The Rich Boy in a Rock Band

Song 22 ♪ Everyday Is Not Exactly The Same

The venue was in some obscure street off of OBT. The area was packed with cars and we ended up parking a couple of blocks away in the back of a strip club. I had a hard time wrapping my head around how things had escalated to this level, but at that point I just thought the entire thing was hilarious and a by-product of hanging out with the Winters brothers.

The younger twin walked up to the bouncer with a spring on his step. I didn't think he meant to go in, especially when considering the fact that he was not interested in any female parts, so I looked at Ashton for some sort of intel. He shrugged.

"Hey there, sexy," Ayrton said with the confidence of someone who, for some reason, doesn't think he might just get beat up. The bouncer, a huge bald man with bulging arms, looked down at the pretty boy.

"ID," the man said.

Ayr waved that away. "I'm not going in. I just wanted to know if it's okay to leave our cars parked out back here."

The man folded his arms and his muscles bunched. "No. Parking's only for customers."

Undeterred, the boy picked up his wallet and produced a green bill. I couldn't see the denomination from where I stood, but I did see the way the bouncer's eyes bulged instead. He looked around and snatched the bill.

"Have a good day," he said.

Ayrton turned to us with a grin. "Let's go, friends."

Leti linked her arm with mine. "Rich people are something else."

I snorted. She had only the gist of it.

As we approached the place, I started to see more and more people parade in the same direction. They all looked like they belonged to a music video.

"Fascinating," Addy said, eyeing them. "You'd think that only wearing black would get boring, but look at all the creativity around us."

I tried not to stare, but it was hard not to when the guy in front of you had a spiky mohawk that seemed to reach the sky. I wondered how he got his hair so stiff and pointy or if someone helped him. A silver claw jumped out of his left ear's tunnel and his other ear was pierced by bobby pins. Jesucristo.

Just off the side was a girl wearing what looked like a wedding dress all in black. Her hair was adorned by red roses and her arms and chest by tattoos. She held hands with another girl who wore cargo pants and a t-shirt with a logo I assumed belonged to a band. I looked at my group, all in jeans and t-shirts with bands, except for Leti and I who just settled for nondescript clothes from Target, and DeAndre who wore an Orlando Magic t-shirt.

My lips twitched and I told Addy, "Meanwhile look at us, we're like the casual Friday funeral gang."

She snapped her fingers. "That'd be a great name for your band. Guys, what do you think?"

Ashton and Lincoln joined us from behind and I felt an arm drape around my shoulders. I startled and looked up to Ashton's profile. He grinned down at me.

I heard Leti loudly say get it girl, but it was hard to react to anything other than his blue eyes so close to mine and his lips curved up in mirth. Lips I knew the taste of.

"What was that?" he asked. His deep voice embraced me and sent my nerves tingling, and I had to do a superhuman effort to extricate myself from his trance.

I took a deep breath and looked away, and still my lungs filled in with his cologne. I stepped out of his hold and smacked him, hoping it all looked friendly and not like I'd just been about to snatch him away into an empty alley and tear into his clothes.