Thoughtless (7 page)

When I wasn’t shadowing Jenny, they had me cleaning up. I spent a good chunk of the night wiping tables, washing glasses, helping in the
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kitchen, and when things got slow at the tail end of the night…cleaning the graffiti from the bathroom stalls. Pete gave me some gray paint and a little brush and left me to it. Rita gave me instructions to let her know anything juicy written up there. Jenny smiled and wished me good luck.

I sighed.

I started with the women’s, thinking it would be less offensive than the men’s, and really not wanting to walk into the men’s room anyway.

There were three stalls, and all of them had pen and sharpie scribbles on the inside and the outside. I sighed again and wished they had just given me a roller. This was going to take awhile.

Some of the stuff was innocent enough: I love Chris, A.M + T.L, Sara was here, TLF, I hate vodka, go home, you’re drunk (I had to chuckle at that one). But a lot was less innocent: I’m horny, I wanna screw tonight, my boyfriend gives it good, random swear words. And then some were directed at people I knew: Sam makes me hot, I love Jenny (hmmm, I wondered about that one, since I
was
in the women’s room), Rita’s a skank (I chuckled, wondering if that was the juicy gossip she wanted to hear).

And finally, a huge portion was directed at the four band members. It surprised me at first, but then I thought it made sense, since they played here so often…and were attractive, I guess.

Griffin’s were the most explicit. I couldn’t even read them fully. Blushing, I covered up the extremely graphic words of just what girls had either done to him, or wanted to do with him, as quickly as I could.

There was even an exceptionally vivid drawing of an act so absurdly crude, that I worried how long it would stick in my head. I sighed, knowing I was going to blush the next time I saw Griffin. He would probably love that.

Matt and Evan’s tributes were more subtle. Girls wrote in adoration for Evan: I love him, I want him, marry me. Girls wrote with praise for Matt: Damn, he’s hot, he can pluck me any day, Matt rocks me.

But of course, the largest portion of all the graffiti was directed towards Kellan. From the sweet: Kellan loves me, Kellan Forever, future Mrs. Kyle…to the not so sweet. Apparently, Kellan had been right when
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he said that women responded to his sexual nature. The markings where quite graphic, almost as much as Griffin’s, of just what they wanted to do with him. There was also a section of comments that seemed to already have intimate knowledge of him. Whether real or not, theirs were the most explicit: Kellan licked my… (I brushed out the near paragraph on exactly what had been licked), I blew Kellan’s… (whoa, really now), for a good time call… (I blinked, that was actually our phone number. I quickly brushed it out), Kellan shoved his… (ugh, I didn’t even bother reading that one). I was already going to have horrid visions of Griffin. I didn’t need them about my roommate too.

I finally finished with the women’s room and made my way over to the men’s, no longer worried about it. There was no way it was cruder than the stuff the girls had come up with.

Jenny sweetly gave me ride home after work and, even though I tried to be quiet, Denny woke up when I entered our room. He patiently listened to stories of my first day and then regaled me for at least an hour on his new job. He was in heaven and I couldn’t have been happier for him.

Denny, Kellan and I, quickly fell into an easy routine at home. Kellan was almost always the first one awake, and there was usually a fresh pot of coffee waiting for me when I finally shuffled into the kitchen. We chatted companionably, sipping our java as Denny showered and got ready for his day at work.

Denny insisted that I didn’t have to wake up with him, since I got home so late on nights I worked, but I loved seeing him off every morning. He was all smiles when he left. He was having way too much fun at his new job and I was elated for him. After he was gone, I had a lot of time to myself. And even though I was getting anxious at the thought of school beginning in a couple months, I was really starting to want something to do during the day. I mainly just, well, napped and lounged.

Kellan didn’t seem to have any other job than the band. He would leave for a few hours in the afternoon or early evening to meet with the guys; they played a couple of other smaller bars during the week and Pete’s every Friday and almost every Saturday. He would sometimes go
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for a run during the day. He even invited me to go with him a couple times, but I wasn’t quite comfortable enough to say yes. The rest of his time was spent resting, reading, writing, singing or playing his guitar.

He did his own laundry, made his own food, and aside from his messy bed, cleaned up after himself. He was pretty easy-going, as far as roommates go.

I also fell into an easy rhythm at my new job at Pete’s. My limited waitressing skills were starting to kick back in. That first week, Denny came in every night after work and let me “practice” on him. He would order different things from the menu, and make it as complicated as possible, to see if I could get it right. It made me laugh every time, but it helped, by the third night I finally got him the food he actually ordered, which was good, because the guys in the kitchen were getting a little irritated at us.

I was surprised at how often Kellan and his band came into the bar during the week. They always sat at the same table, back by the stage. I don’t think it would have mattered to them if people were sitting there already or not. It was just known in the bar, that that table was theirs, and when they came in, you better move or sit with them. Weeknights were busy, but nowhere near as packed as the weekends, and while women still watched Kellan openly, the people here were regulars and generally left the guys alone. Generally. There were still pockets of adoring fans here and there. The guys seemed to come in after rehearsal, or if they had a show that night, they would come in before their gig - they were there practically every day.

Their claimed table happened to be in my section. On my second night, they had all come in together, and I’d had to grit my teeth to approach them. Luckily, Denny had been with them too. That had definitely made it easier to talk to them; they were just way too intimidating, all grouped together like that, especially with the bathroom homage still fresh in my mind. And, as predicted, I had blushed furiously at Griffin, and he had found that immensely entertaining.

By the following Monday, after a hectic weekend of waitressing the throngs of people the guys had brought in both Friday and Saturday night (that was so crazy-busy, I couldn’t even remember it), I was finally comfortable approaching the group. Unfortunately, they were all too
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comfortable with me by that point as well. They all seemed to delight in teasing me. Well, not so much Evan - he was just a big sweetie.

Watching them walk in, I sighed and rolled my eyes. Here we go again. Evan came in first and gave me a great big bear hug. I laughed when I could breathe again. Matt and Griffin seemed lost in some disagreement, but Griffin still managed to smack my ass on the way to his chair. I sighed at him and glanced over at Sam, who was paying no attention to the quartet whatsoever. Anyone else would have been kicked out on their rump for that, but apparently, these four owned the place.

Kellan came in last, looking perfect as usual. He had his guitar slung over his shoulder tonight; he brought it in sometimes when he was working on new stuff. He nodded at me with a small adorable smile on his face and took his seat.

“Usual tonight, boys?” I said, trying my best to sound as confident as sweet Jenny did.

“Yeah, thank you, Kiera,” Evan replied politely for the group.

Griffin was not so polite. “Fuck yeah, of course, sweetheart.” He grinned at me mischievously. He seemed to know how his crudeness irritated me and he played it up whenever I was around. I ignored him the best I could, and worked on keeping my expression even.

Apparently, I hadn’t worked hard enough and he noticed my irritation. “You’re so sweet, Kiera. You’re like an innocent school girl.” He shook his head in open delight. “I just want to…deflower you.” He winked at me.

I blanched and stared at him, totally speechless.

Kellan chuckled softly, watching my face, and Matt beside Griffin snorted. “Dude, she’s been with Denny forever. I’m pretty sure you missed that opportunity.”

My mouth dropped open as I listened to them in mortification. Were they really discussing my virginity…right in front of me? I was too stunned to move away from the table.

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Griffin turned to face him. “Too bad…I could have shown her the world.”

Evan and Kellan laughed at him while Matt, barely containing his own laughter, said, “When have you ever shown any woman…the world?” Griffin scowled at them. “I have skills…you guys just don’t know. I’ve had no complaints.”

Kellan grinned. “No repeats either.”

“Fuck you, man. I’ll show you right now! Grab a girl…” He looked around the bar, like he was searching for a volunteer. His eyes eventually rested on me and I paled even more and backed up a step.

“Noooooo,” All the guys loudly said at the same time, backing away from Griffin a bit and holding their hands out, as if to physically restrain him if necessary.

Regaining my composer, since the conversation had moved away from my experience level, I thought now was as good a time as any to slip away from them. I started sliding slowly to the side, but Griffin’s eyes were still on me. He grinned widely as he ignored the laughing going on around him.

“Kiera, if you’ve already been deflowered…” he threw an irritated glance at the guys, “by a tool, I’m sure…” he looked back to me while they laughed harder, “…then let’s hear something naughty.” His pale eyes sparkled with playfulness and he started playing with his tongue, more specifically, the barbell pierced through it. My stomach turned a bit at the sensuality of the move. I really didn’t want to answer his stupid request.

I grimaced and made to walk away. “I have to go back to work, Griffin.”

“Oh, come on…just one little curse. Don’t you ever swear?” He reached out and grabbed my arm as I tried to walk by him.

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More focused on pulling my arm away from his grasp, than what I was saying, I sighed and stated, “Yes, Griffin, I swear.” I immediately regretted saying that.

“Really, let’s hear it.” He seemed genuinely amused at the idea of me trying to be as crude as he was. Evan looked embarrassed by his persistence and rolled his eyes. Matt put a hand on his chin and leaned forward and Kellan ran a hand through his hair and leaned back, both looking at me curiously. I was starting to get uncomfortable under their scrutiny.

I glared at Griffin. “Damn.”

Both Matt and Kellan chuckled. Griffin tucked his blonde hair behind his ears and pouted. “Ooh, vicious. Now let’s hear a real one.”

“That is a real one.” I really just wanted to walk back to the bar, but felt trapped by the odd conversation. Kellan was openly laughing at my discomfort now, and my irritation towards him specifically was growing.

“Okay, how about a little more colorful one…an easy one. How about…bitch?” He grinned devilishly at me as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“You’re such a child, Griffin.” I rolled my eyes and looked over at Evan, silently begging him to end this conversation, since he was the only one besides me who looked mildly uncomfortable.

Griffin laughed at my obvious plea. “You really can’t say it, can you?”

“I don’t need to.” It wasn’t that I never swore…it was just usually safe in my head, where it wasn’t quite so offensive. I wasn’t about to do anything just to please Griffin anyway. I considered simply walking away from the table to end his stupid game, but I could just imagine how hard that would make him laugh.

He leaned across the table, hands held together. “Come on. Something, anything, I don’t care…just say somethin’ dirty,” he begged.

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I shifted uneasily, still thinking of an escape. I could just slap him?

That would definitely take the focus off of me…but I didn’t know him well enough to know how he would react to that. I really didn’t need him mad at me…or turned on by it.

Kellan butted in at that point. “She called me sexual once.” Griffin just about fell off of his chair, laughing.

I glared over at Kellan, who looked at me with an adorably innocent look on his face, hands raised slightly in an expression that clearly said,

‘what’? Seeing my break to get away (and really, the whole table was laughing now, even my ally Evan, so my running away really didn’t matter), I headed back to the bar.

Hoping my face wasn’t too red, I, as calmly as I could, walked over to where Rita was already getting the guys’ drinks ready. I cautiously looked back at the table. Griffin and Matt were still laughing over Kellan’s stupid comment. Evan was looking at me apologetically; at least he felt bad about laughing. Kellan, still chuckling a little, had grabbed his guitar from the floor and was idly strumming a rhythm.

He lightly started singing a song that I thought was a new one. I couldn’t make out the lyrics from this distance, but the melody trickled over to me and was quite pretty. Instinctively, I started moving back to the guys so I could hear him better.

“I wouldn’t bother.” Rita had been watching me watch Kellan and had seemingly misinterpreted my interest.

“What?”

“That one.” She pointed roughly at Kellan. “Don’t waste your time.” Not knowing quite what she meant, I forgot to tell her that I was just interested in his song and instead asked, “What do you mean?” She leaned in conspiratorially, happy for the chance to tell her little story. “Oh, he’s deadly attractive for sure, but he’ll just rip your heart out. Loves ‘em and leaves ‘em , that one.”

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“Oh.” I supposed that wasn’t too big a shock, considering the swarm of rabid fans that seemed to attack him at every show, and the numerous comments he’d gathered on the stall walls. “We’re not like that. He’s my roommate…nothing else. I was just listening to… ” She cut me off. “I don’t know how you live with that?” She looked over at him, rather seductively, biting her lip. “
That
would drive me crazy, day in, day out.” She set a couple of beer bottles on the counter.