Screen Burn

Episode 11

"I'm proud of them too," Jake responded, feeling a smile spread across his face. "They made their own dreams come true."

Jake had seen the band struggle, had heard about the pile of rejections that they had received. The strain of trying to overcome all the obstacles they were faced with had nearly caused the band to break up, but the members had worked hard together and solved their problems as one. They were good friends as well as a good band, which is why they had achieved what everyone thought they couldn't.

"Why is every musician so hot?" Mateo muttered, pulling Jake's attention back to him.

"I hope you aren't looking at my sister as you say that, because that would be inappropriate."

"Don't worry, I'm not looking at her. Why would I when Liam is standing right there?"

"He has a girlfriend," Jake warned. "She's not somebody you want to mess with. She carries a knife with her, wherever she goes."

"Damn. Is he dating Scarlett?"

"How did you figure that out?"

"For starters, she's glaring at me because I won't stop staring at him," Mateo said, ticking off each item with his fingers. "Secondly, I can see the way she looks at him when she isn't glaring at me. Last but not the least, she looks like the kind of girl who can see the benefits of carrying a weapon."

"I did not know you were capable of being so observant," Jake commented. "Since observation actually requires paying attention to people other than oneself."

"You kill me with your mocking words. Anyway, is anyone in the band single?"

"No, they're all taken. Besides, all the boys are straight."

"How do you know?" Mateo questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Did they ever talk about their sexual or romantic orientations with you?"

"Well, no... but they are all dating girls."

"I've dated girls. Hell, even Mihir has dated girls. We're still very much interested in dating boys."

"Why don't you flirt with one of them and see what happens?" Jake suggested. "Then we'll see which one of us is right."

"I'd like to, but I'm not going to take risk my life by flirting with Liam. But I'm certain that a boy who looks like that must have considered dating men at least once. He's too pretty to limit his choices."

"What about Jasper and Zach?"

"Jasper looks like a tease. I'm sure he'll flirt with anything he moves, even if he isn't really interested. I won't be able to tell if he's straight or not."

"He used to be like that," Jake confessed. "But he's dating my sister and is a changed man now."

"I'm guessing you don't believe that," Mateo stated.

"It is true that I'm having trouble believing it, but I can't do anything about it. I can't make her decisions for her, especially when it comes to dating."

"It's good that you've accepted that. Nothing causes a younger sibling to rebel more than when the older one tries to control them."

Jake wondered whether he was talking about his ex boyfriend's brother. It would explain that part of the story. Perhaps the younger brother wanted to get back at the older one, and had decided to use Mateo to do so. But Jake couldn't imagine Mateo being used by anyone. Neither could he imagine any sibling hurting the other like that. He couldn't help but feel that there was more to the story. If he had more details, he could try to make sense of the whole mess.