I still wanted to know who he was, but I was starting to figure out that Beth would never tell me. Only Hannah knew, but she wasn’t told. She’d followed her cousin one night to find out.

Thinking about that, I started giggling. I couldn’t stop. Even when Jesse pulled me onto his lap and nuzzled underneath my ear, I kept going. That was when the band descended on us, or Emerson swooped in on Hannah. She’d been dancing by our table and he merely lifted her in the air and carried her through the bar.

Luke came over and extended his arm to Jesse. The two shook hands as the lead singer slipped into my abandoned seat. He folded his arms over the table and leaned forward. I didn’t know if he was hoping for incognito. It wasn’t working. Every set of eyes were on our table. Because of Braille’s presence and because he was only in a simple shirt and jeans, not many had recognized Jesse, but a few guys came over for autographs. More started over now, but both Jesse and Luke were being handed napkins to sign. A few bras were thrown on the table. After the first rush died down, Luke was able to signal for a drink. Then he turned to us, “Sorry about that. I wasn’t expecting to see you guys here tonight.”

“Your guitarist is dating one of Alex’s friends.”

Luke grimaced. “Sorry about that too.”

“Bri had the same sentiment.”

“Emerson doesn’t do girlfriends. Not in the committed sense.”

Bri shoved her way through the crowd and plopped a pitcher on the table. When Luke moved to pay, she shook her head. “It’s on me. Just do me a favor and keep my brother out of my hair. He’s already in the back trying to bartend.”

Luke grinned. “He’s getting in the way?”

“He tried to use the megaphone to start a stripping contest. I’m not having one of those again.”

“Yeah. Tell him I need to talk to him. He’ll come over here.”

She nodded and turned. But instead of having to push her way through again, the crowd parted for her. A few girls seemed scared of her even. It wasn’t long before the drummer sauntered over. His shirt was gone. I started giggling. I thought he’d been wearing one on stage. Images of girls ripping it off him came to me and I pressed my nose against Jesse’s chest. I couldn’t hold the laughter back. As Jesse adjusted so I was more comfortable on him, he leaned back and I heard Luke comment, “I met your dad the other day.”

Jesse stiffened underneath me. “Oh yeah?”

“We’re doing a song for one of his movies.”

His tension only doubled before he heard the drummer comment, “Your dad’s a dick, man.”

“Braden.”

“What? He is. Makes total sense why your dude hangs out at The Shack with us.”

Now I was the one that had stiffened. Had Jesse been going there again? Without me? He swept a hand down my back as if sensing my concerns and murmured in my ear, “Only once when you weren’t talking to me. I got drunk with these guys that night.”

The drummer spoke up, laughing, “And we met his new girlfriend. She’s a piece.”

“Braden, you’re drunk.”

“Whatever, Luke. You said he was a dick too.”

“And you’re talking to his son. We don’t want to piss him off.”

“You said Jesse was cool.”

“It’s fine, Luke.” Jesse’s voice rumbled from deep in his chest. “And you’re right. My dad is a dick. I hope he wasn’t too much of a douchebag to you guys.”

“Nah.” Luke sounded relieved. “His girlfriend’s a fan and when he found out I knew you, he was really nice. Not that he’s going to be mean to us, you know. We’re doing the theme song for his movie.”

“Hey, man.” I heard Jamie interrupt. He sounded like a gushing schoolgirl. “Can I get your autograph? I’ve been trying to hint to Jesse to get it, but he’s not taking the hint.”

“On purpose.”

“Yeah, whatever. So how about it? My girlfriend would really love it.”

“I’m sitting right here,” Tiffany chimed in. She sounded annoyed but also dazed at the same time.

My giggles had stopped so I turned around, more in control of myself. But when I saw the same glazed look in the drummer’s eyes and he still wasn’t wearing a shirt, a fresh batch of laughter bubbled up. I doubled over. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, but I couldn’t stop laughing.

“Uh.” Kara got up from her chair and came over to us. She took my arm. “I’ll take care of her. Excuse us.”

She pulled me to the bathroom and into a stall. There was only one empty, the rest were full, and she darted in front of the line. Ignoring the curses and yells, she locked the door and then said loudly, “I have explosive diarrhea. Back off.”

That set me off and I was wiping tears as more giggles rippled from me.

“Kara? Alex?”

Tiffany pounded on the door. It was unlocked again and she hurried inside. As the door swung open, I saw the line had moved down a foot. They were now only waiting on the other two stalls. Ours was ignored.

More chuckles came from me. I shook my head. I couldn’t stop them.

Tiffany wrinkled her nose up as she smoothed out her dress. “What’s wrong with her?” She ran her fingers through her hair before tossing it back over her shoulders. “Did you hear Jamie out there? Autograph my ass. He wanted that autograph. Although, I wouldn’t mind more than an autograph from those two. Holy shit. I can’t believe Jesse knows them. Alex, how’d they meet again?”

“Tiffany.” Kara took a deep breath. “Be nice.”

“I am. Aren’t I?”

Kara gestured to me. I was now sniffling, trying to muffle my laughter into a roll of toilet paper. “She’s been like this since she got drunk.”

“So. Hannah gets horny when she’s drunk. Alex will be fine.” She swung her gaze to me. “Right? You’ll be fine. She’ll go to bed, make sweet, sweet love to that fine man of hers and tomorrow she’ll act like none of this happened.”

“Tiffany!”

“What?” She shrugged. “That’s what she does. I mean, my god, it’s been a month since that fiasco with her parents and she hasn’t broken stride. The chick is a survivor. She can handle worse.”