Page 74 of Gabriel's Album

“No, you’re right. I don’t know. Recently it’s felt like you’re not with me half the time. Even when we’re together, you’re apart from me somehow. I came back early to see you because I missed you, and there you were, all relaxed and happy, hanging out with Sebastian.”

“I’m sorry,” Ariana tells me, sounding genuinely apologetic. “I guess I have been a bit distant lately.”

“Is there a reason for that?”

I’m on edge, waiting for her reply. A part of me wants to hear it, but another part of me feels like I’m constantly expecting her to say she wants to end our relationship and go home to Chicago.

“I suppose…” Ariana pauses for a second before continuing. “…I guess I’m just kind of homesick at the moment.”

I look into her green eyes, searching her expression for clues to the inner workings of her mind. Her confession that she’s homesick is concerning. It feels like the expiry date that Cooper warned me about might be approaching us.

“Do I have anything to be concerned about, Ariana?” I ask, feeling nausea hit me as I wait for her answer.

I don’t want to know if the answer is yes. I love her, and I want to be with her.

“No,” she answers.

Something about the way she says it, though, isn’t comforting to me. I pull her into my embrace and hold her tight, even though the wall is back up between us again.

12

The Twelfth Song

I’m sittingin Hayden and Sebastian’s tour bus and my arm is around Ariana’s shoulders as she sits on my left-hand side. Hayden is next to her, Sebastian is to my right, and Heather is sitting in between him and Harrison. Tension hangs thick in the air around us.

“We should stream the announcement,” Sebastian says into the silence.

“No way, I can’t stand waiting to hear if we were nominated while they announce all the categories. Let’s just wait until Cooper calls us like he said he would,” Hayden disagrees.

“Whether we watch or don’t watch, it won’t change whether or not we were nominated,” Harrison points out.

“Well, it started fifteen minutes ago, so we probably weren’t nominated anyway,” Hayden says and shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly.

My eyes flicker to a clock nearby, and I see that Hayden is right. The press conference announcing the nominees for this year’s Grammy Awards started fifteen minutes ago.

“I’m with Hayden. There’s no point in watching; it’ll only stress us out. Let’s wait for Cooper to call us,” I say.

“Chicken,” Sebastian teases me.

I laugh. “Yeah, I’ll admit it. I just don’t want it confirmed if we didn’t get nominated.”

Heather distracts us with a tale about her time in the Pit at last night’s concert, and it’s five minutes later when my phone lights up on the table in front of me with a text from my sister, Evangeline.

CONGRATULATIONS, GABE!!!

My heart pounds in my chest as I stare at the screen. My eyes go wide, my entire body freezes, and I keep looking at my phone even as the screen fades to black.

“Are you okay, Gabriel?” Harrison asks me as I hear his phone begin to vibrate in his pocket.

“I just got a text from Evie,” I say in a dull tone.

Harrison answers a call from his mom that’s only the first of a barrage of phone calls and messages from people congratulating us on our nominations…plural. Sebastian turns on the livestream of the nominee announcements just in time for us to hear “If I Were You” announced as a nominee for Song of the Year.

Harrison grins at Heather and kisses her passionately. My phone rings with a call from my grandmother, and I accept her well wishes. The next few hours are a blur as we’re bombarded with congratulations from close friends and family and practically anyone else who has a way of contacting us.

We find out that we’ve been nominated in every category we were submitted for.Cards Have Been Dealtis nominated for Best Album, Record of The Year, and Best Rock Album. Meanwhile, “If I Were You” is nominated for Song of The Year, Best Rock Song, and Best Rock Performance by a Group.

It’s a week later and we’re booked into another hotel. I open the door to my suite, having just been in with the guys on the phone to Cooper. I see Ariana typing away on her laptop, and I feel at peace as she looks up at me with a smile on her beautiful face.

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