Page 56 of Wish We Were There

Taylor’s eyes were full of hope as he smiled in response. “I think so, too.”

Epilogue

Taylor

Six Months Later

“You’re not going to fucking believe who I just fucking booked.”

Taylor and Parker looked up, surprised, from where they’d been sitting on the balcony. Parker’s laptop was open in front of him as he worked on an article; Taylor had come up here to work alongside him, humming softly to himself while scrolling through an email on his phone. They had heard footsteps coming up the balcony stairs, but the appearance of Sadie—the Caesura Room’s booking agent—was a surprise. She was panting as she stood at the top of the stairs, as if she’d come running from her office to find them.

“Who?” Taylor asked, frowning as he started to stand up—but then Sadie laughed, running an incredulous hand through her long, purple hair. Her circular glasses made her eyes look huge with excitement. “I just got off the phone with Jason Daugherty’s manager,” she burst out. “They’re going on tour with the Astral Complex.” Taylor blinked, the words processing for a moment, but Parker’s mouth dropped open instantly.

For the past several months the Caesura Room had been open, the final show for Get Well Soon had been the biggest show they’d put on. Since then, they’d had many open mic nights, and several smaller, more local queer-fronted groups had put on shows as well, but nothing huge. Nothing like this.

“Holy shit,” Parker said, laughing in shock. “Seriously? Together?”

Sadie nodded, and it all hit Taylor in a rush. Synesthesia was putting out a new album, but it was also the ten-year anniversary of Dying to Leave, the breakup album that had defined their careers—there was no way that wasn’t intentional, even if the tour wasn’t for that album specifically.

“Didn’t you interview Jason last year?” Taylor asked, looking back at Parker, who nodded. “Did you know he was going to do this?”

“No, when I talked to him, he had a new album in the works, but this...” Parker started, then shook his head. “I’m seriously shocked. I tried to talk to him about Sterling and the Astral Complex a bit, but his agent pulled the plug as soon as he was mentioned, so... I don’t know. It seemed like maybe Jason wanted to make amends, but I have no idea how he might have managed to convince Sterling to do something like this.”

“I know!” Sadie squealed with delight. “This is going to be huge. And they’re playing here! Here!”

Parker laughed, glancing sidelong at Taylor. “He asked me about you when I interviewed him, now that I think about it.”

Taylor stared at them both a moment longer, still absorbing the situation. Even though Synesthesia was surely no longer in their heyday, and The Astral Complex had never been as commercially successful as Jason’s band, the fact that they would be touring together for the anniversary of their own breakup album was... He couldn’t decide if it was painfully tacky, or some genius marketing move. Maybe a little bit of both.

“Wow,” he finally said simply, unsure of what else to say. “That’s... Yeah, that’s wild. I bet that whole tour is gonna be sold out. They knew what they were doing for sure.”

“I wonder how they convinced Sterling to come out of retirement,” Sadie murmured, the question sounding as innocuous as if she were talking about her own relative, and not a public figure that hadn’t been heard from in half a decade. Then she gasped, eyes growing even wider. “Oh my god, you guys, what if they got back together? Is that why they’re doing this?!”

Taylor laughed; considering how cruel a picture Dying to Leave had painted, that seemed incredibly unlikely. “I really, really doubt that, Sadie.”

“We could start up a betting pool,” Parker suggested, and Sadie howled with laughter.

“Well, keep me posted if you do,” she said, shooting Taylor a grin before turning back toward the stairs. “I’ll get back to work, boss. I just had to rant about this to someone. I still can’t believe it.”

She was hurrying back down the stairs before either could respond, her boots thudding heavily on the metal steps. Taylor looked back over at Parker; the other man had an incredulous expression still. “I can’t wait to tell Kylie about this,” Taylor laughed, and Parker shook his head.

“How much do you want to bet the tour gets canceled before it even starts?” he murmured, and Taylor laughed aloud.

“Oh, god. You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if it does get canceled… But I hope it happens,” he replied. “Maybe it means they’ve put things behind them and can maybe get along now. But mostly, if it does happen, I’m sure we’re gonna have a full house.”

Parker blinked, the realization only just seeming to dawn on him—Taylor fought back a grin at his adorably surprised expression. “Wow, yeah. This’ll be the biggest act to ever book the Caesura Room so far, huh? I mean, not including Get Well Soon.”

Taylor chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. “That didn’t count. Plus, it wasn’t booked.”

Parker laughed, but worry had already started to bubble up in Taylor’s chest. He bit his lip and peered over the railing, eyes sweeping over the small stage, the pit, the meager seating by the bar and balcony...

“Shit, will we even have room for a show that size?” he wondered, looking back at Parker with his brows furrowed. But Parker only smiled in return, reaching over to squeeze his hand reassuringly.

“That’s a good problem to have, isn’t it?” he replied, and Taylor couldn’t disagree. “It’s way too early to worry about that now, Taylor. If it’s a sold out show, then it’s a sold out show. And if we need to rearrange some things to try to fit a few more customers in the back… well, we’ll figure it out. We’ll make it work.”

That was all true. They only had so much space, and a sold-out show would be hectic, but hopefully in a good way.

“I love you,” Taylor said, smiling back at Parker. “You always know what to say to make me feel better.”

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