They held each other and succumbed to the night, the distance finally closing.
Daisy felt eyes on her as she awoke to a dark room. The red digits on the clock read 4:15 a.m. Jameson lay awake, the glow outlining the line of his jaw.
She propped her back against the pillow and groggily asked, “Can’t sleep?”
A pause. Then: “We’re going on tour with NYX 5.”
Daisy gasped. NYX 5 was the dream. “When?”
“End of May until… next spring.” His fingers threaded through hers. “World tour.”
Silence stretched. Five months had been hard enough. What would twelve do?
She swallowed the ache and smiled through the sting in her eyes. “That’s… incredible.”
She leaned over and kissed him hard, hoping he couldn’t see past the façade. She was elated for him and knew that opening a world tour for that caliber of a band would only propel them further into the spotlight, putting TKC at the forefront. But a small, selfish part of her didn’t want him to go. She didn’t want to share him with the rest of the world.
“Come with me,” he said—not a question but a plea.
“What?”
“Come with me.”
She searched his face. He wasn’t kidding. “I got into Parsons,” she blurted.
His grin cracked wide. “I’m so proud of you.”
Tears returned. He wiped them with his thumbs and pressed his forehead to hers. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”
“So much,” she said, pulling the covers to her chin. “I want to go. I don’t know how I’ll handle a year without you. But I’m going to college. It matters to me. And while some people would find the idea of traveling the world with their rock-star boyfriend much more appealing than studying for finals, I’m not like most people. And my dad—he’ll hate that I’m not pre-law, and he’ll hate that I’m choosing art school over his precious Stanford.”
“You got into Stanford too?”
She nodded.
He tucked closer. “I love you because you’re not like most people. You’d pick school over a tour. I get it, and I respect it. I should’ve been clearer: I meant the summer. Come for thesummer. In the fall, we head to Europe, and you start school. It won’t be easy. But it’s us, Daisy.” He set his hand over her heart. She set hers over his. “We’ll make it work.”
“You’re right.”
“Aren’t I always?”
She laughed; he rolled and pinned her, grinning. “So what do you say? This summer: me, you, the road… plus a cramped, occasionally smelly tour bus.”
Daisy quickly kissed his lips and mumbled, “Yes.”
“What was that?”
“Yes,” she said a little louder.
“I still didn’t catch it.”
She squealed as he tickled. “YES!”
“That’s what I like to hear.”
They stayed up until dawn talking about their dreams and making promises to each other, which they both worried would be hard to keep. Life was a curveball, throwing itself at them in unexpected ways. It was fast and ever-changing; they simply hoped it wouldn’t strike them out.
When they had finally fallen back asleep, a sudden pounding at the door snapped them both awake. Daisy barely had time to cover up before the blur at the foot of the bed appeared into Harley—arms crossed, and her expression pinched with something that looked an awful lot like jealousy.
