Page 90 of Make The Cut

LOS ANGELES, 2024

“Naoya! Naoya, who are you wearing tonight?” The reporter asks, shoving a microphone under my nose.

I cast a sly grin at Poppy, who looks like she’s doing her best not to squint against the glare of dozens of cameras and hundreds more phone cameras. “My wife.”

The reporter laughs. “So you’re wearing a Poppy Black original?”

“That’s PoppySugawa.” She technically took my last name, but the press still refers to her by her maiden name. I gesture to my suit. “There’s only one of these, and only one of her, so yes.”

Poppy rolls her eyes in my peripheral vision. “You don’t have to talk about me like I’m not here.”

“And Poppy, who are you wearing?” the reporter asks, turning the spotlight on her.

Poppy smooths out her gown, a deep blue that matches her eyes… and the few streaks of blue in my hair. “A dress from the spring collection ofColette’s Couture.”

She and Colette parted ways last year when Poppy decided to branch out on her own, but they’re still good friends and have a few collaborations between their fashion lines.

“Well, you look stunning. Enjoy your night, guys!”

“Do you think you’ll win a Grammy this year?” Poppy asks me.

“Well, I’m hoping I do, since I have two opportunities for it.”

I released my newest album earlier this year, and Ryder and I got over our creative—and personal differences—for the second time in three years to collaborate on another single that’s also been nominated.Make the Cutdidn’t succeed as a talent show, but the YouTube series we filmed to promote it became so popular that people actually wanted me to host other random things, like cooking channels or Food Network shows. It was weird, and I gave a lot of those things a spin. I found that I actually enjoyed it more than I expected, and outside of touring and making music, I sometimes find myself filming random promos for restaurants I’ve never heard of.

“Who knows, maybe Ryder will get it again and you’ll be able to reenact your fistfight,” she jokes.

“That was three years ago. We’re older and wiser now.” I lead her over to our seats in the second row.

“Maybe he is,” she says, referencing his and Isla’s wedding a few months ago. They got married in El Nido, where they met. “But you definitely aren’t.”

I sigh. “Red, when are you going to stop underestimating my brilliant wisdom?”

“When you start displaying some.” She winks.

“I think I’m rubbing off on you.”

“Well, I have known you for over ten years now, so that does seem inevitable.” She pulls lipstick out of her clutch and starts reapplying, the red shade having smudged when I kissed her in the back of the limo.

Just as I’m about to tell her that there’s no use in reapplying her lipstick when I’m only going to mess it up again, I spy a couple we know in the seats next to ours, along with a brunette who looks vaguely familiar to me.

“Skye!” Poppy exclaims, dropping her compact mirror back into her purse. She hugs her best friend. “When did you get here? You didn’t tell me you and Leo were coming to the Grammys tonight.”

“Yeah, well, Raina wanted to come, so I thought we’d enjoy one last outing while I can still wear heels,” Skye quips, putting a hand on her four-month baby bump.

“Oh, come on, it’s not like you didn’t want to go to the Grammys,” says the brunette, Raina, who I now recognize as Leo Perez’s younger sister. “You love any excuse to spend time with your BFF.”

“True, but asking her to put on something other than sweatpants these days is impossible,” Leo jokes, but his friendly squeeze of his wife’s hand suggests he thinks Skye looks beautiful no matter what she wears. She shoots him a faux-annoyed glare.

“Are you ready to be an aunt?” Poppy asks Raina, leaning over my lap in order to be heard.

“I’m going to besucha cool aunt.” Raina’s eyes widen in exaggeration as she, Skye, and Poppy start talking up a storm about baby names and clothes. Leo and Poppy switch seats to accommodate their conversation, leaving me next to Leo Perez, a man I once punched in the face. Long story.

“So. Fatherhood, huh?”

Leo makes a disgruntled noise, looking like he wishes he was anywhere but here.

“Don’t worry. If seeing you with your sister says anything, you’ll be a great dad.”

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