squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth.
“I think she’s mad, bro,” Drew whispered.
“Shit, I think she heard you,” I said right back.
“Braden.” Mom took a deep breath, the same type she often took whenever she was getting ready to scold my ass. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, I can answer that.” Raising his hand, Drew nodded.
“Put your hand down. This isn’t school,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Bummer.” Drew grinned. “Because you would be a great teacher, you know, forming the minds of the youth.”
“Isn’t it youths?” I interjected.
“Is it?” Drew wondered out loud.
“HOW!” Mom yelled, making both of us jump. “How are there two of you?”
I frowned. “Mom, his hair is brown, so unless you and the guy in the meat department at Safeway had a meaty fling—”
“Ha.” Drew snorted. “Good one.”
“Never mind.” She waved a chicken-gut-covered hand in the air. “Why is a famous rock star in our dirty apartment?”
“Ah…” Drew wrapped an arm around me. “We want him. Actually, my manager Will wants him to sign. My best friend Ty wants to sign him. I mean, basically everyone wants him. But I called dibs because I need help finishing our comeback album.”
“Whoa.” I looked up at him. “Really?”
“Really, really.” Drew nodded. “You should probably pack. I have a plane waiting for the morning.”
I whistled. “Not a car but a plane?”
“LA.” Drew shrugged. “You can come back on Sunday. It’s only two days. You won’t miss any classes.”
Screw classes. I was a sophomore in college with a rock god in my kitchen.
“Wait. This is—this is crazy. People don’t just—” Mom started to pace. “I mean, aren’t there contracts and things to—?”
Drew dropped a black portfolio on the counter. “Once you’ve cleaned up—not that you need to,” he added quickly, “look this over. I’ll be back in the morning to grab Braden. He can still do all his YouTubing. We have a signing bonus from the production company, and if it all works out—and if it’s okay with both of you—Braden’s gonna be the first musician I mentor.”
I tried not to collapse against the counter.
Mom gaped at both of us. “I…I don’t know what to say. Why Braden?”
I shot my mom a don’t-mess-this-up-for-us look. Her pretty brown hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, and she wore a mismatched pink apron.
This sort of life could change us.
It would mean more and more money coming in.
It would mean freedom.
And my dreams coming true.
I’d wanted this since I was seven.
Had gotten approached several times at the age of sixteen and had done a few collaborations with some budding artists. I was famous in the YouTube world. But this was beyond that. This was the next logical step in my career, and I wanted it so bad I could taste it.
“We’ve had our eye on him for a while,” said Drew with a half-assed shrug. “Watched some of his collaborations. But honestly, the real reason we waited this long was because getting tossed into this life at such a young age changes you in ways I didn’t want for him. Hell, I’m thirty, and I’m still trying to process all the shit we were put through in the name of record sales and money. He just turned nineteen. But after his last few videos went viral, we all sat down and decided we wanted him.”
I felt my eyes mist a bit because, damn it felt good to be wanted. And because a small part of me loved that they’d waited, that they understood I wanted to do it right. Although they didn’t even know me well enough to know that.
“Okay,” my mom said slowly. “We’ll look over the contracts tonight and give you an answer in the morning.” She sighed, washed her hands, and then grabbed a stack of plates. “In the meantime—” She handed the plates to Drew; the white porcelain looked funny against his black finger tattoos. “Set the table.”
Drew laughed.
I elbowed him. “She’s dead serious.”
“Oh shit.” Drew straightened his stance a bit. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Fill the water too!” she called as he rounded the corner to the dining room table.
“Right away!”
I snickered. “What? Five minutes in my house, and you think she’s a sergeant in the army?”
“She’s terrifying,” Drew said under his breath. “Kinda hot though for—”
“I wouldn’t.” I patted his back. “Last friend of mine that hit on her had to sit on frozen peas for weeks.”
Drew made a face.
And then we fell into an easy silence before he nodded. “We chose good.”
“I won’t let you down.”
“I know, man. I