Regan smiled as I talked with Ember. The way one eye squinted a little more than the other when he smiled made me uncomfortable, as if he was studying me under an invisible microscope. I was determined to keep him at arm’s length since he couldn’t keep his eyes off of me. He seemed nice and I wanted to leave him that way. So, just before I turned on the mic, I leaned in and perched my lips about half an inch from his ear.
“The Six is good, Regan. Real good. Can you keep up with them?” I challenged.
He shrugged, an unreadable look taking over his face. “They seem to think so.”
I hadn’t heard a single note come from his fiddle, despite his earlier insistence that he get to the stage. For all I knew, he could be a complete fraud dressed up in David Garrett clothing.
“Well,” I whispered with a smile on my lips, “prove it.”
“Prove it?” He tilted his head almost incredulously, a cocky grin forming at the corner of his mouth.
“You heard me. Make a believer out of me with that thing.” I touched the edge of his fiddle, and he pulled it back slightly. My eyes shot to his and I found him looking at his instrument possessively.
Ok, then.
With a quick lick of my lips, I looked at the microphone. “E’s is happy to present ... Last Call.”
I headed back to the bar without looking back, but heard CJ’s excited “Fuck yeah! Last Call!” as I situated myself for the night.
Lissa shouldered up next to me as I went back to my end of the bar. “What was that?” she shouted in my ear as the musicians did one final round of tuning.
“What was what?”
“That look you gave Regan. Your go look. I thought you weren’t into him.” Lissa stepped back and looked down her long eyelashes at me.
Before she could respond, CJ struck the snare drum, as Bo started a familiar tune on an electric guitar. “Smooth Criminal”.
“What the...” I looked past Lissa just as Regan raised his bow and struck it across the strings.
Holy shit...
Regan
She didn’t look back when she returned to her station at the bar. I don’t know how I missed it earlier in the day, but she had a third tattoo on the back of her neck. It looked like a rocking horse of some sort. I’d already spent far too much time staring at Georgia’s body for one day, so I looked away. Though, the way she attempted to pass off that scant piece of fabric for a dress, it didn’t seem that she wanted me to look away.
Or anyone else for that matter.
I didn’t know what Georgia’s game was, but when she challenged me about my ability with the violin, it lit something inside me. I don’t even know why I cared what she thought. I’d met her only hours earlier and had made kind of an ass out of myself.
Still, when she asked me to make a believer out of her, I asked Ember to sit the first song out while Bo played the electric guitar, and we started “Smooth Criminal”. It’s my go-to “wow” piece for people who have an attitude about classical instruments.
Then, her jaw dropped.
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Just as I pulled the corners of my lips up into an I told you so grin, Georgia’s seemed to curl into a sneer and she abruptly turned around and got to work behind the bar. Mission accomplished. I’d regained my social footing from my breast-staring fumble earlier and was on even keel with her again.
As the song went on, I looked around the bar. It was an eclectic mix of customers. Hippies, hipsters, and hip-replacements all mingled together, drinking and enjoying the music. I planned to spend some time after the set mingling with the crowd to see if anyone had any leads on apartments or sublets. Anything.
“Smooth Criminal” ended, and as the cheers rose to a roar through the bar, Georgia’s eyes found mine. I watched as her tongue ran across the front of her top teeth with her mouth closed. The look on her face was unreadable, but the guy’s hand riding up her arm as he ordered another drink was loud and clear.
She looked down as if she’d caught two people having sex, turning her attention and smile to the guy with a buzz cut and black-rimmed glasses at the bar.
“Dude.” Bo interrupted the jealousy that had no business brewing in my stomach.
“Sorry. Uh...” I cleared my throat and looked back at CJ who was shaking his head and grinning. He never missed a thing.
“Ha,” Bo continued, “she is intriguing ... but we’ve got a set to finish. You and Ember do “Foolish Games” next, okay?”
“Sure. Ember, you ready?”
Ember’s eyes drifted between the bar and me. Curiosity mixed with concern. “Yep ... are you?”
It made me uncomfortable when they made comments about me and other girls in the same sentence. It had been several months since Rae died, but I couldn’t tell if my moving on would give them permission to, or if it was the other way around.
Either way, I wasn’t ready for anything, and as I heard Georgia giggle purposefully from behind me, I knew I certainly wasn’t ready for anything with a girl who had a boyfriend.
I had to get her out of my system. Fast.
“Just give me a second.” I set my violin on the stool and weaved through a group of girls making out with each other before reaching Georgia at the bar.