Chapter thirty-seven
Olive
Ittakesmeasecond to realize what I’m looking at.
Empty seats.
So much space, and not a single other soul in sight.
"This is where we’re playing tonight?" My eyes take a second to adjust to the brightness. After sitting in the dark for twenty minutes, I got used to it, but my thoughts trailed off, and I thought about Orlando.
He mentioned that he lost his vision temporarily, and I almost felt suffocated by the blindfold, taking away something from me I’d always taken for granted before.
In my deep dive of symptoms, possible scenarios and outcomes, I hadn’t considered losing my vision to be something I should worry about.
Now that I personally know somebody who went through it…God. I shake the thought away.
Orlando and I are on two different paths. Just because it happened to him doesn’t mean it’ll happen to me, too.
Doesn't make it any less daunting, though.
Once the car had parked, I forced myself to stop thinking about it, and now here we are.
The roof of the arena is open, the sun hot on my skin, and I do my best to ignore it.
"It is," Akira says with a smile, my hand still in hers. I loosen my grip, remembering our conversation from earlier, and she lets me drop it by my side.
I don’t usually see the venues we play in this way—bright, and empty with scuff marks on the ground, and no sign of life. When we do sound check, it’s usually just me and Iggy, but there are countless other people shouting things left and right, making sure shit gets done.
This…this is something else entirely. The calmness of it all makes me think that maybe I can do this for as long as my body will allow.
However long that may be.
I look over my shoulder, expecting to see a totally empty stage, but I don’t.
"What’s that?" I say, nodding my head to the picnic-sized blanket that sits in the center, and a woven basket beside it.
"Confession time." She blushes, walking slowly ahead of me toward the area that looks almosttooinviting. "I had all this planned before the news broke about you and Avery. Before I realized you were actually developing feelings." She shrugs and lowers herself to the floor like it’s no big deal. "But I didn’t want it to go to waste."
I step forward, words half-formed in my mouth, ready to correct her. To tell her she’s wrong. To convince her, and maybe even myself.
But before I can say anything, she keeps going.
"I know things between you and Avery started as PR," she says gently. "And I know you think there’s nothing real there—" I tryto cut in, but she lifts her hand to stop me. "But something about it feels…different. And I’m not trying to come between you two. No matter how it’ssupposedto end."
She pats the ground beside her.
I sit, letting the silence fall for a moment. Leaning back on my hands, I close my eyes and let the sun melt into my skin.
"I owe it to myself, and to him, to really give this a shot, you know? We both have our reasons for doing this. I just hope it works out and we haven’t done it for nothing." I smile, wriggling and a little uncomfortable. "My career is too important to me to let it slip through my fingers because I was too afraid to take a chance."
"What if taking that chance makes you fall in love with somebody you least expected to?" She watches me carefully, eyebrow slightly raised.
I scrunch my nose up at the thought. "I won’t. I’ve never been in love before, who’s to say I’m even capable of it?" It’s a harsh reality, one I learned to accept a long time ago. Twenty-eight years and nothing has ever come close to what I’m told love should feel like.
"If this whole…fake marriage thing wasn’t happening right now, could you see something happening between you and me?" Her dark green eyes hone in on mine, searching for something. I can tell she doesn’t find it when her expression softens.
I shake my head. "I don’t think so, no. And I totally understand if you want to cut all ties to focus on the tour," I tell her quickly, while mentally reminding myself that I’ll be okay without one less friend in my life to add to my already non-existent stack of them.
