Page 99 of Ambiguous
“You know how I hate labels?”
“Yeah.”
“There is one label I’d like,” I say, my heart pounding. “That is, one that I’d like to use between us.”
“What is it?”
“Boyfriends. Would you like it if we called ourselves that?”
Sam relaxes against me. “I’d like that very much.”
CHAPTER36
Jules
We spend the rest of the weekend doing more of the same. In between time spent naked in bed or in the shower or (ahem) on the floor (again), we cook and tidy up and go for treks out in the fresh air.
There’s no one else around.
It’s glorious.
All too soon it’s Sunday night and time to go back to the real world. I drop Sam off at his house and then return to mine, where I find Loren pacing in my living room. They have a key, and I guess they decided a personal visit was necessary since I ignored my phone all weekend long.
“You still haven’t received approval from Lighthouse?” they ask after I drop my overnight bag at the door and we exchange hellos.
“No.”
They rub their chin. “That’s surprising.”
Their usual black talons, erm, nails, are now dark gray—a different shade on every finger—and they’re wearing dark gray jeans and a black T-shirt from my latest tour.
I stare at the shirt, wondering what the artwork for the new album will be like. Part of me wants to put Sam’s face on it, with an arrow that says “hot man muse.”
Part of me wants to keep him for myself.
And all of me is concerned about the lack of response from the label. “Right? The engineers seemed to like it, but I don’t know what the executives will say. Maybe they’re paying me back for taking so long to write the flipping thing.”
“Hmm. That is strange. I’ll follow up.” They shrug. “We shouldn’t go directly to worst-case scenarios. Maybe the muckety-mucks are busy.”
“Maybe.” I tug my guitar into my lap and play with my fingering, then strum a few chords. “I actually wrote another song this week. Want to hear it? Maybe I’ll do another album.”
At the lack of response, I glance up and see Loren’s sassy smirk and raised eyebrow.
“What?” I ask.
“Did Sam inspire this new song?”
“He did.”
“And are you guys together now?”
I nod.
“Are you worried about anything?”
“The usual. But I have to manage the anxiety. I do everything because of my fans. For once, I want to do something for me.” I scrub my face. “I believe in our relationship, and it’s what I think that matters.”
“I’m there for you.” They catch my eyes. “You know that.”
