Page 4 of Banging the Drummer

Not that she would now, since she fell hard and fast for the second oldest Whitmore brother, Dane. I doubt she’ll be leaving his side anytime soon. I don’t think it’ll be too much longer before he marries her.

We finish up the video chat with promises to be in touch again soon. Shelby texts us all the official tour schedule.

I’m happy for my sister, I totally am. But I’d be a big liar if I didn’t admit I am also jealous. I guess part of me always thought I’d be married by the ripe old age of twenty-eight.

My phone rings and I smile when I see Dani’s name flash across my screen.

“Girl! I have so many questions!” I say in lieu of saying ‘hello.’

“I know,” she breathes.

“First off… how?” I ask. “How didn’t you know Jax was well… Jax!?”

“I don’t know,” Dani says with a giggle. “I mean, he always looked a little familiar to me, you know? And there was something about his voice, but Luna, I honestly never put one and one together.”

“And now you’re… you’re marrying him? Are you sure? I mean, you didn’t slip and fall and hit your head and this is all due to a concussion? Are you concussed, Dan?”

She laughs again. “I’m not concussed. I promise.” Then she exhales. “Okay, this has to stay between us.”

“Cross my heart,” I tell her.

Then she tells me about their first kiss and the conversation that led to the marriage proposal. Evidently, my sweet friend has been drowning in a sea of debt and needed a way out before she lost her mind.

“Dani, why didn’t you tell me any of this?” I ask.

Could I have helped? Unlikely. I don’t make much teaching social studies in my small town. But I would have done something.

“I get you wanting to finish school,” I tell her. “But two, three jobs, honey? There is no way that’s good for you.”

“I know,” she whispers.

“I need you to be careful. You have a big heart and I know you’ve been crushing on Jax, your neighbor, since you moved in. Now he’s not only that man, but also the one you literally had hung up on a poster in your bedroom growing up. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

But Dani getting hurt seems inevitable at this point. Don’t all fake relationships result in real feelings? At least on one side?

Still, what a dream. Even if it ends up disastrously, she’ll get to live out her teenage fantasy. That kind of thing usually only happens to people in the movies.

I fall asleep that night and dream that I’m married to Mason Ball and I’m holding a tiny blonde-haired baby while he sings to both of us. I wake up, disoriented and full of false hope. It’s gonna be a long few months.

chapter

three

Luna

I sign on to the Soul Obsession forum page knowing that I’m likely opening a can of worms I don’t have time to deal with. But in addition to my girls, I want to see the excitement from the fans about the forthcoming new album and the tour.

I’ve already got the first dropped song, Tastes Like Sugar, playing on repeat in my head. It’s so catchy, while still being musically complex. A perfect release to show the world they still have it and they’ve matured.

It is no surprise that the trolls are already out in force. It always makes me wonder how these people have time to wander around the internet naysaying everything. I’ve never had that kind of free time. Frankly if I did, I’m pretty sure I’d go for a walk in nature or read an extra book a week.

I read through a few threads and the flamethrowers are innocuous for the most part. But then I hit on a couple who just slam down every positive post. I wouldn’t normally care about that kind of thing, but they’ve got their facts wrong. This is when being a history nerd is probably annoying for people. I have an uncanny ability to store useless information in my head. Like the fact that Soul Obsession has more number one hits than any other boy band.

I comment just that on a post saying the exact opposite. I mean if you’re gonna throw trash at least make sure what you’re tossing about is legitimate.

“Losers,” I mutter to myself.

I come upon one section in the forum dedicated to my boy, Mason, so I settle in to fangirl with my fellow devotees. Only, there are trolls here too.