Page 83 of Once Upon a Boyband
According to the clock, we say goodbye approximately fifty-seven times before I step back and open Laney’s car door for her. “Are you sure you don’t mind taking Goldie?” I ask.
My dog has spent more time with Laney in the past week than she has with me, and since we’re leaving the farm to go to the recording studio in Silver Creek, she’ll be on her own all day if she stays here.
“Of course I don’t mind,” Laney says. “She’ll love my mom’s house.”
“And I’ll see you back in Lawson Cove on Sunday?”
She smiles. “You’re cute when you’re a worried dog dad.”
“Sorry,” I say. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
“If she isn’t, I have her vet’s number,” Laney says with a playful smirk.
Once she’s in her car and buckled in, Goldie in the back seat, she winds her window down, and I lean in to kiss her one more time.
“Stay off the internet, all right?” I say. “I’ve asked Ivy to monitor stuff. And Sarah already does anyway. They’ll let us know if there’s anything else about us.”
She nods. “Call me later?”
I nod, then step back from the car, watching as she pulls away, Goldie smiling at me through the back window. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually let Goldie stay with anyone else. The fact that I so easily sent her with Laney is really saying something.
When I get back inside, Ivy is sitting at the table in the breakfast room, laptop open in front of her and phone in her hand.
“How’s it looking?” I ask as I grab a blueberry muffin off the buffet behind her.
She looks up. “To put it mildly, the internet has lost its mind.”
The rest of the guys show up for breakfast a few minutes later, and Ivy plays a couple videos of fans reacting to the news. It’s only been an hour, but the responses are happening fast, and they all seem to involve some combination of crying and squealing and screaming. The Midnight Rush Instagram account, which was recently resurrected by a publicist at New Groove, posted the promo photo of the four of us together at the same time the press release went live, and it already has over ten thousand likes.
It puts us all in a good mood, so we’re buzzing when we head out front to the enormous black SUV that I assume will drive us over to the studio.
“Where’d this thing come from?” Freddie says, motioning to the SUV.
Ivy is already there—the woman is somehow ten steps ahead of us at all times—climbing into the front passenger seat, and she shoots Freddie a withering look.
“She really likes to be irritated with you, doesn’t she?” Leo asks.
Freddie nods. “It’s her favorite hobby.”
I narrow my eyes, wondering if there’s something to read between the lines. “Have you guys ever…?” I ask, letting him fill in the blank, mostly so I can see how he responds.
“Me and Ivy? Nah,” he says dryly. “She’s like a very annoying little sister. Plus, I’m pretty sure she’d rather date Kevin, and she hates Kevin.”
Freddie and Leo climb into the third row because they’re a little smaller than Jace and me. “Thanks for getting us a car, Ivy,” Freddie calls, and she shakes her head and smiles, giving me the sense this is some sort of game between them.
Seeing their connection makes me miss Laney, which is stupid because I shouldn’t miss her when she’s only been gone a few hours.
Fifteen minutes later, we pull up to Eight Fiddle Studios. Leo was right, and it’s a really nice studio. Apparently, some notable folk and bluegrass albums have been recorded here.
We’ve got a full band with us, keys, bass, drums, and two guys on guitar, and the energy in the studio is buzzing. It feels good to be back, so after we put down “The Start of Forever,” none of us really feel like stopping. We end up messing around with a couple of new songs Leo has been working on, then record one of Freddie’s, with a harmony line that Leo writes on the spot.
None of it means anything. I doubt we’ll do anything with any of it. It’s just fun.
I forgot how fun it is.
When we get back to the farmhouse, I want dinner and then a long hot shower…and the chance to collapse into bed and call Laney. We’ve been texting back and forth all day, mostly with GIFS and memes. But when I was singing “The Start of Forever,” all I could think about was her, and I’m anxious to hear her voice. To see how it went when she talked to her family. To make sure she’s okay.
But all those hopes die when we find Kevin at the farmhouse.
