Lance and Henry exchanged glances that told me not only was Grey correct but they also regretted the life decisions that had led them to do any sort of manual labor at such an obscene hour of the morning.
I took another sip of my coffee, enjoying the warmth against the chilly spring air. The thought that I could help briefly crossed my mind. But by that point, I knew the boys well enough to realize I would only slow them down since they would insist on micromanaging me for fear that I would damage their expensive equipment—which would be fair enough.
“Shall I give you the grand tour?” Grey gave a sweeping gesture toward the dingy white bus.
“I would love a tour, good sir,” I replied, my tone a playful copy of his.
His bandmates groaned as we took the steps into the bus. The back was loaded with cases for instruments all carefully stacked to prevent too much shifting. The front half was empty except for the cracked black leather seats. The bus windows weren’t the most secure. Every time something was added to the storage space under the bus, one of them quivered in its frame. And a strange-looking stain marked the driver’s seat.
“It’s not much,” Grey admitted. “But Dae refuses to spend more than the bare minimum on anything not directly tied to making or producing music.”
“Well, until we get a manager,” Dae said, climbing into the bus as well, “we need to save every penny we get from our gigs.”
The other two joined us shortly after, and we were on our way. The ride passed much faster than I’d expected, the nearly six hours between us and our destination seeming to melt away. But I realized that was likely because Grey and I held hands in the rear of the bus nearly the entire way. I still wasn’t accustomed to his touch, and every moment shot a thrill through my system. Every brush of the knuckle brought a swell of excitement. Every line drawn on my skin with the tips of his fingers was a jolt of electricity.
I was beginning to understand what songs meant when they compared love to a drug. Because if love was like this, then I didn’t know what else to compare it to.
I blinked in surprise at the trees and hills passing outside my window.Do I love Grey?The way my heart constricted shakily in response told me yes, but I was wary. It seemed so fast.Sure we’ve known each other for months at this point, but doesn’t love take a while to develop this strongly?
I glanced at Grey, who grinned at me when he realized I was looking at him. His smile brought yet another flutter in my chest, this one so strong that I had to look away.Shit, I do love him.I stared at the cracked leather of the seat in front of me as my emotions worked themselves into a frenzy in my chest.
“You okay?” Grey touched my forearm with two light fingers.
I nodded. There was no way I could confess my feelings at that moment, certainly not when I’d just been ambushed by them myself anddefinitelynot in front of the band—or I supposed technically behind the band. Whatever. The band was within earshot. That was what mattered.
“Just getting stir-crazy” was all I said.
Fortunately, he accepted the response and gave my hand a quick squeeze. “Same. We’re almost there, though.”
And he was right. Less than half an hour after my epiphany, the canvas of nature that had been the view from our windows finally gave way to the sprawling city of Portland. After another half an hour of traffic, a few confused GPS directions, and some colorful language from Dae, we finally arrived at the venue’s parking lot. Well, it was less of a parking lot and more of an unused square of dirt that someone had decided was a good place to put vehicles for the festival.
Grey got busy unloading the van with the boys. I offered to help but was immediately shot down.
“I like you too much,” Dae said. “And if something accidentally broke, I’d be a huge dick, even if it wasn’t your fault. Your help just wouldn’t be good for our relationship.”
“Just stand there and look pretty,” Lance said with a cheeky grin, earning a playful swing and miss from Grey.
We followed Dae—who seemed to be the only one who knew where we were supposed to go—weaving our way through the throngs of people. Though it was still early in the day and hours before the festival officially started, the streets were crowded with people drinking and laughing loudly. I was forcibly reminded of the tailgating parties on campus, except this waseverywhere.
Finally, we found the spot where Dreamscape would play. The stage was set up in the middle of several fenced-off blocks, sitting right at a street intersection between two bars that looked busy despite the early hour. The band showed their passes to some burly men wearing dark security shirts, who took a bored, if thorough look at us before gesturing us backstage.
“Backstage” consisted of a covered area with thin black cloth strapped to a chain-link barrier. A breeze meandered through the space, lifting some of the fabric to reveal people walking the streets outside. It felt horribly exposed to me, but no one else seemed bothered by it.
“Right, since we’re the first on tonight, we get to set up now, then we can relax a bit,” Dae said.
Lance and Henry shared a dubious look.
“What?” Dae asked.
“Nothing, nothing.” Henry held up appeasing hands.
“It’s just hard to imagine you relaxing. Like ever,” Lance said.
The trio started arguing among themselves, and Grey rolled his eyes, turning away from them and toward me.
“You don’t need to see this,” he said. “Why don’t you go find a place to get some drinks, and I’ll join you in a bit?” Translation:the bickering would likely get ugly before they finished setting up, and he didn’t want me to get caught in the crossfire.
“Yeah, I’ll just go over there.” I gestured vaguely to one of the bars fenced into the venue with us.
