Page 72 of The Only Thing That's Real
Knox
“Where the hell have you been sneaking off to?” Matt asks.
“Good question,” Sean agrees, blocking the door. “Pretty sure I know the answer, but I’d like you to tell us.”
We’ve just signed five hundred vinyl record covers in Trevor’s suite. This was after a six-hour commercial shoot for the number one streaming app in the market. I’m too exhausted for a deep dive into my personal life, so I don’t answer.
“Wherever you’re going, I support it,” Jay chimes in from the couch. “You haven’t been this easy to be around well, ever.”
“I get it. I can be an asshole.”
Matt laughs. Jay coughs, and Sean says something underhis breath that sounds something likeunderstatement of the year.
“You know you can talk to us. About anything. The good or the bad.”
“I know, Matt. I know.”
“We know you’ve been going through something you haven’t wanted to talk about. We respect that and we’re here when you’re ready. But when we see something good happening between you and Ryan, it doesn’t make sense you wouldn’t want to share that with us.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Come on, we think it’s great. Why the hell are you hiding it from us? We aren’t stupid.”
“Part one of her article came out this morning,” Jay chimes in. “You read it yet?”
Ashamed as I am to admit it, I haven’t. Things are good right now. I’ve ignored her article to avoid any possible shrapnel I may catch from reading it. She’s putting me back together. I’m not ready for my pieces to shatter again.
“Your girl can write.”
My girl.
I like how that sounds.
Jay hands me the copy of the magazine on the table I pretended not to notice earlier. “It’s great, man.”
“You all read it?”
They nod and I take a seat on the opposite end of the couch, flipping through the magazine until I see the headline...The Hollow Knocks Are Not A Band. They’re A Family.
My heart warms and from the opening paragraph it soars. She’s captured us as we are and not how the world sees us.Our hardworking grit and our love for each other take center stage. It’s not about me, it’s about us.
When I read the last lines, my feelings for her are cemented.As these small-town boys embark on their final two weeks at Madison Square Garden, they may be saying goodbye to life on the road, but we will always have their music embedded in our souls. As fans, we’ll continue to turn to their songs as we navigate the ups and downs of life. We can always count on the Hollow Knocks to get us through a heartbreak or to celebrate life’s highs and commiserate with the lows, just like this family of brothers have been doing together for over two decades.
Whoa.
“It’s fucking great,” I admit.
“She’s fucking great.” Surprisingly, it’s Trevor who speaks up. “She gets it.”
I nod. All I can think about is how badly I need to get to her. Need to kiss her. Need to tell her how I feel. Excited, I get up from the couch and make a beeline for Trevor’s kitchen not wanting to wait another minute.
“Tell us what’s going on,” Matt demands. “We aren’t stupid.”
I help myself to a bottle of champagne and Trevor’s full bucket of ice. “Gonna borrow this.”
“Sure, help yourself, shit stain.”
To irritate him even more I kiss him on the cheek. He tells me to fuck off.
