Under Her Skin Page 5

  "Well, Sammy and AJ are really cool, both are available. Um, don't go near my brother, he's off limits, and Pierce is too…I think." Marlo gave her the info.

  "What about Tobias?" She asked.

  "What about him?" Marlo shrugged. It was the unofficial end to the conversation, even though it wasn't an actual answer. "So, we better get ready, the guys won't wait forever for us."

  The girls talked about what had been happening since they saw each other last, and even though Marlo told Rachel some of what had happened when she was assaulted, she didn't give the full details. Marlo didn't know that there was no need to tell her everything, Dusty already had. Rachel didn't push for details, if Marlo wanted to talk, she would. If she didn't, that was alright with Rachel too, since it hurt even her to hear all of what happened. Even if Marlo didn't like Tobias, Rachel still thought he was ok in her book for saving her best friend.

  Marlo took one final look in the mirror before deciding that she was ready. She wasn't trying to look perfect, she had no one to look perfect for. She sure wasn't searching for anyone either. Rachel appeared next to her, and Marlo took her outfit in. "Wow, if those aren't 'Fuck Me' shoes, then I don't know what are." Marlo laughed.

  "Hey, just because you don't want to get any tonight doesn't mean that I don't either." Rachel laughed. They were so alike in many ways, but the main area they differed was the sex issue. Rachel couldn't get enough, while Marlo was content still being a virgin.

  "Well, let's go find you a man then. Might I suggest Sammy?" Marlo asked formally. That way she felt less like a pimp.

  "Lead the way." Rachel waved her hand and allowed Marlo to walk ahead of her.

  The girls picked Dusty and Tobias up first, then went to get Sammy and AJ. Marlo couldn't help but notice how extra hot Tobias looked that night, as if he had actually put some effort into getting ready. Most of the time his sex appeal come from his nonchalance about looking good. Tonight was a different degree of sexiness all together. His black pants were neatly pressed, and his blue button down shirt was nice and crisp. He had the sleeves rolled up a couple of times, showing the black leather band around his wrist. The top two buttons of the shirt were open, giving a glimpse of the beginning of his pecs, along with the leather necklace tied tightly around his thick neck.

  Marlo shook herself. She was concentrating too much on Tobias, he wasn't anything special. She took her brother's arm and hooked it with her own. AJ was on the other side of her, and she hooked her other arm with his. She felt like a star, with a handsome man on each side of her. So what if one was her brother, he was still a cutie.

  Behind Marlo and her boys, Tobias and Sammy took Rachel's arms. Sammy was doing his best to impress the girl he had just met, but felt like he was falling in the shadow of Tobias.

  At the club, they found a rather secluded table to sit at. It was an area for the in-betweens…not quite famous VIPs, but not common folk either. The drinks flowed freely, and everyone was feeling good not too far into the night. Marlo had pulled AJ to the dance floor, knowing that he had moves. She sang to the music as they shook their asses. Marlo hadn't had this much fun in a long time, and in the moment, she realized how much she missed it.

  By the time they returned to the table, they were worn out and sweating. AJ hugged Marlo tightly, happy to have his dance partner back.

  Marlo looked around and saw her brother talking and laughing with a girl that looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't remember from where. Sammy was at another table a few feet away, talking to a group of guys, laughing and having a good time. Nowhere did she see Rachel or Tobias.

  A sudden, sick feeling hit her at the pit of her stomach. She thought that she had given Rachel the impression to stay away from Tobias. Her eyes roamed over the bar, several times over, trying to find the two missing from the group.

  AJ noticed her sudden anxiety, and mistook it for her being nervous around so many people. He reached over and began massaging her shoulder, trying to give her some reassurance. Marlo caught his eye and smiled, a little shakily.

  "You want to get out of here?" AJ asked her.

  "In a minute." She turned her head to continue looking for Rachel. She finally saw her parting the crowd, trying to make her way back to the table. A little relief came over Marlo, until she saw Tobias trailing behind Rachel, linked together at the hand.

  When they got closer, Marlo notice that Rachel's lipstick was smeared, and Tobias was wearing it. Her hope had been crushed. Marlo pulled Rachel aside, wanting to find out what was going on, and what had happened with her and Sammy.

  Marlo looked at the joy written on Rachel's face, and it hurt her. "What happened to Sammy?"

  "Oh, yeah, he's not really my type." Rachel slurred, after a moment of careful thought.

  "So you went for Tobias?" Marlo asked unbelievable. "What are you thinking?"

  "Dude, he's hot!" Rachel giggled. She looked over at Tobias and waved, and he winked back, just before tossing a shot.

  "I thought I told you to stay away from him!" Marlo was getting angry, and she had no idea why. Rachel was her best friend, but at that point, she had never hated her more.

  The smile left Rachel's face. "No, you never said he was off limits. You only said Dusty and Pierce." Even though she was drunk, she still remembered the conversation and she was quite proud of that fact.

  "Well I'm telling you now, he's off limits!" Marlo yelled at her. She could feel the blood rising to her face as the anger really set in. She didn't realize how loud she had yelled it, and had no idea that Tobias was close enough to hear her.

  "Why is he off limits all of a sudden?" Rachel wanted to know.

  Marlo got even more flustered. "I don't know, he just is."

  "Well, it's too late. I'm really into him." Rachel argued.

  "Rachel, all he's going to do is fuck you and leave you."

  Rachel laughed at her friend and how naïve she could be. "I'm well aware of that. That's why I'm hanging out with him, it's the same thing I want."

  "Forget it, I'm leaving. Thanks for visiting." Marlo was frustrated, not only with her friend, but with herself as well.

  She went to get AJ, to see if he would take her back to the hotel, and when she looked back up, she saw Rachel and Tobias leaving the club together, hand in hand. Her and AJ went to say goodbye to Dusty and Sammy, then slowly walked back to the hotel.

  AJ escorted Marlo to her door and hugged her goodnight. "It was great having you back again beautiful."

  "Thanks Aj. For everything."

  "Anytime." He waited for her to get into her room, then he went to his own.

  Marlo looked around her empty hotel room. She wanted to throw something, to break something, but she wasn't quite sure why. Tobias hooked up all the time, why was tonight any different. If it wasn't Rachel, it would have been some other girl.

  But it was Rachel! She was supposed to be her best friend. But it was Tobias! What did it really matter what he did or who he did it with? Marlo was so confused. She didn't know what was happening or where her feelings were headed.

  She grabbed her pajamas and changed out of the club clothes that reeked of smoke. She washed the makeup from her face, and grabbed her nightly necessity, her ear plugs. Putting them in place, and shutting the world out, Marlo crawled into her bed and fell asleep.

  *****

  The next morning, the world looked a little brighter for Marlo. She knew that she had over-reacted the night before, but she still wasn't sure why. She was already showered and dressed when she heard a small knock on the door between the rooms.

  She opened it to find her best friend, looking rough and ashamed. "Can I come in?"

  "Of course." Marlo told her, trying to sound upbeat, but seeing her come from Tobias' room brought a sharp pain to her chest.

  "Do you hate me?" Rachel asked.

  "No." Marlo answered, but didn't offer anymore. The calm that she had felt earlier was shattered by seeing her disheveled friend.

  "About las
t night…" Rachel started.

  Marlo held her hand up. "I don't want to hear it. Please."

  "But…"

  "No, seriously, I don't want to hear it. Help yourself to the shower, I'm going downstairs for brunch." Marlo said, knowing her words must have sounded harsh, but she just couldn't handle hearing about Rachel's night with Tobias.

  She left before another word could be said. She went downstairs to drown her sorrow in food. Not realizing how hungry she was, Marlo laughed when her stomach growled in the elevator.

  She looked around the dining room where the brunch buffet was set up, grateful to see her brother and AJ eating already. She filled her plate, then zigzagged through the tables to meet up with the two very familiar faces.

  "Wow, have you not eaten in the past week?" Dusty asked, looking at Marlo's plate.

  "Leave me alone." She grumbled.

  "Ok, what's wrong? You only eat like that when you're upset." Her brother was concerned.

  "Nothing, I'm just hungry." Marlo plastered a fake smile on her face. She dug into her food, practically inhaling it. Before long, she was so full she could barely move, even though she still had half the food on her plate. "I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach."

  "When you're ready to tell me what's wrong, let me know." Dusty stood up and kissed Marlo's head. He was such a good brother to her, she didn't know what she would have ever done without him.

  Marlo was just getting up from the table when she felt a hand on her back. A deep voice whispered in her ear, "Nothing happened last night."

  Marlo turned to look into Tobias' face. "What you do is your own business." She said coldly.

  "I know that." He smirked. "But I'm telling you that nothing happened. I didn't touch her."

  "Well yay for you." She bit back. She hated that smirk, she wanted to wipe it right off his face. He was so full of himself, like she actually cares what he did the night before. She started to walk away from the table, and nearly stumbled when she heard what he said next.

  "You should be thanking me, I did it for you." He wasn't sure if he wanted her to hear that or not.

  "I'm not even going to ask what you mean by that." She turned and said quickly before stalking out of the dining room.

  She felt a little more calm as she went back up to her room, but wondering what Tobias had meant was nagging at her mind. She didn't know if what he had said was good or not. Why did he have to be so confusing, and so damn annoying?

  Chapter 8

  Marlo got back to her room to find Rachel packing her stuff. "Hi." She said softly as she walked into the room.

  "Hey." Rachel answered a little coldly.

  "Listen, I'm sorry about last night. I don't really know why I got so upset with you for hanging out with Tobias." Marlo sat at the edge of the bed. She felt bad that their friendship was going to be ruined over something like this. She knew that the visit had started out with really good intentions, only to end in a bust.

  "It's pretty obvious to me that you have feelings for him." Rachel said in a huff.

  "Whatever, I don't have feelings for that arrogant ass!" Marlo rolled her eyes. After what Rachel had said sunk in, Marlo had a question. "Wait a minute, if you thought I had feelings for him, then why did you go after him?"

  Rachel sighed. "I wanted to get laid, and at the time, he seemed like a sure thing." She didn't sound as though she had a bit of remorse for what had happened.

  "Sammy was a sure thing! AJ was a sure thing! I'm sure there were tons of guys at the club that were sure things. Why did you have to go for the one person you thought I liked?" Marlo was pissed. She watched as Rachel said nothing, just shook her head as she kept packing. "You know, there's a time in life when you need to grow up. Something like this would have passedin college, but we aren't in college anymore. And I guess we aren't friends anymore either. A true friend never would have done that to begin with." Marlo got up from the bed and walked to the door. She put her hand on the handle, and paused before turning it. "We had some great times, and I refuse to let my memories of those times be tainted by what you pulled last night. I hope someday you grow up, but until then, I think it's best if we cut all ties. I'm sure you can see yourself out."

  Rachel didn't look up the whole time that Marlo was talking. She kept her head down, and kept packing. It wasn't until Marlo had left the room that Rachel stopped what she was doing and looked at the door that her former best friend had just left through. She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to get Marlo's words out of her head. Though she knew Marlo was right, she didn't want to think about it. It wasn't the first time she had heard someone say something like that to her, and she was sure it wouldn't be the last either. Rachel finished packing and left as fast as she could. The whole visit had been one giant mistake.

  Marlo had sought refuge in Sammy and AJ's room, far enough away from Rachel that she wouldn't have to look at her, but close enough that she could hear her leaving. She laid on Sammy's bed with her head tipped back over the edge, looking to the table where AJ and Sammy sat. They were talking about the concert they'd be performing that night, and where their next destination was going to be.

  The phone rang suddenly, startling Marlo since it was right next to her head. Sammy dove across AJ's bed to grab the phone before Marlo could, then shot her a sheepish look when she gave him a questioning glare.

  The phone conversation was short and Sammy barely got one word in. When he hung up, he let Marlo and AJ in on what was said. "That was Pete. We need to meet in his room in five minutes."

  Marlo laughed. "You got summonsed to the manager's room like you'd get called to the principal's office." She rolled on the bed laughing, and Sammy got up from AJ's bed and jumped on her.

  "Laugh all you want because you need to be there too, funny girl." He taunted.

  Marlo stopped laughing immediately. "Is it good or bad?"

  "You never know with Pete." He shrugged his shoulders. "We better go, he hates it when we're late." Sammy stood, offering his hand to Marlo to help her up. She took it, and when she was back on her feet, the three of them headed to the floor below them to meet with the band's manager.

  Tobias and Dusty were already waiting for them when they got to Pete's room. Everyone wore a blank face, so it was hard to gauge whether they were in trouble or not.

  "Good, everyone's here." Pete said, closing the door. "I have some news for everyone, some may think it's bad, some may think it's good." He started. "I just got a very interesting call. A producer from the MTV Music Awards called and it seems like one of the bands in the Best New Artist category has gotten themselves into quite a bit of trouble, so much trouble that they need to remove them from the nomination. They would like to put you guys in there place. It seems the makeshift video we put out has caused quite a stir with the audience. Bad for the suckers who couldn't stay out of trouble, good for you guys."

  "No way! That video was shit. All it shows are clips from our past concerts. How can anyone really even call that a video when most of these artists spend serious bucks on their videos?" AJ voiced.

  "Well, your popularity is growing faster than we'd imagined. All the rest of the shows we have you booked to play are sold out now. It seems like you guys are better received than any of us had predicted." Kevin, the publicist told them. "That makes the format of the video irrelevant at this point. The fans have spoken and they really like you. To MTV, that's really all that matters. Besides, when you guys play, you're captivating and people can't help but watch and enjoy what they're seeing and hearing."

  "So, essentially in two weeks you will be in Miami at the Video Music Awards." Pete told them. "This is a really big break for you. Even though you have a growing fan base, we still need this kind of publicity to really launch you guys even further into the mainstream. That means you will be on your best behavior and you won't cause any problems." Pete warned and looked at Tobias.

  "Hey! Why're you looking at me?" Tobias asked, offended. "I always beha
ve."

  "Listen Tobias, we know you're a 'playboy', and that's the image that you want to portray, but do you think you could keep it clean for one night? It's great if you have a date, but there are certain behaviors that don't belong at the awards ceremony." Pete explained.

  "I get it, keep it PG-13." Tobias said. He thought for a moment. "Wait, do I know anyone PG-13?"

  "Can we all bring dates?" Dusty asked, unable to hide the smile spreading across his face. He couldn't believe that this was actually happening for them.

  "Yeah, I'd actually recommend it. It'll give you guys more of a sexy, untouchable vibe, which will drive the women crazy." Kevin said. "Besides, you guys are going to be nervous as hell, and a lady by your side might just help to calm you down."

  "Hey Tob, not only does she have to be PG-13, but she also has to be a lady. You're in big trouble now!" AJ teased, knowing the type of girls that Tobias usually went for. Neither of those things described the girls that he was constantly surrounded by.

  "Not a problem. I can just take my pick." Tobias answered, the smile not faltering for a minute. He was confident that he would find the perfect date. He even had someone in mind already.

  It seemed as though Pete's little meeting was coming to an end, so the guys were finally able to show their excitement. They were laughing and passing out man hugs to each other, while Marlo sat a little to the side.

  "I'm so proud of you guys, you're going to have a great time there." Marlo smiled as she was pulled into a giant bear hug from her brother. "I can't believe I'm going to get to watch my big brother on MTV at an awards ceremony."

  "Wait, you're not going?" AJ asked.

  Pete froze for a moment as the room got quiet. He hadn't even thought about Marlo. "Sorry guys. They only offered tickets to the band and their dates. Kevin and I aren't even going."

  "It's ok guys!" Marlo put on a brave face. "You're going to have a great time. I don't need to be there to be able to share the joy of your success."

  "It won't be the same without you kiddo." Dusty told her, ruffling her hair.