Effortless (17 page)

Sighing, I grimaced. I hadn’t realized that Kellan had told
Denny that he was leaving for a few months. I could just imagine
what Denny thought about that. Denny probably wouldn’t say anything
directly, but I was sure, in his head, he was making some
comparisons to when he’d left me.

Wondering how to get Kellan out of saying something stupid to
his friend, potentially ruining the tenuous relationship that they
had, I tried for the phone again. Kellan held me back at arm’s
length as he blabbered on. “Yeah, I know. Six months, Denny. On a
bus, man! An actual tour bus, can you believe that shit?” Kellan
paused, then tilted his head. “Yeah, I’m seriously
buzzin’…why?”

Taking advantage of Kellan’s brief moment of confusion, I
snatched the phone out of his hand. Denny was laughing when I put
the cell up to my ear. “Hey, Denny, it’s me. Sorry about that, he’s
been…celebrating.”

Still chuckling, Denny murmured, “I can tell. Hey, how are
you?”

I knew he was asking about Kellan’s upcoming departure, but I
answered like I didn’t know he was asking that. “Oh, I’m doing
great. Work’s busy and school’s crazy, but I’m getting by.”

There was a pause and I studied Kellan. He’d crossed his arms
over his chest and was tapping his foot like a petulant teenage
girl. I bit my lip to not laugh. After the silence, Denny seriously
said, “No, Kiera, I meant with Kellan leaving.”

Sighing, I closed my eyes and concentrated on the phone. “Yeah,
I know that’s what you meant. I’m fine…really.” Opening my eyes, I
smiled at Kellan; he smiled back, wobbling a bit on his feet. “This
is a big moment for him. I’m not going to ruin it by…” I bit my
lip, not wanting to say it to Denny.

Sighing, I heard him fill in the blanks. “By breaking up with
him so he gives up everything to rush back to you…even though it’s
too late.”

Swallowing, I turned away from Kellan. “Denny…”

Clearing his throat, Denny sniffed into the phone. “Hey, sorry.
I didn’t mean to go there. I really didn’t, Kiera.” Sounding
uncomfortable, he cleared his throat again. “Look, I’ll call back
later when he’s sober. I just wanted to wish him good luck on his
tour.” He laughed softly. “Not that he’ll need it.”

I smiled a little, looking back at Kellan who was leaning
against the far wall, staring at the exit sign at the end of the
hallway. “Yeah…I’ll tell him later.” Tilting my head, I shook it.
“Thanks for calling, Denny. I know it means a lot to Kellan.”

A brief silence, then, “Yeah…goodnight, Kiera.”

“Goodnight, Denny.”

Shutting the phone, I held it in my hand a moment before turning
back to Kellan. He was staring at me again, blinking slowly. 
When I walked over and held the phone out to him, he numbly took
it, still expressionless. Shoving it in his pocket, he finally
grimaced. “I’m hungry…do you want to split some fries with me?”

Exhaling in a long, relieved breath, glad that he wasn’t going
to start a drunken fight with me for chatting with my ex, I nodded.
“Sounds great. I’ll get some cooked up for you.”

He nodded, smiled brilliantly, then gave me a swift kiss on the
cheek. Then he tipsily swaggered down the hall, getting distracted
by every person that spoke to him along the way. Slowly shaking my
head, I prayed he didn’t get sick before the night was through.

About an hour later he paraded up onto the stage. The sound was
deafening as the boys took their places for their last official
performance here; ten times louder than I’d ever heard it. 
Kellan had an adorable expression on his face. It was a mixture of
joy, contentment and excitement, with a touch of wistfulness and a
good dollop of alcohol. He’d sobered up some after I’d made him
down a plate of food, but I was pretty sure he was still feeling no
pain.

Slinging his guitar over his body and grabbing his mic, he held
his hand up to the massive crowd that had turned out; there were
people still outside, the bar too packed to let them in. As the
other boys adjusted their instruments, Kellan’s eyes swept over his
well-wishers. I swear the blue depths were a little misty as he
started shaking his head, his face disbelieving.

“Wow…there’s a lot of you here.” He smiled gorgeously after
speaking and a shrill scream of approval went through the crowd. I
flinched at the sound, Kellan grinned wider.

Popping the mic off the stand, Kellan stepped to the edge of the
stage; I prayed he didn’t fall off of it. “I want to thank you all
for coming, for supporting us for so long.” He paused, waiting for
the sudden noise to die down. The wistfulness in his expression
took over as he locked gazes with some of the fans directly in
front of him. Sighing, he shook his head. “I’m gonna miss
this…”

He lifted his eyes and found mine. It took him a second to focus
on me, but when he did, his entire face lit back up. Giggling, he
muttered, “I’m so wasted right now.”

The crowd cheered, screaming again, and I rolled my eyes. God, I
hoped he could still play, I’d hate for his last show to suck. The
melancholy of it being his last performance tried to sneak up on me
but I pushed it back. There’d be time to dwell on it later. For
now, while it was happening, I wanted to enjoy it. Smiling at him,
I shook my head and went back to my duties. I heard him laugh
again, then Evan started his intro.

They played their new song first, and I listened intently for
any indication that Kellan was off. He wasn’t. He was
pitch-perfect, even his playing was right on. You’d never, ever
know by listening to him that he couldn’t walk in a straight line
anymore. Muscle memory…truly one of the marvels of the
universe.

After their new song, the band rocked the bar with all of their
greatest hits. I watched them whenever I could. Kellan smiled and
flirted, looking right at home up on that small stage. There was
nothing more natural to me than seeing Kellan singing with his
friends, the black wall behind him, decorated with various styles
of guitars, as his backdrop. While I was thrilled at what the
future could potentially hold for him, I was going to miss this,
too.

About halfway through the set, Kellan played my song. I stopped
working, taking my break so I could listen. It was the song he’d
been singing the night we got back together. It was the song he’d
written about us, after I’d broken his heart. I hated it…I loved
it.

Edging my way through the fans, I squeezed into the front row.
Someone threw their arms around me and I blinked at seeing my
sister there. She’d stopped in after her shift at Hooters and
melded into the crowd. I smiled at her, then focused all of my
attention up at my boyfriend. He’d watched my progression through
the pack of people and his eyes were burning holes through me as he
sang his melancholy ode to heartache. It still brought tears to my
eyes.

Tilting his head at me, he stepped up to the edge of the stage.
The fans went nuts at how close he was, their hands shooting out to
touch him. Ignoring them for a moment, he dropped down to a knee
right in front of me. Shutting out the world, shutting out the fans
stroking the edge of his jeans, he locked his eyes on me and sang
his heart out.  The tears were streaming down my cheeks by the
time he was finished with his song.

Smiling, still dropped down on his knee, he crooked his finger
at me and leaned forward. Forgetting that he was in the middle of a
show, I swiped the tears away and leaned up to kiss him. The
shrieks and hollers as our lips brushed together reminded me that
we weren’t alone in the back room anymore. I instantly wanted to
pull away, embarrassed, but his hand reached out to grab my head.
Chuckling in my mouth, he held me against him, deepening our
kiss.

 I flushed red hot everywhere, feeling every eye in the
place on me. When he finally broke away, his grin was devilish. He
knew how much stuff like that bothered me. I’d rather slink in the
back unnoticed than have every woman gaping at me. Smacking him on
the arm, I gave him my best,
We’ll talk about this later
,
look. Laughing, he stood back up.

As fans jostled against me, some asking questions, the rest
trying to take my place and lean up to attach their lips to him
somehow, I wiggled past my sister and past the mob of people now
studying my every move. Even mortified though, my lips burned in
the absolute best possible way from where he’d touched me.

When the band’s long set finally ended, the crowd erupted into
applause and cat calls. Kellan grinned as he took it all in,
looking a little more sober after his couple of hours onstage. Evan
beamed as he clicked his sticks together. Matt looked down at the
floor as he unstrung his guitar from around his neck, and Griffin
raised his chin up and surveyed his Kingdom with the air of someone
who felt entitled to it.

Grabbing the neck of his guitar, Kellan raised his hand for
quiet. The bar hushed almost instantly, the opening and shutting
front doors the only sound for a moment. Smiling warmly, Kellan
said, “The band and I would like to thank you all again. You’re the
best fans that we ever could have asked for and we’re going to miss
playing for you every weekend…”

He paused, absorbing the sight of everyone enraptured by him,
then, grinning wickedly, he pointed over to Matt. “Now let’s all go
over to Matt’s place and get royally fucked up!”

There was an earsplitting noise of agreeance by the crowd as
Matt frowned over at Kellan. Griffin patted him on the back as the
group hopped off the stage. Kellan put his guitar back in its case
and slung it over his shoulder; he was the only one that didn’t
just leave his instrument at the bar. I thought that maybe Matt and
Griffin might grab their instruments this time, too, since they
weren’t coming back, at least, not for a really long time. But then
I remembered what the girls and I were doing tomorrow afternoon
once the boys had left town. We were packing up their stuff, Evan’s
drums, the guitars, and all of the sound equipment that was theirs.
We were closing up shop for them, so the guys didn’t have to do it
after the bar closed tonight, so they could relax and enjoy their
last night in Seattle.

As I was dwelling on that, Kellan pushed his way through the
people to get to me. It was a process; he was stopped and fondled
at every step. He even had to brush past I’ve-slept-with-you-girl
that we’d run into at school earlier. Her and her friends had taken
his invitation and come out to see the show.  Glancing up at
me, he quickly disengaged himself from her. I couldn’t stop the
small grin on my face at the disappointment in hers.

When he finally made it to me, he threw his arm around my
shoulders. Sighing in my ear as he hugged me, he muttered, “I can’t
believe that was our last show here.” Pulling back, he shrugged.
“This place is home to me.”

Shaking my head, I ran my knuckle over his cheek. “You’ll be
back.” I said it matter-of-factly and Kellan raised an edge of his
lip. We really didn’t know if and when the band would be back.
Touring could lead to all sorts of possibilities, and all of them
were bigger than playing at the same small bar every weekend.

Not wanting to think about it, I pointed to his guitar. “Why
don’t you go put that in the car and go with Matt to his place?”
Sighing, I shook my head. “I’m sure you’re eager to get to your
after party.” Noticing my sister behind him, I briefly waved at her
as she darted out of the doors with Griffin.

Smiling, Kellan moved his arm around my shoulder down to my
waist. “No, I thought I’d help you clean up here before we headed
out…together.”

Inwardly touched, I frowned. “It’s your party…don’t you want to
go?” I looked around at the mass of people leaving the bar and the
mess they’d left behind. “I might be stuck here another hour?”

Chuckling, Kellan darted back into my vision. “Not if I stay to
help.” Smiling, he shook his head. “Besides, I want to spend my
evening with you…not a bunch of drunk people I barely know.”

Grinning, I leaned up to kiss him. “Okay, good. Then come back
here after you put that away.” He nodded against my lips and
laughing a little, I added, “And don’t forget to give me your
keys.”

Pulling back, he raised an eyebrow at me. “I sobered up on
stage. I’m completely fine to drive.”

Furrowing my brow, I narrowed my eyes. “You remember telling
Denny earlier tonight that I don’t hang out ‘down there’?”

Kellan’s eyes widened as he remembered that horribly
embarrassing conversation that he’d drunkenly had earlier. Biting
his lip as he backed away from me, looking for all the world that
he was worried that I’d slap him again, he mumbled, “Oh,
right…yeah, I’ll get those keys to you.”

I smiled knowingly and nodded. Yes, letting me drive his buzzed
butt was the least he could do for me after
that
little
comment.

Kellan ended up chatting with some of the longtime regulars
instead of actually helping me, but that was all right; he was
still with me, throwing me smiles whenever he looked my way. That
was preferable to him at a party with a bunch of women who’d love
to give him a farewell present, a very intimate farewell present.
And they’d probably have no qualms about hanging out “down
there.”

When every customer had finally gone and the place was clean
enough that the day crew wouldn’t cuss us out too bad, Kellan and I
finally headed out to his car. Kate, Jenny and even Rita, all
followed us as I led the way to Matt and Griffin’s place. Sulking
the entire time I drove, Kellan told me to head to the outskirts of
the city. Oddly enough, Matt and Griffin shared a townhouse in
suburbia. It was an odd thought in conjunction with Griffin.
Honestly, I’d always pictured him living above a brothel or
something. I suppose he would, if they were legal here.