With so much time on my hands, in between helping my mom out with pie stuff, I decided to be proactive by researching and planning out my itinerary for the first leg of my trip. Most of my graduation money was in, and I had enough to pay for an open-ended flight to Europe and funds to last for six months if I stayed in hostels and used wi-fi. Plus, my mom gave me a first-class Eurorail pass for graduation. I was literally counting down the days until my flight departed for Paris, which was the day before Zoey headed up to Bellingham for school.
Once I was satisfied with my travel plans, I downloaded and experimented with a few apps to create more professional-looking social media posts. With so many choices of graphics, photo filters, and analytics tracking, I tested a ton, picked out some favorites, and deleted the rest. I also immersed myself in the world of social media success stories to figure out the best ways to gain a loyal audience without buying a bunch of fake followers.
Unfortunately, my planning activities only took me so far, and by mid-summer, I was bored and itching to get out of the fucking house. While watching yet another YouTube travel video about France, my phone beeped.
Zoey: U there?
Alex: “Yo!”
Zoey: “Yo!”
Alex: When r we hanging out, dude, texting is lame.
Zoey: Now??
Alex: U wanna come over????
Zoey: No. Can u come over to Carter Popes to watch LTZ jam?
Zoey: ???
Alex: WTF?
Zoey: serious . . . Ty told me to ask u
Alex: Holy shit . . . text me directions, asap.
Zoey: (sends map)
Alex: what do I wear?
Zoey: Casual, don’t try too hard. They are all really normal.
Alex: ummm
Zoey: Well better looking than normal but . . .
Alex: Lol ok, I’ll ping you when I get there.
Zoey: yeet!!!!!
Alex: yeet!!!!
My nerves were frazzled as I pulled up to Carter-fucking-Pope’s Lake Washington mansion in my lime-green VW Beetle. After taking a few deep, cleansing breaths, I texted Zoey to let her know I’d arrived. Smoothing my white V-neck T-shirt that I’d paired with a mid-thigh, blue-floral flippy skirt and my Frye boots, I shook off my nerves and headed for the front door.
“Hi, Alex!” Ty and Zoey opened the front door within seconds of me ringing the doorbell, his arm ever-possessively wrapped around her.
“Hi, Ty!” My voice came out a little like a kid going through puberty. Coughing, I added, in a more normal tone, “Thanks for inviting me over.”
Zoey grabbed my hand as Ty led us through the huge, carved wood front door and into the stunningly beautiful house. We walked past a vast wall of windows overlooking Lake Washington in the living room and then down a hallway lined with a ton of photos of Carter’s band Limelight and pictures of young Ty and Zane. My mouth was open like a slack-jawed lunatic, which seemed to be my go-to expression around these LTZ boys. Plus, I’d never been to a famous person’s house before.
“Alex, wait. Look at this one.” Zoey gestured excitedly, stopping us at a picture of Ty and Zane as sullen teenagers holding guitars. “Aren’t they adorable?”
“Jesus, butterfly.” Ty’s cheeks reddened as he covered his face with his hand. “It’s so embarrassing.”
“Butterfly?” I mouthed to Zoey when Ty turned around.
Zoey’s face reddened. She was so over the moon for her man, her always-manicured hand still clutching Ty’s big paw. We arrived at the last door in the hallway. Ty opened it and we entered a room filled with instruments and three gorgeous band members, who all turned to stare at us when we walked in.
“Um. Hi,” I said somewhat aimlessly.
“Hey.” Zane acknowledged as he switched guitars and looked me up and down.
Connor-the-gruff nodded at me almost imperceptibly from his bass. Jace looked at me from behind his drums quizzically and gave me a small two-finger salute. Ty led us both to sit on one of the amps and enveloped Zoey’s small frame briefly before kissing her on the forehead and taking his place at the mic. I nudged Zoey as I sat next to her on the amp, stretching my long, bare legs out in front of me.
“Hey,” I whispered.
“Hey.” She gave me a pointed look and waggled her eyebrows when she glanced over at Jace.
“Not gonna happen.” I shook my head.
“We’ll see.” Zoey got a defiant gleam in her eye.
“Stop.” I shot her the “look.”
“You’re here. We’ll see.” Zoey resumed watching the band.
“He’s older than Ty.” I gave her a side-eye.
“How do you know that?” She smirked.
“Stop.” I shushed her.
“An hour ago Ty and I nearly got the job done right here on this amp,” Zoey whispered in my ear. “Connor caught us. It was so embarrassing. I didn’t have a shirt on. Ty had to shield my bare boobs.”
“Ohmygod. What?” I yell-whispered and Zoey clamped her hand over my mouth.
We giggled uncontrollably. Super mature.
“Everything okay, butterfly?” Ty stopped the song, his blue eyes filled with concern.
We burst out into another fit of giggles. Still not really helping our case.
“It’s fine, babe. We’re just being girls catching up, we haven’t seen each other in a couple of weeks.” Zoey managed to stop laughing to assure him.
“Ohmygod,” I mouthed once the band turned their attention back to playing.
“His dick is huge.” She leaned toward me and spoke softly in my ear, “Massive!”
We looked at each other and giggled some more. Jesus.
“You saw it?” I knew my eyes were like saucers.
“No, but I felt it.” Zoey gulped. “Zane told a story about it at the firepit earlier.”
“I miss everything.” I sighed.
“No more, I’m sorry that I’ve been so caught up in him. But I promise, you’re gonna be part of this from now on.” Zoey reassured me.
“I’ve missed you.” I leaned my head on her shoulder.
“I’ve missed you too.” She leaned back against me. “But, Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“He’s the one.” She regarded me
