I walk out of the sound booth an hour later.

Nickie D pats me on the back. “Platinum in six months.”

“Hey,” Xavier calls from behind. “Band chat.”

“Band chat?” Nickie raises his eyebrow. “Which one of you did some shit I’m gonna have to get you out of?”

“You were with me, so my buck’s on River.” I laugh.

We walk into the conference room and sit. Finn is chewing on a pen cap, staring at his notebook; River is baby talking to Xavier’s kid, who’s in some jumpy thing; and Billy is messaging on his phone.

“Okay, listen up.” X-man starts. “The talk about the opening act contest has gone fucking viral. We aren’t just getting rock bands; we’re getting Americas Got Talent shit. So, Taelyn, Nickie D, and I have decided we are going to step in until we get this record produced or find some people who know talent.”

“Groupies know talent.” River laughs, and so does the kid. “Yeah, they do. Huh, little buddy? Fist bump.” He holds up his fist, and the kid literally taps his fist with his hand. “We’ll work on that.”

“Or until Patrick understands what the hell is going on, which looks to be any day now.” Xavier looks at Taelyn and shakes his head. “This is happening too damn fast. It’s your fault.”

“My fault?” She laughs and picks the kid up. “Lunch time.”

“See? Your damn fault,” he scolds her, but when she walks away, he smiles.

He returns the focus to the task at hand. “As much as you all are dying to be involved, we’ve got it for the first few dates. Shit’s subject to change, and I really would like you guys to be part of this. It’s good for your image. Show support and love for the community, and they’ll show it for you. We all on the same page here?”

“I’ll help whenever, X,” River offers.

“Sober?” Xavier asks.

“Right now I am, but not gonna promise that in a couple hours. Besides, I’m at my fucking best when I’m in my own head.”

“But not passed out on stage, River,” Xavier warns, looking at him and trying his best not to yell.

“I kept my shit together for the Burning Souls tour; I will be doing the same for ours.”

“Travel is booked. Madison has done really well at that, and she’s working with Taelyn on social media promotion of the band. Nickie and I are trying to set up interviews and radio spots in cities where we are playing. And the album,” he pauses and smiles, “fucking insane.”

“Epic,” Nickie concurs.

“Orgasmic.” River laughs.

***

There’s a man here with a car, and it’s not you. <3

He’s gonna bring you to me.

So I should trust a man with a black town car who may possibly resemble someone from an Italian mafia movie and not an OBGYN who works in an office surrounded by people because he has a penis? <3

Enough finger tapping. Get in the car.

A little while later, I see her get out of the car and look around. Her shoulders sag a bit, but there is no regret on my end.

I’m sitting outside my mom’s home by the outdoor fire pit with my acoustic when she walks up.

“Come on over here,” I say as I put a foot on the bench and pat between my legs.

She smiles a little. “Is that safe?”

“I’m not sure. I guess we’ll find out.”

She walks up, sits between my legs, and leans back. “If you get uncomfortable, let me know. I’ve sat on this bench a million times, for hours on end.”

“Listening to a dumb kid strum his guitar and watching him dream.”

“He wasn’t dumb.”

I laugh. “Are we going to argue about younger me, Tales?”

“No. I just wanted you to know that I’m perfectly comfortable on this bench.”

“I wasn’t talking about the bench, Tales. I was talking about the harpoon that will very possibly be poking you in the back any second now.”

She looks up and smiles. “I see.”

I lean down and kiss her, and she gives it right back. After a couple of minutes, I pull back and groan.

“Does it hurt?”

“What, Tales?”

“The wizard.” She blushes

“No. I was thinking about a new song. Mouth open, tongue in … I better stop there.”

“Sounds very interesting,” she says.

I reach behind the bench and grab the bag I brought for her. “I hit Yelp up and found a couple vintage shops, so I got you some things.”

She smiles and takes the bag, not opening it. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Aren’t you gonna look at it?” She leans against me fully and looks over her shoulder.

“I’d rather look at you while I have you.”

“Play along, Tales.” I kiss the top of her head and push the bag toward her.

I watch her open the bag and smile. She pulls out the first one—a Kermit the frog T-shirt.

“When I look at you, I see cartoons and everything in vivid color,” I tell her.

“Cartoons?” she whispers

“Yeah.” I laugh. “You used to come over after school and watch them with Mads. You would laugh at the same damn jokes over and over.”

“They were funny.”

“Maybe. I wouldn’t have noticed; I was too busy being amused by how damn easily you smiled.” She looks at me and smiles. “Like that, Tales.”

“I like smiling.”

“Thank God, because I love your smile.”

She pulls out the next. “Star Wars?”

“Vintage, and Billy went with me. He likes that shit.”

“Do you?”

“I did as a kid, and so did you. Mads hated it.”

“Thank you.”

“There’s more.” I point to the bag.

She reaches in and pulls out another tee—Rolling Stones.

“It’s vintage, but new.”

“I like it.” Her smile is bigger now as she reaches in for another one.

Pearl Jam, The Doors, The Who—one after another, she pulls out the T-shirts, grinning from ear to ear. She then pulls out the long skirts, all thin material and flowing.

“So, I was thinking … I don’t want you to change because of me, I want you to be the same girl I have been drawn to since forever. I want you in clothes that don’t scream groupie, and I want you naked in my bed. I’m scared to death that my lifestyle will change you, and I want nothing to do that. Not me, not the road, not a damn thing, Tales.”

She turns and looks at me. “I’m not changing.”

“I need you to soar, too, Tales. Follow your dreams, not mine.”

“I am.”

“I know.” I push her hair away from her eyes and then pull her toward me, just so I can smell her. God, she smells good all the damn time and everywhere, too.

“Look, I found a little house on the shore. I want it to be a place where you and me, you know …”

“Have sex?”

“Well, yeah, but maybe … I don’t know. Fuck, Tales, live together?”

“I live with my mom, Memphis. She needs me.”

“I need you, too.”

“I’ll be there for you anytime, anywhere.”

“Good. Then you’ll move in.”

“Memphis …”

“Tales, I’m serious. I’m gonna be on the fucking road the whole damn month of September, and that’s just a start. If I can grab a plane and get home, I want your ass there, ready for—”

“I’m going on tour with my dance company, Memphis. When we’re in town at the same time, I will be—”

I’m still trying to swallow that pill- her being on the road and shit- but this whole ‘Soar Memphis’ has me tripping.

“I love you, Tales. What the fuck? I’m asking you to—”

“You what?” she asks, stunned.

“I love you, and—”

“Stop. Just stop at that and let me enjoy that before you go and attach strings to it, okay?”

“Attach strings? Wow, Tales, that’s fucked up.” She’s acting like she didn’t say she loved me, and she fucking does. I know it.

“No, Memphis. Love is not fucked up.”

Insta-tarpoon. Tally said fuck, and she knows I’m hard because I am railing her in the back right now.

“It’s new. We are going in two different directions and—”

“Cut the shit, Tales!” I snap. “Tell me what you want.” And do it now, I want to scream.

“You. Just you and me and every second we can get together, without”—she smiles and moves her back from side to side slightly—“obstacles in our way. I want you, but I want me, too. What you just said”—she holds up the clothes—“what you did … You want the same thing.”