“Hmm?”
“Go get your girl!” She grabs my shoulders from behind and gives me a shove towards the lobby. That’s all it takes to get me in gear.
I sprint towards the big front doors. They’re some sort of motorized revolving kind that stop if you try to push them, so I’m stuck going at a snail’s pace and panting like an enraged bull—to the terror of the old couple stuck in the compartment with me. By the time I get out onto the sidewalk and feel the hot California air on my skin, I can’t see any sign of Paige.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I look again, straining my eyes for any sight of her, and catch the outline of a figure all dressed in black crossing an intersection not too far ahead.
“PAIGE!” I shout, and the old couple starts speed-walking away from me. “PAIGE, WAIT!”
I don’t know if she can hear me. She’s gotten pretty far in an impressively short amount of time. I start sprinting toward her, and now Iknowshe can hear me, but she doesn’t slow down.
“Paige!” I catch up to her in front of some sculpture exhibition in a little cement lot. It’s almost completely dark out, and the spotlights from the exhibit silhouette her where she comes to a stop in front of me.
“Paige, you’re here,” I say to her back, struggling to catch my breath. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
Her shoulders start shaking. “I...I just thought...I didn’t...”
“Paige.” All I want to do is touch her, but I don’t want to risk her running away.
I don’t ever want to see her run away from me again.
“Paige, I know this sounds cliché, but what you saw at the bar was nothing.”
“You’re right.” Her voice is thick. “That does sound cliché. I should have known. I should have expected it. This is the music industry, and you’re a—”
“I’m not.” I keep fighting not to touch her. “Whatever you’re about to say, I’m not it. I promise. That girl, she’s the singer I was supposed to do the single with. I barely know her. I’ve met her twice and said maybe ten sentences to her. She was just wishing me good luck.”
She still hasn’t turned around, but she twists her head enough for me to get a glimpse of her profile amidst all her dark hair. “What do you mean, you weresupposedto?”
“I’m not doing the single anymore. I’m not doing anything with Nautilus.”
She whirls around at that, and the sight of her beautiful face so close to me, even after just a few days of absence, is enough to knock the wind out of me.
“What?”
I lift my shoulders and try for a grin. “You were right. This label, the music I was making...It’s not me. I was just doing what other people wanted because I was too scared of whatIwant. I’m still scared, but I’m going after it. I’m going to take Jacob up on his deal. I love being a mastering engineer, and maybe it’s not as cool or exciting or sexy as being the next EDM star, but it turns out that’s not what I want to do with my life.”
Her gaze darts around my face, like she’s looking for confirmation. A big group heads toward us on the sidewalk, and I put my hand on her shoulder to steer us into the exhibit so we don’t get in the way. The sculptures are all of trees without any leaves, and they seem to be made out of something like cork. Their shadows streak the concrete lot, casting the image of stretching branches over Paige and I’s skin.
“You were the first person to tell me that was okay,” I continue, “so, uh, thank you for that.”
“You promise?” She doesn’t look away. She doesn’t even blink. I couldn’t lie to those eyes if I tried. “You promise that’s all true?”
She moves a little closer to me. I’ve let my hand drop, so we’re not touching at all, but I feel her all around me.
“I promise.”
She chews on her lip for a few seconds, and then she nods. I want to sing with relief. She takes a shaky breath and then opens her mouth to speak.
“You were the first person to make me feel like I could...like I couldfeelsomething.” She holds her hands up in front of her, like she’s offering me something she can’t put into words. “When I’m with you, everything just...It lights up in a way I didn’t know it could.”
“I know.” We’re even closer now. “I feel the same.”
“I was a dick to you.”
I lift the corner of my mouth. “What instance are you referring to?”
She huffs a laugh. “Okay, fair. I meant when I...After the wedding, I just...Everything was so much, and I didn’t know how to handle it, but I still shouldn’t have handled it like that. I pushed you away, but I should have known I didn’t have to. I know that now. I talked to my mom. I went back to Brampton. A lot happened, actually, and then I flew here because I just couldn’t wait to make things right, and then I saw you, and there was some girl holding your arm, and...and...”
