Broken Strings (Prodigy: 2)

Coke and Vodka

"Locke, you can't be behaving like that to fans, even if you hate their guts," Jessica snapped that night, she and Locke sat in the bar of their hotel.

"Ah leave it alone, if she wants to be a musician, she'll meet people worse than me," Locke said, dropping his chin in his palms and catching the straw of his drink with his tongue, pulling it between his lips.

"Are you kidding me? Could you have been anymore jealous-ex-boyfriend? You'd have taken her damn head off if you'd been alone."

"Best friend, best friend. I'd never date someone like Zaney-boy – god no, he'd be such a pain."

"You behaved like an ex, whether you dated him or not. Jeez, Locke, it's been four years, I thought you'd be happy to see him."

Locke looked away, pulling the straw from his drink as he did, chewing on it.

"It's not that big a deal," he muttered.

"You just said you were best friends."

Locke closed his eyes. "Yeah, even you know that'd not true. You, Eddie and Tia were his best friends. I was just... I dunno... nothing much."

"That's not true."

Locke turned to her and grinned. "Why are you here, by the way? Shouldn't you be meeting with Zane?"

"I am, I told him to meet me here, soon."

The straw fell out of Locke's mouth and he straightened. "Ah screw you, Jess, why didn't you tell me? I'm going up to my room."

He slid off his stool and a hand closed on his shoulder, surprising strength forcing him back onto his seat. He struck the hand away, turning around and instantly turning away again.

"Hey Zane," Jessica said, grinning, accepting his hug before Zane took a seat on the other side of Locke. Locke gripped his drink tightly. It felt like he was being corralled in and he didn't like it.

"Is Madi with you?" Jessica asked and Locke's muscles rippled slightly.

"Nah," Zane said, "She hanging out with classmates tonight, wanted to give us time to catch up."

"Well, we always catch up," Jessica said, sliding from her stool, picking up her drink, "Why don't you catch up with Sir Sulks-a-Lot over here."

"What a good idea," Zane said, his voice dropping and Jessica walked away, joining some colleagues as Zane ordered a beer.

They sat in silence for a while, waiting for Zane's drink. It was served and Zane took a sip, setting it down carefully in the centre of the tablemat before folding his arms on the bar and looking at the bottles lined up on the wall opposite.

"So, why are you behaving like an utter jerk?" he asked.

"I thought that was just my general personality," Locke replied, not looking up from his coke and vodka. "Or were you lying when you agreed with Madi?"

"I agreed with her then because she got it spot on, you were being a dick. What the hell, you were always nice to fans, whatever you felt."

"I don't have to be nice to them, I make enough money that I don't need to be nice anymore," Locke said bluntly and Zane's smacked him over the back of the head.

It shouldn't have been a hard smack, it was just a flick of the hand for Zane, but it still came from a gifted sportsman whose sport required him to have super strong limbs and the smack almost had Locke face planting into the bar, his hands grabbing the edge to catch himself.