Page 29 of Taste of Surrender

“Thanks.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but Jesse knocked again.

“Jasper, seriously, what are you doing?”

Once I was sure Malachi was gone, I opened the door. “Sorry. I’m ready now.”

“Why do you sound out of breath? Did I interrupt you jerking off or something?” He laughed.

“You’re ridiculous.” I tried to play it off as a joke, even though he wasn’t too far from the truth. “I’m definitely not going to miss your childish sense of humor while you’re gone.”

“Sure, you will. But don’t worry, little brother, I won’t forget about you when I’m a star.”

Maybe he wouldn’t, but I wasn’t so sure the same could be said about his best friend.

The next morning before school,my parents and I said our goodbyes to Jesse. Olivia was dropping him off at the airport where he was meeting up with the rest of Surrender to fly to LA.

“Gonna miss you, kid.” Jesse slapped my back playfully.

“Me too.”

He might have gotten on my nerves at times, especially when he thought he knew more than me or was overprotective, but the two of us were as close as brothers could be, and it was going to be strange not seeing him every day.

“You’ve got everything you need?” Mom asked for probably the hundredth time.

Jesse snorted. “Yeah, Mom. I even checked the tracking on the stuff I shipped ahead, and it should all be delivered tomorrow.”

“Okay, but let us know if you need anything else.” Tears shone in her eyes.

“I will.” He kissed her cheek.

“Good luck out there, Son. We’ll be rooting for you.” Dad pulled him in for a hug.

“Thanks,” he replied.

After our mom fussed over him a little more, he grabbed his two suitcases and guitar and followed Olivia to her car. My parents and I stood on the porch, and we watched as they drove off.

Once the car was out of sight, I walked inside, and headed toward my room to grab my phone.

Me: Have you left yet?

Malachi: Yeah. I can’t believe this is actually happening

I’ll be watching you on TV and then I’ll see you at the finale

Don’t jinx it ??

I could understand why he didn’t want to come across as overconfident about their chances of winning, but I’d watched other seasons ofThe Band Showdownand knew they were just as good, if not better, than previous winners.

Malachi: I’m really going to miss you

I’ll miss you too

I put my phone down and began getting ready for school. Hopefully, my classes and my friends would help keep my mindoff of Malachi and how sad I was that we’d never really had a shot.

At the endof the day, I was still in a funk, so after finishing my homework, I started preparing dinner. I had just finished assembling a pan of enchiladas when my mom came home. She placed her bag on the chair at the island and hugged me.

“Hi, sweetie. How was school today?”

“It was fine,” I replied and moved to put the enchiladas in the oven.