“No, all seven of us!”
“What should it be, girlie?” Lily plays along, riding alongside me.
Like a bird, Trinity’s arms extend out. Biking like a drunk driver, she screams, “The Storm!”
A car honks at her weaving, and Leonidas sticks up his middle finger at its retrieving wheels.
“Trinity, you are an absolute genius!” Amelia speeds up and sends water from puddles on my legs.
Levi follows suit right behind her, but way more aggressive than my sister.
“Should we make merch?” I yell over the traffic, trying to keep pace with everyone when my body is heavy and drained of all energy.
“I know a guy who makes the sickest stuff.” With a wink, Rowan brakes behind the white line, waiting for the red light to pass. “I’m sure he’d jump on the opportunity.”
I crack up, just thinking about all eight of us wearing personalized merch for our friendship.
Throughout the ride, I discreetly wave back to several younger fans of ours. I try to reach out to Lily’s hand, but I almost topple over and get soaked.
But we don’t get many days like this, so it’s worth it.
I know something is wrong when our peaceful manager calls me alone into her makeshift office.
“I swear I didn’t do anything.” I throw my hands up in surrender when the door clicks shut.
Standing still in the middle of the room, I watch her pull out a phone and take a picture of me.
“You should see your face right now.” She giggles, looking down at the device. “You look so scared of me. I love it.”
“Can you blame me?!” I exclaim, dropping down in the seat across from her. “I don’t think it’s ever a good thing when a boss pulls one person into their office for a talk.”
“Elijah, I don’t think you’re even capable of doing any harm.”
Reaching over, she pinches my cheek. If it were anyone else, I would have slapped their hand away, but I want to keep my job.
“I called you in here not to chat about anything you have done personally, but about the media.”
Yay … my favorite topic.
“Fay, I have voiced how I don’t like talking about this?—”
“I know; I know,” she tries to reassure me with a smile. “But this is something we shouldn’t ignore, in my opinion.”
Fuck, they can just never leave me alone. What else have they come up with to start speculations about my life? That the color of my underwear determines how well I perform?
“What are they saying now, Fay?”
“It’s not only about you …”
I hate the look on her face; it’s telling me all I need to know.
“Your newfound relationship with Lily has been trending all over the internet. Everyone and their mother is talking about the two of you.”
“Don’t they always? If I walk a certain way, people start fixating about what could have caused that in my life. They’re like roaches.” I shrug, extending my legs and crossing my ankles.
I don’t mean our fans; they care so deeply about us. The paparazzi and people who don’t listen to our music and only like us for our fame are the problem.
“It’s more complicated than that.” Scooting forward, she leans on her elbows. “Lily is new to this world. From what I’ve seen and heard, she has a hard time even seeing her name briefly mentioned inanything. Am I correct?”
