MELODY

MELODY 08

┏ 𝚒 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚒'𝚖 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚒 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚝 ┐

Bryan tapped a pen on his desk, eyes glued at his desktop monitor. The words on the screen were a jumbled mess, none registering in his head. He was back here once again with Adam's insistence. He could have been in his room at the moment to do his assignment, but here he was, handling things for the team that wasn't even his job. A loud sigh escaped his lips.

At least he didn't mind filing these forms. They didn't seem hard once he got the hang of it.

His mind raced back to a few hours ago when he had met Jackson Star. The way his dark eyes had met his, and the way his facial expression changed from the smile he admired to annoyance and then complete blankness. A frown etched on his face as he rubbed his chin.

That man had been so different from what he thought him to be.

And it was disappointing.

A scream got caught in his throat when a hand slammed on his desk, startling him out of his thoughts. Pen scattered to the floor, he snapped his gaze at a grinning Raj. Annoyance bubbled within him as he bent to grab his pen.

"What do you want?" Bryan said, leaning into his chair.

Raj took a seat in front of him. "Adam, Sasha and I are heading to Al's Drinks tonight. Wanna join?"

Bryan raised his eyebrows. "We got class tomorrow, man."

His friend simply rolled his eyes, a smirk curling on his tan face. "We won't get plastered. Come on, you rarely hang out with us, man."

Well, maybe it was because he rarely knew or was close to any of Adam's friends, including Raj. While they only spoke a few times, he wasn't convinced that they knew each other enough to drink in each other's presence.

"I don't know," Bryan said, hesitating. "I have assignments pending and I'm pretty lightweight."

Raj smiled wider before he placed both hands on the desk and leaned forward. "We'll take care of you. Plus," he said before he lowered his voice as if he was sharing a secret, "I heard MELODY is going to be there. Adam knows Tay. It's going to be lit."

"Tay?" Bryan said, though his brain had gotten stuck at the thought of MELODY was going to be at the bar.

His mind raced to the incident with Jackson a few hours ago. He had heard the girl mentioning something about Al's Drinks to the lead guitarist when he had intruded on their conversation. His heart gave him a treacherous skip of a beat at the thought of being able to see him again. Even when Jackson had been nothing but rude to him.

"Yeah," Raj said. "The lead singer of MELODY, Tay Sitwat."

Bryan shifted in his seat. "Is Jackson Star gonna be there?"

The dark brown eyes sparkled in mirth as his smile transformed into a knowing smirk that Bryan hated. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe."

"What's with that tone?" Bryan said, huffing a breath. They definitely weren't close enough for this. Had Adam said anything to him? There was a slight anxious feeling over that thought, quickly dismissing it then. His best friend wouldn't do that. So that just meant he was being obvious. Which was, frankly, just as bad. Deciding to fake calmness, he added, "I'm just wondering if everyone from MELODY is going to be there. He's the only member I know the name of."

Hands raised, palms facing outward as if it was a sign of surrender, Raj said, "Nothing, man. Yeah, Jackson's going to be there." Bryan knew Raj had something he wanted to say, so he narrowed his eyes. That earned a snort of amusement. "Come on, come with us. We're meeting in front of the main campus gate at 10PM. Be there or miss Jackson Star."

"Raj," Bryan said, a warning in his tone.

With a laughter, the Publicity Officer stood up, winking at him. Bryan tossed a pen at his direction when Raj laughed louder, exiting the office and shutting the door behind him with a soft click. The silence then flooded in, being a companion to Bryan's thoughts. Leaning deeper into his chair, the squeaky wheels made noise when he turned his attention to the screen of his computer.

And because he had been a masochist, he had the website of MELODY pulled up from before, Jackson's face staring right back at him with a smirk on his lips.

Fuck it.

Bryan knew he was going even before he could think about it.

┏ 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝙼𝙴𝙻𝙾𝙳𝚈 𝟶𝟾 ┐