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She snorted, trying to hold back a laugh. "That's because I don't know the words."
"You're shitting me."
"I know the words to Hot Cross Buns," she said. "But who's crossed?"
"Oh fuck, are you serious?" I asked. "I thought my teachers were saying crossed all this time."
She laughed now. "Oh, my God."
"What?" I was still strumming because I thought I found a decent rhythm.
"I finally found something you suck at. It's a historical moment, one they'll be talking about for ages."
"This is the thanks I get for putting myself out there?" I stopped playing and tossed the guitar back on the bean bag where it would continue to collect dust. "I'm being vulnerable with you, singing in front of you and getting lyrics wrong—which is brave."
Noah's eyes widened, afraid for a moment that she'd truly offended me. She started to smile when I got close enough to climb on top of her.
"It is brave," she agreed between the kisses I bombarded her with. "You are brave and did a wonderful job singing those wrong lyrics and playing that beginner-level melody. Screw me or anyone else who says otherwise."
"I'd prefer just screwing you," I said. She laughed as I knocked us over, the springs of the bed squeaking from our weight.
Noah wrapped her legs around my waist. "Good. Me too."
Chapter Twenty
Noah
The high I was on only got higher when I went in to work, Tyson waiting at our cubicle. I beat Sage in from the break room and told him she was on her way. We all got in the habit of checking in with each other during the morning to ensure we were on the right track.
"I need to speak to you," Tyson said in a lower tone than usual. "Alone. Want to follow me?"
My stomach dipped, mind going to all the bad places before the good. I nodded at his question, even though there wasn't much space for a no.
I tried to study Tyson's body language in the hopes I could figure out if it was good or bad news he was ready to share. The slope of his shoulders was unusual, his walking pace moderate enough to assume he was in no rush, nor was he dreading the end destination. He even took the time to greet a few fellow editors.
By the time we got to the Bloom Room, my pits were sweaty. I kept trying to run through all the good that'd happened to me in the past few days. I'd caught up on all my Leisah work. Our team was on track to ship everything on time. I'd gotten to third place on the Inkmic leaderboards. Then, there was Sage and everything that happened between us. We were better than I ever thought we'd be together. The memory of a few nights ago was on replay and never failed to make me feel ten times better. If I wanted to be calm, I thought of her.
"Do you already know what I'm going to say to you?" Tyson asked with a smile. He leaned against the boardroom table and turned to me, his arms across his chest.
"What?" I blinked, bringing my vision back into focus.
"You're already smiling like you heard the news," he said simply. "I know rumors spread quickly around here, but I didn't think they'd go that fast."
I shook my head. "No, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, well, good." He nodded. "I wanted to be the first to tell you."
"Tell me…?" I shifted my feet. Sitting might have been wiser, considering how antsy I felt.
"Every year, the board wants pitches for new lines,” Tyson started. “Usually, established head artists are the only ones to get requests. This time around, I got a request for one artist, and it happened to be you."
I couldn't feel my knees, chest, hands, anything. "Me? Noah? Not Sage?"
Tyson chuckled. "Yeah, you, Noah. A lot of people have been enjoying your work, – including a few board members. They know how much you've put into re-vamping Leisah. I've given firsthand accounts of how many of your edits we've used and how much the beta readers prefer your changes."
"I…I don't know what to say. What does this mean?"
"It means, if you have a story to pitch, I will work with you to make sure it has a shot at going to print."
