Beautiful Tragedy (A Standalone Romance Novel) (5 page)

I pretended that I had to pee too, just so I could walk
with her to the bathrooms. I waited outside for her, and since the women’s
restroom line looked as bad as the concession stand, I was in for a long wait.
As I leaned up against the brick wall next to the bathrooms, I saw a guy I used
to play set with in a club the summer before last.

“Hey! Brock! How the hell are you man?”

“I’m doing well Joe. How are you?”

“I’m fantastic man. I’ve wanted to get a hold of you,
but I lost your number. It’s amazing I ran into you like this! I’m playing at
Aqua and I need a good vocalist. Well, my band has a trial run at Aqua and if
it goes well, we’ll be officially offered the gig. Are you available?” Aqua was
a new night club in town, and it was turning out to be a really popular one.
Even if I wasn’t available I would have said yes.

“Hell yes, I’m available. When?”

Joe laughed, “We start next weekend. I was going to
have a listen to a female singer that my keyboard guy recommended on Tuesday,
and then we’ll probably jam together on Wednesday. The wife sings too but she
doesn’t want to commit to it every weekend. I know you’re going to school man,
but it will all be in the evening. I know you’re good, if I like the girl maybe
we can work out a schedule if we get the full gig.”

I was ecstatic. If it had been during the day, I was
ready to quit school. Not really, but hell yes! I was going to be singing at
the hottest club in town. “Where are you getting together?”

Joe handed me a card with an address on it. “It’s a
storage garage; my brother-in-law owns it. It keeps us from getting kicked out
of our neighborhood, so the wife likes me to run practices there.”

A voice cut in from out of nowhere, “You got that
right. Last time he practiced in the garage I think three people called the
cops.” It was his wife
Lyndie
. I always liked her.
She and Joe had gotten married young. They weren’t even thirty yet and had
already been married ten years and had a couple of kids.

“Maybe it wasn’t the volume they were complaining
about…if you know what I mean,” I said with a laugh.

“Hey boy, watch yourself if you want to play with me.”
Joe barked, but with a grin.

I said hello officially to
Lyndie
and we chatted for a few minutes before they left to go back to their seats. I
must have still been grinning when Molly came back out because she looked around
and said, “What is so dang funny? You’re always grinning like the Cheshire
Cat.”

I wanted to hug someone I was so excited, and I really
wanted it to be her. I didn’t go there though, not yet. I didn’t want to scare
her away already. Instead, I told her about Joe and the club.

“Wow, that’s great,” she said, seeming genuinely happy
for me. “Aqua is supposed to be a really fun place.”

“I went there the night they opened. It’s nice. They
didn’t have a very good band though,” I said. I couldn’t help grinning again,
thinking about me and my guitar on the stage.

“I’m happy for you,” she said. “Will you do me a
favor?” she asked as we got close to our bleachers.

“Sure,”
Anything….

“Will you tell Megan I’m going to take off now? I’m
just too cold to enjoy this.”

“Okay…didn’t you ride with them though?”

“Yeah, it’s not that far though, just a few blocks. I
can walk.”

“Or I can give you a ride?” I said.

“On your Harley? Um…thank you but I don’t think so.”

“Have you ever been on one?” I asked her. I would love
to feel her sitting behind me on Suzie.

“No, I’ve never been on any motorcycle, actually. A
scooter…or Vespa, I guess it was called, once.”

“You don’t know what you’re missing,” I told her honestly.

“Maybe another time, when it’s not so cold and dark?”

“It’s a date,” I told her, excited just at the sound
of it. “I’ll walk you home tonight.”

“But…um, that’s really not necessary,” she said.

“I’m sure it’s not,” I told her. “But I’d like to…if
you don’t mind.”

“Okay,” she said, resigned. I went and told Jake and
Megan. Megan pointed her finger at me and said, “Be good.” Jake then pointed
his at me and said, “Be great,” with a lecherous grin that earned him Megan’s
elbow in his gut.

Molly was waiting for me at the top of the stairs. As
we passed Suzie on the way out, she asked me.

“Will it be okay here?”

I glanced at Suzie. She looked so sexy with the
moonlight bouncing off her wheels. But she would be okay, and I told Molly so.

“She?” she said with a grin.

“Yes, her name is Suzie,” I told her. I knew girls
didn’t get it. They didn’t name their vehicles, but my dad and I had named
every one we had ever had.

Molly leaned close then, and I almost couldn’t catch
my breath. Her hair smelled like some kind of flower, and her breath smelled
like chocolate as she said, “You don’t think she’ll get jealous and run me
over, do you?”

I walked her back to her dorm, thinking that I couldn’t
believe that anyone, cute girl or otherwise could have talked me into leaving
Suzie at the football game and walking. We walked fast because it was so cold.
I wanted to grab her hand, but I just wasn’t getting the vibe from her that it
would be okay…yet.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” I asked her when we
were about halfway back.

“I have to work,” she said.

“Cool. Where do you work?”

“At the campus coffee shop,” she said, “I’m studying
to become head barista.”

“I hear that’s a tough title to snag,” I said, hoping
it sounded less dorky to her than it did to my own ears.

She smiled. I guess it didn’t sound too bad. “You have
to see me operate the machine,” she said. “Then you’ll know I have it in the
bag.”

“What time to you get off?” I asked her.

“I work ten to six tomorrow.”

“So what are you doing after work?” I asked.
Just ask her out all ready. Jeez, you act
like it’s your first time. You’ve asked out like a thousand girls. Why is this
one so different?

“I-Um, I don’t know,” she said.
Okay now, don’t ask another stupid question…just ask her if she wants
to go out with you.

“I was wondering if you wanted to maybe have dinner or
something.”

She stopped walking and looked at me. That’s a bad
sign, right? She can say yes while she’s walking, but for a no, a person really
needs to stop. Damn, it’s cold out here. My nose is frozen, and parts way south
aren’t doing much better.
Come on, Molly.
Say yes, that’ll warm me up.

“I really don’t think it’s a good idea Brock, but
thank you,” she said.
So…is she thinking
dinner is not a good idea or a movie, or going out with me? Should I ask her,
or will that just make me look desperate and stupid?

“Oh, okay,” was what I said. Profound, huh? I tried to
keep a neutral facial expression too. I really didn’t want her to think I was
desperate. She started walking again, for a minute, and then she stopped and
said, “I’m sorry Brock. It’s not you at all. I’m just not looking to date
anyone right now.”

“Oh, okay,” I said again. Hey, it worked the first
time. We made it the rest of the way to her dorms in silence. I was crushed. I
had envisioned asking her out, her saying yes and me…going in for the kiss at
the end of the date. I looked at her now with her full, pretty, red lips and
thought that maybe I’d never get to kiss her after all.

She turned to me and said, “Brock, thank you so much
for walking me home. I’m sorry you have to walk all the way back now. It’s so
cold.”

“It’s okay. You have a good night.”

What else could I say? I walked back to the football
stadium, and I climbed onto the back of the only woman who truly ever loved me,
Suzie. The ride home was cold, but by that time I was numb and I didn’t care.

CHAPTER
FIVE

MOLLY

I went up to my room and watched out the window until
he was out of sight. I think I really hurt his feelings. As soon as I said no
and I saw his face, I wanted to take it back. I like the Brock who is always
amused and I hated being the person who took that away from him. I felt mean,
plain and simple.

I blame this on Megan, and of course if Megan is to
blame then Jake has to shoulder some of it as well. I told them both I didn’t
want a boyfriend. If they hadn’t felt compelled to hook me up with hot-guy
Brock, I would be ignorantly going through life, not even knowing he existed.
And then he would still be walking around with his amused expression instead of
looking sad and hurt.

I mean, come on…it’s not like I was his only choice.
He’s gorgeous, of the drop-dead variety. He could go to the club alone and
leave with three women on his arm if he wanted to, I’m sure. He could leave
with three women with two good kidneys each. That’s five more kidneys than I
have. He doesn’t know how lucky he is that I said no. However he looked at it,
even if he only left with one healthy chick, he was getting double the kidney.
I was doing him a public service, really.
 
That way, when he found out about my lack of kidneys and the cancer on
the one I had left, he’d be spared breaking up with me like Zack, my last
boyfriend did. I realized then that I hadn’t been able to see him for ten
minutes, yet here I was still staring out the window.

I continued my silent rant, but threw myself on the
bed where it was more comfortable instead. I lay there and went back and forth
between, “I did the right thing. I don’t want a boyfriend right now. I don’t
want to set myself up again. Guys aren’t good at dating girls with cancer. I
don’t want to put him in that position,” and, “What the hell am I thinking?”

 
Finally I
pulled myself up off the bed and out of my pity party. I dragged myself into a
hot shower. I was still freezing. Maybe that’s what happened; my brain was
frozen over when he asked me out. Yes, that’s it; I’ll just call him now and
say, “Hi Brock, this is Molly. I’d love to go out with you. I’m sorry I said no
earlier, but my brain was frozen.” That should do it. I guess I wasn’t quite
finished with the pity party.

By the time Megan got back I was asleep. At least that’s
what she thought, so she left me alone and at least for the night I didn’t have
to explain myself. In reality I was playing over the scene with Zack in my
head, the night he sat at my bedside in the hospital and told me that all of
this cancer stuff was really just too serious for him. It wasn’t me, it was
him. Hey, at least he didn’t do it in a text message.

I made it out of the room the next morning still in
luck. Megan was taking advantage of her Saturday and sleeping in. When I left
for work, she still hadn’t stirred. I considered taking her pulse, but if she
woke up while I was doing it, it might look a little weird.

Cassie was waiting for me when I got there, and the
fact that today was going to be the first day I got to work the coffee machine on
my own, really seemed to excite her.

“Hey! There’s my ardent student.”

Ardent? I’ll bet she’s English major. It might just be
me, but I think I would have gone with eager, or zealous…maybe even devoted.
Ardent just wasn’t an impressive word if you asked me, but what did I know? I’m
a liberal arts major.

“Hi Cassie!” I said, trying to sound ardent.

She showed me a few of the trickier moves on the
machine, and by noon I was flying through those mochas and lattes and even
getting the milks right. If my arm were longer I would have patted myself right
on the back. I was so into the art of creating coffee that I didn’t even see
Megan walk in. She yelled my name, causing me to literally jump in the air.

“Hey,
Meggs
! Why are we
yelling?” I asked her.

She laughed and said, “Because I said your name three
times. You were so focused on your coffee making.”

“It takes concentration to do it right,” I said,
embarrassed that she had caught me so focused on a coffee machine. “What are
you doing here? Did you just get up and need a cup of coffee?”

She laughed, “Okay, I slept in a little bit. We didn’t
all go home and go to bed early though. How was your walk home last night?”

“Cold,” I said.

“Really, just cold? Isn’t Brock a sweetheart?”

“He’s a doll,” I told her.

“Molly, don’t be sarcastic.”

“I’m not, I swear. I really think he’s a doll. I kind
of need to get back to work though, so did you want a coffee…or?”

“No, thank you. Jake and I are going to try out that
new club Aqua tonight. You want to go?”

“Um-no, I don’t think so,” I said.

I was remembering Brock talking about that guy Joe
wanting him to play there.

“Aw, come on Molly. What are you going to do? You’ll
just sit in the dorm room alone all night. Please! You’re turning into a
hermit.” Megan made a pleading face at me, one that she knew I couldn’t say no
to.