Forty-Nine

James was pissed at me for the rest of the week, but it wasn't because I had passed out. No, he was pissed because all it took to find us a cheap way to record an EP was for me to pass out. He despised the idea of admitting there was some good to come out of me passing out, and I loved to admit that I enjoyed his discomfort, as did the rest of the band. We didn't think his 'daddy' side could take it.

As for New Year, we were playing at Lucy's friend's house party. I guess the hostess was a big deal on campus or something. Something about her mom being one of the scholarship providers for the arts program. But that meant we were getting paid to play for a bunch of college kids, and that meant I could invite my friends to come watch. Darcy couldn't come because she was spending time with her girlfriend, and Buddy was out in Indiana with his aunt and uncle. So while Rena was with her aunt and uncle, Devon and his cousins came to the party.

I was glad that they were in the audience tonight. I'd missed seeing them, and with the band and school and everything, it made it impossible for me to see them. With our month off after tonight, I promised to make plans to see them again. We had a lot of catching up to do.

We had roughly an hour until the second half of our set. Since it was a house party, we would play for an hour and a half on December 31, and then another ninety minutes on January 1. It was going to be the actual New Year in fifteen minutes, and I was trying to find Devon. He ran off with Sylvester once we finished playing, and I hadn't been able to find him since.

As I wandered around the house, I got multiple pats on the back for a good job. Even some of my classmates wound up at the party, and despite most of them hating me for being Buddy's friend, they congratulated me and told me I did a good job. I wasn't sure if they were hoping to earn some points with him or something, but I loved them complimenting me.

Francine jumped on me from behind, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. "You look like you're having fun," she teased. "Don't worry. Sylvester and Devon left to go to the gas station down the street to use the bathroom, since there are long ass lines for all of them here. Plus, I'm pretty sure someone is doing coke in one of them."

"Wouldn't be a surprise." I shrugged, and she led me out to the backyard. Most people were either smoking or swimming outside, but Bella found a bench away from everyone and was holding three water bottles. When she saw me, she handed me one.

"I figured you'd need a drink after your show," she smirked. "You worked up quite a sweat."

"Don't go getting sultry," Francine quipped as she sat next to Bella and wrapped her arm around her waist. "But after what happened last time, we were worried."

"I'm a lot better now. For the past few days, I've literally just stayed inside and done nothing. Buddy'd come over, and we'd play video games, or Devon would come over, and we'd hang out, but I was mainly just napping and watching TV. This is the first time I've played drums since the show."

"Damn. Look at you taking care of yourself," Francine cheered.

"Yeah. I have played drums almost every day since I was in seventh grade. The longest I'd go without playing was a day, but this time I've gone four. I felt a sense of withdrawal, but by the second day, I was okay," I chortled. "I'm just really wanting to take care of myself. And drumming like this has become a bit of an unhealthy obsession. I need to take a break and not feel anxious if I go a few days without playing. As much as I love drumming, I have to do better."

"I'm proud of you," Francine chirped, holding her bottle in the air as a toast.

"Me too," Bella added, nodding furiously.

When Francine smirked at something behind me, I turned around and spotted Devon and Sylvester walking up to us. Devon ran up to me and picked me up by the waist. I squealed as he kissed my cheek. "You were amazing, Angel. I loved every second of it."

"Thank you, baby," I murmured.

"Sorry, but I'm going to take her for a little bit," Devon said, as he dragged me away.

"Don't have too much fun," Sylvester teased, as he sat beside the girls.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere more private, away from them." He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pressed his nose against my cheek. "Honestly, I just want to kiss you in private."

I brought him to the room behind the makeshift stage, where the band could relax and store our equipment. I expected to find someone else in there. Thankfully, it was just us. When I closed the door, I glanced back to find Devon already seated on the couch in the study. Chuckling, I stepped up to him and straddled him before kissing him.

Devon's hands traveled up my legs and landed on my waist. He kissed the spot below my ear, moving my hair to the side. I let out a soft moan that grew louder as he moved his hand up to touch my breast. He pulled his hand away and leaned back from the kiss. "This is okay, right? Like I'm not pushing you to go too fast again or anything, right?"

"You have my full consent here," I promised as I placed his hand back on my breast. "I'm completely in the moment. I know what I'm doing. I'll let you know if we go too far."

With a curt nod, Devon kissed me again. His left hand fondled my clothed breast as his right hand cupped my back, keeping me in place. His left hand moved up to my neck, holding me still as his tongue licked my cheek to my jaw bone, where he sucked. I moaned loudly and threw my head back, but he held it back in place.

I'm not going to say too much about what happened next, because it was a moment for Devon and I only. We didn't have penetrative sex, but we had some fun. It was an even better feeling than last time. And best of all, there was no guilt afterwards. All I felt in that moment was absolute love for the man lying on the floor beside me.

He brushed my hair out of my face, and I blushed as I grabbed his hand to hold it. He didn't smile, but his eyes glistened. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against mine. I was about to kiss him, but the door flew open.

"And I- Oh, God, I'm so sorry," Petula exclaimed.

As I sat up, I saw her try to push James out of the room, but he was able to look over her head at us. "What are- Oh, hello," he smirked. "What's going on in here?"

"Will you just get the fuck out for five minutes?" I snapped, and Petula slammed the door shut.

Groaning, I pushed my hands through my hair and stood up. After sliding my underwear and fishnets back on, I grabbed for my shirt but wound up grabbing Devon's instead. He had his jeans back on, and he was looking for his shirt. Smirking, I pulled his shirt on and grabbed a pair of workout shorts from my duffle back.

"You are not going out there like that," he deadpanned.

"You know what's fun about being eighteen?" I teased, swaying my hips dramatically. "I can be as sexy as I want." Standing up, I wrapped my arms around his neck. "I know what I'm going to look like going back out there, but I want to look good for you."

Devon's nostrils flared as he ran his hands along my hips. "I have to admit, this has been a fantasy of mine. Just... without the whole... playing in front of others part."

"I'm only looking at you as I play." I let go to tie up my knee-length boots and opened the door for Petula and James.

"Ooh, you look good," Petula sang as she slipped inside. James followed suit, and Nate and Lucy came in minutes later. Devon and I lost track of time because it was almost time for us to go back on. And it wasn't easy to hear what was going on outside the room, so who knew what we were doing right at New Year.

"I'm going to go look for everyone," Devon said as he adjusted his hoodie. "I do want that shirt back, eventually. It's my favorite."

"We'll see," I winked.

Since I was the only one ready to go on stage, I sat next to Petula on the couch and watched everyone else get ready.

"Oh, Mel!" she exclaimed, startling me. "I never got to tell you the good news. I've been accepted into Chicago's art school."

"You're shitting me," I gasped. Hugging her tight, she giggled as she hugged me back. "Congratulations, babe!"

"Thank you. I just need to get the scholarship money, and my exhibit is in three days. I've already turned my work in, so all I can do now is wait."

"How are you feeling about it?"

"I'm very proud of what I've done. I think it's the best pieces I've ever painted. I'm just hoping the judges will agree."

"They'd be absolute fools not to. You're so talented." And she was. It was no wonder she would make it into a top notch art school, but I couldn't help but wonder about the inevitable. "What are you going to do about James?"

"Long distance," she stated, with no hesitation. Gazing at her boyfriend, she hummed. "I've been in love with him for so long. I know we can make it through this. We've been apart while we were so close, I'm sure we can handle being together while being miles away."

"And you think your relationship can handle that?"

"Of course," she chirped. "I love him, and he loves me. As long as we work hard to make it work, we can do it. I know we can."

I had to remind myself that the two had known each other for roughly four years and that they were dating for nearly two. After everything they'd done to get together, a little distance wouldn't stand in the way of their relationship.

"You know, long distance only works if you're completely willing to make it work," she whispered. "You have to know you'll be sacrificing a lot of your time to talk to your partner and schedule times to meet with one another. So unless you know for a fact that you want to take that chance..."

I knew what she was going to say. Unfortunately, it was the same thing that I was thinking. Unless it was worth it to take up a lot of time to make things work, it's not worth long distance. And at the end of the day, I knew what was most likely going to happen between Devon and I.