Page 19 of Taste of Surrender

“Thanks, man. I owe you one.” The bell rang, and we began walking to our first class. “You should come with us. Xavier and Dominic were talking about us going as a group and renting a limo.”

“I probably won’t have a date, though.” There was only one person I wanted to take, but that wasn’t a possibility.

“Who cares? It’s senior year, and you shouldn’t miss out on anything.”

I shrugged. “I’ll think about it.”

“Nice tattoo by the way. Did you get that done yesterday?”

“Thanks,” I replied. “And yeah, it was a birthday gift from my brother.”

“What made you pick a moon?”

“I wasn’t sure what to get and thought it looked cool,” I lied because I couldn’t tell him what it really meant to me.

As I headed to my car at the end of the day, I received a text from Malachi:

Hey! Got any plans this afternoon?

I’m supposed to help a friend with a project. Why?

Well, I know Jesse’s at work and no one is going to be at my place. Thought you might want to come over

“What’s that smile for?” AJ asked as he suddenly appeared.

“Nothing. Someone just sent me a funny meme.” I shoved my phone into my pocket. “So, how long do you think it will take this afternoon?”

A part of me hoped it would be quick, but then I felt like a shitty friend for wanting to ditch AJ so I could see Malachi.

“Not long. Dominic gave me a good idea for the wording, so I just need your help with the decorating. Shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

“Okay. Are we hitting up the store first to get the shit you need?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Figured you could follow me and then we can head over to my house.”

“Sounds good.”

I got into my car and fired off a text to Malachi:

I’ll be over in about an hour

See you then

Once I was done helpingAJ, I sped home, pulled into my driveway, and hurried to my room to drop off my backpack and freshen up a bit, before walking down the street to Malachi’s house. I barely managed to knock before the door flung open and I was pulled inside.

“Someone seems happy to see me,” I teased as he kicked the door closed behind us.

“Yeah, well, I was getting impatient.” He smiled and led me upstairs. “What were you doing, anyway?”

“My friend wanted help asking a girl to winter formal.”

We stepped inside his room, and he locked the door behind us. “Ah. I remember it being stressful coming up with a creative way to do that.”

I snorted. “Like you needed to do anything special. The ladies were practically tripping over themselves for you to notice them.”

He guided me to sit on his bed. “What can I say? The whole lead singer thing has its advantages.”

“You’re ridiculous.” I shook my head even though he wasn’t wrong. On several occasions, I had witnessed how much attention he got for being the front man of Surrender.