“No!” Piper shouted, making me jump. “These kinds of things need to be done face to face.”
“But he already left.”
“So? Go after him.”
“But I can’t just leave. I have to work,” I protested.
Piper huffed. “Get someone to cover for you! There are other teachers! Like that one girl, you know...?”
“Leanne? Ugh, she always uses too much glitter. It makes a huge mess.”
Piper jumped up and grabbed the letter out of my hand. “Glory! This!” She exclaimed, dangling the letter in front of my face. “That!” She shouted, pointing to the picture of Collin on her laptop. “Are you really going to let too much glitter stand in the way of this? And that? Glory, I haveknown you for years, and I keep on wondering when you’re going to wake up and live your life!”
I broke into a smile, grateful that I had a roommate that knew how to give a good pep talk and put things in perspective. I grabbed her laptop and looked up where the Rooftop Wanderers were playing next. Las Vegas.
I looked at Piper. “Do you want to come to Vegas with me?”
“If you’re asking if I want to fulfill my lifelong dream of being a groupie for my favorite band, then the answer is a definite yes!”
I turned to Tara. “You’re welcome to come too,” I offered.
She shook her head. “No thanks, I have to work, and even though I’m super happy to be part of your love drama, I still don’t really like you that much.
I inclined my head. “Okay, that’s fair.” I looked back at Piper. “Let’s start packing! We’ve got to leave tomorrow!”
Chapter Twenty Four: Glory
We walked up to the venue and I felt my heart begin to race. It had been all well and good while I was driving, thinking about a beautiful romantic reunion with Collin where all was explained and forgiven, but now that I had finally reached my destination I wondered what I was going to say to him and if he would even want to see me at all.
“Hey,” Piper said, interrupting my thoughts, “after you confess your love to Collin and make out in front of hundreds of cheering fans, can I meet the band?”
I snickered. “I highly doubt it’s going to happen like that. But if everything goes well, then sure, I don’t see why not. Why?”
“Well, Collin is clearly unavailable, but the drummer is pretty cute. I’d really like to meet him.”
“Okay, I’ll just make sure to let him know that he’s your second choice.”
Piper shoved me playfully, but by this time we’d reached the doors and I was in no mood for joking around anymore. We scanned our tickets and went into the theater, which was a lot bigger than I had expected. There were probably 700 people in there. We were a little late because I had had to take care of some things at work before I left, and they were in the middle of playing some song about running in the rain.
I looked up at Collin and I felt warmth spread throughout my entire body, which was a completely different sensation from the last time I had seen him.What a difference one letter makes, I thought. They finished the song to loud cheers, and I heard several people call out: “play Glorious Mess!”
The band members shared uncomfortable looks, and then Collin spoke.
“We’re not going to play Glorious Mess tonight,” he announced. There were numerous shouts of dismay from the crowd. “I’ve recently realized that song is insensitive, and we’re reworking it. But, we do have a new song that we’re going to play right now. It’s about...” his voice started to shake, so he cleared his throat and blew out a breath. “It’s about a girl that I started writing letters to when I was in fourth grade. We wrote to each other for years, and I fell in love with her. Two weeks ago, I finally met that girl, and she was amazing. But I made a huge mistake, and I’m afraid I’ve lost her forever.”
A sympathetic chorus of “aw” resounded through the theater, and a few girls shouted: “We love you Collin!” Which made me feel a twinge of jealousy.
“Anyway,” Collin continued, “I wrote this song for her, hoping that maybe some day she’ll hear it and forgive me.”
I heard Piper sniffing next to me, and I glanced sideways at her.
“It’s just so sweet!” She exclaimed. “How are you not crying?”
I looked back at her hopelessly. Honestly, I didn’t know what to feel. I was stunned that he was being so candid, so vulnerable, and that he was saying and doing all of these things for me.
The band started the new song, and I kept my eyes glued to Collin, hanging on every word that he was singing.
Your words were all I needed
