Page 94 of Once Upon a Boyband
“Can I bring him with me tomorrow night?”
“Sure. He can hang out with Goldie. Come over at seven?”
“Okay.”
Adam steps closer and settles his hands on either side of my waist, gently tugging me against his chest, Ringo perched between us.
“It’s good to see you,” he says.
I look up to meet his eyes, and he bends down, pausing for the briefest second before pressing his mouth to mine in a lingering kiss. His lips are soft and warm and intoxicating, and I feel myself leaning in, forgetting my earlier anxiety becausegah,it feels so good, sorightto be in his arms like this. We hit six seconds and keep kissing, melting my fears and worries one by one.
Adam lifts a hand to my cheek, brushing his thumb over my jaw and triggering a wave of goosebumps across my skin.
“See you tomorrow?” he says, his voice low.
I nod. “I’ll be there.”
Five minutes later, Percy finds me in the living room, sitting stone still on the couch, Ringo curled up on my lap.
“What happened to you?” he says. “I didn’t even hear you come back in.”
“Adam brought me my puppy,” I say.
“I see that.”
“And he kissed me and invited me over for dinner tomorrow night.”
“Okay, and why don’t we sound happy about that?” He drops into the chair across from me and pulls a yellow-fringed throw pillow onto his lap.
“Iamhappy about that, but also…I don’t know. I’m worried about him.”
“Why?”
“Because he clearly doesn’t want to talk about what happened with the band. It’s like he just locked it all up inside. He said he changed his mind, but I don’t know, Percy. I think he’s hiding from how he really feels.”
“Which is how? What do you think he’s feeling that he isn’t saying?” Percy asks.
“I think he wants to sing,” I say.
Percy leans forward, his brow furrowed. “Okay. But does that mean hehasto do the concert? Because Freddie’s agent sounds pretty terrible.”
“His agentisterrible. But Midnight Rush isn’t. I saw them together. I just hate the idea of him throwing everything away.”
“Are you sure that’s what he’s doing?”
“I’m not sure about anything. I only know what Freddie told me, because Adam won’t talk to me about it.”
“Okay. New question.” Percy says. “Are you sure you don’t just want him to do the concert because then you’d get to beDeke’sgirlfriend?”
“One thousand percent—that isnotit,” I say. “I would never pressure him into something like this for my sake. Honestly, it’s the opposite. My life would be easier if I didn’t have to share Adam with the world. I would love not to worry about stupidTMZarticles and TikTok videos.”
“I can’t blame you there,” Percy says. “The comment section on that one video was brutal.”
“What? Are you for real?”
Percy’s eyes widen. “No! I was just…guessing that it might be. I didn’t see anything.”
“Percy.”
