Good morning! Or afternoon or what is even time these days? As most of you know, May 12th, was the original release date for my sophomore music nerd love story, More Than Maybe and the illustrated paperback version of my debut You’d Be Mine (which you can preorder both here and here) (please preorder!) (Preorders are amazing for authors!). Since the world is banana-pants bonkers, my publisher did me the favor of pushing out the release date to July 21st in the hopes that the world might be a little more friendly this summer. Whether or not that’s the case, it gave me a bit more time to play with my characters and come up with some goodies for my readers…
To start, a few years ago, after completing You’d Be Mine, I dove right in to the story of Jason Diaz, who if you’ll recall, is the enigmatic drummer of Under the Willows and Annie Mathers’ best friend. While the time has never been right to finish Jason’s story, I went to my publisher and asked if I might be allowed to give readers some closure to some of their questions regarding just why he was ALWAYS on his phone and was he telling the truth when he said he had a fling with a girl from band camp? Well… here you go. Fast forward a few months after the end of You’d Be Mine and have a peek at just what Jason had been up to all those summers ago*…
(*Oh! and stay tuned for the end, I’ve included a little Jason & Daitin playlist for you! Because of course I did!)
JASON
I have regrets and her name is Daitin.
I squirm down into my cushioned seat, trying to shrink, but at over six feet tall, it’s useless. My best friend, Annie, tosses me a quizzical look and I realize I’m practically in her lap. Stupid auditorium seats. I have half an ass-cheek hanging on while the other is hugging a metal armrest.
“Sorry,” I mutter as nonchalant as I can. I clear my throat, sitting a little taller. My ears catch on to a familiar laugh, however, and a half-second later, I reflexively duck all over again, so quickly, I smack Annie’s head with mine.
Annie leans close, rubbing her scalp lightly. “Jason. Seriously. What is happening?”
What is happening?
“Nothing,” I whisper between my clenched teeth. Annie rolls her eyes so hard I can almost hear it. I feel a small whoosh of air next to me, letting me know Kacey’s returned from the bathroom. Almost a year of touring and she still gets the nervous pukes.
“Guess who I ran into?” She’s staring at me, so I studiously trace the crushed velvet carpeting. She’s quiet for a beat. Two. Three. I huff a sigh and peek up at her. Dark eyebrow raised under darker fringe. “Oh. I see. You saw her already. Very mature, Diaz.”
“Who? What am I missing?” Annie asks, craning her neck and glancing around. Fuck, she’s obvious. I smack her arm lightly.
“Quit it, stealth ninja.”
“Jason has a dark side,” Kacey says, eyes dancing and Annie snorts.
I straighten in my seat, smoothing my collar, pretense shot to hell. “Christ almighty, you two.”
Kacey ignores me. “Jason had a band camp romance a few summers back, and it turns out she’s a mega star.”
Annie gasps, whirring fully around in her seat. “No!”
I wince. “Yes.”
“How did I not know this?”
I don’t answer, but it doesn’t matter. Kacey’s more than happy to oblige. “You were busy with your own drama. It happened the summer before your senior year.”
“I didn’t know you dated anyone at camp.”
“It didn’t end well,” I say. Understatement of the century.
“Who was it? Would I know her?”
Kacey beams. “Daitin Trace.”
Annie chokes on air, coughing into her elbow. After thirty seconds or so, she composes herself. “Holy shit, Jay. You dated Daitin Trace? The one from that show? Didn’t she win America’s Greatest Country Talent?”
As a matter of fact, she did. I would know. I voted every single week. Not that I’ll tell a soul.
Instead: “I don’t know if I’d call it dating…”
Annie’s eyes are giant as she slugs my arm. “You did not.”
I wish I hadn’t. I shrug, weakly. “What happens at band camp stays at band camp.”
Kacey glances back. “Do her brothers all know about you two?”
Annie breaks into hysterical giggles just as her boyfriend, Jefferson nee Clay Coolidge, sits down at the end of our row. “What’d I miss?”
Annie can’t stop laughing. “Her brothers!” she sputters between gulps.
Kacey tsks her. “Hush it, you’re gonna ruin your makeup.” Suddenly the lights dim and a voice booms over the crowds, echoing off the auditorium walls.
WELCOME TO THE 2020 MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS STARRING…
Annie composes herself right as the cameras swing in and out of view, capturing the audience. Under the Willows is announced in the lineup and I swear I’ll never get used to that. This isn’t our first awards show, but it’s the first mainstream one. Very few country acts make it on MTV’s radar, but two made it this year. Two who’ve managed to cross between genre lines and attract a mainstream radio audience. Willows and The Band Trace, featuring none other than Reality TV contestant Daitin Trace and two of her six older brothers.
Yeah. That’s right. Six. Well, technically five, now.
The lights blow up and the audience is clapping along with a familiar beat and I don’t need to glance behind me to see that Daitin’s no longer in her seat.
Opening the show. Not bad.
I can’t see anything, the flares burning high upstage blind and glare. I hear her first, and the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. I can’t help my fingers from twitching out of the hard, almost militaristic backbeat of her drums. On either side of me, Annie and Kacey jump to their feet, hands raised high over their heads as they jerk and twist to Daitin’s sharp twang. Jefferson stands, giving a loud whistle. Country music camaraderie, apparently.
Now I have to stand, or I’ll look like an asshole if the camera pans this way. Which, let’s face it, with the way my bandmates are twitching in their Versace, it’s gonna.
I stand and clap to the beat as Daitin’s blond waves spin in our direction. Her black Lamas stomp in time with her fist, pumping to the snare. She flashes a dangerous half grin before stalking stage left, hips shimmying as she approaches the only other female in her band, Gray Little. I’ve only met Gray once. It didn’t go well. She’s not half bad on that custom bass of hers, though. It’s this glittery thing the color of the sky that she calls ‘Ivan.’ As in The Terrible.
At least she used to.
People are weird about their instruments. I call my drum kit, Kit. Not super creative, but I’m not the lyricist in the band. I just bang.
Sorry. Bad drummer humor.
Daitin’s revving up for the main chorus and hell if she doesn’t look straight at me as she does. I know what’s coming. I’ve heard this song before. Couldn’t miss it, the way it’s crashed through the charts since her debut. I didn’t think it was about me. I mean, I’m not that conceited, and it was years ago, but…
Damn the truth, you didn’t even try
Shoulda done better
Coulda walked that line
Instead you wandered
Tail between your thighs…
Straight outta my life, outta my bed
Stole my dignity
Ripped it to shreds
Between the sheets, sweetened with lies
Boy, don’t you call me ‘till your ass is dead.
“OHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Annie shouts, leaning into my shoulder, hiding her expression. Suddenly her face pops up, shining with glee. “She HATES you.”
“It’s not about me!” I shout back, but she’s already back to dancing. Fucking Jefferson twirls her around. He catches my eye over her head and mouths: “Definitely you.”
I shake my head, looking back to the stage where Daitin is swaying, one of her brothers jamming on a harmonica while the crowd is held rapt. I think its Pax, but it might be Nick or Logan or any of the others, really. The Trace family is stupid-talented. My eyes skip over the drum kit—over where the one Trace brother I did know should have been sitting. I swallow hard and shake off the thought.
Anyway, the song isn’t about me. That would be ridiculous. We dated, if you can even call it that, two years ago. I was young and horny and stupid.
Outta my life, outta my bed
That could be anyone. Of course, it could apply to me as I definitely lost my virginity to that girl now strutting on stage in front of millions.
I contain my grimace. The camera shifts back toward us, clearly digging that my bandmates are so into the performance.
The thing is, I loved Daitin. Like capital L love. I know that, now. She’s the coolest girl I’ve ever met in my life and I hang with a couple of the best on the regular. But it was SUMMER CAMP, you know? She lived in Tennessee and I’m from Michigan. And we were in high school. And then Annie asked me to tour and the rest is history.
Could I have been less of a dick about the whole sex thing? Sure. I’ll admit to that but a song? At the MTV VMAs?
And now the song is over and she’s taking a bow to thunderous applause and she turns to me and blows a kiss. Right. At. Me.
Fuck.
The ever-loving camera pans to me, but I keep my face blank as they search for the target. Kacey reaches up and snatches at the air, slapping the air-kiss to her cheek with a happy scream. We recover our seats and Kacey talks out of the side of her mouth.
“Did you deserve that?” she asks.
“Probably,” I mutter.
She smacks my head.
“You’re presenting at the next break, Willows.”
Annie leans forward and flashes a professional smile at the sturdy production assistant in a headset. “Thanks! Stage left entrance?”
He nods and moves on to the next row. I rub my hands down my black jeans. Annie slaps a hand over mine. “Cheer up, Buttercup. Maybe you’ll get to hand her a Moon Man. That’s a hell of an ‘I’m Sorry’.”
“Just take Jefferson in my place.”
My best friend rolls her eyes lightly. “Get over yourself. Jefferson can’t. He’s got to perform like five minutes after.”
Oh. I must have missed that part. Jefferson guest starred on a track with hip hop legend EZ RYDERZ and they were premiering their cut right after we presented. I can’t wait, actually. It’s an incredible collaboration, one sure to secure Coolidge’s creative credibility for basically the rest of his life. I glance down at my friend. He’s the picture of collected, except for the bouncing knee. Annie stills it with a touch and he grins up at her gratefully. I look away, feeling like I’m intruding.
The commercial break wraps and we sit through an opening monologue from a goateed Late Night television host that I don’t recognize. He picks on the usual celebrities and thankfully we register pretty low on the fame radar and escape notice. They present the first award, Male Artist of the Year, before pausing for another commercial. Annie pops up first and holds out her hand for me. I take it and grab for Kacey, who loops an arm through mine easily. My girls.
“You look dapper tonight, Jason,” Annie says. “Have I mentioned that?”
I smirk. “You have and it’s not helping.”
“Who would have thought you’d run into an ex here of all places. I mean,” chirps Kacey pushing through the heavy stage door. “Like what are the odds?”
“What I want to know is why she’s so angry?” Annie stage whispers.
“I’m really not interested in rehashing this. I—”
“Well, well, well. Hot damn, if isn’t my first… flame, Jason Diaz in the flesh.”
I inwardly groan but hitch the world’s fakest smile on my face. “Hey Daitin. You look…” My brain scrambles. Gorgeous? Stunning? Beautiful? “Older.”
Shit.
Daitin raises a dark blond brow.
“Smooth,” Kacey mutters.
“And sophisticated, I mean. Good. You look good,” I say, a cold sweat breaking out across the back of my neck.
“Thanks. You too.”
Annie pushes forward, holding out a hand. “I’m Annie. So amazing to meet you, Daitin. I’m a huge fan.”
Daitin blushes and for a second she almost reminds me of the shy beauty from camp. “Obviously, I’m the fan here. It’s an enormous honor to meet you, Annie.”
My best friend and my ex-girlfriend make small talk. Soon Kacey jumps in and everyone is introducing themselves and shaking hands and I’m frozen because the harmonica player-brother, who I now know is Dax, is staring daggers into my eyeballs, and if I blink first, I fail at life.
“We should get going,” Annie is saying in her gracious way. It’s like she was fed charm in utero, the way it’s always just oozed from her. “I hope we’ll see y’all real soon, though. Don’t be strangers. Country music is too small and we gotta stick together.”
Daitin seems to catch on to the staring contest going on behind her, because she smacks Dax across his chest and hisses, “Quit it,” at him.
I smirk at his annoyed glare.
Point for me.
I’m smug for about thirty seconds, until they pass us for the stage door and Kacey wraps her claws around on of my arms. “Older? ‘You look older’? Jesus H, Diaz, you’re embarrassing.”
So there you have it! I know it probably brings up even MORE questions, but at least some of your queries after reading You’d Be Mine have been answered, right? <3
MINI Jason & Daitin PLAYLIST
Done by The Band Perry
Give Me Back My Hometown by Eric Church
Greatest Love Story by Lanco
Next up in June, I’ll be giving you a peek into scene I had in mind for You’d Be Mine between Kacey Rosewood and Fitz Jacoby, aka “the fiddling fiddlers”. It was purely fluff and served absolutely zero plot substance to Clay and Annie’s drama… so it got the ax, but I’ve been saving it up in the back of my mind to share with all of you!
Finally! If you’ve made it this far, BRAVO! I’ve decided to do a little rapid-fire “What I’m Up To” section to close things out… I would LOVE to hear what you’ve all been up to, what you think about Jason’s sneak peek and if you’ve listened to the playlist! Stay safe, stay healthy! <3 Erin
WHAT I’M…
Reading: A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey (it’s fantastic and swoony and you need to add it to your TBR… out this fall!)
Listening to: Bluebird by Miranda Lambert
Eating: Most of you know I’m Celiac so I’m not only gluten sensitive but also dairy sensitive… I discovered the best new flavor of dairy free, gluten free ice cream… SoDelicious Oatmilk S’mores. Gah. So good. I found mine at Meijer (Mid-West grocery chain) and it was the VERY last pint left. What you’re looking for… here. But don’t scroll down too far or you’ll hit the nutritional information and no one needs that stress right now.
Marketing: Well, besides YBM’s paperback, I’ve also mentioned my dive bar, alt-rock, music nerd romance, More Than Maybe is coming out on July 21st! Click the link to preorder, but in case you weren’t sure if MTM was your thing, I’ve put together a short teaser of me reading from the very first page of the book… and you can watch that here.