Boy Band

by Jacqueline Smith

  Okay, there are elevators so we don’t actually have to hike, but you get what I’m saying.

  Every year we all vow that we’re going to pack and travel light, but somehow, it hasn’t happened yet. Maybe next year. This year, it’s the same old song and dance of scrambling around for everything in order to make our flight. And let me tell you, we’re cutting it kind of close.

  It didn’t help that Tara was here earlier, distracting Cory and encouraging the rest of the guys not to worry about being on time and that they were so famous and so important that they could call the airline and demand the plane wait for them and so on and so forth. I may not have made this clear, but I am really not going to miss her at all. Thankfully, she wasn’t around when Joni discovered one of Sam’s discarded shirts underneath my bed.

  I was fully prepared to lie through my teeth about how the shirt came to be there, but strangely, she didn’t ask, nor did she seem all that surprised by it at all. I guess that just goes to show how weird people think our relationship actually is. Or maybe she was too stressed about us potentially being late to really care all that much. Whatever the reason, our secret is still ours.

  For now.

  Within fifteen minutes, Joni and I are locking up our room and heading down to the lobby to check out. If the guys are down there, they’re probably already waiting for us in the vans. Security likes to get them in and out of buildings with as little fuss as possible.

  Once we check out and get our luggage loaded into the vans, Josh pokes his head out one of the windows.

  “Hey, is Jesse with you?” he asks.

  “No. He’s not with you?” I ask.

  “Haven’t seen him since he brought his bags down,” Josh replies. “Do you think one of you could go look for him? He’s not answering his phone”

  Given Joni’s still-rocky relationship with Jesse, I volunteer. Though to be honest, I have no idea where to start looking. This hotel is huge. There are literally a hundred places he could be.

  I stop by the front desk first and ask the guy working there if he’s seen “Jesse from The Kind of September” wandering around anywhere. He tells me that he hasn’t, but mentions that one key card is still unaccounted for.

  Great. That means Jesse is still up in his hotel room, probably looking for his phone charger or something. His phone is probably dead and that’s why no one can get a hold of him and now we’re going to miss our flight because he can’t keep up with things.

  With few other options, I ride the elevator back up to our suites on the twelfth floor. As I walk down the hall, I debate whether I should give him a lecture or just wait and let Joni do the honors. She’s a lot better at lectures than I am, but I really, really want to go home.

  The door to his room is still ajar, so I take the liberty of letting myself in.

  “Jesse, what are you doing? We need to - ”

  But I’m stopped dead in my tracks. Because I’m not looking at Jesse. I’m looking at Jesse and someone else.

  Jesse and a tall, beautiful, blonde someone.

  Jesse and Tara.

  Kissing.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  As always, I’d like to thank God, my Lord and Savior.

  Thank you to my family, my mother and father, for their love and never-ending support. I don’t know what I would do without your constant encouragement and belief that your daughters can do anything.

  Thank you to my editors, Hannah Alvarez and Kathleen Farmer. I love you both so, so, so much. You are brilliant, amazing women and two of my most trusted friends. I would be totally lost without both of you.

  Thank you to all musicians who create and inspire. Whether you sing, write, play an instrument, or practice theory, the world as we know it would not be the same without you. Music makes the world a better place, as you well know.

  Thank you to all who read, and especially to all of you who have read BOY BAND as well as the CEMETERY TOURS series. Words will never be able to adequately express how important you are to my life and to the lives of authors everywhere. You are so, so loved.

  Finally, a huge thank you to my very best friend, my twin soul, and my favorite person in the world, my sister, KJ. If it wasn’t for you and the countless hours we spent watching music videos on YouTube, this book would not exist. Thank you for being my primary reader and for letting me use your picture of New York for the book cover.

  © 2014 by Kaylynn Krieg Photography

  http://www.kaylynnkrieg.com/

  Along with BOY BAND, JACQUELINE E. SMITH is also the author of the CEMETERY TOURS series. A longtime lover of words, stories, and characters, Jacqueline earned her Master’s Degree in Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2012. She lives and writes in Dallas, Texas.