Havoc:Mayhem Series #4(68)

I'm living in the dorms now, just like my uncle promised, but I still  spend most of my time at Mike's place with him and Phoenix. We make the  nights count, and during the days-when I'm not volunteering at the  shelter, volunteering at the college learning center, or frantically  scribbling down notes in class-I'm usually hanging out with my new  roommate, Macy, who is super nice, if not a little awkward. She's the  total opposite of Danica-quiet and reserved but a great study  partner-and I'm extremely thankful I was roomed with someone who  complements me so well. Rowan and Dee freaked out when they discovered  she's my roommate, since she was apparently Dee's roommate freshman  year, and I couldn't help laughing at the thought of poor Macy trying to  hold her own with Deandra Dawson. We had even more in common than I  thought, and when I found out that she had even met Mike before, she  told me how lucky I was to have such a nice boyfriend, and I couldn't  help agreeing.

After walking over and wrapping my arms around my very nice, very tired  boyfriend's neck, I press my chest against his back and tease in his  ear, "Tired? Do you need me to take over?"

Mike chuckles before spinning around and catching me by the waist. He  tugs me into his lap and spins us back around, slipping his drumsticks  into my hands. "Yeah, considering it's your fault I can hardly keep my  eyes open."                       
       
           



       

I barely have time to think of a witty reply before Dee and Rowan start  cheering from where they're sitting at the other side of the club, at  the bar. Rowan has a mountain of homework spread on the bartop, and Dee  is helping herself to a shot of something she probably shouldn't be  drinking considering it's only two in the afternoon, but she texted me  this morning to let me know that the red dress she made me for the music  video is going to be the star feature in her school's fashion show in  New York, so the girl has a damn good reason to celebrate.

"Woo!" Rowan shouts, lifting her hands in the air. "Go Hailey!"

"Let's see what you've got!" Dee encourages, toasting me with the shot glass in her hand.

I cast a nervous glance at Mike, but his smile is electric. "Don't hold back now, Animal."

My next glance is at Kit, and she smiles at me. "Pick a song."

"Uh . . ." Over the past few months, Mike has given me a few drumming  lessons, and I try to think of an easy one. "How about ‘Rooftops'?" I  ask, thinking of the slow song Shawn wrote for Kit. It's ridiculously  complicated on the guitars, but easy on the drums, so Mike has used it  as a good practice song, and Kit's face lights up when I request it.

She smiles at Shawn at the other side of the stage, and he smiles back before nodding at me.

"Are you ready?" Adam shouts at Rowan and Dee, and Rowan finally puts  her pencil down, spinning around to give her boyfriend and his band her  full attention. Dee screams her enthusiasm, and Joel laughs as he  adjusts his guitar strap on his neck. Adam smiles over his shoulder at  me, his gray-green eyes up for anything. "Ready when you are, Hailey."

I swallow hard, and Mike's pep talk comes in the form of a shoulder rub  that helps calm my nerves. I take a deep breath, he drops his hands, and  I play the drums with The Last Ones to Know. Kit plays rhythm guitar,  Joel plays bass, Shawn plays lead guitar, and Adam steps up to the mic  to start singing one of the band's most haunting, beautiful songs.

I slip the sticks into Mike's hands for the more complicated parts of  the song, and even when my beat is slightly off during the easier parts,  the band pretends not to notice. Mike's chest against my back, his lap  beneath my legs-it makes me feel like I can do this, like I can do  anything, and when I finish, Rowan and Dee give me a standing ovation.

"WE LOVE YOU, HAILEY!" they shout in unison, and I laugh as Dee puts her  fingers in her mouth, her loud whistle filling the whole room.

Mike hugs me tight and plants a kiss against my cheek, and the smile  that splits my face makes me think of how far we've come since I first  watched him play in this exact spot six months ago.

For Christmas, he surprised me with plane tickets home to Indiana, and  it was the best Christmas I've ever had. We flew out the day before  Luke's school went on winter break-along with Rowan, Dee, and the rest  of Mike's band-and they played a killer show in Luke's junior high gym  that the kids are still talking about. The day after the show, I brought  them all home and introduced them to Teacup, who promptly tried to  devour Dee's sparkly purple pumps.

The band flew home a couple days later, but Mike stayed with me over the  holiday. He played gin rummy with my dad, braided pie crust with my  mom, and built a snowman with Luke. We opened presents together  Christmas morning, and that night, Mike and I sat up in the hayloft  together, cocooned inside a mountain of blankets, watching the sun set  over the snowy fields.

"I can't believe you bought Luke a drum kit," I said for the hundredth  time, and Mike hugged me tighter. I was sitting between his legs with my  head resting against his chest, admiring the orange ribbons weaving  patterns above the snow.

"The kid wants to be a drummer," Mike stated proudly, and I smiled out the open hatch.

"He wants to be like you," I corrected while he played with the tips of my fingers beneath the heavy flannel blankets.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Well, for one," I said as he flirted with the butterflies in my stomach, "you're annoyingly handsome."                       
       
           



       

Mike's chest shook against my back as he laughed. "Is that right?"

"Yes. And you're maddeningly talented."

"Oh no."

"And irritatingly romantic. I mean, really, Mike. Making me watch the sunset in your arms? You're the worst."

He laughed and nuzzled his chin into the crook of my shoulder. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"I'm not sure I can," I teased, and Mike's fingers slipped under the hem of my shirt, caressing my stomach as they snuck higher.

"Are you sure?"

I turned my head into him just as his fingers found the delicate lace  cups of my bra, and when he captured my mouth with his, I forgot what I  needed to forgive him for. He made love to me under those blankets, up  in that hayloft, and it was so much different than when I'd lost my  virginity in that same barn. It was beautiful and romantic and full of  fireworks, and when I fell asleep in his arms that night, I was sure  that there was nowhere I'd rather be than on that farm, in that hayloft,  with the man who was showing me one day at a time that  happily-ever-afters really do exist, even for hand-me-down farm girls  like me.

We flew home after the holiday, and Mike took me to meet his mom. My  stomach was in knots for nothing, because she immediately gave me a  bone-crushing hug and told me how much she already adored me. She had  Mike's warm brown eyes, and I took to her instantly, knowing she had  raised the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. She told me  all sorts of stories about Mike as a kid, and the more his cheeks  flushed as she told them, the more I fell in love with him, which I  couldn't have imagined was even possible. His mom made me promise to  come back to try her secret fudge cookie recipe soon-with or without her  son-and I promised I'd return the very next weekend, and I did.

I'm still sitting on Mike's lap at his drums, with Dee and Rowan  clapping wildly at the bar, when a voice across the room loudly asks,  "What are we cheering for?"

A guy probably only a few years older than me grins widely as he strolls  confidently toward the stage, and his presence alone tells me that he  must be the lead singer of the opening band tonight: the infamous Van  Erickson of Cutting the Line. He has jet-black hair, dyed a sparkling  silver at the tips, and the cocky smile on his face screams "rock star."

"Hey!" Adam shouts back, launching off the stage to pin Van in a hug.  Shawn climbs down a little more sensibly, followed by Joel and Kit-and  Mike, who wraps his hands around my waist to help lower me to the floor

Van's bandmates and a pretty pair of girls enter behind him, and after  everyone is finished getting reacquainted, Mike introduces me. "This is  my girlfriend, Hailey."

"Oh," Van says smoothly, the corner of his mouth lifting into a smirk,  "the girl in the red dress needs no introduction. We've seen the video.  We're all big fans."

My cheeks burn as red as my dress in the music video was, and Mike's arm  grows snugger around my shoulder. Van shoots a smile at him and reaches  out to shake my hand.

"I'm Van."