He greets the audience. Then he looks down for a beat. When he raises his head, he grasps the microphone tightly. His perfect face is set, determined. “I’m playing you a new song tonight. No one’s heard it yet. I wrote it for the only girl I’ve ever loved. She’s also the girl I wrote ‘She’s Magic’ for ten years ago. She was magic then. And she’s magic now. And I hope I’ll get to see all the ways she’s magic every day for the rest of my life.”
Pain lances at my gut, and confusion swirls in my brain, making me dizzy. I thought he was over Helena. Is this him soft-launching our breakup? Is this why he didn’t go to the awards show with Briana as planned? Because he’s getting back with Helena?
But when did this happen? He was just with me.Nothing makes sense. I raise a shaking hand to cover my mouth, feeling like I might be sick.
He looks straight into the camera and smiles. Amid the whirling questions, my breath catches and my heart dips. Because it’s his real smile. The tender one, the one that makes me feel like we have a private joke only we know. It’s the smile he used to save forme. “Her name is Daisy. And she’s the most stunning, confounding, mesmerizing, brilliant woman I’ve ever met. This song is called ‘Forever I’ll Follow.’ And it’s for her. Because that’s my plan for the rest of my life.”
And he plays a familiar, haunting tune that I recall hearing him practice many times over the month.
“Holy shit!” Olivia screams. “Holy shit, Daisy!”
“Daisy, what the hell is going on?” Chase growls.
“Shh!” I whisper fiercely, every atom of my body focused on Ryder and his song.
His rugged voice sings about a girl who will always be in his heart. Who he’ll follow anywhere, forever. I feel lighter with every syllable he sings. This room in Malibu is silent, hanging on his every word. The awards show auditorium is silent, hanging on his every sound. And when the last yearning note holds and lingers, the auditorium bursts into applause.
He bows, grins like a little boy, and then looks into the camera and winks. He mouths what looks very much likeI love you, swings his guitar behind him, and saunters off the stage.
Everyone in the room is frozen in shock.
“Fuck,” Olivia whispers. We all stare at Olivia, startled. Because she rarely uses the word.
“Fuck is right,” Emma says. She turns to me. “Is there something you want to share with the class?”
“I—I’m just as astounded as you all,” I say. My shaking hand moves to my heart. Unable to believe what I just saw.
“Well, that didn’t fucking calm the gossips. It seems to me there was more going on in Rockhaven besides fake-dating and pet-sitting,” Chase says flatly.
My phone beeps. I look down at it and see it’s Taylor. There are no words. Just exclamation points over and over. I grin.
My phone beeps again. I think it’s going to be Taylor, but it’s not.
Archie’s Daddy:
I need to see you. Will you meet me at the Music Awards after-party? Please? A car will pick you up in twenty minutes.
My hand fumbles with the phone multiple times, but I manage to type a sentence.
Me:
Since you said please.
I stand abruptly. “I have to go,” I say, looking around the room in a daze.
“Where?” Olivia asks.
“Um. The Music Awards after-party.”Shit.I remember what I’m wearing. Of all the days to be wearing sweatpants. I mean, they’re really cute pink Juicy Couture sweatpants from the late ’90s, but still. I don’t have time to go back to my hotel room to change.
“Emma—” I say.
“Don’t worry, babe.” Emma, as always, anticipates my needs. “You can borrow something of mine.”
I praise the heavens that Emma moved in to Sebastian’s place when the guys moved out. She said it was just convenient because she was always there, anyway. But I know it was to make sure Sebastian doesn’t slip too far into the hard party lifestyle that derailed his life. When Ryder and Chase lived with Sebastian, they served that purpose, and when they left, she took over.
Chase gets up. “I’m going too.”
Olivia stands. “Well, I’m not missing this.”
