The rest of the world hadtaken a little longer to catch up.
My hands hurt from clappingand my throat hurt from cheering for him by the time he got to the stage,standing in front of the microphone and holding his statue with nervous,fidgeting fingers.
He deserved this. After allhis hard work, after building a new career from the ashes of his old one, hedeservedthis. Being here to see it felt like the best thing that’d ever happenedto me.
Quinn cleared his throat, wethis lips, and then gazed out at the audience.
“Wow, there are so manypeople here,” he said. “I uh. I didn’t expect towin, so umm. I haveno idea what to say. I guess… there are a lot of people in my life who deserve athank-you for this. My parents, who gave up so much so I could chase my musicdreams. Miles, who got me a new guitar after my life fell apart. LucyWillis—you guys know her, the producer—who helped me make the connections Ineeded after my career went up in flames. Gray and Logan, who treated me like anew baby brother when I needed them most. And…”
He paused, looking over inmy direction. There was no way he could see me from the stage, but his eyesmanaged to land on me anyway.
“And Fox. Who I wouldn’t behere without. Three years ago he found me crying in a recording studio bathroomand told me to get back in there and record a songIwrote. That wasright after he kissed me, and I was hoping he’d kiss me again, so Icouldn’t exactly say no.”
I laughed along with therest of the audience. I would have kissed him again anyway, but he didn’t need to knowthat.
“But that moment changed mylife, even if I didn’t know how all this would turn out at the time. I wouldn’tbe here now if not for him. So. This one’s for Fox,” Quinn said, holding thestatue up. “I’ll claim the next one for myself.”
He grinned at the audienceone last time, kissed the host on the cheek, and then climbed back down fromthe stage.
By the time he got back hewas blushing bright red, cradling his statue, still smiling as though he couldn’t stop himself.
Maybe he couldn’t. I wascertainly having a hard time.
This time, I took his handfirst, squeezing it tight.
“Congratulations, love,” Imurmured in his ear. “Proud of you.”
Quinn turned his head, thenleaned over to press his lips to my ear instead. “We can sneak out during thenext break,” he whispered. “I’d rather spend the night with you than all thesepeople.”
Linking our fingerstogether, I squeezed his hand again, rubbing tiny circles over his thumb.
With my other hand, Ibrushed my fingers over the little velvet box I had hidden deep in my pocket.
Tonight was a good night tooffer it to him, after all.
