“Two mochas,” Arrow admits with a grimace. Then he points back at Ali. “But we’re talking about your mistake, not mine.”
“She’s not any kind of mistake, Arrow,” I say, doing my best to keep my tone calm. I’m pretty sure I fail, because his eyes narrow a little.
“I’m just saying this is happening awfully fast,” Arrow says.
“It’s not like this is random,” I argue. “I’ve been around her constantly for a full week.”
“Which is much longer than he knows most girls,” Killer chirps.
I ignore him and continue, “Plus, I’m not sleeping with her or anything.”
Killer nods enthusiastically. “Which just shows how special this one is.”
I grit my teeth and shoot Killer a glare. “Dude, you’re not helping.”
He holds his hands up in an innocent gesture, but the smirk on his lips tells the real story. I flip him off and then say to Arrow, “You have no reason to not like her.”
“No reason?” Arrow runs a hand through his shaggy hair and shakes his head. “Jace, you’re being delusional. I mean, taking her in is one thing, but being in a relationship with her? That’s practically begging for the cops to accuse you of kidnapping, or worse.”
“I’ve already told you, I don’t care.”
“Clearly,” Arrow says with a scoff. “If you cared, you’d stay away from her.”
“Not everything in my life has to revolve around the band,” I snap.
“I’m not talking about the band. I’m talking about Ali. I think we all know you’re not healthy for her. Hell, you’re not healthy for any girl.”
I open my mouth, waiting for a retort to come springing out. But there’s only my stunned silence. He’s right. Of course I’m not healthy for her, and of course Arrow is so annoyingly, stupidly right.
But it’s still not enough to make me give her up. “I can change,” I say slowly, finally finding my voice. “I can figure out how to make a relationship work. But I’m not changing the fact that we’re together. So get over it, Arrow. Either that, or get out of here.”
“I already told you I’m not just going to leave you,” Arrow says with a sigh.
“I know.”
He points an accusing finger at me. “Then don’t make me do anything I regret, okay? I’ve already promised that I’ll stand by you for this, but if you hurt that girl or the band, it’s over.”
“What’s over?”
“Everything,” Arrow says. “You walk a fine line between jackass and unredeemable, and if you cross that line, I’m not going to put up with you anymore.”
My eyes widen. Is he actually threatening to ditch? To leave the band, leave our careers, leave me? I glance down at Ali, and for a brief moment, I wonder if she’s worth all of this. Then I shake my head and grit my teeth.
“I understand.”
Arrow gives a short nod. “Good.” With that, he lets out a tired sigh and throws an arm over his boyfriend’s shoulders.
There’s a long, awkward silence. Then Killer hesitantly asks, “Does this mean we get to double-date?”
Arrow and I manage to stretch out the silence about three more seconds, as we stare incredulously at Killer. Then Arrow bursts out laughing, and even I can’t help but chuckle a little. Trust Killer to take that away from our conversation. I shake my head at my bandmate, wishing I could be as carefree as he is.
But then who would worry about Ali?
23
ALI
I SPEND MOST of the next day hiding out in the RV’s living area. With all the vehicles back in commission, Tone Deaf’s caravan travels into Albuquerque in the morning and gets settled at the stadium they’ll be performing at. They were supposed to have a rehearsal of the concert yesterday, but thanks to the traveling delays, it didn’t happen.
Which means Jace and other members of the crew have been scrambling around all afternoon, squeezing in a rehearsal and last-minute equipment checks before their concert tonight. The room with the couches is the comfiest spot around, so I hang out in there and just try to keep out of sight and out of the way. I fill the morning by working on Jace’s social media profiles, updating his links and answering a few fan messages. But then I notice a tweet linking to a news article about my disappearance, and I quickly close out of the browser, not even wanting to think about all the people searching for me. I find a blank notebook to distract myself with and spend the afternoon sketching the cityscape outside the window.
Around four o’clock, Jace comes into the RV carrying a bag of Chinese takeout in one hand and his guitar in the other. I join him in the kitchen and scarf down a plate of orange chicken and noodles. Jace doesn’t say much, and he only picks at his vegetable stir-fry before he grabs his guitar and starts practicing chords. He’s clearly nervous, which is kind of cute. Here he is, the lead singer of a renowned band, and he still gets stage fright before concerts.
“You should eat more,” I sign, pointing to his plate.