Chapter Twenty-Two
It wasweird being back in Pineford. Back in her apartment.
Darcy laid in her bed, the same queen size frame that had barely fit into this bedroom, as dawn broke over the horizon outside of her window. One of her hands was resting on her stomach, the other tucked up under her head.
For the first time, this apartment belonged to her, and only her.
Though Blythe and Colton had closed on their house, the renovations and updating – Colton’s sweat equity – had taken almost two months. He’d just finished the final coat of paint a few days ago, and they’d returned from filming two music videos for their album coming out in a couple of weeksanddoing a promotional spot on late night, two days ago.
So, they’d still lived here in the apartment, and had onlyjustmoved their final belongings out yesterday.
And now… she was here by herself.
In the apartment above the bowling alley, which wasn’t yet open. Of course not, because Darcy’s mind was determined to BE AWAKE before six in the morning.
Usually, though, Colton and sometimes also Blythe were awake by now. The apartment wasn’t very big and definitelydidn’t have any sort of soundproofing, so almost all of the sound traveled through every room. She was used to waking up late mornings – because back when she’d worked at the bar downstairs and at Jake’s, she didn’t get to bed until the early hours. Back when she used to be able toreallysleep – to her sister and future-brother-in-law talking or cooking or cleaning or… whatever.
The quiet was almost eerie.
With a sigh, she reached to the drawer that she put her phone in at night. Trying to remove the temptation to scroll when she couldn’t sleep.
She’d put it away pretty early last night, by nine, because she’d gone down a rabbit hole of watching videos from Juliet’s tour. Once she started, it was always a slippery slope. All of her algorithms showed her Juliet, given the months of borderline obsession with one another. And if she gave in to watching a few videos of Juliet’s tour, it was almost all she saw.
After nearly an hour last night of seeing videos from Juliet’s latest show, one of her last shows, she’d forced herself to put the phone down.
It really was something, though, seeingJulietin all of these videos, and then really connecting, internally, that it was the same Juliet whose bed she spent so many nights in. The same Juliet she’d had the media feud with, what felt like forever ago now.
The way she looked at Juliet really had been fundamentally altered, though. Juliet did command the stage with a presence that Darcy was impressed by, but she never strayed from her brand. She didn’t dance suggestively, she didn’t wear outfits that were designed with raw sex appeal in mind.
Butnow, Darcy saw underneath it all, and…
And the videos were really quite exhilarating, especially all of the nights they didn’t spend together. Her body seemed hardwired, now, to respond to Juliet.
She sighed, shaking her head against her pillow, tapping her phone to life.
She had a text and an email from Zayd from last night after she’d put her phone down, which wasn’t abnormal. Their manager was always communicative, reaching out and letting them know what he was doing, who he was talking to. As they were ramping up their promo for the album with Copper Canyon, he was busy as hell.
A voice note from Emerson, which perked her up. Emerson’s voice notes were always… masterful was the best word for her to use. She loved to wait until the music store was closed then use the back room to really unleash her own musical vision.
And though Darcy had her own skills, she wouldn’t have any of them without her best friend. Darcy could play piano and guitar, because Emerson had taught her. She’d never mastered the fiddle, which Emerson could play incredibly well.
Though they now had access to music producers with a wealth of knowledge Darcy admired and respected, she didn’t takeanyone’sfeedback as seriously as she took Emerson’s when it came to melody.
As Blythe had been dialed in on this holiday party she was insistent on hosting – and inviting, like, half of the town to – Darcy and Emerson had started to both look into their upcoming tour. Amusingly, their anxieties were aligning, even if the root causes were different.
Most interestingly, she had a missed call from Juliet, and a text.
Interest and excitement utterly sparked, she tapped that notification first.
J.J. – 10:43P.M.
Well??? What are you thinking?
Confusion swept through her. What was she thinking aboutwhat?
Darcy – 6:55A.M.
I’m always thinking about many things, please elaborate
