Page 58 of Wild Abandon

“It’s a good thing it was the end of the concert; otherwise, no one would have heard you,” Jeremy chastises.

“Yes, but someone did open the trunk. Guess who!”

“Adam Levine?” Nate asks.

“No,” I reply. “His manager who was so worried that I was hurt or would try to sue that he took me directly to meet Adam Levine himself!” I laugh out loud. “I made him sign my bra. I still have it.”

“Your bra?” Nate seems disappointed. “That’s so not you.”

Naomi does a double take at Nate’s comment, but I continue, “What did you expect? I didn’t have anything on me, and I needed a memento.”

Nate is laughing. I like his laugh. I hate that I like his laugh.

“The other night, I asked you what the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done was. How was this not your answer?”

“The music video!” Naomi and Jeremy chime in unison.

“Yes!” Nate nearly jumps out of his seat. “Something about an orangutan. She wouldn’t tell me the name of it.”

Naomi is out of her seat before Nate is finished speaking.

Jeremy grabs a bottle of Southern Comfort from the outside fridge and asks Nate, “Hope you don’t mind SoCo. It’s a little tradition in our house.”

In mortification, I drop my head in my hands.

Naomi returns with four shot glasses and an iPad. “Nate, we are about to make your year!”

I stay seated at the end of the table while the two of them huddle around Nate’s chair, the iPad facing in their direction. Naomi explains the rules of her Let’s Humiliate Crystal drinking game, and the three of them are downing a shot within seconds of the music playing. I can’t look, so I just take a shot along with them.

And then another.

And another.

Wow, I must really wink into the camera and lick my lips a lot.

When the rap verse kicks in, I see Nate’s eyes widen.

“There she goes with the bom, bom, bom.”

Yeah, this is the part when I lie on top of a Camaro and start rolling from side to side.

“Her hips, they sway with the bom, bom, bom.”

It’s probably best he’s already in a relationship. I don’t have to worry about what he thinks of me in this ridiculous video. We’re just friends after all. It’s not like he was interested in me, and this is the thing that will make him lose interest.

“It’s guerrilla warfare with her bom, bom, bom!”

And then he laughs—like, out loud.

I’m assuming the orangutan has just made its appearance.

I blow air out my lips and watch Nate’s facial features. He’s enjoying himself. So different from the day I met him. I would never have guessed that smile existed. But it does. And it’s beautiful.

Nate looks up at me over the iPad, and instead of a teasing look, he’s glancing at me with a look of endearment. If he weren’t in a relationship, I would misinterpret it as something more, but he’s giving me a glance of appreciation.

For what, I’m not sure.

Nate ended up staying for two more hours. The four of us chatted on the patio, telling stories and sharing jokes. It was a really great evening, and now, it is coming to an end. Nate and Willie Mays say good night to everyone, and Naomi nudges me to walk him to his truck.