Frustration -SERIES- [Part 2] Headphones & Reveries [boyxboy]

Chapter Sixteen

Conor was still in a funk by the time we had to get ready and leave for the industry party at a popular rooftop bar in Brooklyn, but he took a breath and plastered a mask on for the sake of everyone else who would come in contact with him that night. He and the others were going to have to do a lot of networking and there was a good chance Rachel, Josh, Jackson, and I wouldn't see a lot of them until the end of the night.

'Don't take any drugs tonight,' Tarquin warned me severely as the car pulled up outside the venue.

'Just because Josh won't make out with you all night,' I told him cynically, earning myself a high five from my best friend.

We made our way inside, spending a few minutes dealing with the fans and paparazzi congregated by the front door, and up a spiralling staircase to the roof.

The night air was sticky and hot but the bar was serving ice cold drinks for free and we ordered some cocktails, letting the condensation on the outsides of our glasses cool our skin. Sarah herded the band together and dragged them off to mingle with the important music industry people that were scattered throughout the party, and Conor shot me a pained look before kissing me on the cheek and going to do her bidding.

'Is he gonna be okay?' Jackson asked, his eyes following Conor's retreating back as we leaned against the bar and sipped our drinks. Rachel and Josh had wandered over the the edge of the roof, leaning over the waist-high wall to look out across the city.

'Off the record?' I asked moodily.

'Dude.'

'Sorry. Yeah, I think he'll be fine. You know how he gets, he lets it all build up until it's too much and self destructs. We just need to make sure there isn't a last straw.'

'It's a good thing their first gig is tomorrow night,' Jackson mused. 'He can work out all of that tense energy onstage.'

I nodded in agreement.

'What about you?' he asked lightly, swirling his drink and doing his Jackson thing where he tries to appear painfully nonchalant so I won't feel cornered. 'How are you doing with your sex mania?'

I rolled my eyes and shouldered him gently. 'I didn't have to deal with the fallout all day in interviews,' I reminded him.

'True,' he said. 'But you're doing that thing you do where you worry so much about Conor's feelings that you completely ignore your own. It might be time to break that habit; you do it with everyone.'

'No I don't,' I said defensively, even though I knew he was right.

'Yes you do, you've been like this since I've known you. I swear, if it wasn't for Josh force-hugging you on a schedule every couple of months you'd never deal with anything.'

'Well he's obviously got it covered so you don't need to worry about it,' I said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood and change the subject because he was making me uncomfortably aware of my own shortcomings.

'I'm not trying to make you feel bad,' he explained. 'I just want to make sure you're taking care of yourself while you're taking care of everyone else.'

I opened my mouth to reply - though I have no idea what I was going to say - but before I could speak we were interrupted by a short, slightly overweight woman in a sequinned black top and big hair, who broke into our personal bubble with a grin. She had a drink in one hand and offered the other to me to shake.

'You're Tyler Lincoln,' she told me, and I was so surprised by how forward she was that all I could manage in response was, 'I know.'

She laughed. 'I heard you were funny,' she said, and I wondered where she'd heard it since the only person who's ever called me funny is Chloe.