Page 26 of Wish We Were There

“Do you think he’s any good?” Taylor asked, holding back a laugh. Parker chuckled.

“I haven’t heard him play guitar,” he admitted. “But I think he’s a good singer. I mean, I’ve really only heard him singing along at shows, but I always thought he sounded pretty good. So I don’t think the band will be a total flop, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

He could see Taylor smiling in amusement out of the corner of his eye, and he hoped his face hadn’t turned as red as it felt.

When they pulled up to the house, the garage door was open, and Parker could see everyone was already there. The drum kit stood in the corner with one of Zach’s friends sitting behind it, and he could see two more figures—they looked like girls—sitting on a sofa that was pushed up along the other side of the garage. Zach himself was standing in front of the drum set, talking to the drummer.

“Are they all trying out for the band, too?” Taylor asked, sounding a little dismayed as they parked.

“I don’t think so,” Parker replied quickly. “That’s the guitarist and the bassist. I think it’s just someone on keyboard they were still looking for.”

They got out of the car. Zach had turned toward them with a wide smile on his face.

Parker was about to barf. Zach wasn’t really his type, so he hadn’t considered it, but Zach was hot—and he was about to introduce him to the guy he had a crush on. Maybe his long dark hair, and his snakebite piercings, and his toned, tattooed arms were Taylor’s type—not at all like Parker’s tidy haircut and his skinny, unathletic frame.

“Hey!” Zach called as they walked up the driveway. “Good to see you, Parker. Is this your friend?”

“Yeah,” Parker stammered, looking back at Taylor. “This is the guy I was telling you about, Taylor. Taylor, this is Zach.”

To his dismay, Parker could see how Zach’s eyes flickered up and down Taylor’s frame, lingering for just a beat before he held out his hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Zach. Parker was telling me you’re a music major?”

Taylor’s cheeks had taken on a pinkish flush, and he pushed his hair back from his face nervously with one hand, as the other returned the handshake.

“Yeah,” he said breathlessly. “I’ve only ever done, like, classical stuff, but I’ve always wanted to be in a rock band. So when Parker said you were looking, I thought it sounded perfect.”

Zach’s eyes softened with a smile. “Sounds perfect to me. C’mon, I’ll introduce you to everyone, and then we can play a couple songs and see how you vibe with us.”

Parker looked away, nausea rising in his gut. Whatever chance he might have had with Taylor was gone forever; it was obvious just from the way they looked at each other. Taylor had never looked at him with such a sweetly flustered expression, and he’d never seen Zach with so much heat in his eyes. If Taylor was an angel, then Parker was just a plain old human, and Zach was a fucking god. Maybe he’d never really had a chance in the first place.

“Hey, Parker!” one of the girls called, waving as she stood up from the sofa where the other girl still sat. Her voice snapped Parker out of his spiral of hurt feelings, and he forced a smile back as he waved. She was tall and blonde with a septum ring, and he recognized her from a few of the shows he and Zach had gone to together in the past.

“Hey, Kylie,” he replied, remembering her name just in time. “How are you?”

They chatted briefly, but Parker could barely focus on anything she said. Zach got Taylor set up with the keyboard that they had in the corner, then Parker flopped down miserably onto the sofa.

“Parker, wanna jam with us?” Zach called from where he was still standing beside Taylor at the keyboard. Parker waved the suggestion away with a forced laugh.

“Trust me, you don’t want to hear me sing,” he replied, but he couldn’t bring himself to look at either of them, hoping he didn’t appear as miserable as he felt.

What the hell had he been thinking, bringing Taylor here? He never should have told him about stupid Zach and his stupid band. The thought was silly and juvenile, but no one else was paying attention to him as the band started playing, so he could safely sulk for now. It was too late to do anything else, anyway.

Now

For a moment, the whole world froze. Parker couldn’t move—couldn’t tear his eyes away from the scuffed spot on the floor where he’d fixed his gaze to avoid looking at Taylor’s betrayed expression. What was he saying? That couldn’t possibly be true, could it?

“W-What?” he finally stammered, barely able to hear his own voice over the pounding of his heart. “No. No, you weren’t. There’s no way.”

“We were,” Taylor insisted, and the utter anguish in his voice forced Parker to finally tear his eyes away from the floor to look back at the other man. His blue eyes, so full of warmth and hope just a few moments ago, were now guarded and cold. “I... I know how it sounds, bringing it up now, but we were waiting until after the tour to... to make it public, and then—and then everything happened, and I...”

Taylor turned away abruptly, shaking his head. “So it’s not... It’s not like that, Parker, okay? That shouldn’t factor into this between us. Please.”

As much as he trusted Taylor, part of Parker still couldn’t quite believe it. Zach and Taylor had been perfect for each other. They were the gay power couple of the music world: college sweethearts who had made it through the slog of being small-time touring musicians into the wild success Get Well Soon had finally achieved, like a modern fairy tale. Had it all been a lie, a front? Parker couldn’t wrap his head around it.

“I—I don’t know what to say,” he managed to stutter after a long, uncomfortable moment of meeting Taylor’s expectant gaze. “I think... I need to think about this, Taylor. This is a lot.”

Taylor had gone very still, his eyes still downcast. He was silent for a beat, then he took in a long, shaking breath.

“Okay,” he said, his voice faint. “Sorry. You don’t have to stay. I’ll close everything up.”

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