Page 111 of Once Upon a Boyband
I can’t even begin to wrap my head around where life is going to take us. What it will look like if Midnight Rush becomes a more permanent part of Adam’s life. But there’s a strong, peaceful certainty deep in my heart that whatever happens, together, we’ll be strong enough to handle it.
On stage, Jimmy Fallon congratulates Adam on his recent engagement and asks him to tell the story of how we met.
Adam smiles, thanks him, then jumps right into explaining how he locked himself out of his car and I came to his rescue. “She’ll kill me for not leaving this part out of the story,” he says, “but when she turned on her car, there was a Midnight Rush songblastingthrough her speakers.”
Oh, I am going to kill him.
Except, maybe not. Because the next thing Adam says is, “That was the moment I knew I was going to fall in love with her. And that’s exactly what I did.”
EPILOGUE
Laney
And that’sthe whole story of how I accidentally fell in love with a popstar.
Sometimes, I still don’t believe it myself. But I have a feeling it’s going to feel much more real after tonight.
The Ben King Arena in Nashville is packed—the show sold out in less than six hours--and the energy among the fans is everything I expected and more.
The last three months have been bliss--a whirlwind of press events and Midnight Rush rehearsals punctuated with luxurious weeks in Lawson Cove hanging out with the dogs, catching up on work, and enjoying time where we can simply be together. Just the two of us.
But tonight—the concert is what we’ve been waiting for—planning for.
The guys are ready. Their last week of rehearsal went great, and when I left them in the green room, they were buzzed and happy and excited to be performing again.
Ivy gave me the option to watch the concert from backstage, but I want the full experience, so I’ve got seats in the front row with Sophie, Sarah and Jake, Percy, and his new boyfriend, Jamal. I might sneak backstage before the end of the show, but for now, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
The lights dim, strobe lights flashing around the arena, and the crowd goes wild. Sophie jumps up and down beside me, grabbing my hands. “Are you losing your mind right now?”
I smile and laugh. Itispretty surreal. Similar in so many ways to the first Midnight Rush concert I attended, when I was only a little bit younger than Sophie. But this concert is different, too. I’m older now, more grounded, more sure of myself.
I know my own worth, what kind of love I deserve, and I’ve found a person who makes me feel like the very best version of myself. That doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that he moonlights as a popstar.
Though, it is avery deliciousbonus.
The lights on the stage go black and a hush falls over the arena. When they come on again, Midnight Rush has taken the stage and the opening notes of “Curves Like That” blast through the arena.
Adam hits every dance move perfectly, but I don’t miss the relief on his face when the song ends, and the crowd erupts into another round of cheers. Song after song, the guys areon.They sound amazing, they look amazing, the energy in the crowd is amazing.
I’m going to lose my voice if I don’t stop screaming, but I don’t even care. It isso much funto watch Adam on stage, especially knowing what it took for him to get here.
During the chorus of “Never Say Never,” the four of themspread out across the stage, reaching down and touching hands, interacting with the fans.
Adam comes over and reaches for my hand. When he lifts it and presses a kiss to my knuckles, the crowd goes wild, and Adam smiles and lets me go, but he keeps his eyes on me as he touches his palm to his chest just over his heart.
The mood settles for the next song, the guys lining up on stools, and Adam retrieves his guitar from backstage.
“So, this next song is about what it feels like to fall in love,” Adam says as he sits next to his bandmates. “The trouble is, I wrote it before I’d ever experienced it for myself.” He looks over at me and smiles. “But now I do know, so we’ve reworked the song a bit, and we hope you like it. This is ‘The Start of Forever.’”
“Oh my gosh,” Sophie says from beside me. “You are living the plot of a romance novel.”
As Adam sings the words that were seared into my heart three months ago, I actually disagree with my little sister.
This is better than a romance novel.
Because it’s real.
The last three months have not been perfect.
