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“We spent hours last night—literally the whole ride to Phoenix in silence. She barely looked up from her laptop.”
Her mother’s eyebrow arched. “And what were you doing?”
Riley sank into her seat. Her mother knew her better than anyone.
“Were you on your laptop, too?”
“Maybe.”
“Riley,” Lauren sighed, but it was more out of sadness than anger, “I know making friends is hard for you but you’re going to be spending the next few weeks with this woman. You need to talk to her; get to know her as more than a coworker.”
“I know.”
“I only say that out of love, you know that, right?”
“Yeah, I do.” She smiled at her mom on the screen. Judging by the background, she was in her office at work. “I miss you.”
“I miss you too, sweetie.”
After chatting with her mom for a few more minutes, they said their goodbyes and Riley promised to call after the show to let her know how it went. Riley hoped to report that everything went great and that she had actually talked to Harlow. But in order for that to happen, Riley would have to find Harlow. And if their paths didn’t happen to cross during the day, Riley could at least say she would have talked to Harlow if she’d seen her.
However, with the tour’s first show only a few hours away, Riley really needed to focus on work. There were photos to be taken and content to be made to keep the Maine Event fans happy. She knew with live streaming capabilities the fans at the concert had that she would have to stay on top of retweeting and reposting them. The fans always seemed to love it when a verified account noticed their videos.
And after being on the other side of the screen for so long, Riley was ready to make some fans’ dreams come true.
Chapter 7
Harlow
Everything about being on tour was as exhilarating as it was exhausting for Harlow. She loved being behind the scenes and watching all her hard work come to life before her. Harlow enjoyed being able to see the venue transform from a boring arena to a sold-out crowd cheering for the band.
Of course, those same things also stressed her out. She constantly worried that she’d missed something vital to the functionality of the tour that they would have to cancel. It didn’t matter that Harlow knew she had triple-checked every single detail she needed for the tour. Things were going to be great. Harlow had no doubt.
Peeking out behind the thick curtain, Harlow scanned the bustling crowd that was slowly filing into the arena. There were over twelve thousand people who had purchased tickets to the first show, and Harlow knew they could have easily sold out multiple nights in some locations. But Johnny hadn’t been interested in that. Harlow never asked him why; deep down, she probably wouldn’t like his business manager reasoning.
“Insane crowd, isn’t it?”
Riley appeared out of nowhere at Harlow’s side. Her camera hung from a sturdy strap around her neck and her phone was in her hand. Harlow hadn’t seen her since that morning when Riley had scared the shit out of her while getting out of the bed. She wanted to be annoyed by the whole thing; after all, it seemed Riley was a walking disaster at times. But there was just something about her that made it almost impossible for Harlow to get upset about.
“Sorry about scaring you this morning.”
“It’s fine.”
“I tripped over your suitcase.”
“Oh, so it was my fault you woke me up like that?” Although Harlow was teasing, she could tell Riley thought she was serious. She looked like she was almost on the verge of tears when Harlow said, “I’m just giving you a hard time.”
“Oh.”
The uncomfortable silence hung around them for a moment before Harlow spoke again.
“I have a really dry, sarcastic sense of humor.” She smiled her sweetest smile at Riley, hoping to show her she truly meant what she was saying. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Maybe I’ll get used to it tonight.” Riley’s smile was more of a smirk, and Harlow wondered what she was up to. “I booked us a table at this bar near here. It’s supposed to be a really cool place and has great drinks.”
Harlow’s mind couldn’t process what Riley was saying. Was she asking her out on a date? She couldn’t imagine why Riley would do that. And if she were, she wasn’t doing it awkwardly. Which at least tracked for what little Harlow knew about Riley.
“You booked us a table? As in,” Harlow pointed back and forth between them, “me and you?”
