Page 68 of Crash & Burn

Eddie and I are friends.

Nothing more.

It is all we can be, all we ever will be.

So why won’t this pit in my stomach go away?

Chapter 22

Mia

The next three months fly by in a blur but in the best waypossible.

The week after the first show, a video of Cross My Heart’s opening song, one of their newer originals, went viral. Their following on all platforms quadrupled in a matter of days.

The crowd at their second show was noticeably larger, and the crowds kept growing following every show from there. By the fifth show, the headlining band and the tour managers were so impressed, that they were in the process of negotiating the final contract with Mateo that will make Cross My Heart the sole openers for the Heartbreakers, Burning Down, and The Falling Flames next summer.

Not only that, thanks to the guys’ growth in popularity, when Mateo and I launched my freelance website right before their third show, I posted it on Cross My Heart’s social media after getting more and more questions about who manages their social media pages, and I started getting inquiries from other bands looking for social media marketing along with photography for their promos, teasers, and album covers.

The five of us have been so busy, and, because Mateo couldn’t handle all the administrative stuff on his own anymore, I took on the role of the band’s unofficial manager until they find someone permanent.

My time has been split between growing my own business and helping grow Cross My Heart.

Mateo and I have been spending almost every day together, between my apartment and his, so I haven’t even had two minutes alone with Eddie since our road trip from the band’s first show.

We chat here and there when I’m with the band or when I’m at Lenny’s, but it almost feels like the weekend of the first show was my imagination, like it never happened.

I’ve also gotten closer with Drew and Annie over these past few months. With Annie usually being at the bar trying to make enough money to cover her tuition for veterinarian school next fall, and Drew being off from school, the three of us have bonded over too many hard seltzers, lots of white wine, our shitty parental situations, and boy problems.

It is truly the perfect combination for making life-long friends.

Tonight, the whole gang is getting together to celebrate the signing of their tour contract. Annie, Drew and I are sitting at a high top table at Lenny’s waiting for them to walk in any minute while Emmett and Luke work behind the bar.

“Can you believe how much has happened this summer?” Annie asks, taking a sip of her gin and tonic.

“No,” Drew laughs. “I swear, I don’t know how much more I can take this year.” I recently learned what happened at Drew’s school this past year, and I am amazed at the kind of person she is to get through that. Not only did she survive a school shooting, but the way she talks about how she went back with her only intention of making sure her students felt safe in their classroom made me wish I had her as a teacher growing up.

“Same,” I agree. I’m not drinking tonight because I have to be up early to do some work for their social media pages.

After things started picking up after their first show, I started driving myself to shows, so I could head straight to the venue to prepare for the concerts. The other bands for this tour asked if I would do photos for them too, so my work wasreallycut out for me at every show.

I hear the door to Lenny’s open, and I turn around to see the men of the hour.

“There they are!” Annie yells, holding up her glass. Drew smiles doing the same with her White Claw, and my eyes go directly to a certain drummer.

All four boys are dressed up, needing to impress at their final meeting to confirm their spot on the tour. Eddie is dressed in black fitted dress pants with a dark green button up, just barely revealing the skin above his chest, his gold chain catching the light from the neon signs in the bar. His dark hair is pushed back as if he just ran his fingers through it, and I feel butterflies in my stomach.

How is it fair for a man to lookthatgood?

As always, he catches me staring, but I don’t look away. Stolen glances are all I get of Eddie these days.

“How did it go?” I ask my brother as he and Eddie walk over to our table.

Theo and Silas head straight to the bar and sit down in front of Luke and Emmett who both have been looking over here every chance they get, Emmett at Drew and Luke at Annie.

One of those makes sense. The other does too, but only because I have been watching Annie and Luke all summer now, and I am convinced there is more history there than either one of them admits.

“You are looking at the official openers for next year’s Heartbreakers tour!” Mateo wraps his arm around Eddie who is, no surprise, all smiles and comfortable fading into the back.

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