Before & After - Nazarea Andrews Page 0,62
home from Barrie’s.”
“I fucking know that,” I snap. “She wanted to stay. So fuck off. She’ll be fine.”
He looks at me for a minute, skepticism in his gaze, and I growl softly. “I’m not doing anything that will fuck up what I have with her. You ought to know that. She’s all that matters.”
“What if she doesn’t want this? If the next step is signing with this studio and moving to be closer to the indie scene? You know the five year plan.”
I do. It’s always been the plan—work and build our name in Knoxville before we move to Nashville or Austin.
When we made the plan, it was just us. Two friends with no attachments and big-ass dreams. The girls changed that. I glance at Lindsay as she almost runs past with a sweater and a wide smile. “What about her? Can you let go of her if we leave and she doesn’t follow?”
“Lindsay will. She already knows the plan. She’s known from the beginning.”
I stare at him in shock and he lets out a sharp laugh. “One day, dude, you’re going to stop being a distrustful ass, and start letting people in. You might want to do it before Peyton wakes up and realizes how much you don’t tell her.”
He gets up and follows Lindsay into the bedroom, and I stare at the closed door for a long minute.
Then I stand and walk into our room. Peyton is half in the closet, wrestling a dress off a hanger. She grins at me when she tosses it on the bed, and then stills, staring at me. Her brow furrows. “What’s wrong?”
“Would you move with me? To Austin?”
She blinks, her mouth falling open.
She’s still so fucking beautiful it hurts. And she’s scared. I can see it in her gaze, darting away from mine.
“If this works out, for Scott and me. Would you follow me?”
“Do you want me to?” she asks, her voice shaking.
I move, coming off the bed and catching her around the waist, kissing her hard and fast. “Fuck yes. I love you, Fish. You’re everything to me. I don’t want you to move with me. I want to marry you. I want you with me forever. I want every vacation to be this mad dash around while you giggle and plan. You writing while I draw. I want you to steal my razor and bitch when I touch your coffee and I want every fucking holiday with you. I want everything, Peyton. I don’t even care about the music. I love it, and I love being able to do it with Scott, but if it ever comes down to you or the music, I’m going to pick you. Every fucking time, I’ll pick you.”
She’s leaning against me, her head on my chest, and I can feel her shoulders shaking. When she looks up, her eyes are bright and shiny, but she’s smiling, this brilliant fucking smile that makes my insides ache. “Did you just propose?”
I don’t even think about it. “Yeah. You saying yes?”
“You fucking idiot,” she murmurs, and then she’s kissing me, and every fucking thing in my world is right, because she’s in my arms.
“Is that a yes?” I ask desperately, and she laughs.
“Of course. It’s never been a choice, Rike. I love you—and that means Scott, and everything that come with him. So yes. I’ll move to Austin with you. I’ll move anywhere. And I’ll marry you whenever you’re ready.”
“This weekend.”
She laughs, and she nods before she kisses me.
This. This is the real shit I’ve been chasing for so long. The family I always wanted and never had. The friends in the other room. This girl, in my arms.
This girl. She will always be everything I’ve ever wanted.
Chapter 28: After
It's laughter and little lessons and heartbreak.
It is never easy.
But.
Easy is empty.
It's bland and boring. It doesn't make my heart
Sing or dance or hurt.
Easy is empty. And you.
Are everything.
(Rike’s poems to Peyton)
The day it happens starts like any other. I’ve been home for two weeks now, and although we’re all working to bring Lindsay out of her shell, to get her to trust us and trust what she and Scott have, it’s not working. We can feel her slipping away, and feel him sliding into a deep depression. Rike is fighting to keep him, and Lindsay is vanishing before our eyes.
Rike pops into my studio early this morning, with another cup of coffee and a toe-curling kiss that pulls me instantly from the paints I’m laying out.
I’ve