Page 63 of Once Upon a Boyband
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Laney
The next coupleof weeks pass by in a blur of dating bliss and moments when I want to pinch myself because…is this really my life?
And only part of that has anything to do with Midnight Rush.
Adam is thoughtful and generous and a good cook and he loves to talk about what I love to talk about and we get along so well. We click in a way that I have never clicked with anyone before, and that’s all I need to feel like I’m living in some sort of fantasy.
When I think about the fact that Adam is also in the process of preparing for a reunion concert with Midnight Rush, it feels like my head might explode.
When we’re having dinner at his house and he gets a text requesting his measurements for a wardrobe fitting.
When we’re on our way to a movie and Freddie FaceTimes to ask Adam’s opinion about the set list.
And right now, when we’re spending a Saturday afternoon at the rescue playing with puppies, and Freddie’s assistant texts over a rehearsal location and schedule.
Allpinch memoments.
“Have you ever heard of Stonebrook Farm?” Adam asks, scrolling through his phone.
I sit up from where I’ve been lounging on a blanket in Adam’s backyard and try to untangle my hair from the jaws of one of Aretha’s puppies. Paul, I think? Or it might be George. “The one over in Silver Creek?” The puppy tugs a little harder, and I let out a grunt. This is not a game of tug-of-war I’d like to lose.
Adam picks up the puppy and successfully frees me. “Yeah, you know it?”
“A little. It’s not far from where I grew up. We went to their Harvest Festival every fall when I was a kid.”
“Apparently, that’s where we’re meeting to start rehearsals.”
“Not at a studio somewhere?” I ask.
“I guess they want to keep the concert a surprise for a little longer, so we’re going somewhere remote, where no one will notice we’re together.”
“I guess that’s convenient for you. It’s, what, three hours away?”
He leans back, stretching out on his side and propping himself up on his elbow. “Convenient if it means I get to drive home to see you.”
I lean down and press a quick kiss to his lips. “When do you have to be there?”
“Monday.”
“That’s less than a week.”
He nods. “Yeah. It’s starting to feel real.”
I’m not quite in thethis feels realstage yet. I haven’t even told anyone besides Percy that Adam and Deke are the same person. My family knows I’m datingAdam,but at some point, I’m going to have to mention the fact that he’s a former member of my favorite boyband.
I should probably get used to talking about it. Because once the concert happens, people in Lawson Cove are going to figure out who he is.
The thought leaves a low-key discomfort simmering in the back of my mind. I am not an attention seeker. I am so far the opposite that back in high school, when I bought tickets to see Midnight Rush in concert, I didn’t enter the fan lottery to win backstage passes because I couldn’t think of anything more mortifying than actuallymeetingthe band. I was happy to admire them from the front row where I wouldn’t be required to converse. I’m not a public speaker. A performer of any kind.
It’s not like dating Adam meansIwould have to perform. But it does mean a little of his spotlight might sometimes catch glimpses of me. And I have no idea how to feel about that.
Adam and I spend as much time together as possible over the next week. He’s busy getting everything at the rescue ready for his absence, but we still manage to see each other almost every day. Which means when he heads to Silver Creek on Monday morning, there is a giant Adam-sized hole in my day-to-day life. We text a lot. And he calls me every night, telling me all about the work they're doing to elevate the Midnight Rush setlist. Apparently, not everything that works for a group of teenage boys translates when those boys are now full-grown men. They also aren’t doing as much dancing—Adam isso happyabout that—and for thefirst time, they’re playing their own instruments, at least for some songs.
The more I hear him talk about everything, the more excited I become about seeing the concert and not just because I’m a fan. Adam seemshappy.Like the creative work he’s doing has woken him up somehow. It’s fun to see—or at leasthear—whenever he calls.
On Thursday morning, I’m on my way into the office when Adam calls. It’s unexpected, mostly because we were up until almost midnight talking, so I’m not expecting to hear from him again until tonight.
