The Duet(45)

HALLELUJAH. J-A-S-O-N had texted me back.

No. Crap. It was just my little sister.



Cammie: You better not be drunk texting anyone. This is a warning. Do not drunk text anyone.

Brooklyn: fffffuuuucccck youuuuuu.

Cammie: Oh God, you already have. Haven’t you? What’d you send?

I attached the selfie so she’d know that I was perfectly fine and doing great.

Her reply was simply:hahahahahahaha

I figured she was laughing because I’d said something funny, but I couldn’t remember what I’d said. I was always saying funny things.

“I think Ms. Tina might be too drunk to dance,” Summer said, peering over at me with amusement in her eyes.

“Aw, c’mon. It’ll be fun,” Callum said. Why had his parents named him that? It was a hard name to remember.

“Yeah, listen to him, Summer. I’m going to dance and no one in this bar is going to stop me. Not you, not Hank, and not Callum.”

“My names Collin,” he said with a laugh.

“No one asked you, Callum,” I said, taking his hand in mine and dragging him to the dance floor.

He followed after me and started following my lead. I had no clue what song was streaming through the crackling speakers, but it was easy to dance to and I swayed my hips back and forth while he stared down at them.

“You’re kind of feisty,” he said, stepping closer. “I like it.”

He sounded nothing like J-A-S-O-N so I just ignored whatever else he said as we danced together. The country song faded into a rock song, and then the opening beat of one of my songs came on. Of course it wasn’t the first time I’d heard my songs on the radio or at a club. But for some reason, the fact that people in Montana played my songs in honky-tonk bars was extremely exciting.

“Oh my gosh! This is my song!” I screamed, looking to Summer to see if she was as excited as I was. Her mouth was attached to Callum’s twin so she couldn’t see me, but I knew she was excited on the inside.

Callum shrugged and tried to grab my arm so that he could pull me toward him. “Uh yeah, this is a good song. I think that Brooklyn Heart girl sings it.”

“That’s me!” I said with a laugh, pointing to my chest like a little boy trying to prove he was telling the truth.

Callum’s eyes widened for a second, but then he narrowed them and studied me.

“Sure, okay. It’s your song,” he said playfully as he stepped back toward me. He didn’t believe me at all and for some reason that made me impossibly sad.

Why didn’t he trust me? I puckered my lower lip and my eyes welled up with tears.

“Whoa, are you okay?” Callum asked as I felt tears run down my face.

That’s when it hit me. I was drunk, not just cute and tipsy, but full-on drunk crying in the middle of the dance floor.

“He didn’t even text me back,” I said, crying harder.

Carl tried to comfort me as he led me off the dance floor, back toward my friend. Poor guy, he thought he was going to have a normal night and instead I took him straight into Crazytown, USA. Population: Tipsy Tina aka Brooklyn Heart.

“I think your friend should head home,” Carl said to Summer when we reached them at the bar.

Hank stepped forward and politely asked Carlos to remove his arms from my shoulders.

“Uh oh, it looks like Tipsy Tina has had enough fun for one night.”

I kept crying. “My name’s not Tina!”

Hank stepped forward and wrapped a protective hand around my elbow. “Brooklyn, it’s time to go. I’ll have the car brought around.” I saw him give a stern warning to Summer, and she swallowed hard and nodded.

The night was over.

“Holy shit, she wasn’t lying. That’s Brooklyn Heart,” Carlos said as Summer and Hank led me out of the bar. “I just danced with Brooklyn Heart! She cried on me!”

Shut up, Carlos. I wanted to be crying on Jason. Well, not crying, but doing something on him at least.





Chapter Fourteen





A small alien civilization had set up shop inside of my brain and I think their sole purpose was to cause me pain. Lots and lots of pain.

“Brooklyn, you’re going to have to wake up soon. We have a meeting with the fragrance people in an hour,” Summer thought she was whispering as she leaned over my hotel bed, but the aliens in my head rioted in response.

“If you don’t leave this room in two seconds, I will drop-kick your face,” I said, barely moving my lips enough to get the words out.

She laughed and backed out, closing the door as loudly as possible. “I’m giving you another two minutes, but that’s it! Also, I want a raise, and hazard pay!” Summer yelled through the door. I responded by reaching down and chucking my high-heel at the door.