Encore (Stereo Hearts Book 2) (6 page)

She chuckled.

Noodle leaned back and stretched his legs out, crossing them at the ankle too. “So… it’s day three of Yoshi’s birthday week…”

Aria’s jaw tightened.

“And day three of you being nowhere around when we sing him his birthday song.”

“You know, sometimes I wish you
didn’t
care about me, like everyone else on this tour, so I wouldn’t have to endure your painful attempts at subtlety.”

“Just thought I’d give you a little friendly advice, is all.”

“Oh, yeah, and what’s that, Noodle?”

“Sex.”

She threw her head back, chortling.

Noodle’s voice grew desperate, as if he couldn’t take it anymore. “It’s so painful. It’s painful to watch how badly you two want each other but you just refuse… You
refuse
to have each other. It’s depraved.”

“Abstinence is what it takes to pull the ten-dollar words out of you, huh?
Depraved
. Did you look that one up before you came out here?”

“With the dictionary app on my phone.”

“You just admitted that way too proudly.”

“I know you guys do that weird countdown thing because you’re so depraved. What I don’t understand is why.”

“You really do pay attention, don’t you?”

“Like I said, only with the people I care about.”

She gazed into the distance. “The countdown thing… It started when we were thirteen. We’re all each other has ever had, you know? And that can… confuse feelings. It would confuse anyone. Friendly love can easily get misconstrued as romantic. Then you act on that friendly love, realize it was a stupid mistake, and now you’ve lost your best friend over one stupid mistake. Now you’re devoid of a huge piece of yourself overnight. It’s not worth it. So we always gave ourselves three seconds to figure it out. And if, at the end of those three seconds, we still feel what we
thought
we felt, then we go for it. We haven’t gone for it yet, so….”

“He’s hurting, you know.”

Aria’s smile fell.

“And it’s not just because we’re torturing him with all this birthday week bullshit. I can’t even enjoy yanking his chain because that doe-eyed, limp-dicked, sad-puppy expression on his face is actually totally genuine. So, if it’s not too much to ask, we’d all really appreciate it if you’d just forgive him for whatever he’s done so we can enjoy the next four
days of his birthday week properly—basking in his complete and utter misery.”

Aria bit the corner of her lip. “To forgive him, we’d have to be fighting, and we’re not.”

“How dare you sit here and lie to my face like this. You and Yoshi have boundary issues. You have
always
had boundary issues. I know when you’re not crawling all over each other that something is wrong. I know when you’re not in there next to me, singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him with sadistic joy in your heart, that something is very
wrong.”

“You should really find a girlfriend you can give this kind of attention to, Noodle.”

Noodle chuckled, crossing and re-crossing his boot-clad legs, squinting into the distance. A silence fell, with neither of them in a hurry to fill it. Since the day they’d met, they never had been.

As always, Noodle was the first to break. “You’re really telling me you guys have
never
smashed?”

“Welp, this conversation never gets old.”

“Never?” Noodle beamed, his squint deepening.

“No, Noodle. Never.”

“Not one drunken night? Not one singular, solitary ‘fuck it, let’s get it on’?”

“Nope. Not a one.”

“Not even, like, a tit squeeze?”

“No squeezing of the boobage.”

“Oral.”

Aria shrugged. “Sorry.”

Noodle’s squint grew mystified. “This puzzles me.”

Aria raised her eyebrows.

“Because he cares, just… so much, man….”

“I care about him too.” Aria clapped her hand on his shoulder. “But gratuitous sex is not the answer to all of life’s curveballs.”

“I don’t understand these words.”

“Sex won’t solve mine and Yoshi’s problems. Especially not this one.”

“So there
is
a problem.”

“He’s just such an idiot,” Aria breathed.

“I guarantee you, Aria, if you would just…” Noodle paused, as if it were painful for him to continue. “Just suck his dick one time….”

She groaned.

“I
guarantee
all your problems would come to a grinding halt—” he snapped his fingers “—like that.”

“He and I got this far in our friendship without sleeping together, didn’t we? We’re still best friends, after all this time. Not many people can say they made it through this long. If we had sex… God, it would ruin everything.”

They met eyes, and Noodle tilted his head at her. “You’re the smartest chick I know, you know that?”

“I know.”

He nodded towards the restaurant. “Come inside and eat. With your skinny ass.”

Noodle stood and brushed off his jeans before looking down at Aria and offering her both his hands.

She looked up at him for several moments, rolled her eyes, and then begrudgingly slapped her hands in his.

He pulled her up with ease, so much that she seemed to float in mid-air, screaming into a laugh before she landed squarely on her feet.

Hugging her to his chest and giving her a noogie, Noodle pulled her towards the restaurant. They stumbled over each other’s feet.

Just as he reached to open the door of the restaurant, a petite brunette girl did it for him. The moment she caught his eyes, she angled her body so her full ass poked out. Looking over her shoulder at him, blue eyes shining from under her long lashes, she twirled a piece of brown hair around her turquoise-colored nail. She licked her lips and then bit the bottom one, as if trying to eat the slow smile crossing her face.

Noodle came to a complete halt, Aria still trapped in his chokehold, as the brunette sauntered away, shooting ‘come hither’ smiles over her shoulder.

When she disappeared around the corner of the building, Noodle still hadn’t moved, gaping after her.

“Oh, God.” Aria pulled out of his hold and shoved him. “Just go. Go. Go get your blow job or whatever it is these groupies do to you guys after they disappear around corners.”

Noodle skipped away sideways, pointing at her. “I love you. You know that, right?

Aria laughed after him. “I know, Noodle.”

She went to say she loved him too, but he was around the corner before she could.

--

“Happy biiiiirthday, dear Yoshiiiii! Happy biiiiirthday to yooooou!”

The jam-packed pool at Hotel One in South Beach Miami broke out into applause once the song ebbed to a close, and Yoshi nodded with a tight smile, thankful the seven-day nightmare was finally over. He lounged on a daybed at the edge of the pool, giving a wave as the party-goers celebrated his twenty-third year on Earth, relieved when the hip-hop music blasted back on and the costume party commenced.

He released a breath when everyone went back to drinking, swimming, dancing—anything, he decided, that didn’t involve his birthday.

The 30,000-square-foot rooftop pool was lined with cabanas, daybeds, and all the fixings for a night of drunken partying. To Yoshi, the 180-degree ocean views were unparalleled. Adjusting the tiny white sailor’s hat on his head, as well as the bright yellow belt holding his royal blue capri shorts up, Yoshi crossed his legs at the ankle and took in the gorgeous view, letting the scent and mist of the water ease his nerves. He placed an unlit pipe under his tongue and tried to relax.

“It’s over, Yosh,” Noodle said, hopping onto the queen-sized daybed, making it sway from where it sat in the water, attached to the edge of the pool. Yoshi didn’t even turn his head to look at Noodle, still squinting out into the ocean. The setting sun glimmered in a straight line down the water and seemed to serve as a spotlight for Noodle as he moved into Yoshi’s view.

Yoshi laughed at the sight of him. Dressed in nothing but a flesh-colored leotard and a platinum-blonde wig cut into a bob, Noodle channeled the young girl who’d been bouncing around in Sia’s latest music video. The moment he’d stepped into the party that evening, boisterous laughter had ensued from all angles, and that laughter had yet to stop. Noodle couldn’t move more than a few feet without party-goers turning to watch him go with points and giggles.

“You could’ve at least shaved your legs,” Yoshi accused, his eyes traveling across Noodle’s legs—deeply pale and covered in a thick coating of black hair that reminded Yoshi of ground beef.

Noodle jutted his leg out, showing his ghost-white inner thigh. He shook the wig out of his eyes, pushing the few strands that were stuck to his face back with two fingers. “Don’t hate me ‘cause you ain’t me, Popeye.”

Yoshi chortled.

Noodle put his hands on his hips. “So, your seven days of torture are finally over. I can see by that shit-eating grin on your face that you couldn’t be happier about it, but don’t get too excited, asshole. Next year will be here before you know it.”

“Why do you guys insist on celebrating my birthday when you know I hate it so much? Honestly? Why does it mean so much to you?”

“Because it’s the day of your birth, and if you refuse to celebrate it, you best believe we’re going to take the reins and celebrate it for you. And not only are we going to celebrate it for you, but we’re going to do it seven times, back to back, just to piss you the fuck off.”

Yoshi took a sip of his beer as Noodle jumped into the air and landed ass-down on the daybed. It wobbled and nearly capsized in the water.

“We love you, man, that’s all,” Noodle said.

“I love you guys too.”

They clinked their beer bottles, taking in the overcrowded pool. Many of the guests teetered dangerously close to the edge because standing room had grown so scarce.

Most of the women scattered around were dressed in leotards not much different from Noodle’s. Thankfully, unlike Noodle, most of them had taken the time to shave their legs and bikini areas. Then they slapped some version of animal ears on their heads, tails on their rear ends, and painted the tips of their ski-slope noses black before finally calling it a day. So far, Yoshi had counted ten slutty cats, twenty slutty bunnies, and a smattering of slutty grizzly bears. The remainder of women at least attempted to be more creative with their costumes, but still made it a point to be half-naked, breasts and booty on full display.

Yoshi searched the area for the one woman he
knew
would be fully dressed. He shot up on the daybed when he spotted her.

On the other side of the pool, Aria was in the midst of jumping into Adam’s open arms. It was a screaming leap, and her shriek carried all the way across the pool. Adam caught her with ease and kept her in his hold, forcing her over his shoulder and moving towards the water, as if he were going to throw her in. Her wails grew profane in an instant, and after only a few seconds of threatening his life and limbs, Adam begrudgingly set Aria down, accepting the punches she sent pummeling into his arms the moment she was on her feet.

Yoshi was on
his
feet in seconds, steadying himself on the daybed before jumping onto the pool surface and making his way over. He heard Noodle’s knowing laughter in his ear, but didn’t hang around to ask what was so funny. He already knew what Noodle had to say—what he
always
had to say.

He crossed the pool, smiling and greeting anyone who smiled and greeted him. Birthday wishes and friendly pats came in at all angles, making it impossible for him to acknowledge everyone appropriately. But he returned the pleasantries and touches as best he could until he was upon Adam and Aria, who were still talking.

Adam was the first to spot him, nodding upward, making the two sharp spikes he’d gelled his hair into for his Wolverine costume shake. He held up his clawed hand for a high five. “Aye, Popeye. Looks like your birthday boy run is finally over.”

Yoshi gave Adam a high five, right over Aria’s short head.

She swung on her heel and looked up at Yoshi.

He raised his eyebrows down at her, seeing her face transform, and felt his jaw tightening. How long was she going to punish him? Seven days of his birthday week, and the only person he didn’t
mind
being tortured by was the one person who refused to do it.

Aria crossed her arms tight, heat permeating her gaze.

Yoshi crossed his too, matching her stare.

“So… yeah…” Adam’s eyes narrowed, and he pointed behind him. “I guess I’ll just… be over there… somewhere…” He pivoted on his heel, a little too slow and strong to be natural, and went to move away.

“No, Adam,” Aria said, still watching Yoshi. “Stay.”

Adam froze in mid-retreat but didn’t turn back to them right away, as if he were contemplating making a run for it. Since he had just about as much control over his adoration of Aria as Yoshi did, however, he didn’t deny her; in seconds, he’d turned back to them with a pained look in his eyes.