“I know.” He kisses me on my temple. “But that’s my definition. Let’s go.”
“She hasn’t agreed to my terms,” I balk.
“We’re going to a party, not negotiating a hostage release.”
“Fine.” I call out to my sister, who’s at the dining table across the room. “Paisley, we’re going to Justin’s tonight. His parents are gone and he’s having a party.”
Ty starts to get up, but Oak waves him off. “No, not tonight, Ty. We’re just going to a friend’s house.”
Ty looks worried. “I dunno, man. I don’t think Jim would like it.”
“It’s fine. Vaughn’s friends are good people. They’ll drink but no one will drive and it won’t be superbig. Maybe twenty kids, tops,” Paisley reassures him. Weirdly, Paisley’s completely cool about Oak and me dating for real.
Ty settles back in his chair. He doesn’t want to leave Paisley. Oak and I exchange another smirk before I find my keys to the car.
“No singing?” he asks as he climbs into the passenger seat.
“Justin’s friend Matt likes to pretend he’s a musician. Kiki and Carrie are going to have to sit on him so he doesn’t attack you with his uploaded YouTube videos.”
“Hey, plenty of stars got discovered that way. Don’t knock the internet hit-making machine.” Oak moves the seat all the way to the back before buckling in. It reminds me a little of Dad and his long legs.
“I’m not. I’m knocking Matt. He doesn’t do it because he loves music but because he thinks it makes girls want to drop their panties.” Something that probably does happen far too often for Oak.
“What if I want to sing?”
I roll my eyes. “Knock yourself out, champ.”
He smirks and falls silent, tapping his fingers against his knees. Justin doesn’t live far away, only about a mile. When we arrive, there are a few people outside the house. Oak flips his hood up and tugs his baseball cap low, but no one even glances twice at us.
Before I can get my hand up to knock, the door flies open.
“Oh, God, it’s you. You’re in my boyfriend’s house!” Kiki exclaims. Then she slaps a hand over her mouth. “I’m trying to be cool. As cool as I can be. Can I touch your cross tat?”
“No,” I say rudely and push by her. “No touching. No saying ‘oh, God.’ No staring.”
“I can’t stop staring. He’s so gorgeous.” She trails behind us as I drag Oak inside.
“Oak, you remember Carrie, Justin and Kiki. This is Colin, Matt, Tracy.” I reel off a bunch of names.
Oak takes the initiative and shakes everyone’s hands or slaps their palms. It takes a moment for everyone to settle down, but someone, probably Carrie, cranks up the music and shoves a beer into Oakley’s hand.
“Red Solo cup,” Oak murmurs with delight.
“This is as normal as it gets,” I tell him as I accept the bottle of water Carrie hands me. I’m not drinking tonight, not after what happened at Oakley’s house.
We rest our butts against the side of the dining room table, just off the kitchen. He takes a cautious sip and then another. After drinking half the cup, he leans over. “This is terrible.”
I take the cup from him and indulge in a tiny sip of the keg beer. “Oh, man. It really is.”
“I love it.”
“So Oak, you a Rams fan now?” Justin asks.
“Christ, I guess so? I haven’t been to a game yet. You?”
“I went to a preseason game with my dad and brother but we haven’t pulled the trigger on the game tickets. Damn expensive.”
Oak nods as if he understands. His hand slips around my waist. “My dad was a huge LA Rams fan but they moved before I was born. Dad was so pissed they left that he refused to cheer for them again.”
“Same with my dad,” Matt interjects. “When they got the okay to move back, I thought he’d be happy. Instead he told me that he’d cheer for the Rams when hell froze over.”
A few more people drift over to join the football talk. Since sports bore me more than anything, I drift away to find Kiki and Carrie out on the deck.
“Straight up, is it weird dating Oakley Ford?” Carrie offers me her cigarette.
I shake my head in refusal and boost myself onto the top of the deck railing.
“At first, it was weird, but now, he’s just…Oak.”
“Oak, huh?” Kiki wiggles her eyebrows. “Aren’t you worried about when he goes on tour and there’re all these girls throwing themselves at him?”
I hadn’t given it a lot of thought, but something in my bones tells me that I don’t need to worry. “Oak’s not the type to cheat. He’d tell me if he fell for another girl.”
This is a guy who doesn’t like being touched, and in all the time I’ve been with him, there’s never been another girl on his radar.
“Really? I don’t think I could deal with that.” Carrie taps the cigarette over the side of the deck. “I’d be too stressed out and superjealous all the time.”
“Vaughn’s always been chill,” Kiki says.
“It’s not me.” I laugh. “It’s Oak. He’s not that kind of guy.” Unlike with W, I’ve never found a group of strange girls hanging out at Oak’s house or the studio. And he has access to hundreds of them if he wanted to. Plus, he doesn’t even make offhand comments about how different celebs are hot or how he’d like to tap that—W used to do that all the time.
“What about April Showers?” Carrie protests. “He was with, like, a dozen girls while he was dating April.”
I catch my lower lip between my teeth. How do I explain this to them without giving everything away?
“It’s not always what you see in the press,” Oak says from the doorway.
The two girls turn bright red as he approaches. When he reaches me, he slides his arm around my waist again, either anchoring himself or me. Maybe both.
“April and I were friends. We did some stuff together but it didn’t work out. Sometimes the magazines and websites like to stir up controversy for hits and views. Touring isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. It’s a lot of work and the down days are often spent traveling from one location to another. You miss your family, your friends, even your own bed.”
“That actually sounds amazing,” I tell him.
We lock eyes. “You should come with me next time.”
“Maybe I will.” I grin, but when he doesn’t grin back, I realize he’s serious. Going on tour with him as he travels all over the world? That would be amazing.
“And on that note, I think I’m going inside,” Carrie announces. “You, too, Kiki.” She pulls Kiki off the railing.
“But I wanna see what happens next,” Kiki wails.
Oak’s lips curve up.
“They’re not a television show,” Carrie scolds as she drags Kiki inside the house.
“No, they’re better.”
I can’t help but laugh. “We should go inside, too.”
Oak’s hand tightens on my hip. “Do we have to?”
My skin is too tight for my frame. Every sense I have is heightened. His fingers feel heavy against my jeans. The cool night air is tickling all my nerves.
“How’d you do it? You and April?” I ask quietly.
He answers without hesitation, knowing exactly what I mean. “We weren’t ever friends, despite what I just told your girls. We were two bratty kids who thought we deserved more than we got even though the world was pretty much on a platter. I thought she should do whatever I wanted and she thought the same, only in reverse. I wasn’t very nice to her.” He makes a face. “Are you going to hold this against me?”
“No. I just wondered how you kept it all separate. Did you put April in the friend compartment and then take her out and slot her somewhere else when you needed to be…affectionate with her?”
He places a thumb at my chin, gently pulling me around so that I have nowhere to look but at his face. “So I need you to look at me while I tell you this. April and I were never a thing. What you saw in public wasn’t anything more than the two of us acting in order to get more mentions in the press, more coverage. I was on tour and Claudia wanted me on the cover of something every day. April and her family live for that shit. There were feelings that got hurt at the end, and I didn’t see it coming because I thought she was a great actress. I’m sorry she got hurt. If there’s anyone who’s in trouble here—” he waves a finger between us “—it’s me. I think you know that.”