His New Jam

Chapter 1-2

Holy s**t. Hunter blinked and almost missed a note. Not only did Sydney Peters turn around and acknowledge that he was playing a song for her, she actually winked at him. Sure, it was more of a f**k-you wink than a flirtatious one, but it was still progress. He’d tried everything since summer to get her to react. The Pink Panther song didn’t get her; neither did “Happy” or “Call Me Maybe.” Although he thought he’d gotten an eye roll for that last one.

He liked to flirt with the band members. It kept things interesting when they spent a bunch of time marching and getting yelled at. It never went anywhere beyond fun conversation. There was something about Sydney that made him relentless. She always looked borderline miserable coming to practice. He thought maybe she wasn’t a morning person, but even at games she looked irritated, like she’d rather be anywhere else than on the field.

She didn’t talk to many people, except Emma. Emma was nice. For a trumpet player. But Sydney didn’t strike him as nice, which made him want to poke at her. It had taken a long time, but he’d finally gotten a reaction.

He liked that wink so much he might reconsider his rule against dating a band member. He’d love to get her alone to see if she continued to be distant and edgy. It was his last season of band, which was almost over, and he’d graduate in the spring. Maybe it was time to lift the ban on band members.

Practice was starting, so Hunter ran to get into place. While they gathered in formation to practice the drill, he couldn’t help but smile.

Two hours later, practice ended and his fingers were numb. He should’ve gone to school somewhere in the South. He looked at the drum line to find Sydney, but he didn’t see her face. Then he saw her on the outskirts of the group, edging away. Hunter took a step in her direction.

“Hey, Peters,” the drum major called.

Her head snapped up.

“Practice room at two o’clock. We need to run through this again.”

Although her jaw clenched, she offered a sharp nod. Then she turned and hustled downfield. Approaching her now wouldn’t be smart. He wasn’t even sure what he’d say. But he got out of class at two thirty, so maybe he’d wander on down to the practice rooms to bump into her.

“Hey, Hunter,” Mike called. He was another tenor, and they sometimes hung out, but Hunter wouldn’t call them friends. “You having a party for New Year’s again?”

“You know it.”

“Can I bring a friend?”

“Don’t see why not.” Hunter put his sax into the case. “I’ll text you details later. I need to talk to my roommate about it.”

“Cool. See you Wednesday.”

Hours later, Hunter had walked past music practice rooms and had no luck finding Sydney. He checked the time. He was supposed to meet Adam and Free at the comic shop at three thirty. If he didn’t head out soon, he’d be late.

He hit the last hallway of practice rooms. It figured the drummers would take the biggest rooms in the farthest building. As he clomped down the stairs, Daniel—not Dan or Danny—the drum major, came out of a room. When no one followed, Hunter thought he’d missed her.

Until a slow beat came from the room where Daniel had left. He stood outside the room and listened for a minute. Then he recognized the tune, the same one he’d played to Sydney this morning. He silently opened the door and entered. She noticed him immediately and shot him a dirty look, but didn’t stop playing.

Hunter took a seat at another set of drums and picked up where she played. Her eyes narrowed as she watched him. She picked up the tempo and he followed. She ramped it up again.

Now it just felt like a competition.

He kept up with her—barely. She was good, and he wasn’t sure why that kind of surprised him, but it did.

When the song ended, he stood and set the sticks on the stool. “Remind me to never go up against you in any kind of battle. You’re relentless.”

“You’re one to talk.”

He smiled. “Seriously. You’re good.”

“You’re not bad yourself. For a reed sucker.”

He let the playful insult roll off him. “So what are you pissed off about?”

“Who said I’m pissed?”

“Your face.”

“Maybe I just have a resting b***h face.”

He laughed. He couldn’t help it. She was funny without trying. “Nah. I’ve seen the resting b***h face.” With his index finger he circled the air in front of her head. “This is pissed off. My guess is Daniel said something.”

“Daniel’s always saying something.” She stood and tucked her sticks in her backpack.

Hunter knew he was about to lose her. “Can I ask you a question?”

The corner of her mouth lifted. “You just did.”

“Why do you hate band?”

“Because it sucks. It’s boring. And I will forever be relegated to playing the cymbals, even though I play as well as, if not better than, at least half the drum line.”

Ahhh…now it made sense. Those guys tended to be a little full of themselves. “So why do it?”

“It pays the bills.”

“Huh?”

“Scholarship.” She hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and headed for the door.

“See you at practice Wednesday?”

“As if I have a choice?”

She sounded so miserable he wanted to cheer her up. “I take requests.”

“What?” she asked with her hand on the doorknob.

“You seemed to like ‘Let It Go.’ I take requests. Something you want to hear?”

She turned and leaned against the door. “Are you saying that if I name a song, you’re going to go home and learn it just to play it for me at practice on Wednesday?”

Not exactly. He was thinking more like a song for next week, but she was issuing a challenge. “Sure.”

She tilted her head up and narrowed her eyes again as she studied the ceiling for inspiration. When her gaze returned to his, she smiled wickedly, and he knew he was in trouble.

“‘Sweet Child O’ Mine.’”

He stared at her.

“Guns N’ Roses. See you Wednesday, Tenor.” Then she slipped out the door before he could form a response.

He knew the song, but it wasn’t one he’d ever considered playing with his sax. His drums? Sure. His guitar? Even better. His night just became full.

He checked his watch. If he sped all the way to the comic shop, he might make it on time. Barely. Catching crap from his friends for being late in order to make real contact with Sydney was well worth it.

When he pulled up at the shop, he was late, so he rushed through the door. Free and Adam were standing at the counter. “Why did I have to come here if we’re just talking about the New Year’s Eve party? Couldn’t we do this at home later?”

“Free has to meet Cary at the gym.”

“Then I have rehearsal,” Free added.

“Why couldn’t it wait? We have, like, a month before the party.” He’d avoided this conversation because he had a feeling he knew what it was about.

Free straightened. “We need to talk about invitations. We don’t want a repeat of last year.”

“Why not? Last year was epic.”

Adam crossed his arms. “Your word-of-mouth campaign led to an apartment full of strangers.”

“They weren’t all strangers.”

“Just the entire marching band.”

“Not all of the band came, and it was fun.” The drum line missed out, as usual, and only half the brass showed.

“Except for all the drunk bodies laying all over the place the following morning.”

Free held up his hands. “I can’t say much about that since I don’t live with you guys and therefore don’t suffer those repercussions, but I agree that it was too crowded to actually have fun with friends.”

Adam pointed at Hunter. “And don’t forget the catfight that broke out.”

“That wasn’t my fault. I’m irresistible.” In truth, having two girls brawl because they each thought he somehow belonged to her hadn’t been as cool as it sounded.

If he left it up to Free and Adam, the entire party would consist of the three of them and maybe five other people sitting around sharing a case of beer. His friends needed help, and he’d always taken it upon himself to make it happen. In a flash, he knew how to get them to agree to a bigger party.

Hunter’s gaze bounced between his friends. “Does that mean you guys are going to have dates this year?”

“Nope,” Adam answered, and Free dodged him.

Hunter sighed, even though it was the answer he’d expected. “You guys are pitiful. The epitome of nerds. You get dates, I won’t tell everyone and their cousin to come to our party.”

He knew the chances of that happening were slim. He’d have his blowout party. Besides, the more people he invited, the greater their odds were for hooking up with someone.

“You have a date?” Free asked.

He thought of Sydney, who shouldn’t even be in the running. “Not yet. I have plenty of time. Working on some options.”

And just like that, Sydney became a real option. He didn’t know why he was willing to toss out his no-band-members rule for her, but he knew he wanted a chance.

The door opened behind him and Adam greeted the customer by name, but something about Adam’s face made Hunter turn to look. A girl with dark hair stared at them with wide eyes before turning to look at comics. Hunter waved a hand toward the girl.

“What?” Adam whispered.

“Ask her, you i***t. She’s cute.”

“She’s not like that.”

Hunter shook his head. Adam needed more help than he’d thought. “Every girl is dateable.”

Adam didn’t respond. At the rate he moved, Hunter had no worries about the size of their party.