Tone Deaf

Chapter Eight

The girls are squealing, and they manage to recruit a passerby to take the picture for them. One circles around to stand next to Devon and one stays by me, keeping us two in the middle. We smile for the picture, and they begin squealing again.

"Thank you so, so much!" one of them says as the other one checks her phone to make sure she approves of the picture.

"No problem," I say, and we keep walking.

Devon is grinning to himself slightly.

"What's with you?" I ask.

"You know damn well what every tabloid is going to be printing now." He says, and I groan. 

He's right, they're going to crop the girls out of the picture and show us two in the middle and it's going to be yet another article about pop's biggest rivals becoming the best of friends.

"It's been three weeks now, have the Kardashians not done anything they can write about instead?" I complain, which just makes Devon grin more.

"I swear you're enjoying this," I grumble.

"I'm enjoying how dramatic you're getting over it. As if you haven't been having articles written about you for half a decade."

"It's been over half a decade." I correct him, and he rolls his eyes.

"My point exactly."

"It's different." I argue.

"How so?"

"Because it's not about my music."

"There's no way it's the first time that's happened." Devon protests.

"Fine. It's just weird! Nobody writes about it when I hang out with Tay or Jax!"

"Because Tay is in a punk band and is never involved in any drama and because Jax is exactly the type of person people expect you to hang out with. What's to write about?"

I don't respond to this, mainly because I don't have anything to say. He's right, of course. Doesn't mean I can't still be annoyed about it.

"You still suck." I say, though I know I've lost the argument. Devon just laughs and tosses the tissues from his now-consumed hamburger in a trash can we pass.

"So does that mean I don't have to offer to let you play on my new VR headset from Nuclear Gaming?" He says, with a smirk on his face.

I can't help it. My jaw drops open.

"No fucking way do you have it! They haven't even announced it yet!"

He just grins that stupid grin of his and shrugs. "It's no big deal, they just have to work on promotion for a release and everything, but they wanted to use an instrumental from one of my songs for the advertisements, so I said they could use it without royalties if I got the first headset."

"Is this what being signed to Razor means? Free tech? 'Cause if so, I seriously should've switched labels a long time ago."

Devon laughs; a warm, hearty laugh. He laughs from his stomach, the way you're supposed to sing. It's nice, it feels so natural and genuine. I don't think I've laughed like that once in my life.

"So what do you say? Atomic Warfare IV on VR-NG?"

"Now you're just fucking with me. Atomic Warfare III only just hit the shelves."

He laughs again, the same laugh that seems to emanate from his very core. It sends a strange vibration down my spine.

"Okay, okay, you got me. It's Atomic Warfare III. Apparently it's got a secret level on it."