“Still, I shouldn’t have lied...”
“Collin! You came and found me! You did what I was never brave or optimistic enough to do! I can definitely forgive you for being dishonest because you’ve shown me that you never gave up on me. Collin Finlay, I love you.”
His smile was so big and his eyes were so bright that I was afraid he was going to explode with joy. He gathered me up in his arms and kissed me again.
“Collin, I hate to break this up, but we’ve really got to get back out there.”
I looked over and saw the rest of the band watching us. The drummer stepped forward and shook my hand.
“Glory Parker, I am so happy to finally meet you! I’ve been hearing about you for years!”
Collin ducked his head in embarrassment. “Ah, Glory, this is Logan, my roommate from college.
I gasped. “Logan? I remember you!”
Logan put his hand over his heart. “He wrote about me? I am so touched. I feel like I’m famous or something.”
I heard a noise and turned to see Piper walking toward us.
“Piper! How did you get up here?”
She smiled. “I just told that security guard I was with you and he helped me right up.” She turned to the band. “You guys are amazing! I am such a huge fan!” She gushed.
Logan cleared his throat. “Um, Glory Parker, are you going to introduce us to your very attractive friend?”
I could practically see Piper squirming with delight. “Of course!” I exclaimed. “This is my amazing roommate, Piper Lee, and she was just telling me today how hot she thinks this band’s drummer is.”
Piper pinched me, but Logan’s face lit up. “We’ll have to talk more about that after the show,” he said with a wink.
“Okay, kids, all this love and flirting is making me feel like I’m in middle school,” the keyboardist complained. “Let’s go finish the show already!”
“I’ll be right out,” Collin promised as the rest of the band headed back to the stage.
“Don’t worry,” the bass player said to Collin as he passed,” I’ll do some improvising. It’ll buy you at least another couple minutes, and it’ll make Jeremy so mad!” He added gleefully.
Collin turned back to me and pulled me close. “In case it wasn’t glaringly obvious, I love you too, Glory Parker.”
I laughed. “I figured, but it’s always nice to hear.”
“So, what now? Do you want to join us for the rest of the tour?” He asked hopefully.
I put my arms around him. “I can spend the next few days with you, but then I have to get back to work in Phoenix.”
Collin nodded. “Okay, then after that I will call you every day and text you multiple times a day... or, I could always write you letters,” he said with a mischievous grin.
I gave him a quick kiss, wondering if I would ever get my lady parts to shut up now that they had been fully awakened. “I think maybe it’s time for us to graduate to e-mail,” I joked.
He lifted me off my feet again and kissed me until I couldn’t think straight. At that moment I was extremelygrateful that there hadn’t been enough girls in Collin Finlay’s fourth grade class.
Epilogue: Collin
I unpacked the last of my boxes and stepped back to take a look at my new apartment. It looked empty. Probably because it was so much bigger than my apartment had been in New York. And I didn’t have a roommate. Logan and I had decided it was time for us to have our own places. But at least he was only a few doors down.
Getting the band to relocate to Phoenix had actually been pretty easy. Marco had family here, and Logan was pretty smitten with Piper Lee, so smitten that he had started working out, which was a shock to all of us. The only one who had needed any convincing was Jeremy. He thought that New York was the most sensible and convenient base of operations for our band. But once I showed him how much we’d be saving on housing and studio rental, he was sold.
I took one more look at my apartment and moved my sparse furniture around until I was satisfied. There was just one thing left to do. Tell Glory.
The last several months had been fantastic. I had been in communication with Glory nearly every day, whether it was through texts, phone calls, emails, and yes, even the occasional letter. But as much as I loved talking to her, I loved being being with her even more. The band had been busy with recording new music and Glory had started an internship at an aerospace company in addition to teaching part time at Monet Cafe, so our opportunities to visit one another were limited. She had come for a couple amazing weekends in New York, and I had spent a week with her in Phoenix in the summer, but it just wasn’t enough. So I had made the decision to move, but I wanted it to be a surprise for Glory. I was crossing my fingers that it would be a good surprise.
