me have a part of you?”
His hands run through his hair. He nods. He leans down and puts his forehead against mine. “You’ll wait for me to get there, won’t you?”
Tears prickle the backs of my eyes. “Of course I will.” Because I love you, I want to say, but I don’t. He’ll say it back, but he won’t really mean it. And that scares me more than anything.
I open the door. “I really have to pee. Meet you back out there?”
I expect him to be waiting outside the bathroom door when I come out, but he’s waiting for me at the end of the hallway. That’s progress. When we get backstage, Liam runs over. “Where the hell have you been? Look at this.”
He holds up his phone. A music video plays. Our music video.
“You want to know why the crowd is so happy to see us?” Garrett says. “Look at the number of views.”
My jaw drops when I see seven figures.
Crew laughs. “Score another one for Ronni, who forgot to tell us the video had been released.” He turns to Jeremy. “You knew about this?”
He shakes his head. “I’m as surprised as you are.” He tries to look excited for us, but I can tell he’s pissed. He’s our manager. He should be in the loop on these things. Hell, we all should.
“Shh,” I say. “I can’t hear it.” My eyes are locked on Liam’s phone, waiting to see the last scene.
Crew squeezes my elbow. “A hundred bucks says it’s the one we want.”
When I see myself push away all the girls and Crew pick me up and put me in the car, I almost cry. I never thought Ronni would let that ending fly, but now I understand why she didn’t tell us about the release.
Garrett says, “Holy shit, we have over a million followers on Insta. When the hell did that happen?”
We look at each other in disbelief.
“You’re on your way up,” Jeremy says. “But right now you have a set to finish. Get out there and give these people what they came for.”
I walk up the stairs to the stage—this time feeling no pain. They came for us. Not because of the two-for-one drinks. Not because it’s Saturday night. For us.
Garrett counts us off. Liam and Brad start playing. Crew and I look at each other and smile. And then we sing.
People swarm our table after the set. They ask for autographs, pictures, handshakes. Crew is stoic. He’s engaging with people, but I can tell he’s trying hard not to lose his shit. A man touches my arm, and he flinches. Another pulls me in for a hug, and Garrett has to hold Crew back. A third gets handsy when I take a photo with him, and Crew stands, his barstool falling over on his way to me.
“Oh shit,” Brad says when he realizes what’s about to happen. He shouts at the top of his lungs, “Tangerine! Uh, plantain. No, watermelon. Shit, I can’t remember the goddamn word.”
Instead of things escalating and Crew going off on Mr. Handsy, we break into laughter.
Liam slaps the back of Brad’s head. “It’s pineapple, you tool.”
Mr. Handsy moves on, and Crew takes a breath. Sorry, he mouths. I flash him a smile. He’s trying.
“Hey, how about we take this party somewhere more private?” I say.
Liam, Garrett, and Brad are enjoying the attention; they don’t want to leave. But Liam gets what I’m doing. “Good idea,” he says. The others fall in line.
At the van, Bruce is putting away our gear, and Jeremy is helping.
“Anyone know of a good bar around here?” Liam asks.
Bruce says, “I grew up close by. What are you in the mood for?”
“Don’t much care as long as they serve whiskey,” Liam says.
“I know just the place.”
We pile in. When Jeremy looks ready to find his car, I call, “You want to join us? It’s your celebration too.”
“You want me to come?”
I smile. “I do.”
He looks at the guys. They shrug at each other. Then Crew says, “Why not? The more the merrier.”
Two hours and a bottle of whiskey later, we’re the only patrons left in this quaint neighborhood bar. I’m impressed Jeremy’s still with us, given he’s at least ten years older than we are.
“Reckless Alibi is on the map now,” he says proudly. “It’s only going to escalate from here. With SummerStage coming up, I can promise you things will happen quickly. Get ready for the ride. Most of you have worked your whole life