Page 66 of The Pursuit of Happiness
Nate and Miles say hello to Brody and Ivory, both of whom seem totally fine and relaxed, until Rogan greets them. They try to be polite, but there’s no hiding the discomfort that his presence brings them. And they aren’t the only ones, because as soon as Rogan is standing before me, his eyes roaming over every inch of my body, I want to crawl out of my skin and hide behind Sly forever.
Nate hugs me hello and I hug him back. Miles does the same.Rogan makes an attempt to hug me and the air practically vanishes from my lungs, but Sly wraps his arm around me to assert his claim and establish a boundary with Rogan, whose lip is now curled in distaste.
The door opens again and another figure enters. Harvey. He ignores everyone and only searches for Brody. She relaxes when she sees him, rushing over to greet him and melt into his arms. He grumbles a quick hello to everyone else and makes sure to keep Brody at his side.
“So, what are you guys working on?” Nate asks, excitement and interest in his voice. His eyes are fixed on my guitar, which is still slung around my body.
I grin, “A solo for a new song. I took inspiration from you.”
He places a hand over his heart, “I’m flattered. If you ever need other kinds of inspiration, let me know,” he winks and I laugh, knowing it’s a joke.
Sly frowns, “Watch it.”
Nate rolls his eyes, “Bro, please. We all know she’s your girl.” He turns and faces Ivory, blowing her a kiss, “My heart belongs to Ivory Aslan, anyway.”
Ivory can’t help but laugh at Nate. Since the clubbing incident, they started talking a little and Ivory informed me of their newfound, completely platonic friendship. They actually get along pretty well and have hung out once together. It’s refreshing to know men can still maintain platonic relationships with women.
“What brings you guys by?” Sly asks, changing the subject and asking the question that’s been on all of our minds.
Miles answers, “Steve told us to stop by and post a lot of pictures on Instagram. Apparently Selene told him to tell us or something.”
Brody laughs, “Sounds like Selene.”
Ivory adds, “Pulling strings from all sorts of angles.”
The next hour is taken over by everyone hanging out and laughing. Miles and Nate take plenty of pictures for social media, some in particular, of Sly and I. Even Rogan makes attempts at being involved. I have to give it to him, I really think he meant his apology and his promise to Sly. Sly explained all of the details to me about how Rogan at one point had a thing for me and his whole attitude problem was fueled by jealousy. He seems to have gotten past his issues because he’s engaging in normal conversation with the rest of us and is, dare I say, actually enjoyable to be around. Who would’ve thought?
Harvey doesn’t laugh. He doesn’t smile. He just focuses on Brody who is seated on his lap. To those who don’t know him, he may seem like a rude piece of shit who hates everyone but Brody, and while that is a totally true claim, I know that part of Harvey’s intensity is caused by Rogan’s presence. Brody told him what was going on all those weeks ago and I think that it was no coincidence that Harvey showed up at the same time as Rogan. Selene probably warned him and he probably went all alpha male and wanted to make sure he was around to defend Brody from Rogan breathing the same air as her.
Ivory sits next to Nate and Miles sits on her other side. I sit, curled up in Sly’s lap and Rogan is seated on my previously vacated stool, the couch a little too cramped.
“When we beat you guys at the Muse Awards, make sure to wear waterproof mascara because you’re all pretty, but not pretty enough for tear stains,” Nate teases as he props his feet up on the glass coffee table and shovels pretzels into his mouth.
I want to roll my eyes at his stupidity, but I just watch as Ivory reacts for Brody and I, the little New Yorker in her coming out, “First of all, motherfucker, yes we are all very pretty,” she preens, tossing her hair over her slim shoulder, “And second, make sure you wear waterproof makeup of your own because the only people who are leaving the Muses crying, are goingto be the four of you.” She points a pink, perfectly manicured finger in Nate’s face and he attempts to bite it but she draws her finger back before he can, laughing at his stupidity.
Through all the chaos, I nearly forgot the Muse Awards were coming. They’re a couple of months away. It’s amazing how my mind went from only thinking about the Muse Awards to not thinking about them at all. The award doesn’t seem important anymore. I couldn’t care less if we win or not. I already feel like I’ve won. I look up to find Sly immersed in the bickering between Nate and Ivory. I watch him before he notices me looking and smile at how genuinely happy he looks, surrounded by all of our friends.
When he finds me watching, he kisses my cheek quickly and I grin so wide my cheeks hurt.
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THUNDERSTRIKE IS LEAVING THEstudio about two hours later with plenty of images posted on social media. #Slaria is still the most trending hashtag on social media right now and the pictures only made the fans go crazier.
As they leave, Rogan taps me on the shoulder and asks, “Can I talk to you for a second?”
Sly watches from across the room where he is with Nate and Miles and he takes a step forward to intervene, his features suddenly rigid, but I shake my head at him as if to say,It’s fine. I’ve got this.
“Sure,” I agree. I follow Rogan to a more secluded corner and I can feel the eyes of everyone in the room on us, though they try to continue whatever conversations they were having so as not to cause any unwarranted awkwardness.
Rogan tucks his hands in his pockets and doesn’t lift his gaze from his feet, “I just wanted to apologize for how I acted. I’m sure Sly told you the truth, which is that I was jealous and thatwas why I acted how I did.” He looks up, his deep green eyes on mine and continues, “It wasn’t an excuse to be so rude to you or your friends and I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”
I let the sincerity of his words sink in and I offer him a gracious smile, “Thank you, Rogan. I respect you owning your shit. It takes a lot of strength to do something like that and to admit that you were wrong. I appreciate it.”
He gives me a relieved look, “Thank you.” He takes a deep breath before he asks, slightly uncomfortable, “Do you think we could try being friends?”
I nod, “Of course.”
Rogan nods, grinning, “Thank you, Aria.”
