“Let’s just all agree now—no ring on the jumbotron. No one needs to see a forty-foot close-up of a trembling hand holding a diamond.”
“My hand wouldn’t be trembling,” I say flatly.
“It was last time,” Johanna smirks. “The nurse at the hospital said she watched the whole thing. Said it looked likeyouneeded a bed.”
“I wasstressed!And she was definitely exaggerating.”
Eric snorts as he and Rylee share a knowing look. “Sure she was.”
“Can we focus onthisproposal?” I groan, dragging both hands down my face. “It’s important. You guysdowant her to say yes to this one, right?”
“I’msofocused,” Tony says, already scribbling something on the notepad he keeps by his drum kit. “Here’s the plan—you invite her on stage to singCollapse Into Youwith us. Last note rings out. Lights drop. Spotlight hits center stage. You pop the question. She says yes. Crowd loses their minds. Internet breaks—again. Music history made.”
The whole room is in quiet astonishment at how much thoughtTony—the only one of us who has never been in a serious relationship—has put into this.
“Damn, dude,” Brandon says. “That’s actually good.”
Tony beams as if he’s just brokered world peace.
“We could even have a confetti cannon!” he adds excitedly.
“No confetti,” Johanna and Rylee say in unison.
Still weird that those two agree onanything, but honestly? It’s kind of nice.
“Art is dead,” Tony mutters, dramatically scribbling something off his pad and tossing his drumstick toward the corner.
“Tony, having her come out duringCollapseis a great idea,” Rylee says, sitting up straighter. “We can tell her the label wants their own footage of her on stage with you guys. I don’t think she would question that.”
“She’lldefinitelyquestion that,” Johanna says dryly. “She hasn’t stepped on stage since the guys signed. Not since before her accident. She probably thinks the label wants her nowhere near it. But we’ll clear it with them. We just need to keep her distracted until it’s time.”
“I’ll get Jake onboard,” Brandon says. “He can corral the Label Gods and get the venue to greenlight it. Hell, he’s probably already halfway through a spreadsheet for this and doesn’t even know why.”
“If we use the same venue where Mia first showed up,” Eric adds. “I can get the lighting guy to time everything perfectly. I know the dude running the board there.”
“Perfect,” Johanna says, pointing her pen at Eric. “That’s gold.”
The room buzzes as ideas fly. The planning has this high-stakes, ride-or-die intensity of a full-blown military operation—and Iloveit. I love how much they care. About her. About us.
Brandon is already texting Jake, who responds in all caps and probably does a fist-pump from across town. Eric and Tony are mapping out the stage cues. Rylee and Johanna disappear and return with a garment bag full of outfit options for Mia.
“This is so much better than hospital room desperation,” Tony says proudly, tossing the notepad on the coffee table.
I groan. “Can wenotkeep talking about that?”
“But he’s right,” Eric says. “This is how it should’ve happened.”
“What should we call the plan?” Rylee asks, hanging the garment bag on my mic stand. “Every great plan needs a name!”
“Grayson—no peeking!” Johanna says, slapping my wrist away as I try to look inside the bag.
“That’s a terrible operation name,” Tony says. “I’ve got one, anyway—Operation Collapse IntoYes.”
He even makes a rainbow motion with his hands as he says it.
Brandon groans, looking up from furiously typing on his phone. “Tony,no.”
“I love it,” Johanna admits with a sigh. “I hate that I love it.”
