SONGS TO GET OVER YOU (Playlist #2)
Published on Feb 29, 2016
by Jay E. Tria
Genre: Contemporary Romance
by Jay E. Tria
Genre: Contemporary Romance
SYNOPSIS:
It's harder to get over someone who was never really yours.
They say rock stars get all the girls. But Miki knows that's not always true. He, for one, though the guitarist of popular indie band Trainman, just can't seem to get the girl. It's kind of his fault, really. No one told him to fall in love with Jill. No one told him to stand still and watch as she moved on from a terrible breakup into the arms of another guy—a Japanese celebrity with the face of an angel and the body of a god.
So when someone else comes along, someone who finds him cute, smart, and funny (sometimes in the haha sort of way), will Miki finally move on? Or will he continue to pine for Jill?
They say rock stars get all the girls. But Miki knows that's not always true. He, for one, though the guitarist of popular indie band Trainman, just can't seem to get the girl. It's kind of his fault, really. No one told him to fall in love with Jill. No one told him to stand still and watch as she moved on from a terrible breakup into the arms of another guy—a Japanese celebrity with the face of an angel and the body of a god.
So when someone else comes along, someone who finds him cute, smart, and funny (sometimes in the haha sort of way), will Miki finally move on? Or will he continue to pine for Jill?
EXCERPT:
The guy on the screen was rambling while his best friend focused on wolfing down his bacon. He must have been saying something relevant to the plot of this movie; he was the lead guy after all. But the actor had grown a thick sandpaper beard to match his stringy hair that he kept raking away with his hand. And Miki was distracted.
Ana was leaning forward in her chair beside him, a cluster of wasabi-cheddar popcorn frozen in her mouth. Her palm was cupping her chin, eyes intent on the screen. At least one of them was enjoying the price of admission. There was a smidgen of salt dangling on the corner of her lip. Heaven, make me understand why girls bother with lip gloss, he thought as his thumb moved to de-salt her skin.
Ana’s head jerked towards him, but her lips curved into a smile under his thumb.
“Sorry,” Miki muttered, a little too loudly. He moved his hand back to the safety of his lap. “Salt.”
Ana’s eyes seemed to be laughing. She thrust the popcorn bag at him. “So I can return the favor,” she murmured.
Miki’s mouth inched into a small smile, glad that the darkness of the movie theater hid his rising blush. He took a large scoop of the greasy fluffs of popcorn just as his phone vibrated in his pocket. Finally. He stuffed the popcorn into his mouth and chewed as he read Jill’s reply, exactly thirty-two minutes since his last text.
“Where are you?” Miki texted back.
“Airport.”
“What time is your flight?”
“Wait. Immigration.”
Two minutes. Four.
“Done with immigration?”
“Yes but now running to”
Jill had left the text hanging, which Miki thought could only mean she was sprinting to the gate to catch her flight. Miki blamed Shinta. Wasn’t he usually prompt to the last minute? He probably exhausted the final second of Jill’s company before he drove her to the airport, or maybe they were mauled by his rabid fans at the terminal. In any case, he was sure it was Shinta’s fault that Jill was running to meet her boarding time, and if—worst case scenario—she missed her plane.
Miki growled under his breath. I’m on to you, you selfish god of a human.
Ana turned to him again. Apparently, Miki didn’t just make that sound in his head.
“You’re not liking like this movie very much, are you?” she whispered.
“Ah no, it’s not that,” he muttered, plunging his phone into the depths of his jeans pocket. He gestured at the screen with pursed lips. “I think that guy is a jerk.”
“He is,” Ana agreed. She took the popcorn bag from Miki and dunked her hand in for another handful, her attention back on the big screen.
Miki pulled his phone out again, placing his faith on auto-correct as he typed in the dark. “Did you make it? What time do you land?”
His phone lay still in his hand for an entire scene and a half of the movie. In his mind, Miki was already strangling Shinta Mori.
The phone’s vibration tickled his thigh.
“Made it,” read Jill’s text. Miki released a sigh through gritted teeth. “Never again am I going to let myself be escorted to the departure area by a frigging celebrity. Girls screaming everywhere.”
So it was the rabid fans after all. Miki scowled, thinking she should have known better, and he told her so.
“Answer my question, woman!” he demanded next. “What time does your plane land?”
“Will be back in Manila by the time you wake up from your cranky mood. Sheesh. Plane is taxiing. Have to go. Later.”
Miki glared at her message until the screen blinked off, the phone in his hand melting into the darkness.
He wasn’t being cranky. He was just being a friend. Wasn’t it normal to ask for the details of a friend’s flight? Wasn’t it normal to want to pick up a friend from the airport? To make sure she doesn’t get harassed by a lawless taxi driver? Especially since he had not seen and had hardly spoken to said friend for a week now?
Not when you’re on a date, you idiot. Nino’s voice in his head called him out. Miki ignored it, the same way he ignored Nino when he spoke the words to him—albeit a longer, more aggressive version—earlier today. Since his breakup with Suze, Nino had been running around like he knew every life hack in love. As if having been in a failed relationship and living to tell the tale made him a relationship expert.
Miki told Nino that wasn’t really the way expertise worked, but Nino swatted the argument away like an irksome fly. And now Miki was left with Nino’s words circling inside his head. He sunk deep into his seat, thinking his intentions to pick up Jill from the airport were perfectly justified, thank you very much.
“So the lead guy just died,” Ana said, her breath on his ear.
“What?”
“Yeah, a guy with an electric axe came and sliced his head off, and his limbs too for good measure in case he could resurrect. Now the girl is crying because she just found out about the morbid death of her one true love.”
Miki stared in horror at the screen. True enough, the girl was sniffing, tears flooding down her cheeks, her pretty head on the shoulder of another girl that Miki assumed was her best friend. Wasn’t this supposed to be some light, girly movie? The pink cursive font on the movie poster was cruelly misleading.
He turned to Ana as the cogs in his brain started working.
“Maybe a horror movie next time?” she said as realization dawned on his face. “It seems that would keep your attention for much longer.”
Miki wanted to punch his own face in. “I’m sorry Ana, I—”
Ana reached over and squeezed his hand, then shushed him as she returned her attention to the movie.
The lead guy was not beheaded after all, his now clean, shaven face reappearing on the screen. The girl had stopped crying.
Miki’s heart took its slow time to skip a beat at Ana’s touch. Her hand was cold; no surprise there as the theater was built like an icebox. He thought about his own numbing hands as his head registered her words, the promise of next time. He wondered if linking his fingers with Ana’s would make them both feel warmer.
Ana shifted closer and dipped her head to fit between his chin and his shoulder.
Miki sighed as his heart stuttered to an uneven beat. Ana’s arm was snug against his, but he decided against taking her hand. For one, recent history would show he didn’t deserve it.
GIVEAWAY:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Hi! I'm a writer of contemporary Young Adult and New Adult romance. These days I'm writing paranormal/fantasy too, and it's a fun exercise. I'm often inspired by daydreams, celebrity crushes, a childhood fascination with Japanese drama and manga, and an incessant itch to travel.
NEW RELEASE: Songs to Get Over You | That Thing Called Closure #WriteBreakupSongsAbout
Also by Jay: Blossom Among Flowers | Songs of Our Breakup | Majesty
Official site: www.jayetria.com
Email: jayetria@gmail.com
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Wattpad: jayetria
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