Page 69 of For One Night Only

It’s hard not to overhear that some of it is about our red-carpet moment.

We got our official photo op with Jane during the premiere, but she couldn’t sit with us. At the after-party, though, we claim one of the booths as Glitter Bats territory, and Jane quickly slips away from theDragon Realmcreative team to join us, looking beyond glamorous in a green velvet fit-and-flare gown.

“The music was brilliant,” Riker says. “You did good, Janey.”

“Good, because I’m exhausted,” Jane sighs, leaning onto his shoulder. He pats her red curls, which are falling out of her once-styled braid at this point in the night. “There was an issue with the last track that I literally fixed at four a.m.”

“Do you need a nap?” Riker asks, shrugging off his jacket and wrapping it around her.

Keeley scowls at them. “I’m going to go get drinks.”

She doesn’t even take our orders, just slips out of the booth.

“What’s with her?” Riker says.

Valerie just bites her lip—she hasn’t missed it either—but neither of us wants to actually comment on it. We were always so wrapped up in each other, but it was impossible to miss thatsomethingwas happening there. It’s always just been hard to pinpoint. All I know is that Keeley is feeling feelings, and she’s not ready to talk about them.

“Keeley’s probably just tired. It’s been a long summer for all of us,” Jane says, taking her hair out of the braid, then fluffing the red curls with a satisfied sigh. I can’t tell if she truly doesn’t understand, or if she’s trying to be diplomatic. Keeley was always the one Glitter Bat who could party until dawn—mostly sober, somehow. Maybe Jane’s protecting someone’s feelings—I’m just not sure whose.

“Well, she needs to chill out, because we haven’t even started press yet,” Riker says. “Maybe she’s run out of edibles or something.”

“Ugh, I forgot about Glitter Bats press. I just did press!” Jane says, groaning and leaning back against the booth. She’s not one to complain, so she’s probably just hungry. Keeley clearly anticipated this, because she shows up moments later with a pitcher of what I assume is a very pretentious beer, as well as a plate of the gourmet hot wings and parmesan truffle fries I saw on the menu board on our way in. She drops the food directly in front of Jane, but we all dig in.

“Oh my god, I could kiss you right now,” Jane says, diving in for a hot wing.

Keeley clears her throat. “Calm your tits, Mercer. It’s just the free food your fancy production company brought in.”

“God, I missed catering,” I admit. “At school, they don’t feed us—andifthey do, it’s like cold pizza or soggy sandwiches.” Oh thejoys of being a public employee. Of course, I’d rather the money go to the kids, but it definitely took some getting used to. Good thing we had those years of greasy drive-thru meals on tour to give me an iron stomach.

Valerie wrinkles her nose as she reaches for a fry. “Ugh, pre-prepared subs, no thank you.”

She hates mayo, which I haven’t forgotten, because of course I haven’t.

“Why would you subject yourself to that kind of treatment?” Keeley asks around a mouthful of wing. “I mean they pay teachers next to nothing, right? Seems like a strange choice coming from all this.”

She gestures around the room, the sheer definition of excess. This is just one industry event for one series, and people are donning designer clothing they’ll wear exactly once to get photographed in and eventually discard. There’s gourmet food and an open bar and even tiny 24-karat-gold key chains with theInto the Dragon Realmlogo etched on a medallion.

It’s a stark contrast to my day job, but I didn’t get into it for the money. Some of the days are hard, but for every moment I question my path to teaching, there’s another where the kids remind me why I took it. Still, I’m starting to wonder if changing my career was a real choice or just my desperate exit strategy.

It doesn’t matter. I made my decision.

“Maybe because he’s passionate about his job?” Jane suggests. I shoot her a thankful look, because the last thing I want to do is get defensive, especially when we’re all trying to have a good time.

“Sure, it’s not glamorous, but I’m close to my sister and her wife, and I have a really great dog who loves exploring nature as much as I do. Plus, I like working with kids. Keeley, I sent that drumming video you made to our band director, and she absolutely lost her mind. She’s got a girl drummer in her jazz band next fall.”

Keeley’s eyes go wide with glee. We’ve been squeezing in a few videos between practices, and Keeley seemed to have a lot of fun with hers. “Oh my god, that’s amazing. You’re welcome to give the teacher my number if she wants to set up a meet and greet over Zoom or something.”

My heart warms. “Are you serious?”

“Absolutely! It’s so stupid how people assume drummers have to be, like, slacker dudes who couch surf while stoned 99 percent of the time. I had a 4.0 GPA and got into Stanford, Columbia, and Brown.”

“Be careful, Keeley, or you’ll become a motivational speaker,” Jane teases.

Keeley grins, a little pleased. “Honestly? I’d do it.”

“They’d kick your ass out for swearing,” Riker says.

She gapes, pressing a palm to her chest. “If I can clean up my fucking act in front of my grandma for an entire fucking week at Christmas, I can do it for one fucking hour to work with some kids.”

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