Page 16 of The Song We Lost

She studies my face, then nods. “Okay. One day.”

I don’t tell her why, she already knows. I wait until later, until the venue is quiet and the adrenaline from the show has faded. Luke is in the green room, tuning his guitar absently, his band scattered around the space. Noah looks up when I step inside, something like hope flickering across his face. They played in thecity at a festival last night and came to watch my show before we headed to our next stop.

Luke smiles when he sees me. “Hey, Sunshine,” he says. “You killed it tonight.”

I sit beside him on the couch, close enough that our knees touch. “Can we talk?”

His smile dims, just slightly. “Sure.”

I take a breath and go for it, “This tour is expanding,” I say. “More dates and potentially bigger spaces.”

“I figured,” he says. “People are losing their minds out there.”

I nod. “We need an opening act.”

He waits and I see his band members perk up around us.

“I asked my team to hold off,” I continued. “Because I wanted to talk to you first.”

His brow furrows. “Me?”

“You and the band.”

Silence stretches between us, thick with possibility.

“They are letting me decide,” I say quickly, before doubt can creep in. “I think my audience would love you guys. We could play some of our old duets. And...” I stop myself, force my voice steady. “We’d be together.”

Luke leans back, arms crossing over his chest.

“We’d travel together,” I go on. “It would be like how we always envisioned it. We could write again, play in each other's sets... Finish something side by side instead of passing each other in cities like strangers.”

His jaw tightens. "You get to decide? So that's the only reason it would be me?"

“This is a partnership. This is what we always talked about.” I plead.

He lets out a short laugh, sharp and humourless. “Is that what this is?”

I blink, feeling the weight of everyone's eyes on me. “What do you mean?”

“Are you offering to drag me along?” he asks. “Let everyone think I only got here because of you?”

“That’s not... Luke, no one would think that.”

He stands, pacing now. “Are you kidding me? That’s exactly what they’d think.”

My hands shake in my lap. I want to reach for him. I want him to comfort me, but he is the one causing this discomfort.

“That’s your pride talking,” I say quietly.

His head snaps up. “And that’s you not understanding what I’m trying to do.”

“I understand perfectly,” I say, standing too. My voice shakes despite my effort. I can feel Noah's eyes on me, like he wants to jump in and defend me to his little brother. But he can't help me with this. “You want to make it on your own. You’ve made thatveryclear. But what I don’t understand is why that has to mean losingus.”

He stops pacing, looks at me like I’ve said something unforgivable.

“I’m working on my own thing,” he says. “I don’t need your charity.”

The word hits me like a slap.