Page 100 of Once Upon a Boyband
Percy is over, and we’ve just finished Saturday morning yoga at my neighbor’s studio, but I’m about as zen as a sugar-hyped preschooler in Chuck E. Cheese. I can’t relax. Can’t focus on anything but my all-consuming worry for Adam.
I’ve texted him two more times in the past week. Once to send a picture of Ringo, who, as fully expected, is the sweetest boy on the planet. And a second time to ask him if he’s doing okay.
He hearted the photo of Ringo, but he didn’t answer my question.
Finally, on Thursday, I texted Sarah just to make sure hewas still alive and eating and taking care of himself, but she couldn’t offer much by way of encouragement. She’d been out of town since Sunday visiting a friend in Tennessee and won’t be back until Friday morning.
She could at least guarantee he was alive because they’d texted multiple times about rescue business, but he hadn’t mentioned our conversation at all.
“Are you googling Midnight Rush again?” Percy asks from the couch beside me.
“Obsessively,” I answer, not even trying to hide my phone.
When Freddie texted me the final cut of “The Start of Forever,” we texted back and forth enough for me to know they have no choice but to go forward with the concert in Nashville, as well as the two in Los Angeles and Chicago, even without Adam, and promotion is in full swing.
It’s possible reading every scrap of news is my coping mechanism fornottalking to Adam.
Freddie, Leo, and Jace have all made individual appearances on various talk shows, but so far, they haven’t made any together, a strategy that likely has everything to do with Adam’s absence. Ticket sales open any day now, so I’m surprised they still haven’t mentioned that Adam won’t be there. That feels like something fans need to know before they decide to go. But knowing Freddie and his perpetual optimism, he’s likely hoping Adam will change his mind.
I’ve been careful not to let my love for Midnight Rush influence my feelings, but I can’t help but wish for the same thing.
Especially when I listen to “The Start of Forever.”
The song sounds like Midnight Rush, but better. Mature. Grounded, somehow. And Adam’s voice—it was amazingwhen he was singing around the fire, smiling at me whenever he caught my eye. But on the track, the rich tone of his voice comes through loud and clear.
According to Freddie, they won’t keep the song in the setlist without Adam, and they won’t release it, either. I recognize Freddie trying to do the right thing, and it means a lot. But it still kills me to think that no one will ever hear this song but me.
“Anything new?” Percy asks.
“Freddie was on Jimmy Kimmel,” I say. “But that’s it.”
“It’s starting to look funny that they aren’t doing any appearances together,” Percy says, and I breathe out a sigh.
“I know.”
“I’m not saying I blame him. But shouldn’t the three of them at least show up somewhere?”
“Unfortunately, no one is consultingmeabout their marketing decisions,” I say. I toss my phone onto the coffee table and groan, tossing my arms over my face. “Yoga didn’t work, Percy. I don’t know what to do.”
Percy’s quiet for a second before he says, “Laney, just go over there.”
I drop my hands and look at him. “To the rescue?”
“No, to the auto parts store.”
“What? Why would I go?—”
“Of course to the rescue,” he says, cutting me off. “Go see him. Be there for him.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know how.”
“Nobodyeverknows how. Sometimes we just have to act. Are you in love with him?”
I don’t even hesitate before nodding my head yes.
“Then go tell him,” Percy says. “Make him talk to you.”
I’m tempted.Reallytempted.
