Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Bonnie’s shoulders sagged in relief, and then I followed her out of the door. I locked it. With a key. I turned, and she must have known what I was thinking. “Easton gave me one. I’m normally the one who picks him up and brings him back home from parties. It made sense for me to have one.” She glanced down. “I won’t use it again without permission.”
Something stirred in me when her brown eyes dropped. I quickly pushed it away.
Bonnie led us out of the quad. She didn’t walk beside me, just slightly in front, which was fine with me. A few girls smiled at me, and I made a decision that I’d get my end away sometime this week. Looked like it wouldn’t be hard to pull around here. I’d gone too long without, and I was getting agitated too easy. Distracted.
Mainly by Bonnie.
Bonnie stopped at her car. “If I only have an hour, I’ll drive us there. It’ll be faster.”
Students looked at us as Bonnie pulled away from the campus. “We’ll be officially dating by tonight, just so you know,” she said.
I snapped my head to her, eyes narrowed. “What’re you on about?”
She pointed at the students. “Downside of a small local college. The rumor mill is rife.”
I leaned back in the seat and watched as Main Street came into view. “Great. That’ll help me get laid.”
Bonnie laughed without humor. “Not so much. You’re the shiny new toy here. Girls thinking you have a girlfriend will only make you even more attractive than you are to them right now.”
“Good to know.”
Bonnie parked outside Jefferson Coffee. She got out of the car, her bag of notebooks and Christ knew what else slung over her shoulder. I had about ten dollars in my wallet and my hands stuffed into my pockets.
I traveled light.
I hadn’t been here before, but the place was like any other hipster coffee shop I’d seen, all red walls, with a small stage in the back.
“Hey Bonnie!” about five different people said as she led us to a table at the back of the room. She smiled brightly at them, losing that smile when she sat down and looked up at me.
My fist clenched. I didn’t like that fact. And I hated that I seemed to care.
I sat down, and a guy came over. “The usual, Bonnie?”
“Yeah. Thanks, Sam.”
“No Bryce today? Never normally see you without him on a school day.”
“New partner.” She said it like she was announcing a death.
He looked at me. The prick nodded as though he could see why she was so pissed off. “The biggest coffee you have,” I said. “Black.”
Bonnie opened her notebook. “Okay. I think we should start with what we can play. That’ll help us know what our strengths will be.”
“I only do electronic music. So I’ll have my laptop. Drum machine and all that shit.”
Bonnie looked at me blankly. “We can’t compose a showcase piece with your laptop and synthesized beats.”
I lounged back in my chair. “That’s what I’ve got. I work electronically. Lewis knows it. He offered me the scholarship. He scouted me out. Think I’d find this bumfuck place on my own?”
“You don’t play anything else? No actual instruments?” There was a questioning lilt to her tone. Like she was privy to something about me I didn’t want her to know. It unsettled me.
I shook my head, stretching my arms and putting them behind my head. I wanted to tell her that mixing electronic beats was playing an instrument, but I didn’t even open my mouth.
“I play piano and guitar. A little violin too, but I’m not that great at it.” Her eyes narrowed on me. Like she was studying me. Testing me. “You can read and write music though, yeah?”
I nodded, thanking God when the coffees turned up and she stopped bloody talking. I drank mine like it was a soda. Sam saw and indicated he’d be back with a refill.
“Lewis wants us to at least have an idea of a theme. What the piece will be about. What we’re trying to say.” She tipped her head to the side. “Any ideas?”
“Nope.”
“I thought something like the seasons? Maybe something to do with nature? The idea of time moving, us being useless to stop it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sounds like a riot. I can just hear the sounds of birds threading through my bass beat on my laptop.” I was being a dick again. At least more than usual. I couldn’t help it around her.
She rubbed her eyes tiredly. “Cromwell. We need to just get through this, okay? Neither of us has to enjoy it. But we can work together. Plenty of musicians do it, have done it, and have created something good.” She took a drink of her coffee. “I preferred the idea of the seasons changing. That way we can incorporate more instruments and tempos.”