Page 103 of Lyric & the Heartbeats

“So what were you guys talking about down here?”

“Nothing,” Henry answered honestly and shrugged.

“Just… nothing?” she echoed, tracing her gaze over Nohen for confirmation. “Cool.” Lyric glanced down at the glass of amber liquid. “Hmm… looks convenient alright.” Her eyes watered when she lifted it to her nose to sniff. “Oh god.”

“It’s for drinking, not sniffing,” he teased, overcome with the urge to smooth out the bridge of her nose as she wrinkled it in distaste.

But even in the haze of his buzz, he recognized that small gesture would be too much. At least compared to the boundaries he’d set thus far, the professional relationship he’d carefully blueprinted out and pasted to the inside of his brain.

That didn’t stop him from staring as she lifted the glass to take a sip.

Henry tried not to think about the fact that her lips were touching the same spot his had.

Instead of parting her lips and letting liquid flow from the rim of the glass into her mouth, she slurped.

Oh look, he was thinking about it.

She winced, rolling a shiver off her shoulders as her expression tightened. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips, and he followed the movement with his gaze.

“Gross,” she hissed, holding the glass out as if it offended her.

Henry chuckled and reached out a hand to take it from her, but she curled her arm back into her chest and swatted his hand away.

“I’ll still drink it,” she promised, exasperated.

Lifting his hands into a pose of innocence, he shrugged. “Okay, okay. It’s all yours.”

He’d stalled enough. It was time to go in.

“Where are you going?” she inquired as he pushed off the banister and took a step toward the doors.

“Inside?” he replied.

From her expression, it was the wrong answer.

“I didn’t mean to chase you off,” she said. “If you stay, I’ll stay.”

Part of him recognized that he should have argued with her. It was he who’d begun chastising her as soon as she’d stepped one dainty foot out the door. If anyone was scaring anyone away, it was him.

Maybe it’s better that way.

But, like usual, he didn’t listen to the much smarter voice inside his head, and he turned to face the both of them. Nohen looked less than thrilled by her ultimatum, and worry snagged onto his chest. Like a clothespinned note on his ribcage stating, “jealousy risk.”

“You guys sure?” he asked, though he wasn’t as eager to leave Lyric’s presence as he projected.

“Yes. Today was… a lot. Let’s unpack.”

Henry arched a brow in surprise before he took a seat beside Nohen, the wood of the bumpy banister against his back less than comfortable. One chair remained, and he wasn’t putting Nohen out more than necessary by sitting above him.

See? He knew how to be polite.

“Do we have to?” he questioned with a wince. “I only just finally got my mind off everything.”

Finally. After the buzz had chilled him out enough to exhaust his brain from chasing the what-ifs around the track of his mind.

“That’s fair,” Lyric conceded, and tilted the glass at him. “Tell us a story of another tour, maybe a day with a little less… chaos.”

Henry leaned his head back against the porch rail and hummed. How strange that he suddenly couldn’t recall a peaceful day of tour besides the ones he’d had on Lyric Ceran’s bus.