Page 132 of Sky Full of Stars

“Sounds good,” I sway with him, enjoying the feeling of being wrapped in his arms.

A countdown suddenly begins over the speakers, the LED lights flashing in time, everyone stops dancing and looks up at the screens, Adam keeps me in the circle of his arms but I turn so my back is to his chest. There are cheers and whoops as people count down too.

Keira and Adam’s parents are all holding hands, excitement in their happy faces. Jordan has Alessa on his back and he’s holding my mom’s hand which makes me smile. Brooke is still standing with Ciro and I note his hand on the small of her back.

When the countdown hits one, the lights go off for a few seconds and when they burst back on, the album cover is on the screens and ‘Head Above Water,’ the album’s title track, booms around the room. Someone lets off confetti cannons, filling the room with flying pieces of colourful paper. I squeal as Adam spins and lifts me up in his arms. Camera flashes are going off around us. It’s like a New Year celebration so I lean in and kiss him.

“Congratulations baby,” I say against his lips.

“Love you, Slugger.”

“Cool!” He bops my nose and I laugh. “Yeah, well, I love you more.”

The party goes into overdrive, everyone dancing, more booze flowing, the album playing in its entirety. Nick is live streaming to the band’s Instagram followers, making the rounds, shoving his phone in people’s faces for reactions. After a while I notice people starting to disappear upstairs and frown.

“VIP room,” Adam takes my hand. “It’s time for our private celebration.”

“With all those people watching?” I arch a brow.

“Kinky,” he squeezes my butt. “But no, that can wait till we’re all alone.”

He leads me up the stairs to the VIP room, leaving the press people and non-close friends to carry on partying, enjoying the free booze and food. When we go inside, everyone we love is here and a big cheer goes up for the band. There is about twenty of us but the space is plenty big enough with comfy couches and ambient lights. Arch is pouring out glasses of champagne which he passes around so everyone has one.

“Okay,” he holds up his hand. “Attention people.” Everyone stops chatting and turns to look at him. “Thanks for coming guys, it really means a lot to have you all here tonight. I mean,” he looks around and his eyes pause on each of his band members. “We’ve been doing this shit for a long time, but it never gets old,” he laughs.

“Language!” my mom calls out and everyone gives her shit for her double standards. My mom can swear with the best of them.

“Seriously though, we never thought we would be standing here like this. Our fifth album under our belt. Shit,” he shakes his head. “We were just some kids making a racket in our friend’s garage. The ultimate cliché, right. But out of the thousands of bands who try to make a go of it, we got picked and I’m still blown away by that. I just want to thank you for always standing by us and supporting us. I hope we can keep making you all proud of us and we keep on rocking for many years to come. You guys are family, and I love you all.”

“You sappy motherfucker,” Jordan runs over and jumps up on Archer. He stumbles back and his glass shatters on the floor but he catches Jordan before tossing him away. Everyone laughs. “I love you too, my sweet Archer-man. But not as much as Adam loves Jenna,” he winks and I burst out laughing.

Adam isn’t smiling though. In fact, he looks like he’s in pain.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, turning to him. He shakes his head, his eyes darting over my head to everyone behind us. “Adam, you’re shaking,” I say taking his hand.

Everyone is quiet and I glance back to see all eyes on us. Fuck, what is going on?

When I turn back around, Adam is down on one knee.

“Oh shit,” I blurt out, my hands going to my mouth to try and cover what I just said, but everyone heard and a murmur of laughter fills the room. “You all knew,” I accuse, looking at them before turning back to Adam.

He doesn’t look ill anymore. In fact, he’s beaming a smile at me. My heart pounds so bad I think it’s about to explode. I never in a million years expected this. I love him with all my heart but I never thought this would happen. I’m not annoyed about it either and I hold my breath, waiting for him to ask.

“About two months ago, I was at a meeting in a restaurant with some industry types, boring shit you know,” he says. I have no clue where he is going with this. Isn’t he supposed to just ask me the question? I have to let out a breath and inhale in or I’ll pass out. “There was this guy sitting at a table next to us that looked kind of familiar. I kept staring at him.”

“You gonna propose to him?” Nick shouts.

“This is going somewhere,” Adam yells back. It’s typical that even a proposal involves his band. He takes my hand and looks at me with complete and total adoration. “Eventually it clicked, that guy was called Lance, and he was a complete and total fuck nugget. But I got out of my seat and I walked over and shook his hand.”

I stifle a laugh behind my hand. “Are you serious?”

“If it wasn’t for that guy and his complete idiocy, I never would have met you.”

I rub my lips together and blink really hard in an effort not to cry. He sees and gets to his feet, pulling me into him and kissing me.

“Jesus, can he do anything right?” his sister asks from somewhere beside us.

“I love you, Jenna. You’re everything. I can’t imagine waking up in the morning and you not being there. I want to spend the rest of my life loving you,” he lowers his head to my ear. “Fucking you.” He pulls back and my heart skips a beat. “And giving you the first pancake.”

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