New York: Allie's War, Early Years

"Hey!" Jon protested.

Cass threw a cherry at me. "Speak for yourself!"

I laughed, tossing the cherry back at her from where it stuck to my shoulder. Then I looked back at Jaden, who smiled wanly at my two friends. The smile didn't touch his eyes, though, and I saw a hint of a frown on his lips, right before he turned away.

Wanting to dispel whatever I could see brewing there, I kissed him again. He kissed me back at first, but after a few seconds, he extricated himself, glancing around at the rest of the room.

"Okay, that's enough, Taylor," he said jokingly. He looked at me, and that time, his eyes were a little cold. "Guess you got an early start, huh?"

I slid back into my stool.

"Not that early," I said. I heard the hurt in my own voice.

I felt my cheeks burn though, and glanced around to see who he hadn't wanted to see us kissing. Jaden and I had been together for like five years. Everyone in his band had seen us kiss before, and it wasn't like I'd been grinding on him or anything; in fact, he'd been the one to get grabby. Was it some band image thing? Did he need to seem like the single guy now?

Trying to shrug it off, I leaned back, taking another sip of beer.

"How did the photo shoot go?" I said, my voice neutral.

Jaden hesitated, frowning at my tone.

"Fine," he said.

"Great!" Corey enthused as he walked up to the bar. He leaned against the padded leather on the other side of Cass. "We took all these pictures in the park...at that Alice in Wonderland statue. And in front of the Met..."

"We were over there," Jon said. "What time?"

As the two of them talked, I glanced at Jaden again.

His blue eyes had turned inward. I could see a faint annoyance growing there, and around the set of his mouth. He'd been pretty withdrawn for a few weeks now; I couldn't figure out if it had anything to do with us or not. In any case, he hadn't exactly been seeking me out since we'd gotten off the plane at JFK. Or really, before that, since we arrived at SFO.

Feeling my face burn a little hotter, I glanced over at where Drake, the bass player, was talking to some girl I'd never seen before. She was wearing in a Eye of Morris band t-shirt that she'd cut off to show her midriff and a micro-mini with knee-high boots. Drake's eyes were pretty firmly fixed on her breasts as she spoke.