So Grey and the band had hatched a plan. They brought up the conversation with Martin during one of their recording sessions, getting him to aggressively reiterate the points he had gone over with us. Dae’s lawyer mom said that since Martin was aware that a recording was in progress at the time of the conversation—even if he’d seemingly forgotten the fact once the topic changed—they would actually be able to use the recording in any lawsuit they decided file after the fact.
And with the recording in hand, they had Dae’s mom draw up a lawsuit for discrimination that the band promised to fileshould Martin go through with dropping them for anything not expressly outlined in the contract they’d signed. I had to laugh at the thought of what Martin’s face must have looked like when they’d ambushed him with that information.
“Once that was settled, Grey reached out to us to coordinate where the big moment would be,” Kellan said. “It wasn’t hard to pick since this was where you met, and the owner loves having the band play, so he was happy to squeeze them in at the last second.”
I ran my hands over my face. “I can’t believe you managed to pull this off without me finding out.” I peered at Josh. “Especially you. You’re terrible at keeping secrets.”
“It helped that you weren’t leaving your room much except for class,” Josh said with a nervous laugh. “Otherwise, yeah, I don’t think I would’ve managed to keep it from you.”
Grey met me after finishing the surprise performance, which only lasted another four or five songs. We hung out for a few hours with Kellan, Josh, and the band. Everything felt perfect as everyone talked and laughed and drank. Grey didn’t leave my side the rest of the night. His fingertips brushed against my forearm whenever he could, sending shockwaves through my arm and down my spine. I couldn’t stop smiling. At him, at my friends, at the damn drink in my hand. Everything had a romantic glow after what had happened.
It felt like mere minutes had passed when last call sounded, and we left Charlie’s to go our separate ways. Dae had made plans to stay at Lance’s place for the night, so Grey and I had their apartment to ourselves. It seemed that everyone had all but rolled out the red carpet for us to get back together. It would’ve been funny if I’d refused, given everything that people had done to ensure we would have a perfect night. Though, if I was being honest with myself, I couldn’t have said no to Grey in a million years.
We said our goodbyes then went back to Grey’s apartment. We were barely inside when his lips found mine once more.
“I could kiss you forever,” he said, emphasizing his words by kissing me again.
It was such a sweet, innocent touch of the lips, but I melted into him. Somehow, it seemed that up until that moment, I’d still had some final walls in place. It wasn’t until I felt them dissolve that I even noticed their existence.
“I missed you.”Are those tears in my eyes again?
“I missed you too,” he said.
That was the last thing we said for quite some time. We stumbled into the bedroom. His touch felt like coming home as his hands ran down my back to my waist and below. Our clothes fell away, strewn haphazardly onto the floor, then we toppled onto bed, wrapped up in each other’s embrace.
We wereinseparable for the next two days. Martin was busy with plans for a Pacific Northwest tour for the band, and there were some hints that he had lined up a gig in Chicago for the tail end of the summer. He hadn’t told anyone much about it so as not to jinx it until all the details came together, but he assured Grey that it would be huge.
Shockingly, despite his strong stance against Grey being in a public relationship with me, he didn’t act bothered at all by the stunt Dreamscape had pulled at Charlie’s. Though I was certain it had less to do with any change in opinion on his part and more to do with the viral outpouring of support that had followed Dae posting Grey’s confession of love to me on all socials.
Whatever the case, Martin was busy, so Grey was not busy for a brief, shining moment. That meant we got to spendthe weekend barely clothed, ordering takeout, and watching superhero movies. It was the type of weekend I’d been wishing for for months. Intimate, isolated, and entirely, perfectly ours.
Monday came all too soon. After a panicked morning of shoving all my shit into my luggage, I was standing at the curb, waiting for pickup with Josh and Kellan. Grey stood a few feet away saying goodbye to the band in a separate huddle.
“I can’t believe we only have one more year here,” I said, significantly more sentimental about the prospects of graduating than I had been forty-eight hours ago.
“Well, if you and Kellan can keep your grades up,” Josh teased.
“C’s get degrees, my friend,” Kellan said airily. “Plus, I’m sure I can rely on some good old-fashioned nepotism to get a jobsomewhere.”
Josh rolled his eyes. “God, I can’t believe I agreed to go with you this summer.”
“Wait, go with him where?” I asked. This was the first I was hearing about any summer plans.
To my surprise, Kellan grimaced. “He’s saving me from a summer alone with my family.”
“You make it sound like I’m throwing my body on a grenade or something,” Josh said dryly.
“Trust me, you won’t be so nonchalant once you meet them,” Kellan said.
Josh waved his comments away. “We’re going to London and Paris, and he’s paying for it all.”
I blinked. “That’s generous.”
“Eh, my parents are divorced and rich, and I’m not above pulling some heartstrings to get what I want.”
We laughed at that, then a car pulled up, driven by a severe-looking blond woman that I knew was Josh’s mom from seeing her in passing over the years. She wore sunglassesand an expression that seemed as though she’d recently bitten something particularly sour. She popped the trunk without stepping out of the car or so much as looking in our direction.
“Is everything all right there?” While I would never describe Josh’s mother as cheerful, I didn’t think I’d ever seen her so obviously pissed.
