Free Thoughtless by S.C. Stephens

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.
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    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.”
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    “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.
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    4
    Chapter
    Changes
    Denny quickly impressed the people at his work, just like I knew he would, and we didn’t have nearly as much time together as I would have liked. I tried to still see him off every morning, but as I started getting in-to the