Effortless (Thoughtless #2)(25)
Author: S.C. Stephens

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 f**ked 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."