to work while we talk it out, and I’ll take a Lyft back?”
“Can it wait?” I asked.
“Depends. Is this going to bother you today?” I hesitated, and he smiled. “Let’s handle it, and then you don’t have to carry around this thing all day that actually does bother you.”
I searched his face. “You don’t seem nearly dysfunctional enough.”
He snorted. “For what? A guy?”
“A rock star.”
“Retired. A retired rock star. But when you meet my family, you’ll understand. I’m not allowed not to be grounded.”
Warmth spread through my chest at the idea of meeting them, followed immediately by dread. “Wait, are they going to hate me?”
“Why would they hate you?” He sounded genuinely confused.
“Because of the meme?”
That made him laugh out loud. “You should have seen how mad my mom got after I said that on Live with Laura. She’ll probably try to cut me out of the will and adopt you instead.” Then a look of worry crossed his face. “Is your family going to hate me?”
“Uh...”
He rubbed his eyes. “Crap. I should have thought about that.”
“I don’t have any magic words for you, but I wish I did. It might take them a while.”
“Kiss it better?” he asked.
“Will it help?”
“Might cure me.”
“Then I guess I’d better.” And I did, which is why Chloe found us making out in the stairwell five minutes later.
“I haven’t had enough coffee for this,” she said from the top of the stairs.
I dropped my head against Miles’s chest where he leaned against the wall. Because I’d pushed him there. “So I have some news,” I mumbled.
“Uh huh. Let me use my incredible reporter skills to figure this one out. Based on the clues, y’all figured out what everyone who has ever spent three minutes around the two of you together has known for months?”
“You’re a genius, Chloe,” Miles said, nudging my chin up for a quick kiss. “But I knew it months ago too.”
“I admit, it was hard with so few context clues.”
I could hear her eyeroll even though I wasn’t looking at her.
Miles gave me a light swat on the butt. “Go get your stuff, and I’ll meet you at your car.”
Chloe gagged and skimmed past us down the stairs. “For real, not before my coffee.”
“Love you too, Clo,” I shouted after her.
A few minutes later, Miles was buckling himself into my passenger seat. “So tell me why you don’t want people to know you can sing. And Ellie?” He made sure he had my attention before he continued. “Not just sing. You’re as good as anyone I’ve ever worked with.”
I stared at the steering wheel for a moment, then put the car in reverse and backed out while I considered his words.
“I know I am.” I pulled into the street and signaled for my turn at the corner. I did know that. I’d started coming into my voice around eighth grade when it had deepened enough to put me squarely in mezzo-soprano range.
“I’m glad you know. You’re so good,” he said. “Your voice reminds me of...”
“Sara Bareilles,” we said at the same time.
He turned his head to grin at me. “Guess it’s not the first time you’ve heard that.”
I shook my head. “You should hear me cover ‘Brave.’”
“I’d like to.”
“I’ll do it for you some time.” It felt easy now that he’d already heard me.
“But only for me and no one else?”
“No. I don’t sing in public anymore.”
“Why the hell not?” His voice was totally baffled, not sharp.
Miles knew everything about the Starstruck fallout but this. It was the last piece, and I didn’t want to give it to him. Only this time, it was because I didn’t want to hurt him by bringing it up.
But he was right. I tended to walk away from anything uncomfortable, and I wanted to work on that. I took a deep breath. “I don’t know how to explain this to you without making you feel bad.”
“It’s okay. You can tell me.”
I turned onto St. Claude and tried to think of a nice way to say it, but there was no saving the situation. He was going to feel bad no matter what. “I used to have a YouTube channel,” I finally explained. “I’d do covers. Every now and then, I’d try an original. And I got an okay number of views. Around 20,000 on each video. But after I went viral, the trolls came out.”
He cursed, then sighed.
“Yeah. I’ll spare you the comments, but it was constant. It wouldn’t stop. People would post the crying