Page 52 of Breathing Wisteria
Wyatt
“This is incredible!” Layla’s voice is all squeaky and high, the way it gets when she’s excited and her eyes are bouncing all over the place, watching the backstage action that is unfolding around us.
“Bubs.” Cassidy nudges her little sister. “Take it down a notch, okay? Let’s try and play it a little cool, ’kay?”
“Hell, no. I’m with Lay. This is freaking awesome!”
“Balls!” Cassidy scrunches her nose up as she chastises Skye, who simply shrugs her shoulders and grins.
I look at the three women sitting on a large speaker opposite me, who have become my family since I moved to New York. I cling on to Charlie’s hand, who is sitting beside me, grateful that she flew in from Chicago for tonight. I am so fucking lucky to have women like this in my life. Friends who champion me and cherish me, as I do them. I willnevertake that for granted.
“Will we get to see Flynn before the show starts?”
Cassidy laughs at Skye’s question causing her to blush a deep rose red, which then has Layla and me in a fit of giggles.
“What am I missing?” Charlie asks.
“Skyeballs has a crush on Flynn. It’s equal parts adorable and awkward.”
Skye whacks Cassidy on the arm. “I do not!” she argues. “I just really love his music. It makes me think of Ben and...” She trails off, her face lighting up once again, setting us all off this time.
We are getting a lot of curious looks from the roadies rushing past us, so I try to compose myself.
“No, he’s with the band right now, but there’s going to be a small after-party atSilhouetteafterward, so you can see him then.” I wink at her.
“Oh, I would love to, but I have to get home straight after. Ben’s on a business trip so my mom has the girls.”
“Ugh, I’m in the same boat.” Cassidy groans. “Mason is sick with the manflu and I promised I would get home as soon as possible. Our kids are like lemurs, they can sense weakness.”
Layla wiggles in her seat, biting her bottom lip. “I’m out too, I have a ton of paperwork I need to do tonight.”
“Nooo, can’t you do it tomorrow?” I throw her my best puppy dog eyes.
“I wish I could, but it’s Ethan’s mom’s birthday, so we’ll be at their place all day. Adulting blows.” She huffs.
“Alright, well then, I guess it’s just us.” I turn to Charlie. “It’ll be just like old times!”
Charlie pulls a face and I immediately know I’m not going to like what comes next.
“I’m sorry, Reeses. I have meetings tomorrow, I need to be on the red-eye tonight.”
“But tomorrow is Sunday!”
“I know.” She grimaces. “But if I want to make partner, I need to put in the hours.” She lays her head on my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I look around the group. “I might just need to find some new friends though.”
“Speaking of new friends, do you remem—”
“Ladies.” Charlie is cut off by the arrival of Campbell. “Our suite is ready, shall we?” He motions to a long hallway and we all excitedly jump off the speakers we had parked our asses on.
“So, when does the tour actually start?” Skye asks.
“Why, are you planning on coming back for another go-around?” Cassidy jokes.
“The tour officially kicks off next month in Manchester. But we wanted to do a few early performances here in the States,” Cam answers. “He’s already done The Hollywood Bowl, tonight’s show and then a week before we fly to the UK, he’s doing a show at Fenway Park.”
Layla sidles up to me, nudging me with her shoulder. “How long is he going to be away for?”
