but it was much later than us. So naturally, I was pretty surprised when I groggily made my way down to the kitchen the next morning, and there he was, already sitting at the table, fully dressed, looking annoyingly perfect while sipping his coffee and reading the paper.

"Mornin'," he said, a little too cheerfully.

"Uh," I replied grumpily. So, not only was he talented and ridiculously attractive, he was also one of those people who could run smoothly on very little sleep. That irritated me a little.

I grabbed a mug and poured some coffee while he finished his paper. Upstairs, I could hear the water start running as Denny prepared for his shower. I finished making my coffee and went over to sit across from Kellan at the table.

He smiled at me as I sat down. For a second, I felt really self-conscious in the lounge pants and tank top I had slept in. Irritation at his all-too-perfect face swept through me. Really, did one person need to be so blessed? It didn't seem cosmically fair. Then I remembered Denny's conversation with me in the car...about Kellan and his dad. That cooled my anger. Things hadn't always been easy for this attractive boy.

"Well, what did you think?" he asked, smiling, like he already knew my answer.

I tried to frown, like I was going to say it sucked, but I couldn't and laughed a little instead. "You guys are amazing. Really, it was unbelievable."

He smiled and nodded, sipping his coffee again. Not a great shock to him, then. "Thanks. I'll tell the guys you liked it." He looked up at me with the corner of his eye. "Less offensive?"

I started to blush, remembering our conversation yesterday, but then his performance started replaying in my head. With mild surprise, I realized that he had toned down the sensuality. He had certainly still been flirty and charming, but less...obvious. I smiled over at him. "Yes, much better...thank you."

He laughed at my comment, and it pleased me a little that he had actually listened to something I had, rather rudely, criticized him for.

We sipped our coffees in silence for a few minutes, and then something said in conversation last night suddenly popped into my head and slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it. "Joey was the roommate before us?" Really, what was wrong with my loose tongue around him? I was going to have to work on that.


He paused in drinking his coffee and slowly set the mug down. "Yeah...she left awhile before Denny called about the room."

Curious at the odd look in his eyes, I asked, "She left a lot of her stuff here. Is she going to come back for it?"

He looked down at the table for a second, then back up to my eyes. "No...I'm pretty sure she left town."

Surprise loosened my tongue again, "What happened?" I really had had no intention of asking him that question. I wondered if he would answer me.

He looked thoughtful for a second, like he was wondering as well too. "A...misunderstanding..." he finally said, slowly.

Firmly, I shut my thoughts off and focused on my coffee. I was NOT going to pry anymore. It was not my business and I didn't want to ruffle my new roommate. It didn't matter anyway; our situation was so vastly different. I just hoped that if she did come back, she would leave the bed. It was incredibly comfortable.

Denny and I spent the remainder of that lazy Sunday resting and preparing for our jobs that we were starting the next day. Denny's internship paid next to nothing, so we were both relieved that I had found a job so quickly. I thanked Kellan for his small part in introducing us to Pete and mentally thanked Griffin for not being able to keep it in his pants, the thought of which, of course, made me blush a little.

I was nervous about it though. I had never waitressed at a bar before. Denny and Kellan had a great couple of hours quizzing me on different drinks and what was in them. I protested at first, since my knowledge really wasn't that great, and told them repeatedly that the bartender was making the drinks. I only had to repeat the orders. But after some amusingly suggestive drinks, some of which I'm sure Kellan completely made up, I started having fun playing their little game. I suppose it would help me to know everything I could.

By that evening, Denny was starting to get nervous about his first day as well. He picked out three different sets of clothes, flipped through all his old schoolbooks, organized his briefcase four times, and eventually sat on the couch, tapping his feet nervously. Kellan excused himself to meet with the band - apparently they met nearly every day to rehearse, probably why they felt so comfortable before a show. I took the opportunity of our aloneness to do everything in my power to get Denny's mind off of his nerves.

On the second time, I think he finally relaxed...

Monday morning came up quicker than expected. I made my way downstairs for my morning cup of coffee while Denny got ready for his first day. Spotting Kellan at the table, casually leaning back in his chair, drinking his coffee and reading the paper, I had to chuckle at his shirt. He was wearing a black t-shirt that quite boldly in white across the front read, 'Douchebags'. He noticed my laugh and my gaze and smiled attractively.

"Like it? I can hook you up." He winked at me. "I know people." I smiled and nodded back at him as he went back to drinking his coffee.

Denny came down a little while later, looking very handsome in a nice, light blue button-up dress shirt and khaki slacks. He looked over at Kellan at the table and pointed to his shirt. "Nice, man...score me one of those."

Kellan laughed and nodded, then Denny came up and slipped his arms around me. I frowned at him as he gave me a kiss on the cheek. "What?" he asked, looking himself over quickly.

I smoothed out the front of his shirt, then ran my hand along his jaw. "You...are entirely too attractive. Some perky blonde is going to snatch you away from me."

He raised an eyebrow and smiled warmly. "You silly nong."

Kellan popped up from the table. "No, she's right, man." He shook his head at him quite seriously. "You're hot." Then grinning, he went back to drinking his coffee.

Rolling my eyes at Kellan, I gave Denny a long kiss and wished him a good day at work. Kellan came up playfully and gave him a peck on the cheek as well. Denny laughed, and still looking rather nervous, made his way out the door.

I didn't have a whole lot to do during the day, since I wasn't starting school for another two and a half months, so I called my Mom again and told her I already missed everyone terribly. She immediately offered me a plane ticket back home. I assured her that everything was going great here, and I even had a job already. Sighing repeatedly, she wished me luck and lots of love. I told her to give Dad and Anna kisses for me.

I spent the rest of the day either watching TV, or watching Kellan write lyrics at the table. He seemed to be constantly jotting down some notes or thoughts, scratching them out, moving things around, and chewing on his pencil, thinking. Occasionally he would ask my opinion about a verse. I tried to give him as insightful of an answer as possible, but music theory was not one of my strong points. It was fascinating to watch him work though, and before I knew it, I needed to get ready for my shift.

I showered and then dressed, fixing my makeup and pulling my hair back into a ponytail. I sighed. Not great, but presentable, I guess. I made my way downstairs to grab my jacket from the hook at the front door.

"Kellan?"

He looked over at me from the living room where he was watching TV. "Yeah?"

"Is there a bus schedule around here? I want to look at the route again." Denny, with our only vehicle, wasn't home from work yet, and I wanted to leave early since I didn't know how long the bus ride would take.

He looked at me quizzically before he understood. "No...I'll take you though."

"No, no. You don't have to do that." I really didn't want to be a burden on him.

"No problem. I'll grab a beer, chat with Sam." He threw a charming half-smile at me. "I'll be your first customer."

Great, I hoped I didn't spill his beer in his lap. "Oh, okay. Thanks." I sat with him on the couch to watch TV for awhile, since now I had the time.

"Here, I wasn't really watching anything," he said, casually handing the remote over to me.

"Oh, thanks." It wasn't necessary, but it was a sweet gesture. I started flicking through channels and stopped when I started getting to the premium channels. I stopped on what I thought was HBO. "Oh, you get these channels?" It seemed odd to me that he would splurge on the extra ones when he didn't really seem to watch anything.

He grinned mischievously over at me. "Griffin. He likes to have...everything available to him when he visits. I guess he knows some girl at the cable company."

"Oh," I said, blushing just a little. I was thinking about what Griffin might want to watch on our TV, when I finally noticed what was currently playing on our TV. I had stopped on an overly erotic scene involving a naked man and woman, clearly in the throes of passion. And either the man was a vampire, or had a severe biting fetish, and was giving her a rather passionate bite to her neck, with lots of blood and lots of extremely suggestive licking and sucking. Blushing furiously, I turned back to Kellan's original show and threw the remote back to him.

I tried to ignore the look he gave me as he laughed softly beside me. When it got late enough Kellan turned off the TV and looked over at me. "Ready?"

I tried to smile. "Sure"

He chuckled at me. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

We grabbed our coats and made our way out the door. I had hoped that Denny would be home in time to take me, I'd really missed him all day, but I guess he was still at work. I hoped his first day had gone well. I hoped my first day went well.

We made our way to Kellan's car and I had to smile. It was an older sixties-looking muscle car - a Chevy Chevelle Malibu, according to the bumper. Shiny black with polished chrome everywhere, it was sleek and impossibly sexy; it matched its driver perfectly. I rolled my eyes a little at the extremeness of his attractiveness, which the car oddly seemed to accentuate. The inside was surprisingly spacious, with black leather bench seats in the front and the back. I had to suppress a laugh at the old fashioned looking tape deck. Aside from the living room TV, Kellan was a little behind on technology. Not that I was really up on it either - Denny and I didn't even have cell phones. Kellan smiled when he slid behind the wheel, obviously enjoying his vehicle. What was it with guys being so attached to their cars?


We were both quiet on the ride over and I quickly started getting nervous butterflies in my stomach. The first day on a new job always made me feel like getting sick. I stared out the window and started counting the street lights to distract myself.

Upon arrival at Pete's, and the twenty-fifth light, I suddenly realized that I had no idea what to do or where to go. Luckily, the pretty blonde girl that was our waitress the other night, introduced herself as Jenny, and waving at Kellan, she led me to the hallway, which led to a backroom across from the bathrooms. The backroom was a large storage area, with multiple shelves along one wall, holding boxes of liquor and beer, napkins, salt, pepper and other random bar supplies. A couple of extra tables were propped up on their sides against another wall, with stacks of chairs beside them, and another wall had a group of lockers that the staff used. Jenny grabbed a shirt from one of the boxes on a shelf and showed me which locker was mine and where to clock in. I took my very own red Pete's t-shirt and I changed in the bathroom. I immediately felt a little more relaxed. Something about looking like everyone else that worked at the bar, made me feel like I belonged, somewhat.

When I had told Pete I was a waitress, while not quite a lie, I was exaggerating a tiny bit. I had filled in for my sister one summer while she went off to "discover herself", whatever that meant. The tiny diner maybe got half the amount of traffic that Pete's got on a typical night. I was a little terrified.

Coming out of the hallway a few moments later, I noticed Kellan sipping on a beer and leaning against the long bar. The bartender was also leaning over the bar (her red Pete's shirt purposefully cut obscenely low), eyeing Kellan seductively. Kellan, ignoring her, sipped his beer casually and smiled when he saw me.

I frowned a little bit at his beer. He noticed my glance. "Sorry, Rita beat you to it." He smiled. "Next time."

The bartender, Rita, was an older blonde woman (although, I highly doubted that was her natural color) with skin that had been fake-n-baked one too many times, and was now a little leathery looking. Maybe at some point in her life she had been attractive, but time had not been kind. In her eyes though, she still was and she was outrageously flirtatious. And, as I learned throughout the night, she thoroughly enjoyed her job, and seemed to enjoy relaying all the juicy gossip customers told her even more. I blushed several times during my shift while she repeated their stories. I mentally reminded myself to never (not that I ever would) confide in a bartender...especially this one.

Throughout the night, I shadowed Jenny as she took customer's orders. It was a little confusing, since most of the people who came in were regulars who always ordered the same thing. She would simply walk up to the table and say, "Hi-ya, Bill, same for you today?" He would nod and she would smile and head to the bar or the kitchen to relay an order that I'd never actually heard. It was intimidating.

She noticed my worried expression. "Don't worry, you'll get it. Weeknights are pretty easy with the regulars...they'll be nice to you." She frowned a little. "Well, most of them will be nice to you. I'll help you with rest." She smiled warmly and I was very grateful for her kindness. Her looks perfectly matched her sparkling personality. She was, as the phrase went, cute as a button - petite with flowing, silky blonde hair, pale blue eyes and just enough curves to get more than a few appreciative glances from some of the customers. She was too sweet to be jealous of though, and I instantly felt a connection with her.

Sometime in the night, Kellan came up to me and tipped me for the drink I never actually gave him. He smiled and excused himself to meet with the band for a gig they had at another bar. I thanked him profusely for the ride over, lightly kissing him on the cheek, which, for some reason, made me blush, and caused Rita to raise her eyebrows speculatively. He smiled and muttered something about not mentioning it and left the bar.

Later in the evening, Denny stopped in to see how I was doing. He gave me a long hug and a sweet kiss, also to the delight of Rita, who looked at him a little too appealingly for my taste. He only stayed for a few minutes though; he had a project he wanted to start working on at home. He was insanely happy and that happiness infected me. I found myself smiling widely for a long time after he left.

When I wasn't shadowing Jenny, they had me cleaning up. I spent a good chunk of the night wiping tables, washing glasses, helping in the kitchen, and when things got slow at the tail end of the night...cleaning the graffiti from the bathroom stalls. Pete gave me some gray paint and a little brush and left me to it. Rita gave me instructions to let her know anything juicy written up there. Jenny smiled and wished me good luck. I sighed.

I started with the women's, thinking it would be less offensive than the men's, and really not wanting to walk into the men's room anyway. There were three stalls, and all of them had pen and sharpie scribbles on the inside and the outside. I sighed again and wished they had just given me a roller. This was going to take awhile.

Some of the stuff was innocent enough: I love Chris, A.M + T.L, Sara was here, TLF, I hate vodka, go home, you're drunk (I had to chuckle at that one). But a lot was less innocent: I'm horny, I wanna screw tonight, my boyfriend gives it good, random swear words. And then some were directed at people I knew: Sam makes me hot, I love Jenny (hmmm, I wondered about that one, since I was in the women's room), Rita's a skank (I chuckled, wondering if that was the juicy gossip she wanted to hear).

And finally, a huge portion was directed at the four band members. It surprised me at first, but then I thought it made sense, since they played here so often...and were attractive, I guess.

Griffin's were the most explicit. I couldn't even read them fully. Blushing, I covered up the extremely graphic words of just what girls had either done to him, or wanted to do with him, as quickly as I could. There was even an exceptionally vivid drawing of an act so absurdly crude, that I worried how long it would stick in my head. I sighed, knowing I was going to blush the next time I saw Griffin. He would probably love that.

Matt and Evan's tributes were more subtle. Girls wrote in adoration for Evan: I love him, I want him, marry me. Girls wrote with praise for Matt: Damn, he's hot, he can pluck me any day, Matt rocks me.

But of course, the largest portion of all the graffiti was directed towards Kellan. From the sweet: Kellan loves me, Kellan Forever, future Mrs. Kyle...to the not so sweet. Apparently, Kellan had been right when he said that women responded to his sexual nature. The markings where quite graphic, almost as much as Griffin's, of just what they wanted to do with him. There was also a section of comments that seemed to already have intimate knowledge of him. Whether real or not, theirs were the most explicit: Kellan licked my... (I brushed out the near paragraph on exactly what had been licked), I blew Kellan's... (whoa, really now), for a good time call... (I blinked, that was actually our phone number. I quickly brushed it out), Kellan shoved his... (ugh, I didn't even bother reading that one). I was already going to have horrid visions of Griffin. I didn't need them about my roommate too.

I finally finished with the women's room and made my way over to the men's, no longer worried about it. There was no way it was cruder than the stuff the girls had come up with.

Jenny sweetly gave me ride home after work and, even though I tried to be quiet, Denny woke up when I entered our room. He patiently listened to stories of my first day and then regaled me for at least an hour on his new job. He was in heaven and I couldn't have been happier for him.


Denny, Kellan and I, quickly fell into an easy routine at home. Kellan was almost always the first one awake, and there was usually a fresh pot of coffee waiting for me when I finally shuffled into the kitchen. We chatted companionably, sipping our java as Denny showered and got ready for his day at work.

Denny insisted that I didn't have to wake up with him, since I got home so late on nights I worked, but I loved seeing him off every morning. He was all smiles when he left. He was having way too much fun at his new job and I was elated for him. After he was gone, I had a lot of time to myself. And even though I was getting anxious at the thought of school beginning in a couple months, I was really starting to want something to do during the day. I mainly just, well, napped and lounged.

Kellan didn't seem to have any other job than the band. He would leave for a few hours in the afternoon or early evening to meet with the guys; they played a couple of other smaller bars during the week and Pete's every Friday and almost every Saturday. He would sometimes go for a run during the day. He even invited me to go with him a couple times, but I wasn't quite comfortable enough to say yes. The rest of his time was spent resting, reading, writing, singing or playing his guitar. He did his own laundry, made his own food, and aside from his messy bed, cleaned up after himself. He was pretty easy-going, as far as roommates go.

I also fell into an easy rhythm at my new job at Pete's. My limited waitressing skills were starting to kick back in. That first week, Denny came in every night after work and let me "practice" on him. He would order different things from the menu, and make it as complicated as possible, to see if I could get it right. It made me laugh every time, but it helped, by the third night I finally got him the food he actually ordered, which was good, because the guys in the kitchen were getting a little irritated at us.

I was surprised at how often Kellan and his band came into the bar during the week. They always sat at the same table, back by the stage. I don't think it would have mattered to them if people were sitting there already or not. It was just known in the bar, that that table was theirs, and when they came in, you better move or sit with them. Weeknights were busy, but nowhere near as packed as the weekends, and while women still watched Kellan openly, the people here were regulars and generally left the guys alone. Generally. There were still pockets of adoring fans here and there. The guys seemed to come in after rehearsal, or if they had a show that night, they would come in before their gig - they were there practically every day.

Their claimed table happened to be in my section. On my second night, they had all come in together, and I'd had to grit my teeth to approach them. Luckily, Denny had been with them too. That had definitely made it easier to talk to them; they were just way too intimidating, all grouped together like that, especially with the bathroom homage still fresh in my mind. And, as predicted, I had blushed furiously at Griffin, and he had found that immensely entertaining.

By the following Monday, after a hectic weekend of waitressing the throngs of people the guys had brought in both Friday and Saturday night (that was so crazy-busy, I couldn't even remember it), I was finally comfortable approaching the group. Unfortunately, they were all too comfortable with me by that point as well. They all seemed to delight in teasing me. Well, not so much Evan - he was just a big sweetie.

Watching them walk in, I sighed and rolled my eyes. Here we go again. Evan came in first and gave me a great big bear hug. I laughed when I could breathe again. Matt and Griffin seemed lost in some disagreement, but Griffin still managed to smack my ass on the way to his chair. I sighed at him and glanced over at Sam, who was paying no attention to the quartet whatsoever. Anyone else would have been kicked out on their rump for that, but apparently, these four owned the place.

Kellan came in last, looking perfect as usual. He had his guitar slung over his shoulder tonight; he brought it in sometimes when he was working on new stuff. He nodded at me with a small adorable smile on his face and took his seat.

"Usual tonight, boys?" I said, trying my best to sound as confident as sweet Jenny did.

"Yeah, thank you, Kiera," Evan replied politely for the group.

Griffin was not so polite. "F*ck yeah, of course, sweetheart." He grinned at me mischievously. He seemed to know how his crudeness irritated me and he played it up whenever I was around. I ignored him the best I could, and worked on keeping my expression even.

Apparently, I hadn't worked hard enough and he noticed my irritation. "You're so sweet, Kiera. You're like an innocent school girl." He shook his head in open delight. "I just want to...deflower you." He winked at me.

I blanched and stared at him, totally speechless.

Kellan chuckled softly, watching my face, and Matt beside Griffin snorted. "Dude, she's been with Denny forever. I'm pretty sure you missed that opportunity."

My mouth dropped open as I listened to them in mortification. Were they really discussing my virginity...right in front of me? I was too stunned to move away from the table.

Griffin turned to face him. "Too bad...I could have shown her the world."

Evan and Kellan laughed at him while Matt, barely containing his own laughter, said, "When have you ever shown any woman...the world?"

Griffin scowled at them. "I have skills...you guys just don't know. I've had no complaints."

Kellan grinned. "No repeats either."

"F*ck you, man. I'll show you right now! Grab a girl..." He looked around the bar, like he was searching for a volunteer. His eyes eventually rested on me and I paled even more and backed up a step.

"Noooooo," All the guys loudly said at the same time, backing away from Griffin a bit and holding their hands out, as if to physically restrain him if necessary.

Regaining my composer, since the conversation had moved away from my experience level, I thought now was as good a time as any to slip away from them. I started sliding slowly to the side, but Griffin's eyes were still on me. He grinned widely as he ignored the laughing going on around him.

"Kiera, if you've already been deflowered..." he threw an irritated glance at the guys, "by a tool, I'm sure..." he looked back to me while they laughed harder, "...then let's hear something naughty." His pale eyes sparkled with playfulness and he started playing with his tongue, more specifically, the barbell pierced through it. My stomach turned a bit at the sensuality of the move. I really didn't want to answer his stupid request.

I grimaced and made to walk away. "I have to go back to work, Griffin."

"Oh, come on...just one little curse. Don't you ever swear?" He reached out and grabbed my arm as I tried to walk by him.

More focused on pulling my arm away from his grasp, than what I was saying, I sighed and stated, "Yes, Griffin, I swear." I immediately regretted saying that.

"Really, let's hear it." He seemed genuinely amused at the idea of me trying to be as crude as he was. Evan looked embarrassed by his persistence and rolled his eyes. Matt put a hand on his chin and leaned forward and Kellan ran a hand through his hair and leaned back, both looking at me curiously. I was starting to get uncomfortable under their scrutiny.

I glared at Griffin. "Damn."

Both Matt and Kellan chuckled. Griffin tucked his blonde hair behind his ears and pouted. "Ooh, vicious. Now let's hear a real one."

"That is a real one." I really just wanted to walk back to the bar, but felt trapped by the odd conversation. Kellan was openly laughing at my discomfort now, and my irritation towards him specifically was growing.


"Okay, how about a little more colorful one...an easy one. How about...bitch?" He grinned devilishly at me as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You're such a child, Griffin." I rolled my eyes and looked over at Evan, silently begging him to end this conversation, since he was the only one besides me who looked mildly uncomfortable.

Griffin laughed at my obvious plea. "You really can't say it, can you?"

"I don't need to." It wasn't that I never swore...it was just usually safe in my head, where it wasn't quite so offensive. I wasn't about to do anything just to please Griffin anyway. I considered simply walking away from the table to end his stupid game, but I could just imagine how hard that would make him laugh.

He leaned across the table, hands held together. "Come on. Something, anything, I don't care...just say somethin' dirty," he begged.

I shifted uneasily, still thinking of an escape. I could just slap him? That would definitely take the focus off of me...but I didn't know him well enough to know how he would react to that. I really didn't need him mad at me...or turned on by it.

Kellan butted in at that point. "She called me sexual once."

Griffin just about fell off of his chair, laughing.

I glared over at Kellan, who looked at me with an adorably innocent look on his face, hands raised slightly in an expression that clearly said, 'what'? Seeing my break to get away (and really, the whole table was laughing now, even my ally Evan, so my running away really didn't matter), I headed back to the bar.

Hoping my face wasn't too red, I, as calmly as I could, walked over to where Rita was already getting the guys' drinks ready. I cautiously looked back at the table. Griffin and Matt were still laughing over Kellan's stupid comment. Evan was looking at me apologetically; at least he felt bad about laughing. Kellan, still chuckling a little, had grabbed his guitar from the floor and was idly strumming a rhythm.

He lightly started singing a song that I thought was a new one. I couldn't make out the lyrics from this distance, but the melody trickled over to me and was quite pretty. Instinctively, I started moving back to the guys so I could hear him better.

"I wouldn't bother." Rita had been watching me watch Kellan and had seemingly misinterpreted my interest.

"What?"

"That one." She pointed roughly at Kellan. "Don't waste your time."

Not knowing quite what she meant, I forgot to tell her that I was just interested in his song and instead asked, "What do you mean?"

She leaned in conspiratorially, happy for the chance to tell her little story. "Oh, he's deadly attractive for sure, but he'll just rip your heart out. Loves 'em and leaves 'em , that one."

"Oh." I supposed that wasn't too big a shock, considering the swarm of rabid fans that seemed to attack him at every show, and the numerous comments he'd gathered on the stall walls. "We're not like that. He's my roommate...nothing else. I was just listening to... "

She cut me off. "I don't know how you live with that?" She looked over at him, rather seductively, biting her lip. "That would drive me crazy, day in, day out." She set a couple of beer bottles on the counter.

I was beginning to get a little irritated at her looking at him like she was, and continuing to call him "that", like he wasn't a fully formed person or something.

"Well, having my boyfriend there helps, of course." It came out a little sarcastically, but honestly, what did she think we were doing at our house?

She laughed a little. "Oh, sweetie...do you think that matters to him? Baby, I was married and that didn't seem to faze him in the slightest." She put the last two bottles on the counter with a small smile on her lips. "Well worth it though." She winked.

I dropped my mouth in shock. Rita was at least twice his age and, from what I'd heard, was currently on husband number four. Apparently Kellan wasn't too choosey about who he brought home? And I was starting to get the feeling that was everybody. It was kind of odd that I hadn't seen any girls at the house yet.

Gathering my composure, I muttered, "Well, it matters to me." I grabbed the bottles and walked back to the guy's table, slightly agitated...and not sure why.