“Thank God for that,” I said louder than I’d meant to, and the others laughed.
We downed our shots.
We chatted aimlessly, falling easily into our regular rhythm. Even while we were talking, my mind wandered. Somehow, Kellan mentioning that we were one year closer to graduation made me consider something that hadn’t occurred to me before.What would next year be like without Grey in my personal life but seeing him everywhere around campus? What would it be like to see him gaining more and more fame and maybe hear him accidentally on the radio, only to think about what could have been?
Maybe I should just transfer for my senior year,I thought, though I knew that wasn’t practical, and even if it were, I wouldn’t want to leave everything else behind just to get away from a guy—no matter who he was.
As time went on, Josh started acting strange. He was notoriously bad at keeping secrets, which was why he usually just said he wasn’t allowed to give information so he had aslittle to lie about as possible. But since I’d been so excited about Lucky Charlie’s, I’d assumed the secret or surprise Josh had clearly been keeping had been the bar we’d spent so much time at over the years. Kind of doing something for old times’ sake, specifically to pull me out of my funk. Watching Josh’s behavior, I wasn’t so sure.
“Everything okay?” I asked him after he’d checked his watch for the third time in five minutes.
“Yeah, why?” He tried to play it cool, but he was a little too twitchy for it to feel natural.
I narrowed my eyes, looking from him to Kellan and back. “Charlie’swasthe surprise tonight, wasn’t it?”
Josh didn’t meet my gaze, while Kellan looked straight into my eyes when he said, “Of course it was.” He was a much better liar than Josh.
“Right.” I thought through every possible scenario that I could conjure at that moment. If I were in their shoes and planning something for me, I’d probably plan on… “Please tell me you two didn’t.”
“Okay then.” Kellan laughed. “We didn’t.”
“Yeah, you’ll have to be more specific,” Josh said, seeming to relax finally.
Before I could force myself to voice my worst suspicions, the room around us erupted into applause, and I looked up to see Grey and the rest of Dreamscape walking out on stage. Grey had his guitar strapped to his back, and the rest of the band made their way to instruments already set up for them. My heart leaped painfully at the sight of Grey, which really sucked because I’d been hoping that the next time I saw him, I would be unfazed. It had been a laughable hope. I doubted I would be able to so much as think about Grey for the rest of my life without my insides doing a weird twist.
I cursed myself internally.How did I not notice any posters at the entrance?I was sure that if I’d been looking for it, I would’ve noticed that Dreamscape was performing tonight.How did I not even think it was a possibility?After all, this was where I’d first met Grey.
“You tricked me,” I hissed at my friends. “What happened to celebrating our last night of freedom?”
“We did what needed to be done,” Kellan sniffed. “Would you have come out if we’d told you he would be here?”
Obviously, I wouldn’t have come. I had barely left my bedroom as it was. “I hate you so much right now.” I wanted to get up and leave. I wasn’t sure I could stand listening to Grey sing songs that just reminded me of better times.
Before I could make a move to go, Grey leaned into the mic. “Hi, everyone,” he said then waited a moment as everyone in the bar cheered.
I froze, held in place by the sound of his voice.
“We’re Dreamscape. I know we’re not on the schedule for tonight, but Charlie’s holds a special place in our hearts. It gave us a lot of our first gigs, so we hope you’ll indulge us in a surprise show.”
From the noises made in response, no one minded the change of plans in the least.Who wouldn’t be thrilled for a free, surprise show from campus’s most popular band?
“Also,” Grey continued. “I have to admit I have a selfish reason for this appearance.” He strummed a few notes on his guitar. “I recently messed things up with someone I deeply care about. Someone I love.”
A few scattered “awws” followed, and Grey gave a wry, consoling smile.
“His name is Ethan,” he continued. “And he’s here tonight.”
I felt the color drain from my face. I was certain I’d just had a stroke or misheard what Grey had said. That made moresense than what I thought I’d heard. Grey wouldn’t out himself to a room full of people. He needed to be careful and keep his sexuality under wraps for the sake of the band. He wouldn’t ruin everyone’s chances just for me. But he just had.
“I wrote this song to help me process the whole thing. I hope you’re okay with hearing some new music.”
Charlie’s cheered again, and several people pulled out their phones to record. Everyone seemed oblivious to the monumental moment they’d just witnessed—how could they know?They’d heard a confession of love that meant nothing to them. All they cared about was that they would be the first to hear a new Dreamscape song, and that would guarantee them future bragging rights.
The band began to play—just the keyboard and drums at first. Lance played two notes, alternating and repeating over and over. Then the bass came in. And finally, Grey’s guitar followed by his voice after a couple of beats.
“Happy times seem like fairy tales.
Now it’s just this storm.
