Falquen's Nest - These Bones Rock Star Romance (Book One)
In this classic tale of opposites attract, we meet Janie Drago and Falquen Forrester.
Falquen is a moody bass player for local band, These Bones. Besides being a brilliant musician, he is al...
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Jubilant, Janie hopped out of the van and followed Falquen into the shop. They ran into Darien in the back room that doubled as the laundry room.
He was taking his break, sitting up on the dryer. Janie startled, not having expected to find him in there. Then again, it didn't take much to startle Janie. Although in her defence, Darien like Falquen, enjoyed wearing black and with his inky long hair, sitting there in the dark, he may as well have been a shadow.
"Sorry, Janie, didn't mean to frighten you," Darien said with an amused smile when she literally jumped into Falquen's chest, consequently winding him.
"Darien..." Falquen gasped, catching her full impact.
"Sorry..." Janie said, looking up apologetically at them both.
"Why don't you go on upstairs and get ready for tonight?" Falquen encouraged her.
"Of course, I won't be long! It's nice to see you again, Darien," Janie said as she made her way into the shop.
"Big show tonight?" Darien asked Falquen as he slid off the dryer.
"Yeah, I guess so. Are you coming? Bringing your new girl?" Falquen asked.
He nodded. "Wouldn't miss it," Darien said as he turned to leave. "Well, I suppose break time is over."
"Hey, not so fast, big guy," Falquen said.
"What's up?" Darien asked.
"So Faith, huh?"
"Yeah... Faith," Darien said with a smile.
"So mainstream?" Falquen said, raising an inquiring eyebrow, repeating Darien's initial impression of Janie.
"Yeah, well, I figured if you and Janie could do it..."
"Me and Janie? Do what? Now hold on, what do you mean by that?" Falquen asked.
"Come on, man, don't pretend. Don't act like there's nothing going on between you two," Darien chuckled. "I saw the two of you on the couch the other night."
"But there isn't. She and I are roommates, plain and simple," Falquen insisted. "As far as the other night, well, I was just comforting her. Scary movies frighten her," Falquen explained with a fond smile.
"Yeah, right," Darien laughed. "Well, then my friend, you are an idiot."
"Uh, huh... well, you are entitled to your opinion, my lovestruck pal," Falquen said, giving his head a shake. "So what about Faith? Where've you been hiding her and for how long?"
Darien smiled like a lovestruck schoolboy. "I've known her for awhile but only from a distance. I actually only finally asked her out last week."
"Last week?" Falquen repeated incredulously. "I would have guessed longer from the way you two were acting."
"I know, it's like I've known her all my life yet I can't stop wanting to learn more about her," he paused. "It's so very hard to put into words."
"Really?"
"Yes, would you believe I met her at Dave's Music store where I buy all my gear. She works there. For weeks I've been hanging around, hoping to get up the nerve to talk to her."
"What took you so long?" Falquen asked, mesmerized by Darien. He never talked like this. He'd never been a relationship with someone like Faith. In fact, Darien had never been in any meaningful relationship.
One might describe Darien as a bit of a modern day rogue, his main female encounters having involved his fangirls, Goth girls like Moira and then only brief and insignificant flings at that.
"I didn't think it could work," he said, looking very vulnerable, unnervingly so. "I never thought she'd go out with someone like me. But then when I found out about you and Janie, well, I figured I'd give it a shot."
"But Janie and I aren't..."
"Whatever, it doesn't matter now. What matters is that I finally got up the courage to talk to Faith, over the pretence of asking about guitar picks at first," he said with a fond smile. "After a while of pretending, I couldn't help but ask her out."
"Well, that's great, man. I'm happy for you," Falquen said, giving his friend a pat on the back.
"Falquen, I feel like I'm on top of the world and I have you and Janie to thank for that," Darien said as he left the room, leaving Falquen completely perplexed.
Everyone seemed to be under the impression that he and Janie were romantically involved. How is it that he and Janie never got the memo? Although the idea did seem tempting, he thought as he climbed the steps to the apartment, he also realized that she'd never be interested in someone like him.
Granted, she was the cutest thing he'd ever known. He never tired of her either which surprised him most. He would have thought that with spending so much time together between the apartment and the shop that he would have been running for the hills by now but that had not been the case. In fact, he couldn't imagine not having her around, not having her underfoot.
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To be continued...
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