Page 105 of Next to Everything We Wanted
Since we were getting hungry, I microwaved some yeast rolls for us and pulled out some soda. We watched reruns ofVictoriouswhile we ate, laughing at the shenanigans going on in the show.
“Sienna?” Emma asked as she finished her Sprite. “Can I make some collages from the magazines in your room? I want to show Gavin how we make them.”
I nodded. “I bought a new stack last week. They’re on my dresser.”
“Okay!” She scurried into my room and came back with a stack of six magazines. “Which ones can I cut up?”
“I’ve already read the two at the top, so you can use those.”
She handed me the four bottom magazines before sitting next to Gavin. His face pinched, but he stood up straighter as Emma flipped through a magazine.
“We love making collages of our favorite things,” she told him. “Most of Sienna’s have fashion and makeup. There’s also fun stuff about celebrities, movies, TV shows, events, and stuff.”
Gavin swallowed. “But it’s mostly fashion and makeup?”
Emma raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, why? You don’t like it?”
“No, I think making collages is fun.” He gave her a tight smile.
Emma opened her magazine and talked Gavin through her process while I picked a magazine to skim through. I settled on one with popstar Emberlynn Steele on the cover.
Adam stared at the magazine. “I thought you didn’t like Emberlynn.”
“Doesn’t mean I don’t like her wardrobe.” I flipped through the magazine, preferring to read the articles I found interesting first. I read the pages about Emberlynn and her new relationship with Justin Lockhart, chuckling at ridiculous quotes, before searching for something better.
Adam caught a glimpse at a page, his eyes widening. “Stop.”
I stopped turning the pages. “What, did you find a video game you want?”
“Trust me.” He took the magazine and turned back a few pages before he held it out for me to see. “Thisis no video game.”
After the few seconds it took for my brain to register what had caught his attention, my heart froze in my chest. “Is this . . .” My breath caught in my lungs as my blood rushed in my ears. “It’s not.”
Adam looked back and forth between Emma and Gavin, who were invested in cutting out pages at the dining table, and the article. “It has to be.”
“But . . .” Tightness wrapped around my chest as I studied the left page. Front and center stood a teenage boy with wild cherry-brown hair, piercing blue eyes, a face full of freckles, and a show-stopping smile I’d know anywhere.
A smile that was only six feet away from me.
My eyes skittered over the article.Gavin Hanville, once a rising name in the music industry, has stolen millions of hearts over his four years in the spotlight.
Yeah, because he’d stolen mine.
He first rose to fame after being put in the boy band, Charm Street, on the eighth season ofA Search for Stars USA. While his band only came in third place, girls across the nation went wild when their debut single “Change Your Mind” became one of the biggest hits of the decade. After releasing their hit albums, Hanville left Charm Street for reasons that are still speculated.
The right page had a picture of Gavin with three other guys. I recognized the guy to his left as Justin Lockhart, smiling just as wide as Gavin was in the picture. I’d heard of Charm Street before—Raina had a few of their songs on her playlists—but I’d never looked into who the members were.
I never would’ve thought the member who’d left the band was my freaking boyfriend.
Justin Lockhart has remained in the spotlight, being the first member of the band to release solo singles and top thecharts. Lucas Keesler and Carter Hood have teased working on new music. Hanville, on the other hand, has gone completely radio silent. His social media accounts have been deactivated, and he has not appeared in any interviews or been in the public eye for over two and a half years.
However, more rumors about Gavin’s disappearance have been flying around in recent months, including a few people claiming they’d allegedly spotted him singing with who might be his girlfriend at a karaoke bar in Nevada.
My heart and stomach were ten feet under the foundation.
While more information on Gavin Hanville, his new identity, and the girl who couldn’t get off him, has been searched for, there aren’t many results. Another person claims that Gavin is allegedly in a new band with other former stars, including his ex-best friend Forrest Tansel. Have Gavin, Forrest, and other radio-silent stars been under our noses the whole time, and we just haven’t been paying attention?
Every dot connected like a puzzle piece. The panic attacks, the stage names, the awkward moments. The way Gavin looked like he had something weighing on him. The way Everett—possibly Forrest or somebody else who used to be famous—wanted me to have nothing to do with him or their band.
