Page 31 of Our Final Encore

“Hi, James!” I offer him a friendly wave, and he unenthusiastically returns it, but doesn’t say anything. He can be quite grumpy at times, I’ve tried to be his friend but it doesn’t seem like he’s too interested in getting to know me.

“Oh I love this song, come on, babe,” she lets me go and pulls James onto the dance floor.

“They’re an unlikely match,” Alex says as we find a table to sit down at. Neither of us seem to be interested in dancing to this obnoxiously loud EDM song.

“Yeah, I guess opposites attract,” I shrug.

One end of his lips twitches upward into a half smile, his eyes traveling over my face. “Are we opposites?”

I think about it for a second, even though I don’t have to. We are definitely opposites. “In some ways. But we’re also a lot alike in other ways.” His expression changes slightly, hinging on nervousness, and it makes me nervous too. “You okay?”

He nods and grabs my hand under the table, squeezing it. “Always.”

We both grab cups of bright red punch that I’m terrified of spilling on my dress, and sit down at the table again. Maisie and James and a couple of their friends fill in the other seats around us. We make small talk and pick at our plates of charcuterie.

I know Alex isn’t the type that would choose to come to prom on his own, but I love that he’s here for me. Mainly, I just wanted to get dressed up, and seeing him in a tux doesn’t hurt either.

The music eventually slows down, and one of my favorites starts to float through the speakers, Adele’s version of Make You Feel My Love.

“You wanna dance?” Alex stands up beside me and offers his hand. It might seem silly considering how long we’ve been dating, but he still gives me butterflies all the time.

I smile and nod, and he leads me to the dance floor. We stand to the side, away from the other couples congregated in the middle. I’m glad because I’m not much of a dancer, and I hate being the center of attention.

He spins me around in a circle, our foreheads pressed together. The last rays of the setting sun filter into the building and reflects off his eyes, turning them a mesmerizing shade of aquamarine.

“I love you,” he says in a hushed tone, staring at me as if we’re the only two people in this room.

“I love you,” I smile.

“Someday I’ll be dancing with you like this on our wedding night.”

My head rears back slightly in surprise. He’s hinted at wanting a future with me, but he’s never come right out and said anything like that. “Yeah?” I ask, my eyes bouncing back and forth between his.

“It’s always gonna be us, Bluebird.” He pulls me tighter against him and tucks my head under his chin. “No matter what, I promise.”

NINETEEN

Alex

I’ve been keeping a secret from Opal, and it’s eating away at me. The day after prom my video kept racking up views and comments. It got shared several times on other platforms, too. A guy that owns a bar in Austin messaged me saying he’s been looking for new artists to play there, and that I “fit the vibe perfectly”, whatever that means. After chatting on the phone with him and agreeing to a time and date, I’m scheduled to play at Barnett’s next Friday.

I’m a little bit worried about how she’ll take the news. On one hand she may be thrilled for me, she’s always been my number one supporter, the main reason I even bother following my dreams at all.

But part of me has always wondered if she’d feel jealous if I ever played for other people at venues and stuff. I remember the night that I played for everyone at Brooke’s party years ago. We were younger, and things between us were a bit weird at the time, but I can’t shake the flicker of jealousy and discomfort I noticed in her eyes before she escaped to the bathroom.

I pull into her driveway and watch as she locks her front door and makes her way to my car. She’s so fucking beautiful. She’s wearing a white t-shirt that reveals a tiny sliver of her stomach, and cut off blue jeans that show off her long, tan legs. Her ashy hair is pulled into a ponytail held up with a yellow ribbon, and a pair of round sunglasses cover her eyes.

“Hey,” Opal kisses me on the cheek before buckling her seatbelt. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

“What are you so happy about?”

I guess the dumb grin from earlier is still evident on my face. I put the car in reverse and start to back out of her driveway. “One of my videos went semi-viral last week.”

Her brows crinkle on top of her head in the cute way they always do when she’s surprised. “No way? That’s amazing.”

“Yeah. A bar owner in Austin found it somehow, I guess he saw that I’m from Texas and he asked me if I’d be interested in playing a set at his bar sometime.”

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