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Jeremy peeks a look up through his lashes, and…and there’s something there. Something else I can’t quite pinpoint. At first, I thought maybe it was just the fact he no longer had hair hanging around his face, making his eyes more visible and therefore bigger—brighter.
Is he…is he wearing eyeliner?
As if sensing that I’ve caught on, his cheeks flush even deeper. He wraps his arms tighter around himself, drawing attention to the bunched swells of his shoulders, his thin, rangy arms with only the slightest definition around his biceps. The ridge of a collarbone pushing at his thin shirt.
I don’t think I’ve seen him this…this exposed since?—
As if on cue, a steel wall slams down on the images surging up in my head, and I turn away, clearing my throat a couple times as I mentally shake off my weirdness.
I missed him.
I missed my friend.
That’s all this is.
This time, I do catch Shawn’s gaze. It’s unreadable as ever, yet it’s also never felt so invading—like he could see right through me to where all my secrets and demons hide.
“Jeremy?!”
All three of us turn our attention to where a grinning, glassy-eyed Waylon appears through the crowd, hand wrapped around a pretty brunette’s.
Jeremy offers a quiet, “Hey.”
“Dude, your hair,” Waylon says, and I narrow my eyes on him.
He’s drunk.
Not a shocker—it’s a Friday night after all. But he did promise he’d keep it under control until our set ends.
Jeremy runs a self-conscious hand through his pale hair. “Yeah…my, uh, roommate did it for me.”
I frown. Gabe did this?
“It was your choice though, right?” My voice comes out harsher than I expected, and it draws several sets of eyes.
Jeremy cocks me a funny look. “No, he did it while I was sleeping.”
Waylon snorts, and I feel my face tightening, growing hot. “Just…just making sure he didn’t, like, pressure you.”
Jeremy’s face hardens, and I suddenly get the feeling I just majorly screwed up.
“Jeez, Mase,” Waylon coughs, dragging the girl in front of him, hugging her to his chest. He presses a kiss to the side of her head, then whispers something that has her giggling and nodding.
“No,” Jeremy says in a tone I’ve never heard from him before. His gaze levels with mine, hard with some matching unnamed emotion. One that has my gut bottoming out even before his next words. “I know it might come as a surprise to you, but I actually can make decisions for myself when I don’t have this fucking town breathing down my neck.”
My eyes widen as the vehemence trailing those last few words.
Even he seems shocked by it.
He blinks owlishly at me, his face flushed once more. His lips thin, and his throat bobs with a swallow.
Waylon whistles under his breath. It’s followed by a low chuckle that has me shooting him a seething glare.
Holding up a hand, he says, “On that note, is it time to go back on? I’m trying to behave, but I’m getting bored.”
The girl in his arm scowls, and he winces.
Shaking my head, I glance at Shawn when I hear him shoving away from the bar.
