Page 123 of I Just Want to be Yours

Amy looks at her friend like she just committed the worst type of betrayal.

I look at Amy. “That’s awesome. Thank you.” Amy smiles but still says nothing. The two girls just stand there staring at me, and it’s starting to make me uncomfortable, so I clear my throat. “Um, do you want a picture or something?”

“Could we?” The blonde grins and pushes her friend Amy toward me.

“Oh—um, okay.” Amy finally speaks, and her voice is shaky.

I put my arm around her for a quick photo, and it baffles me that I could make anyone feel this nervous. I’m just me. I’m just a guy who plays guitar and has no idea what the hell he’s doing outside of that.

“Thank you so much!” Amy says once we’re done, her voice high pitched and squeaky.

“Are you single?” the blonde asks.

Amy looks appalled at her friend, but I just scratch the side of my head and laugh. “Uh, no. I’m not.”

For a split second, Amy looks like I may have just crushed her dreams, but her friend quickly ushers her away. “Figured. Thanks for the picture!”

“No problem,” I say with another laugh, and I get a text before I can sit down again.

Margot:

See you soon.

There’s a heart emoji with the message. I can’t wait for her to be here.

There’s honking outside and I look through the windows. It isn’t the RV picking me up. It’s the fucking tour bus. Grabbing my stuff, I hurry outside. I don’t recognize the driver, but Dave is up front with him happily honking the horn to greet me. He must have asked if he could do that—at least I hope so.

Once they slow at the curb in front of me, I hurry up the steps and say hi to the new driver. The tour bus is a huge step up from the RV. It’s bright and open even though it has a lot of dark wood accents to give it a moody vibe. There’s a leather couch, an eatery, a kitchenette. It’s incredible.

Everyone is sitting on the couch watching something on the flat screen TV across from them, and I’m met with varying waves and head nods.

“I can’t believe you guys picked me up in a fucking tour bus.” I can’t wipe the smile off my face. They’re insane.

“Well,” Dave says with all seriousness. He sits on the arm of the couch before he continues. “We are headed straight for the first stop on the tour, and I figured you might needsomething to make you feel better in case things with a certain redhead didn’t go the way you were hoping . . .”

“Is this even allowed?” I ask, as I look past him out the window to all the much smaller cars picking up their friends and family.

“No clue,” Dave says with a laugh. “I don’t think so, but Mark agreed to push our luck, and no one said anything.”

I look over my shoulder at our new driver. Mark wears aviator sunglasses and gives me a two-finger salute before putting both hands back on the wheel as he maneuvers out of the airport.

Turning my attention back to everyone else, I realize they’re all waiting for me to say something. Mya is biting her nails, Brian looks like he might still want to kill me if this wasn’t worth it, and the rest of the guys are all staring at me with their eyebrows raised.

“She’ll be here in two weeks.” I say as I run my hand over my hair. “She’s coming with us.”

I think the tour bus physically rocks with the commotion of cheers and hollers that erupts from them all. Mya jumps to her feet and gives me a hug, and Dave pats me on the shoulder. I haven’t even set my stuff down yet, and my face already hurts from smiling. When I lock eyes with Brian, I’m relieved to see him shaking his head and laughing.

Everyone here is happy just because I’m happy, and I think this is what family is supposed to feel like.

68

margot

For the past two weeks,I’ve been simplifying my life in Florida. It helps that I’ll still be able to leave most of my stuff here in the apartment, but I have all the essentials packed into a single duffel bag. I stare at it on my bed, already zipped shut because I started packing the moment Jackson left. Today is the day I get to see him again.

Karah wasn’t thrilled when I told her I’d be leaving, but when I told her why, she surprisingly got on board with it. She told me to write as much as I can because nothing beats experiencing life on the road. Part of me thinks she had a wild streak back in the day. Was she reminiscing?

I set up my online classes on my own. There were only a few spots available for the upcoming semester, so I had to sign up for a few different courses with some questionable professors, but I’m sure I’ll get through it.

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