“What are you talking about?” I ask.
“Hoo!” she fans herself with her hand. “Did you not feel the heat between you two? Oh my god, I’ve never seen such a display of eye-fucking.”
“Keep your voice down!” I hiss at her. “We were not eye-fucking!”
“Whatever you say,” she laughs. “But I saw what I saw. Now make me another drink, will you?”
I pull out another glass and start pouring vodka into it.
“This is your last one. You know the rules,” I tell her, sliding it across the bar and taking away her empty.
“Okay, okay,” she says, taking a sip.
There’s feedback from the mic and I look up to see Spence and the rest of the band setting up on the small stage across the room. Spence has his guitar slung across his body and he’s adjusting the microphone stand. If I found Spence attractive before, Spence with a guitar is problematically attractive.
There’s a shorter, somewhat stockier guy next to him with a bass guitar, and a guy with milky coffee-colored skin sits behind the drum kit. The bar is packed. I’d been so busy taking orders for the last few minutes that I hadn’t noticed, but the crowd right now is unheard of for a Tuesday night.
“So much for a slow night,” Macy says, waddling past me with a drink in her hand.
“Mace, it’s gonna be too busy for you,” I tell her. “Go home, me and Liam can handle this.”
“I’m fine!” Macy protests. “I’m not leaving before I hear this band that all these people showed up for. I’ll let you know if it gets to be too much.”
Right on cue, Liam comes out from the backroom. “Macy, you should go home,” he says.
“You two are going to make me insane. I’m fine!” She says.
“You love us,” I tell her, and Liam gives her a kiss on the cheek.
“Gotta keep an eye out for my girl, and my little guy in there,” Liam says, rubbing Macy’s belly.
Liam and Macy have been married just over a year, but they’ve been together since they were in college. I almost don’t remember what it was like when Macy wasn’t around. My first nephew is due in a few months, and my brother is over the moon excited. He’s been putting up with me and Macy for too long, he says, and he’s looking forward to evening out the playing field with another guy in the family.
“Hey everyone.” Spence’s voice fills the bar and we all turn to look. “Thanks for coming out tonight. We’re Losing Streak.”
Someone in the crowd lets out a loud “woo!”
“We’re going to keep it kind of mellow tonight, seeing as it’s a Tuesday and all, but hopefully you still have a good time.”
He nods at the bass player and he starts playing a cover of “Heart Shaped Box” by Nirvana. When Spence starts to sing, the whole room is transfixed.
“Oh my god, it’s like Kurt Cobain reincarnated,” Amanda says.
Liam scoffs. “No it isn’t, he doesn’t sound like him at all.”
“He might sound…better?” Macy wonders aloud, cocking her head to the side as she listens. Losing Streak isn’t on for long; they’re not the only ones playing tonight. They play a few songs I assume are originals since I don’t recognize them and finish up with a cover of Tom Petty’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.” Spence plays the guitar and sings, the crowd singing along with him.
I’m just staring at Spence, completely transfixed. One thing is for sure, this guy belongs on a stage. He glances out at the crowd as he plays, and I know I’m not the only woman in the room who’s suddenly transfixed. As I watch him, I realize that he knows he’s got all the women in the room eating out of the palm of his hand. You can tell by the self-satisfied look on his face.
“What’s wrong with all of you?” Liam says.
“What?” I ask, not taking my eyes off the stage.
“Why are you all staring at him like that?”
“Like what?” Amanda says, her chin propped up on her hand, not even bothering to glance at Liam.
“This is strangely compelling,” Macy says, absentmindedly stroking her belly as she watches Spence.
“Hey, hey,” Liam says, pulling her hands away. “Knock it off. Don’t go caressing my son when you’re ogling some guy who’s way too young for you. While your husband is standing right here.”
“Oh relax,” Macy swats him away. “We’re just having fun.”
“Reel it in,” he says, snapping his fingers in front of her eyes like he’s trying to break her out of a trance. Then he rounds on me and snaps his fingers in front of my face, too. “You too!”
“What about her!” I protest, pointing at Amanda.
“She’s not my responsibility. But you stay away from him.”
“Stay away from him!” I laugh. “What do you think I’m going to do, go throw my underwear on stage?”
“You know what I mean,” Liam says. “I saw you talking to him earlier.”
“We were just talking.”
“I didn’t like the way he was looking at you.”
“Oh Liam, lay off it. Stop being so lame,” Macy tells him, rolling her eyes.
“Yeah,” Amanda chimes in. “Besides, it’ll be pretty hard for Gemma to avoid him since he’s our neighbor now and all.”
“What?” Liam says.
“He. Is. Our. Neighbor.” Amanda leans over the bar to get her face closer to Liam’s. “He lives downstairs!”
She flops back on her seat and wobbles for a minute before managing to steady herself.
“How many drinks have you had?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at her. “Did someone give her more drinks?”
“I made her one,” Macy confesses. “Sorry.”
“Yeah, I made her one, too.” Liam looks sheepish.
“I made her two!” I moan.
Amanda laughs and spins around on her barstool. “Best night ever!” she declares, pumping a fist in the air.
Amanda is the biggest lightweight I know. Kincaid’s gave her a two-drink limit almost immediately after she turned twenty-one earlier this year, to avoid things like this happening. Apparently Spence distracted us enough that we lost count of how many we’d served her.
“Get her out of here,” Liam says. “Macy and I can handle the rest of the night.”
“No way!” I protest. “It’s too busy.”
“Not anymore,” Macy points out to the barroom. It’s emptied out considerably now that Losing Streak isn’t playing anymore.
“It’ll be fine,” Liam assures me. “Just take her home, we’ll be okay here.”
“Fine,” I relent. “But if you need me, call me and I’ll come back.” I step out from behind the bar and loop my elbow through Amanda’s, grabbing her purse. Macy passes me my own coat and bag and I start leading Amanda towards the door.
Half-dragging Amanda, I manage to get her out to the alley behind the bar where I parked my car. I have no idea how she got here, but she’s not driving herself home, so wherever she left her car is where it’s staying for the night.
When we get outside, Spence and the rest of the band are packing all their stuff into an old conversion van, talking excitedly.
“Oh heeyyy!” Amanda calls over, waving. “It’s us! Your new neighbors and biggest fans!”
Spence looks over at us, and a grin spreads across his face. “Oh hey,” he calls back.
Amanda walks toward him, and whenever she drinks like this she becomes unnaturally strong, like the Hulk, so she tugs me along with her. Not that I’m that upset about walking closer to Spence.
“You,”Amanda says, sticking out her finger and poking Spence aggressively in the chest, “were great.”
Sorry, I mouth at Spence, and then mime Amanda chugging down her basic bitch cocktails.
He smiles, amused, and shakes his head as he rubs the spot on his chest Amanda just stabbed with her fingernail. “Thanks,” he tells her, then he looks at me. “So, what do you think? Did we make a good impression?”
“I’d say you did a pretty good job,” I tel
l him, as the rest of the band walks over.
“Ohmigod, hi!” Amanda yells, swaying on her feet. “You guys were so good!”
“What’s up with her?” The stocky bass player asks, giving Amanda side-eye.
“What’s up with your face?” Amanda retorts, sticking out her tongue at him.
“Wasted,” Spence says under his breath. The bass player scoffs at Amanda, but she doesn’t seem to notice. She breaks free of my grip and starts singing to herself and dancing around the back alley.
Spence introduces the rest of the band. “This is my roommate Lucas, who is also our bassist, and Max over there plays drums.”
Max is still packing up the van, but he turns around and gives us a quick hello.
“And this,” Spence says to the guys, his tone triumphant, “is Gemma Kincaid.”
He flings an arm around my shoulder like we’re buddies that have known each other forever. “Her family owns the bar.”
Max perks up at that news and stops what he’s doing to look at me more closely.
“This bar?” he asks, pointing to Kincaid’s.
“This bar,” I say.
“She’s also our new neighbor,” Spence informs them, letting his arm fall from my shoulder. Cold air rushes in to fill the warm spot his arm left behind. “She’s the one that moved in upstairs.”
“Ohhhh,” Max says, and he and Lucas exchange a look.
“And Amanda is your new neighbor, too. She’s my roommate,” I tell them, and we all turn to look at Amanda, who is still dancing by herself. “That’s Amanda.”
“Great,” Lucas mumbles.
“Hey,” Spence says. “What are you doing right now?”
“Right now?” I ask, and he gives me a look like, yeah right now.
“Taking her home,” I tell him.
“Why don’t you come by?” he suggests. “We’re gonna be hanging out for a bit.”
“I don’t know…” I say. It’s late, but it’s not that late. But I do have class tomorrow morning. And hanging out with a bunch of guys I just met isn’t something I typically do.
“Come on, we’re just next door, it’s not like you have to go far.”
I bite my lip, considering.
“What about her?” Lucas asks. He juts his chin at Amanda. “Not her though, right?”
I give Lucas a dirty look, even though he’s right. The only place Amanda is going right now is to bed.
“Lucas, don’t be rude,” Spence scolds him.
“Let me get her in bed and then maybe I’ll come by,” I relent.
Spence grins, dimples on full display. “Perfect. See you soon.”
He goes back to helping the guys load the van and I collect Amanda and shove her in my car. She’s asleep by the time we get back to our apartment. I’m trying to wake her up enough to drag her upstairs when the conversion van rolls up.
Spence hops out and comes jogging over. “Man, she is really wasted, huh?” he says.
“She’s a total lightweight,” I say, embarrassed. This is why we have a two-drink rule for her. To avoid me having to haul around my drunk friend out in public.
“Let me help you,” he says and grabs Amanda under the arms.
“I can do it, really, don’t worry,” I say.
“Oh, I’m sure you can,” he says. Amanda dangles from his arms, dead weight. “I saw the way you handled that U-Haul truck by yourself the other day.”
“Were you watching us?” I narrow my eyes at him.
“Only a little,” he says, and the way he looks at me makes my stomach do a little somersault and I think maybe I might need someone to carry me inside, too. He drags his eyes away from mine and calls over to Lucas.
“Lucas! A little help please.”
Lucas lets out a big sigh, but he comes over.
“Get her feet,” Spence requests.
“Aw come on man, you get her feet!”
“I already have her arms, as you can see.” Spence lifts Amanda’s arms and lets them flop back down, like a pathetic ventriloquist’s dummy.
Lucas grumbles but he does what he’s told.
“One, two, three, lift!” Spence says, and he and Lucas carry Amanda into the building. I unlock the vestibule door and somehow the three of us plus Max manage to maneuver her up three flights of stairs and into her bed.
“I deserve a beer,” Lucas moans as he walks out of our apartment, followed by Max. Spence hangs back.
“What do you say?” he says. “Want to come by for a bit?”
I chew on my lip, thinking. Liam would kill me if he knew any of this was happening right now. But I’m not making decisions based on what Liam thinks anymore. This is my time to have a fresh start.
“Okay,” I say.
Spence grins. “All right. Let’s go.”
Chapter Five
Spence
After we get her drunk roommate into bed, Gemma follows me downstairs to the apartment I share with Lucas. Max and Lucas have already cracked open a couple beers and they’re sitting on the couch.
“You want a beer?” I ask Gemma.
“Sure,” she says. She’s still standing by the front door, and it’s clear she’s feeling a little awkward about being here. She seems different than she did at the bar tonight, or even the other night when I ran into her downstairs. Quieter and more reserved than I expected. I hand her the beer and sit down at the kitchen table. She follows and sits down across from me.
“All right Gemma,” Max calls from where he is sitting on the couch, “tell us the truth. How were we tonight?”
“You guys were really, really good,” she says, and she sounds sincere.
“See, told you we were good.” I give her an I told you so look and tip my beer in her direction before taking a swig.
“Good enough to score that open Saturday spot you have?” Max asks, his face shining with hope.
“I mean, if it was up to me I’d say yes…” Gemma says. “But it’s not up to me.”
“But you can put in a good word?” Lucas asks.
“I’ll do what I can,” Gemma tells him, looking at me out of the corner of her eye.
“Is your brother the one who makes the decisions?” I ask.
“Yeah, he is. But honestly, with the crowd you pulled in tonight I don’t think he’ll need much convincing.”
“So it’s your brother’s bar? That’s pretty cool.” I lean back in my chair and stretch my legs out in front of me. I take another big swig of beer. I’m already a little buzzed from drinking before the show earlier, and now everything is starting to feel nice and loose and warm.
“Well, technically, we both do. I’m part owner.”
My eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Are you now? And you don’t get a say in what bands get to play there? I call bullshit.”
She shrugs and takes a sip of her beer. “The bar is Liam’s thing. I’m fine just working there, at least until I finish school.”
“When do you finish school?”
“This spring.” She tightens her grip on her beer, wrapping and unwrapping her fingers on the can. “I would have graduated last year, but I took some time off.”
She’s still focused on her beer, and I worry that if I don’t come up with something to keep her interested in me she’s going to get up and leave. And I’m not ready for her to leave yet.
“Wait here for a minute,” I tell her, and then get up and go to my room, coming back out with my acoustic guitar.
“All right,” I say to her, tilting back in my chair. “What do you want to hear?”
“Um, I don’t know,” Gemma says, going shy. “Whatever you want.”
“Pick any song. Try to stump me, I’ll bet you can’t.”
“Really?” she asks, doubtful.
“I’ll bet you a thousand dollars you can’t come up with a song I don’t know.”
“I wouldn’t take that bet if I were you,” Max calls over from the couch. “His catalog is robust.”
“Okay fine, no be
t, just pick a song,” I relent.
She shrugs. “I can’t think of a good song to stump you with.”
“Free Bird!” Lucas crows from the sofa, and Max snickers.
Just to piss Lucas off, I start playing “Free Bird”. And singing, badly.
“Aw, man I was just kidding!” Lucas moans. But Gemma is laughing, so I go on for a little longer, until Max throws an empty beer can at me.
“Relax, relax, I’m done!” I say, dodging the projectile.
Gemma kicks at my foot under the table. “Play something else,” she requests.
“Yeah?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she says. “I like it when you play.”
My face splits into a smile. “Okay. Name that tune.”
I start playing.
“‘Here Comes the Sun’,” she says almost immediately.
“Okay, that was an easy one. I’m just warming up.”
For awhile we play this game; Max, Lucas, and Gemma try to see who can guess the song faster. I stump Gemma a couple of times with some more obscure songs, but Lucas and Max are too familiar with my catalog to be stumped. Lucas gets four in a row and I yell at him.
“Hey! Give someone else a chance!”
“Play harder songs then!”
Shaking my head I start playing something I know they’ll all get immediately.
“‘Wonderwall!’” the three of them cry out in unison.
“Another easy one,” Lucas says, but I ignore him. I’m getting tired and my thinking capacity has gone to hell, so I just keep playing “Wonderwall”. Gemma starts to sing along quietly, and I grin over at her. Her voice is nice. It’s sort of light and tinkling, like wind chimes.
“And maybe,” I join in. “You’re gonna be the one that saves me.”
After the song ends and I stop playing she yawns, covering her mouth with her hand.
“I think I’m gonna get going,” she says.
“Okay,” I say, putting down my guitar. “I’ll walk you home.”
Max and Lucas exchange a look, which they think I don’t see, but I do.
“Upstairs? I think I can manage,” Gemma says as we both stand up from the table.
“Ah, but what kind of a gentleman would I be if I let you walk up the stairs alone? Not a very good one, I’m afraid.”
Lost and Found Page 3
