Free Curves For Her Rock Star by Stacey R. Summers Page B

little that the bartender didn’t even so much
as glance in my direction.
    “ Thanks,” Blake replied. “Let me get two cape cods.”
    “ Coming right up,” the bartender said before he moved down the
bar to make our drinks.
    Blake turned to me and gave a nod towards
the discarded glass. “I thought you didn’t drink beer.”
    I gave a shrug of my shoulders. “With
everyone raving about it, I thought I might give it a try.”
    Blake laughed, “Just like me, people only
think highly of it around her because it’s a Riverside
original.”
    “ Yeah, but unlike you the beer deserves at least half the
credit it’s given,” I replied teasingly.
    Blake laughed louder, but before he could
retort to my jest the bartender returned with our drinks. “Here you
are.”
    “ Thanks,” Blake replied as he took the drinks and handed the
bartender what looked like a twenty. “The rest is for
you.”
    “ Thanks man,” the bartender said before heading away to tend to
a newly arrived couple at the far end of the bar.
    “ What should we toast to?” Blake asked as he raised his drink
before me.
    “ To
being home,” I replied as I lifted my glass up to meet his with a
soft clink.
    “ To
being home,” he echoed before we both took a long drink.
    “ So
what’s new?” Blake asked as his blue eyes stared deep into mine,
causing me to flush all the more and advert my gaze down to his
drink.
    “ Uh,” I said as I found my eyes studying the way his long
fingers curled around the glass. “Honestly not much. Life has been
just as boring as ever.”
    “ Yeah, nothing exciting seems to really ever happen in
Riverside.”
    “ Isn’t that the truth,” I said before taking another sip of my
drink, letting the cranberry and vodka wash away my memories of the
overly bitter beer. “So how was the tour?”
    “ Really good,” he said with a smile. “We got a lot of positive
feedback on some of our new stuff. Hopefully while we’re home we
can put the finishing touches on our debut album, and we’ll see
where we go from there.”
    “ Don’t forget about us little people down here in Riverside
when you make it big.”
    “ You know I could never forget about you, Rose.”
    “ Funny considering you never chose to call me once while you
were out on the road,” I replied in a tone that did little to hide
my irritation.
    “ Don’t give me that,” he said with a shake of his head. “The
phone works both ways, and you know why I might be hesitant to call
the roommate of my ex-girlfriend.”
    “ Yeah I understand,” I said before I took a sip of my drink,
swallowing my anger. While his point was sound, it also annoyed me
that he failed to give any consideration to the fact that our
friendship long exceeded the relationship he had with my
roommate.
    “ How’s Hailey?” Blake asked, his voice lowering to just a
whisper. My gaze lifted to see his eyes had also fallen to his
drink. I knew he was still hurting after the two had called things
off a few months before he had went out on tour. They had been in a
relationship for nearly three years, in-fact he was the one that
had introduced me to Hailey when I was looking for a roommate
following my graduation.
    “ She’s good I guess,” I said with a shrug. “You know her,
always staying busy with work.”
    Hailey had done a good job of giving the
appearance of a borderline workaholic, but a month after Blake had
gone on tour my curious snooping had revealed the truth of it. Most
of the late nights Hailey was supposedly spending at work were
instead being spent at high end restaurants and hotels with her
married boss. While others might have been disgusted with her
actions, I found myself happy because I knew that if she was seeing
another man I wouldn’t have to worry about her getting back
together with Blake. My inner joy made me feel more than a little
guilty.
    “ So
give me more details about your tour,” I said in an effort to stir
the conversation as far away from