Luis stopped next to me as we started to break up for the day and get to our other jobs and obligations. “Are you going to come to the Gaggle?”
“I don’t know, Luis. It’s Friday night and I’ll be on stage until nearly ten.”
“Uriah will be there,” he said.
I pursed my lips. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m ready to see him in person. He’s been texting me, and I have texted back. But I just don’t know if it’s a good idea in person.”
“I get it.” Luis nodded. “But just remember, the invitation is there, no matter what. Even if you don’t think that you can ever be in the same room again with him, we’ll all work to figure something out for the two of you.”
“Thanks.” I smiled. “You’re really getting along with those guys.”
“Christy helps.” He smirked. “She’s adorable. She swooned over me the first time we met. From the way Marcus was describing her, you wouldn’t think that she’d ever listen to anything but death metal. But she was totally a fan.”
“Ooh, a fan…”
He punched me. “Clam it. She’s a doll.”
“I’ll trust you,” I said. “I won’t make any promises about showing up on Friday but I’ll try. Fair enough?”
“Fair enough.”
* * *
I knew he was there.
It was strange, I could almost feel him in the air around me as I walked into the apartment.
“Hey! Austin! You’re still in makeup.” Chase laughed from where he was putting another bowl of chips on the table.
“Shit.” I laughed, pretending to wipe off some mascara. I hadn’t bothered to take off the stage makeup because I had stage door that night and an impulse led me over to their place.
But the stage makeup I wore was pretty extravagant. There was a lot of heavy kohl around my eyes and sometimes I really liked the way Jaime did it. Max’s style didn’t have as much flourish—he saved that for Yvette and Jayne. But Jamie liked to take his time with all of us and so few people got to see that up close.
Stage door had just happened to coincide with Jaime’s night. All those fans tonight got Austin-in-Radames makeup.
“Were you aware you have a literal throng of people outside the building?” I asked.
“Huh?” Chase asked.
“My fault!” Maddox yelled from the kitchen. “I wasn’t careful coming over and I picked up a throng.” He walked out and looked at his watch. “I thought they would have been gone already.”
“Give them another half an hour,” Nelson said from the chair. “Call down then. If they aren’t gone, we’ll go down and sign some autographs.”
I nodded. “That’s agreeable.”
“Dude, you need to wash that shit off.” Grant laughed. “You look like you were attacked by a Sharpie.”
Nelson smacked his arm. “Stage makeup is over the top. It has to be.” He looked back at me. “I think it looks good on you. Gotta be uncomfortable, though.”
“A bit,” I said. “I was planning on washing it off.”
Bryce held up his phone. “You’re playing well with the makeup on Insta and Snap.”
Marcus leaned out from his spot on the couch, clearly under the influence. “You can’t be here, Austin. You didn’t bring beer or bitches.”
The whole room cracked up at once.
“You would know what to do with a female?” Ora asked.
