Page 25 of Once Upon a Boyband
Oh my.
Adam is definitelynotwearing flannel tonight. Or a hat—something I’ve never seen him without. His hair is a little longer than I thought it was, pushed back and a little to one side, and his beard looks freshly trimmed. He’s in light gray dress pants and a pale purple button-down that stretches across his chest in just the right way. It’s a simple outfit, but it’s still intentional. I doubt he tried on twelve shirts, but it still looks like he cares, like he put a little extra thought into getting ready.
“Hi,” I finally say. I’m not sure how long I’ve been staring, but the tiny smirk playing on Adam’s face makes me think it’s been more than just a few seconds.
“Hey.” He holds out a bouquet of deep purple lilies wrapped in several layers of paper towel. I was so preoccupied with the fit of his shirt, I didn’t even notice the flowers until now. “These are for you. Sorry they’re not wrapped any better. I cut them right before I left, and this was all I had on hand.”
I meet his eye. “You grew these?”
“Yes? I guess? I hate to take credit for them. They were already in the ground when I bought the farm, so the most I’ve had to do is keep the weeds out of the beds, and they’ve come up every year. I think they’re lilies? Not sure what kind.”
“They look like lilies. Come on in. I’ll put these in water, then we can go.”
Adam steps inside and pulls the door closed, his eyeslifting to somewhere over my shoulder. His eyebrows lift slightly before he says, “Hi, Percy.”
“Hi,” Percy says, dragging out the word as he moves toward the door. “And goodbye. I was planning to be out of the house by the time you showed up, so I apologize for being a very awkward third wheel.”
As soon as Percy is behind Adam, he turns and looks at me, eyes wide as he silently mouths, “Oh my gosh!”He holds his arms up, like he’s rocking an invisible baby, and I wave him away.
Adam turns and looks over his shoulder, and Percy immediately drops his arms and smiles, looking every bit as guilty as he should. “You both look absolutely stunning,” he says. “Gorgeous couple.” He opens the door. “Okay. Bye for real.”
The door clicks shut, and Adam and I stand there awkwardly for five, maybe ten seconds before it occurs to me that Adam might be making some weird assumptions about my relationship with Percy. “Hey, you do know Percy is gay, right? He’s just a friend. A great friend. But I just realized right this second that if you didn't know, you might think…”
“I knew,” Adam says quickly. He runs a hand through his hair, and I get that same sense of déjà vu I had when he was talking outside the barn that first afternoon we spent together. It might be the gesture that feels familiar—the running his hand through his hair. “Actually, I have a little bit of a confession.”
“Yeah?” I move into the kitchen. It’s open into the living room, a small breakfast table separating the two spaces, so I can still see Adam, but I don’t mind that he follows me, leaning his hip against the counter.
I set the flowers next to the sink, then pull an oversizedmason jar off the top shelf of my cabinet—I am not the kind of person who has real vases just sitting around her house—and fill it with water.
“So, last week, right before you came into the exam room to see Aretha’s puppies? I overheard you and Percy talking.”
I set down the mason jar and furrow my brow. “Talking about…?”
“Me being straighter than a Michael Bay movie?”
I gasp and lift my hand to cover my mouth. “You heard that?” I try to remember the entire conversation—Percy teasing me about Adam being straight, about melikinghim. “Please tell me you’re lying.”
“That’s how I know Percy is gay,” Adam says. “But it’s a good thing! It’s also how I figured out I might possibly have a shot with you.”
The more evidence he provides, the hotter my face gets. “That’s why you suddenly wanted to talk to me? After all these months?”
“I assumed you were dating someone,” he says. “You never really seemed interested.”
“Adam, I’m an introvert. I never seem interested inanyone.”
He grins. “Well, takes one to know one, then. But, just for the record, Iampretty interested in you.”
I lift my hands to my cheeks. I genuinely can’t believe this is happening.
“I tried on twelve dresses,” I say, because it’s the first thing that pops into my head. “Then wound up going back to the first one I put on. Which feels like a stupid thing to tell you, but I just…I’m interested too.”
Adam’s eyes heat, his gaze warming me from the insideout. “If it matters, you definitely chose the right dress.” He holds out his hand. “Should we go?”
He could be leading me out to a unicycle I have to ride to dinner myself, and I’m pretty sure I’d still say yes.
Olive’s is a gorgeous restaurant. Quaint but classy, always busy but never crowded. We settle into our chairs at a table near the window with a nice view of downtown Lawson Cove. Adam orders wine and we pick out an appetizer, and I debate for way too long between pasta and pork, but once the menus are gone and our waiter has left us with a basket of rolls, we fall into easy, effortless conversation. It basically feels like an extension of the text conversation we’ve been having all week—but better.
When our appetizer arrives, Adam finally explains the basic principles of Max Martin’s melodic math and how it impacts his song writing. Then we shift into a breakdown of the music fromOnce—an excellent movie that everyone should see—and rank popular covers against their originals.
