Riff tenses even more. He looks at me, breathing heavily, and drags his thumb across my cheek to clear more tears. “I’m … so … sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“No it’s not.”
“No,” I admit. “It’s not.”
Pulling me up against his chest, he holds me tightly, and I let him.
It’s hard to say how long we stay like that, and we separate only when another group-chat message comes through. Carefully, I tear myself away to see what it says.
JARED:Excellent work! That’s a wrap.
Surf, Sun, and Something More? Riff and Harmony’s Beach Day Takes Things to the Next Level
Country heartthrob Riff Hurley and chart-topping pop star Harmony Sonora sent the internet into a frenzy this weekend after they were spotted enjoying a romantic date on a private Malibu beach. Paparazzi first caught the pair strolling along the shoreline, fingers laced.
“It’s giving soulmates,” one fan wrote on social media after seeing the photos. Throughout the afternoon and early evening, Riff and Harmony were visible surfing the waves, splashing in the shallows, and warming up together by a fire. At one point, they shared a set of AirPods and enjoyed some music. They ended with a long embrace that tells us this could be something extra special.
Showmance? We think not.
These Are the Places You Will Find Me Hidin'
RIFF
Ilieawakeforhours thinking about Harmony—about everything that happened at the beach, about what she’s been through. I wish I could have held her longer. I wish I had the courage to tell her how many times I wasn’t acting (spoiler: it was the whole time). But I could see she was barely tolerating me physically as it was, and only because she seems to feel bad for having misjudged me.
“I know I’ve been … less than cooperative.”
It would be stupid of me to mistake that for real—even shy—affection.
Regardless, in the morning I go for a hike and listen to some of Harmony’s music again, especially the songs that are rumored to be about Luke Onstenk. “The Ghost of You,” which I’ve heard a few times before, comes on, a piano ballad with breathy vocals that reek of hurt. Knowing details now about how Luke treated Harmony, it’s hard to hear, but … I want to know what she has to say.
People say “out of sight, out of mind,”
But I disagree,
You’re invisible, baby,
Still, you’re all I can see
Can’t miss what wasn’t there,
But I’m empty now,
You were part of me, baby,
Lost before you were found
I close my eyes, but I’m haunted
By losing what I never wanted,
When I sense the ghost of you,
What am I supposed to do?
When she repeats the chorus, I stop dead in the middle of the trail.
