The crowd is instantly into it, cheering, clapping, some already up on their feet. And the best part of the song hasn’t even happened yet. Phones come out, camera lights blinking to life as people record. There’s a loud whoop from someone near the bar and I hear my girl yell, "Let’s go, cowboy!" I feel like I’m fucking nine feet tall with the way she’s beaming at me.
Even Winter is singing the chorus, one hand on Tristan’s shoulder like she’s silently saying sorry for contributing to his misery. Tristan is still scowling, but there’s the ghost of a smirk on his face when she leans into him.
I own the stage for the first verse, playing to the crowd, giving them everything. I’m feeling it. Feeding off their energy, off the way Lilac’s watching me like I hung the stars just for her.
I would fucking hang stars for her if she wanted me, too.
When Ludacris’ part hits, I hop off the stage and start heading toward my table of friends. A move that in hindsight is probably frowned upon, but not illegal. I make my way through the crowd, spinning once just to get a cheer, and then I’m back on course to our table.
My eyes lock on Lilac.
She’s glowing.
Singing along, mouthing every word with a wide grin on her face, her cheeks flushed with laughter. Winter’s laughing beside her, bumping her shoulder gently in rhythm. Madi’s filming with her phone, shaking her head like she can’t believe I haven’t missed any of the lyrics.
But Lilac, my eyes are just drawn back to her. She’s sincerely the only fucking thing I see.
She looks carefree. Lit from the inside out.
And it hits me. This is the happiest I’ve ever seen her. And it’s because of me. Because of us.
I stop in front of our table and hold the mic toward Tristan like we’re going to do a duet.
He glares at me and deadpans directly into the mic, “I will kill you in your fucking sleep.”
The whole place erupts into laughter.
But I don’t care about any of them. My eyes flash back to Lilac.
Because she’s watching me like maybe, just maybe, she loves me the way I love her.
When my song is over, and I return the mic, I head to the bar, feeling invincible, and order drinks for the table. When I glance back, I catch Lilac laughing with Winter. Happy is a good look on her. Winter’s hard to crack, and seeing her take to Lilac like this… it makes me feel like everything’s falling into place.
Tristan’s absentmindedly stirring the ice in his drink with one hand and twirling the end of Winter’s braid with the other. He looks tired. Not just physically, but worn out in a way that sits behind his eyes. He’s not doing well. I can see it, and I’m starting to worry.
I turn back and nearly walk straight into Madi.
"Ahhh!" I shout, jumping back. I don’t need Hayden trying to kick my head in for knocking into her.
She’s giving me that stern big-sister glare, arms crossed. Then I see Hayden looming behind her like a bodyguard. But he’s not glaring though and oddly he doesn’t look like he’s powering up to fight me. He’s grinning, like he knows something I don’t.
Madi levels me with her eyes. “I need you to not mess this up with Lilac. I really like her and I want her to stay.” I hate to say this, but I’m not used to seeing her do anything but smile and it’s throwing me off, so I’m trying not to burst out into laughter.
“What did I do?” I’m grinning like an idiot because I was not prepared for the girls to become this close this fast. That’s aninteresting and promising development, and it makes my chest warm.
“Nothing yet, I’m just letting you know…” she scrunches her nose up like she’s trying to remember what her argument was now that I’ve poked a hole into it. Madi’s voice returns to her regular soft tone, but she tries to stick with the bit when she says, “Just see that you don’t. Or we’ll be speaking again.” This time I do snicker because we speak every single day, and this makes her nostrils flare because she apparently really wants to keep Lilac as a friend. And well, that just means every-fucking-thing to me.
The girls love Lilac just like I love her, and that means she can never leave me. Because I’ll just send in the blonde-haired, pink bow wearing terror Hayden has created to negotiate for me if she ever tries. “You don’t like her talking to guys. I’m a guy, shouldn’t you be throwing a chair or threatening to castrate me with a broken beer bottle?” I say to Hayden because this is some bullshit also that he’s encouraging this. He should have my back the way Madi clearly has Lilacs in this fake fight that Lilac and I aren’t even having.
Hayden shrugs. “I’ll make this one exception. I want to watch her chew you up and spit you out. I think it might be my new kink.”
I roll my eyes. It’s cute, Madi getting all protective over her new friend. I’ve known Lilac longer than anyone here, but it’s nice she’s got people in her corner now.
I say. “You don’t need to worry. I’d never let anything happen to her.”
Madi glares up at me and pokes me in the chest. “Good. Or you’ll answer to me.”
She turns and walks away, her blonde ponytail bouncing like she didn’t just threaten my life. Hayden follows, still grinning.
