Boy Band by Jacqueline Smith

Author:Jacqueline Smith
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2015-04-19T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

“Won’t you take me back

To that summer sunset

And the way you looked at

The fire in the sky

And won’t you take me back

To that beginning of forever

Please tell me you remember

Us together...”

Song: “Fire in the Sky”

Artist: The Kind of September

From the Album:The Kind of September

I feel terrible.

Joni is still heartbroken over Jesse. Have I really been so blinded and preoccupied with my own hopeless pining over Sam that I didn’t notice what she was going through? What kind of friend am I, anyway?

A terrible one, that’s what.

I mean, I know that she changed a bit after Jesse broke up with her. She doesn’t open up as often as she used to. She also doesn’t laugh as much as she used to. She’s a lot more guarded now. Maybe that was intentional. Maybe she didn’t want any of us to know how much the breakup with Jesse actually affected her, and that’s why she became so strict and serious. Or maybe it’s a type of defense mechanism. If she doesn’t let anyone in, then she won’t get hurt again.

There’s only one way to find out for sure.

I find her sitting by herself next to the carousel, which the guys will be filming on sometime later today. She’s going over notes on her iPad, but she seems distracted. She’s so lost in thought, in fact, that she doesn’t even notice me until I call her name.

She looks up, clearly startled. When she realizes it’s only me, she looks relieved, but still slightly embarrassed. “Oh, hey,” she greets me. “Just going over the schedule for the day.”

“Are you okay?” I ask her.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. I’m still a little pissed off about those stupid rumors, but I don’t want it to get in the way of shooting today.”

“I meant about Jes - ”

But Joni holds up a hand and cuts me off.

“Mel. You know what? I’m just going to stop you there. I have absolutely no feelings for Jesse Scott. Cory is an idiot if he thinks I do.”

“Are you sure? It would be understandable if you did. I mean, he was your first real boyfriend.”

“No, he was a guy I dated briefly in high school. My first real relationship is going to be mature. And thoughtful. And not with some pretty, egotistical pop-rocker.”

I think of Oliver and have to bite my tongue. I’m usually pretty good at keeping secrets, but I’d also like to think that Joni might feel differently if she knew about his feelings for her. Somehow, I’m able to fight the desire to spill everything that Oliver told me the night before. But just barely.

“That might be the case,” I say, taking a seat next to her, “but it still could have hurt your feelings, you know, when it ended.”

“Mel... Come on. You know I don’t like talking about stuff like this.”

“I know. But sometimes you need to talk about it. Otherwise you carry it all inside and it just sits there, taking up space in your mind that could be used for more important things.

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