The three of us just stand there awkwardly and Riley breaks the silence and reaches out a hand to me and says, “Are you ready, me lady?” I laugh a little and say, “As I’ll ever be.” Riley turns to Connor and says see you at the house in a bit. Connor replies, “Yeah, I’ll bring the furniture,” he says sarcastically. He turns to me and says, “See you around, Ryland. It was great to finally meet you.”
Riley and I begin to walk in the opposite direction from Connor, but we hear him call out to us. We turn around and see Connor half jogging back to us and stops before us and bends over and rests his hands on his knees, pretending to pant heavily. “Dude, that was only like 30 feet,” Riley laughs. Connor replies, “Hey, I need to work out okay.” He laughs and stands up straight and says to me, “Hey, Ryland, if my bro here chickens out and doesn’t tell you, our band is doing a gig tonight in the student center. We’d love for you to come out and support us.” He winked at me and Riley.
Riley angrily says, “Con, I was gonna tell her. Da*n.” I laughed a little, but then realized, “Wait, please don’t tell me you guys are Before You Exit.”
“Well it depends if you like the music or not,” Connor says skeptically.
“Yes, I love them. I guess I love you guys then. I’ve been having your EP on repeat these past 24 hours straight. Like I’m in love,” I pause and accidentally catch eyes with Riley and continue, “with yall’s music! Ever since this guy put that CD in my backpack,” I point to Riley and make eye contact with Connor.
Connor says to Riley, “Bro, I told you that’s not how to pick up chicks.” They both laugh.
“Well, that’s refreshing to hear,” Riley says. “I was nervous you wouldn’t like our music.”
“You guys are literally the epitome of perfection. How can I not love you guys,” I say. “Wait, what instruments do yall play?”
Connor answers, “Guitar, keyboard, sometimes drums, and vocals.” I bite my lip containing the excitement and not wanting to fangirl in front of the boys.
“I just play guitar,” Riley smiles staring at me. Connor chimes in, “Are you kidding me right now, Ri?” Connor turns to me and places a hand on his brother’s shoulder and points to him with his other hand, “I swear this kid is the most humble person in the world. He’s our lead vocalist.” I nearly lose my balance.
“What? Riley, when were you planning to tell me all of this?” the words flow out of my mouth so quickly I didn’t realize I was done talking.
“I was eventually gonna tell you on the date we’re supposed to be on,” I see him shoot a side glare at his brother. “Hey, sorry, bro. My bad, my bad,” Connor giggles.
“Hey, wait, so are you the band my mom was selling a house to last night?” I ask.
Connor answers, “Well if you’re last name is McCallister, then yes. Your mom is a very nice, sweet, intelligent lady.”
“She really is. Small world isn’t it,” I let out.
Riley grabs my hand and says, “Well with that being said, I think it’s finally time to get some alone time.” Riley coughs, cueing Connor that it’s his time to leave. “Alright, alright. You kids stay out of trouble okay?” He laughs. “Have fun you two.”