More Than Friends Read online

  He glances at the guys and says, “Y’all go to the bar and grab a beer. I want to talk to Chloe for just a second.”

  “Ooh, someone’s in trouble,” Brady says in a singsong voice, laughing and heading to the door. When he passes by, I realize Skye had more than enough room to get by without touching me.

  When Brady closes the door, I turn to Tom and unleash my wrath. “I cannot BELIEVE you did that! Eye-fucking? REALLY?” I shout. “You had better be glad I love you. If you were anyone else, you would be eating my fucking fist. If you EVER do that again, I will kick your ass, Thomas Eugene Anderson!” My voice has become a high pitch squeal as I yell at him. My face is burning and I throw my arms in the air in exasperation.

  A laugh from deep within Tom’s chest erupts from his lips. Once he regains his breath, he says, “Did you really just use my whole name? Oh, you must be pissed. What the hell did you expect? You were drooling all over Skye and Brady!” The smug expression he has is pissing me off even more.

  “So? Did you have to call me out?” I say as I poke out my lip and hope for some sort of reprieve from this highly embarrassing situation.

  He laughs at my attempt to get him to cut me some slack and continues, “Skye just moved back into town and the band needs work. I do like the idea of seeing how they do tonight before we make a final decision. I figured the band would be good for business, especially after your reaction to them.”

  A blush starts creeping up my neck. Have I mentioned I freaking hate him?

  “I’m sure women will be beating down the doors to get close to the guys,” he teases.

  What was that? Did I just feel a pang of jealousy? I don’t like the idea of women coming into BAR to see him and I don’t like that it bothers me so much.

  “What the hell is wrong with you anyway, Chloe?” Tom asks. “I’ve never seen you drool over anyone before. What happened to my badass ‘I don’t need a man’ friend?” The asshole can’t help himself and starts cracking up again. “You might want to tone it down a bit. We can’t have you coming off as desperate.”

  Huffing, copying his stance, and narrowing my eyes, I shoot back, “Whatever. Just don’t embarrass me like that again.” I think he lives for the opportunity to mortify me.

  “Yeah, okay. Would you show them around the bar and get them settled? Part of their agreement for playing tonight is that they get a hundred dollar tab. Anything over that they have to pay for. Show them the ropes and introduce them to everybody. No dry humping their legs.” He laughs and dodges my punch to his arm. “Also, you’re playing emcee tonight. All you have to do is introduce them and walk off stage.”

  Even though I’m glaring imaginary death rays at his head, I agree. What am I supposed to do? Tell him no? Not only is it what I get paid for, but Tom has been my personal savior more than once. Every time life has knocked me down and left me in small broken pieces, good ol’ Tom was there to pick up the pieces and help me glue them back together. I owe him more than I can ever repay.

  While I am lost in thought, the room goes silent for a brief second and then Crystal’s very talented raspy voice penetrates the walls and fills the room with the lyrics to Mellissa Ethridge’s “I’m the Only One.”

  Tom coughs and I climb out of my head. Choosing not to say anything about his dry humping comment, I shoot him the bird, stick out my tongue, and turn on my heels to leave, shouting, “love you, asshat!” over my shoulder as I exit the office.

  By the time I reach the bar Crystal has taken her place back behind it, leaning over, exposing her large chest, and talking with Brady.

  She suddenly throws her head back and releases a sound that can only be described as a cackle. She sounds like a mix of a drunken SpongeBob and the Wicked Witch of the West. She leans into Brady and whispers something in his ear and he flashes her a smug smile, taking a step back and shaking his head.

  Raising my voice so that she can hear me from across the room, I shout, “Crystal, I need you to clean the restrooms before everyone gets here.”

  She immediately whips her head toward me and with doe eyes and a stutter says, “I, um, Tanner said he was going to do it.”

  I smile at her sweetly and say, “Well, go and help him, please. We’re opening soon and I need you to get up front to check IDs.”

  She heads to the bathrooms muttering a disgruntled, “okay.” She’s clearly not happy about having to leave Brady to tend to a toilet.

  I start toward the band but suddenly get the feeling that I’m being watched. It makes me uneasy so I quickly turn around and scan the bar, not seeing anyone looking at me. I shrug it off and continue toward the stage. Brady is already there tuning up his guitar.

  “Sorry about being late. I’m typically here before everyone else,” I say, grabbing everyone’s attention. I introduce myself to the other members of the band. “I’m Chloe, the bar manager. Tom told me y’all might be the new house band, so welcome. Just so we’re clear, y’all have a hundred dollar tab for the night. Anything over that you pay for yourselves. Now, I know Skye and Brady, but what are the rest of your names?”

  The guy on the drums looks up at me and says, “I’m Kasey.”

  “Short and sweet! I love a man of few words. Kasey, you are now my new favorite,” I say with a smile. I throw him a wink and grin as he turns a deep rose color. Aw, how sweet. A man who blushes. I thought they were just mythical creatures. Kasey appears younger than the rest of the guys and I can’t help but think his chin-length copper hair, blue eyes, and baby face will be a big hit with the ladies.

  The man standing next to Kasey extends his hand. “I’m Harley. Nice to meet you.” Mmmm. Harley is tall, tan, and toned. He’s got a dangerous and rugged look about him with eyes as dark as his chocolate brown hair and scruff that lines his powerful jaw. He is the definition of bad boy personified. I’ll probably have to keep my eye on this one.

  Spinning to face the bar, I raise my voice so that I can be heard across the dance floor. “The blonde is Crystal,” I say and she gives a shy smile and waves from the bathroom door. “Next to her is Erin, and behind her is Anna.” They both smile at the band. “Tanner is the guy at the mechanical bull with Tom.” Tom and Tanner both give a slight nod of their heads.

  “You’ll start playing your first set when we open in an hour. Each set needs to be close to forty-five minutes. Do you have enough material for that?” Brady nods in confirmation and I resume my directive. “We’ll break for twenty minutes between each set. DJ Paul over there–” I point to Paul at the deejay booth and continue speaking to the band “–will take over, and do his thing during the breaks. Any questions?”

  The guys shake their heads and I finish up. “Okay. Well, I’m going to make sure everybody is set up. Do what y’all do best and I’ll see you in a few. Oh, and just so you know, this place gets extremely crowded. Good luck, and if you need anything, just holler.” I pause for a few moments and then ask, “Oh yeah, where’s Skye?” I try to act like I really don’t care, but probably fail miserably.

  No one says anything, but Brady points to the bar. I turn around and see Skye sitting there sipping on a beer, his green gaze on me. Flashbacks from high school assault me. He was right. Some things never change. I realize he must’ve been the reason I felt like I was being watched earlier. For some reason, the idea of Skye watching me doesn’t creep me out like it used to. In fact, I think I kind of like it.

  “Harley?” I ask as I walk into the living room of the apartment the guys and I moved into earlier today.

  “In here, man,” he shouts and pokes his head out of the bedroom door at the end of the hallway. I turn to face him and notice he has already showered and changed clothes.

  “Do you think you and Kasey you can go ahead to BAR and get the stage set up? Brady and I will be right behind you. We have a meeting with Tom in an hour.” Tom is the owner of BAR and an old high school friend of mine. Our band, Escaped, was playing at a bar in Savannah several weeks ago and Chase, the owner, mentioned th
at Tom was looking for a house band.

  I looked up the number for BAR the next day, called him immediately, and spent a few hours catching up. After I emailed him some of our songs, he looked us up on YouTube and called me back to ask if we would come play one Friday night as an audition. Two weeks later and here we are.

  “Yeah,” he says. “Me and pecker-head can drive my truck since the trailer’s already attached to it. When do we need to leave?”

  Pulling out my phone and glancing at the time, I see it’s already five. BAR is only two blocks away from the apartment building so we don’t have to worry about leaving too early. “‘Bout thirty minutes. Me and Brady will be there a little closer to six,” I reply and he just nods.

  The bathroom door opens; Kasey steps out in a towel and stops in the doorway, steam escaping into the hallway from behind him. Looking from me to Harley he says, “You ladies having a bitches anonymous meeting here in the hallway?” He laughs at his own joke, which wasn’t really funny. I look at Harley and he rolls his eyes.

  “What?” Kasey asks while giving us big innocent confused eyes. Harley and I shake our heads and I turn to walk back into my room, shutting the door without saying anything. I can hear their muffled bickering through the door, which is normal for the two of them.

  I pull my phone back out of my pocket and check to see if I have any texts from Brady, my closet friend and another one of my roommates, who is out getting some stuff he needs from Wal-Mart.

  There’s one unopened message from Tom sent at five twelve.

  If you get there early ask Crystal the bartender for Chloe. She should be in the office waiting for us. My fingers effortlessly glide across the buttons as I text him back.

  Chloe? From school Chloe? I know it’s her. I just need the confirmation. My phone chimes and I open the message.

  Yes. See ya shortly, man. Instead of responding, I sit on the edge of the bed and put my head in my hands, thinking back to the day I first saw her.

  Dad’s job relocated him from Anderson, South Carolina to Bartow, Georgia right before my junior year. We had just finished unpacking our stuff at the house and decided to go out and grab something to eat. My mom, dad, and I were sitting in a booth at Claire’s Diner in town talking about the upcoming school year when a guy, whose name I would later learn was Tom, walked in and went straight into the restroom at the back of the diner. As I watched him pass by our booth, the door chimed again and my attention was immediately pulled to the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She walked in and smiled at the girl behind the counter before making her way toward the back of the diner to sit in a booth across from my family.

  Her beauty mesmerized me. With sun-kissed skin and shiny strawberry waves that flowed just below her shoulders, this girl was beyond beautiful. When her almond-shaped eyes met mine she gave me an awkward smile, and I quickly turned back to the cold cheeseburger in front of me, embarrassed that she’d caught me staring.

  The following Monday I started the beginning of my junior year at Woodland High. Chloe and I had a couple of classes together and I always sat in the back so I could watch her without her noticing. Instead of paying attention to the lesson, I would spent each class period staring at the back of her head and daydreaming about what would happen if I worked up the courage to talk to her. Would she like me? Would she kick my ass?

  Chloe was gorgeous even though she didn’t wear makeup or have half a can of Aqua Net in her hair to hold it in place. She was a natural beauty on the outside and the inside. She wasn’t into materialistic things. What you saw was what you got. She always went out of her way to help the other students in class if they needed it, and no one ever had anything bad to say about her except for a few jealous girls.

  I would watch as Chloe and Tom arrive together at school each day and then leave together again when school let out. I just assumed they were a couple and tried to stay clear of her, not needing the drama of pursuing another guy’s girlfriend. I was ecstatic once I realized they were just close friends and not together.

  Honestly, I couldn’t help but wonder what was wrong with him though. Couldn’t he see how gorgeous she was? She might have been a little bigger than the other girls were, but who wanted a stick when you could have all those magnificent curves?

  Tom and I had two classes together and we eventually became friends, hanging out at his house after school. Chloe was always there too, so that was an added bonus and the main reason I visited as much as I did. When I was around her I felt like she stole my breath and words. She made me so nervous that my brain would turn to mush and I wouldn’t be able to form coherent sentences. She probably thought I was a babbling idiot.

  We hung out a lot but it was always in a crowd at football games or the diner, so I never got to know her very well. We only spoke to each other at school and it was never more than the polite greetings you would share with a stranger on the street.

  Prom was closing in and I had finally worked up enough courage to ask Chloe to go with me. I was pretty sure that if she went at all she would go with Tom, but I had to give it a shot. I had it all planned out. I would go to her house after school on Friday before everyone met up at the diner and just ask her. But my dad was in a car accident the Tuesday prior and my plans were ruined. He underwent surgery to repair a part of his brain that was injured and never woke up. He died the same Friday I was going to ask Chloe to the prom.

  After Dad died, Mom and I moved to Savannah where she could be closer to her sister, Helen. I missed Tom and all my new friends at Woodland, but more than anything I missed Chloe. I wished I’d tried harder to get over my irrational shyness and break through her tough exterior.

  I stayed out of trouble and got good grades. After several lonely weeks at my new school I met Brady and a few other guys and we started Escaped. I gave the band its name because well, it was my escape. We played in Brady’s mom’s garage mostly, but managed to get a few gigs here and there and even played at the state fair that year. I had tossed my baggy jeans, Marilyn Manson T-shirts, and cut my hair in an attempt to reinvent myself and start a new life.

  The band became popular and we started partying a lot. Girls came and went, but Chloe was never far from my mind.

  A knock at my door drags me from my thoughts of Chloe. “Yeah?” I call.

  The door opens and Brady sticks his head in the door and does a quick survey of the room before he asks, “Dude, you ready?” I look at the clock beside my bed and see that it’s already five forty-six.

  Standing, I stretch my arms above my head and groan loudly. It’s been a long day of driving and moving boxes and furniture up stairs, and I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow. “Yeah let’s go, man. You want me to drive?” I ask as I cross the room to the dresser, grab my keys, and stuff them in my pocket.

  “Na, man, we can walk, it’s only a couple of blocks. Saves us from a DUI later,” he laughs. “We haven’t even been here a whole day. Don’t need Barney Fife bustin’ our balls just yet.” He walks out of the apartment and I follow behind him, closing the door.

  When Brady and I leave the office and enter the bar, I take in all the new renovations that Tom and I talked about that I didn’t pay attention to earlier.

  The lighting in the bar is just bright enough to allow a relaxed atmosphere. The large round bar in the center of the room already has several people sitting at it, all of whom are laughing with the bartenders that are setting up their stations for the night.

  After a quick survey of the room, I notice the new dance floor and sidebars as well as the addition of a mechanical bull and stripper pole. Chris would have a heart attack if he saw that shiny rod sticking out of the floor and into the ceiling, but knowing Tom, that was probably the first thing he had installed.

  Brady and I approach the bar, the laughter stopping as they all look to us. “What can I get for y’all?” the pretty brunette asks us with eyes only for Brady. Brady smiles at her kindly. I know my friend and if this girl doesn’t redirect her attent
ion elsewhere, he’ll have her in his bed before the night is over.

  “Man, you wanna beer?” Brady asks and I bob my head in response as I slide onto one of the wooden bar stools. “Crown and Coke and Bud Light, please.” Before Brady can say anything else to the brunette, Harley’s whine resounds through the room.

  “'Bout fucking time. Do me a favor and don’t ask me to set up with that lazy asshole again. He ain’t done shit besides flirt with brown eyes over there and hide in the fucking bathroom.” Harley is yelling across the room from the stage and points to the bartender. He has his metallic blue guitar around his neck and he keeps looking down at it, adjusting the strings.

  I look around and don’t see the asshole he is referring to so I ask, “Where’s Kasey?”

  “Your fucking guess is as good as mine,” Harley huffs and shrugs his shoulder.

  “I’m right here, you whiney bitch,” Kasey yells as he walks out of the bathroom.

  “Get your ass up there and help him,” I holler.

  The bar is quiet. I turn back to look at everyone and notice they all have their eyes glued to us, eating up every moment of this man drama. “Fucking tacos,” Kasey mutters under his breath, but we all hear him with the echo in the room.

  A man reaches his hand out over two empty seats and introduces himself as Darrell. I take it and introduce myself. “Haven’t seen y’all round here before. Y’all playin’ and then passin’ through?”

  I smile and say, “No. Just moved into town earlier today.”

  He nods and points to the man that was singing earlier. “That’s Sam, don’t mind him. He’s just a damn drunk but funny as hell.”

  Sam smiles a giant toothless smile then turns to Darrell. “Shut the hell up, old man.”

  I turn my attention to Brady who is seated next to me and notice he’s laughing at the bickering old couple, too. Crystal comes over and slides the cold beverages across the slick bar top, leaning over and placing her large breasts on display for Brady.