Page 182 of Next to Everything We Wanted
Sienna
I swallowed, carefully flipping the thick pages. Most of them had sketches of outfits, some colored in with pencils. I didn’t have an artistic bone in my body, but these sketches were beautiful.
After a few more pages, I found song lyrics. Somewhere in the Sky lyrics. The back of my neck prickled as I kept flipping. There were so many song lyrics.
Then I came across a picture that made me freeze. A guy singing on stage with a smile on his face.
Me.
A rock lodged itself into the pit of my stomach.
She’d gotten all my features right—my nearly auburn hair, my blue eyes, my freckled cheeks, my favorite blue button-down I wore over my white T-shirt. She’d even drawn the cloud tattoo on my neck.
If I’d seen this before I met her, I would’ve smiled. I would’ve found it flattering that someone loved my music—music I truly loved—enough to draw me with this much detail.
Now it only made me sick to my core.
As I kept flipping the pages, I found a mix of Sienna’s sketches and other random things, like doodles of other people and lyrics from other songs. I wondered if some of these were her own original lyrics.
I came across her brainstorming pages, a few familiar lyrics sticking out to me. It was the song she’d performed for me at our picnic. There were multiple drafts, and each one sent a pang to my chest. She was excited from our first date. She was excited about me. Well, she had been.
I flipped through more pages. After a few more song lyrics, the rest of the pages were blank. I turned to the back of the journal, which only had pen swatches. It was over.
Just like our relationship.
The lump in my throat grew. I couldn’t keep this. It was so personal, soher, from the way she wrote to the way she drew. Even if she never wanted to finish it, it didn’t belong to me.
The door opened behind me, and I dropped the sketchbook on the bed, my pulse spiking from the scare.
Phoenix appeared, giving me a small smile. “You’re back.”
“Yeah.” I scratched my neck. “Just came here to apologize.”
“I’ve missed you.”
“Yeah, I heard all about your panic from Justin. He followed my family home from the beach, thanks to you.”
“He did?” He sighed and shook his head. “I always knew that dude was missing a few screws.”
“Screw that—he lost the whole toolbox.”
We shared a laugh. Phoenix grinned at me, his dark eyes brimming with warmth. I could see my reflection in them, smiling back at me. We didn’t need to say the words out loud—we’d always be important to each other.
The door creaked open, followed by close footsteps. I nearly jumped out of my skin again.
“Phoenix, why are you in—” Forrest froze in his tracks, his lips parting in shock. “Gavin? You’re back?”
“No, I’m actually Gavin’s long-lost twin.” My joke fell flat, but I managed to smile.
To my surprise, Forrest rolled his eyes. “I didn’t think you’d come back so soon.”
“Me either. I’m glad you didn’t burn my stuff.”
He sighed before extending his arms.
I blinked. “Is this a trap?”
“Gosh, why does everyone think that?” He let his arms fall, frowning. “I’m sorry about how I reacted to everything. I shouldn’t have blamed you like that.”
