The Hook-up

Chapter 208

He looked at the text not exactly sure what to do with the text. No. There's no reason to call her back. He told himself.

"What was that?" Jamero asked.

"Nothing. It's nothing."He tried to reassure himself stuffing the phone back in his pocket. "Come on. Everyone up. We're going out."

"What are we doing?" Eric asked.

"We're going to celebrate this damn thing!" he said almost in a manic state.

"Is he okay?" Dwyane asked Kameron.

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure we have to do what he says..." Kameron answered.

A few hours later Bruno and his band walked out of the Versace store in Midtown wearing custom suits and ties. "Now we go celebrate!" he said dramatically lifting his hands up in the air. "Let's go drink some moonshine!"

Bruno was euphoric and manic throughout the night having Ryan take photos of the things they were doing and the fun they were having. Close to one in the morning Bruno decided to stop at a random local bar to drink with New Yorkers. Everyone was in awe of his entrance as the small bar where most patrons were wearing jeans and t-shirts. "Oh my god...." a girl dressed in a brown and tan sweater dress with curly hair gasped.

"Excuse me..." she half stuttered. "Can we get a picture with you?"

"Sure..." Bruno said to her. "But I think it'd be great if my boys were in the picture too..." he said. Bruno and his band manuevered around the girl's friends to take a few pictures. "Thank you so much..." he said to her after the pictures were taken. "It was nice to meet you..."

"Ashley..." she got out. "Ashley. And this is Lizz, Sarah and Emily." she pointed to her friends.

"Well, ladies. Would you like a drink?" he asked.

"Umm..." Lizz answered a bit concerned.

"That'd be great..." Sarah answered with a smile.

"Sar..." Ashley leaned over. "He's already drunk do we want him to get more drunk?"

"He's a grown-up." Sarah answered taking the drink that Phil handed her.

"No, she's right." Lizz told them. "Bruno, how are you feeling?" Lizz asked a bit concerned.

"I'm fabulous." he said in a still hyper and fast paced voice. "What are you girls doing tonight?"

"We're celebrating the end of the semester." Ashley answered. "We're going to be psychiatrists..."

"So you girls are super smart." Bruno said starting to calm down. "My wife is super smart. She has a Masters in journalism..."

"Wow. That's amazing." Lizz answered writing something on a napkin pushing it to her friends. He's manic.

"It is. She can write about anything and make it sound like JK Rowling wrote it." he said with a laugh. He continued to ramble about Lauren mentioning the babies. Lizz and Sarah listened to him as Ashley got up to talk to Ryan.

"I am telling you this as a friend..." she said sitting down next to Ryan. "I know we're just a random group of girls that you met on a wild night out, but he's going to break soon. There's something going on. And I don't know him, but he is in some type of manic state. Just be careful with him." she paused turning around to talk to her friends. "I think I'm ready to go. I have to be at the hospital in 5 hours..."

"That's a good idea..." Lizz answered putting her drink down. "It was fabulous to meet you. Have a great day tomorrow."

"Congratulations on the album, Bruno." Sarah answered walking away with her friends.

After the girls walked away Bruno turned to his bandmates. "I'm ready to go too. Let's go do something even crazier than this..." he stopped in mid sentence catching Ryan off guard after Ashley had told him she was worried after only talking to Bruno for a few minutes. "Let's go moon someone."

Everyone stood up walking out the door watching Bruno reach for his phone. He started dialing stopping at the corner of a street. "Damaarrrisss! You're amazing, just the way you arrreeeeee...." he sang drunkingly into the phone.

Ryan heard him singing into the phone grabbing it quickly. "He's drunk, Damaris. I'm sorry." he took the phone putting it in his pocket. "What are you doing?" Ryan yelled at Bruno. "Are you crazy?"

"I just might be." Bruno yelled back.

"Because those girls told me you were. And you need help, Bruno. Stop doing this. Stop with her. Just fucking stop." Ryan snapped at his best friend.

"Give me my phone back. You're not in charge." Bruno said like a twelve year old boy reaching for his much stronger friend.

"Bru, I think it'd be better if you stopped." Phil told Bruno. "You've had a busy last few days. And I know you miss Lauren..."

"Give me my phone!" Bruno pushed them away trying to get the phone feeling Ryan's heavy hand against his face. "What the hell?" he asked rubbing his face after Ryan's fist landed below his eye.

"Really? Are you two serious?" Dre stepped in between the two of them. "are you god damn serious?" he asked again pulling the two of them apart. "Let's get back to the hotel, Bruno. We'll talk about this later."

"Fine." he paused still angry. "But give me my phone back." he muttered.

"I will take it." Dre said walking with Bruno in the front of the group. The further away from everyone he got the less talking he did. As they made their way toward a cab Bruno finally started to talk.

"I think I love Damaris." he finally got out.