After the show,Luca took a few photos with fans before the venue began pushing people to leave. He worked the room with quiet confidence before thanking each of his friends for being there. We lingered for a bit while Luca spent time catching up with Aunt Gladys and Mr. Fink. He didn’t stop smiling once.
Dallas and Katie offered to give my mom a ride home so I could stay with Luca. She was all too happy to take them up on that, but I did jokingly warn Katie that my mother might try to steal her man. Luca followed me home when we left The Bluebird, and I laughed when he picked up Earl Grey, spinning him around in pure unadulterated joy, while Binx hid beneath the sofa.
We recounted the evening curled up on the couch, sharing our favorite moments before falling into bed together where I celebrated his performance with one of my own.
The next morning, we were roused from our slumber by the muffled sound of a phone ringing.
He groaned, the soft light spilling around the blinds, casting shadows over his face.
I pried one eye open to find my phone on the nightstand. The time read 10:37 a.m.
“It’s yours,” I mumbled, my voice thick with sleep.
He pulled me closer.
“They’ll call back,” he murmured.
And they did. Immediately.
“Goddamn it.” He grunted and slid out of bed, taking the warmth of his body with him. The floors creaked beneath his weight as he rifled through his discarded clothes. “Shit.”
The ringing stopped only to start up again.
“What on earth is going on?” I asked through a yawn.
Finally, he retrieved the device from the pocket of his leather jacket before dropping it back on top of the heap of fabric.
“It’s Grace,” he grumbled.
“I hope everything’s okay,” I said as he swiped his finger across the screen and placed it on speaker. He climbed in bed beside me, leaning back against the headboard.
“Hey Grace,” he answered. “What’s going—”
“Everyone on the internet is talking about you,” she blurted out. “Some videos from the show got posted on Instagram, and now you’re all over the place.”
My eyes widened, and Luca’s jaw fell open.
“Page Six, the New York Post, and hell, even CNN posted about you,” she continued, her voice a full octave higher than normal. “They even talked about you onGood Morning America!”
“What?” I half-asked, half-shrieked as Luca gripped my arm.
She squealed. “But that’s not even the best part. Jacob Waterton fromRolling Stoneshared a clip of you singing ‘Death Row’ on Twitter or X, or whatever the hell it’s called, and it already has 1.3 million views. He said, ‘I’m calling it now: this new record is gonna be the renaissance of Luca Sterling.’”
I gasped. “Oh my God.”
“Are you serious?” Luca raked his hands down his face, his eyes never leaving mine.
“My inbox is already flooded with interview requests,” she said. “Jimmy Fallon, Kimmel, Seth Meyers…you name ’em, they wanna talk to you.”
I screeched with excitement as I shot up, clutching the sheets around me.
“I…I can’t believe it.” Luca cupped my face in his hands, gazing up at me with disbelief.
“Believe it,” Grace said with a laugh. “This thing hasn’t even dropped yet, and people are already throwing the G-word around.”
“G-word?” I asked. “Wait, as in the Grammys?”
“Yup,” she answered.
