Colin twines his fingers with mine and we walk in perfect synchronization as the maître d takes our coats, draping them over his arm. He then leads us away from the other couples and toward the closed door of a small room completely separate from everyone else.
When Colin opens the door for me, I almost pass out right on the spot. The entire ballroom is dimly lit with tea lights and tapered candles on a table, and there are rose petals and heart-shaped balloons hanging from the ceiling like a Valentine’s Day sales ad just threw up on the place.
But what floors me even more is the fact that there’s a stage set up in the center of the room, just before I notice that there are two men standing upon it, both of whom I recognize.
“Colin!” I gasp, my hands shaking at my sides. I squeeze his hand and turn to him, squealing. “That’s Cabe Sexton and Gibson Conway! Gibson Conway of Silence-of-fucking-Sound!”
Cabe, the manager of Silence of Sound and the older brother of the band’s male lead singer, walks over to me and shakes my hand. I swear, I almost faint on the spot. I mean, this is Silence of Sound, the band that took all of Harlow by storm while we were out in Big Springs. They’ve put out two EPs and a full-length album in the past six months since we’ve been back home, and their lead singers—both Phoenix and Arabella—are sex on legs.
“Cabe Sexton. It’s really nice to meet you,” Cabe says, tucking his clipboard under his arm.
“Pfft, I’m nobody! But you! I know exactly who you are. You’re amazing. I can’t believe this!”
Cabe laughs, bro-hugging Colin like they’ve known each other all their lives. “Well, you’d better believe it, Miss Quinn. This is a special show just for you. Happy anniversary.”
“Thank you!” I gush. I turn to Colin and swat him in the chest a few times before I launch myself at him and start squealing uncontrollably.
“I can’t believe I’m in love with a fangirl,” Colin scoffs.
I grin, wrapping my arms around the nape of his neck and giving him a kiss.
“You’re amazing, babe. Thank you!”
Colin walks me over to our table, and it’s adorned with more rose petals, but sitting in the center of the table is a bouquet of lilies. I grin at him as he pulls out my chair for me, and I drape my coat over the back of it before sitting down and crossing my legs.
When I look up, Colin is taking a seat, and I can hear people coming onto the stage, and I’m all jittery because I can’t believe I’m getting to see these guys in person—not to mention that come Monday, I’ll be working with them regularly.
“Hey, y’all,” the female singer, Arabella Cabello, croons, her Southern drawl thick and adorable as she taps the mike. “We’re Silence of Sound and we’d like to play a couple acoustic tracks for you and a new song we’ve been workin’ on.”
I nod, clapping lightly as Phoenix climbs the stage, looking hotter than hot. My mind isn’t even focused on the absence of the rest of the band members.
I swear, there’s nothing sexier than a man with a guitar.
Phoenix has his guitar hung behind him, and he snatches up a stool. He sits on it, propping one of his legs up on one of the bars, and then he swings his guitar in front of him. Bella grabs a stool and pulls her guitar out, taking the same exact position as Phoenix. She looks up at me, giving me a smile, and then she taps the mike again.
“This is one of our new songs, and it’s called About Last Night. I hope y’all like it.” She looks down and starts strumming some chords and giving us a couple of hmm’s.
About Last Night
Verse:
So about last night/I hate that I said no
And about this morning/I shouldn’t have let you go
About that fight/I should’ve done more
And you were right/I’ve never said that before
It’s about last night/And the words I said
The ones that made you cry/Before you got in bed
It’s about last night/And what I could have done
I didn’t even try/And I let you run
Chorus:
But because of last night/I love you more
And about last night/I won’t do that anymore
Verse:
So about tonight/I’ll hold you in my arms
And about this morning/I’ll serve you Lucky Charms
About this fight/I swear that I’m sorry
And you’re so right/You don’t have to worry
Because after tonight/I’ll be a better man
And when you get in bed/You can love me again
It’s about tonight/And these words are true
I swear I’ll try /To be a good man for you
I feel tears come to my eyes, and I wonder if Colin’s heard this song before, because it vaguely reminds me of an argument we had recently. I grip his hand across the table, and at the moment that the final chords of the song ring out, a waitress enters the room.
I know when I see her that I’ll never be able to forget her. She’s Hispanic—that much is clear from her dark almond eyes and her midnight colored hair that hangs down her back in a ponytail. She’s juggling three plates on a large tray on one arm, and, hips swaying, she saunters over to us with such conviction that I know I want to learn from her when I come in for work tomorrow.
She sets down one plate of spaghetti with Italian sausage in front of Colin, and then gives me a plate of Cajun chicken and shrimp pasta. I glance at Colin and mouth a ‘thank you’ to him.
“I’m Sabrina, and I’ll be your waitress for this evening. I’ll be in a little room just outside of this one, and if you need me, just give this bell a ding.” She places a small bell reminiscent of the ones in hotels in the middle of the table and then gives me a smile.
I make it a point to introduce myself to her later, just so that we’re not complete strangers when I show up tomorrow after school.
She walks away and once she’s out of sight, I lean across the table and kiss Colin on the lips. “I love you, babe. This is the best anniversary ever.” We both pick up our forks and commence eating dinner. I moan with pleasure as all the different flavors explode around my taste buds. “The. Best.”
With those words, more guitar chords ring out, and, just like that, my attention is focused on the stage.
I watch as Bella closes her eyes, holding her microphone in her hand as Phoenix plays the music. “This song is our newest—we just wrote it last night. It’s called Fade Away.” Her sultry mezzo-soprano rings out loud and clear, and the most heart-stopping words that I’ve ever heard escape her lips.
Bella:
Promise me forever, and promise everyday
Promise me your love will never fade away
Promise me always, and promise you’ll try
And I’ll promise back that I’ll never make you cry
Promise me your heart, and I’ll promise you mine
And I promise this love is the best you’ll ever find
But there’s one thing I must ask of you
There’s only one thing you have to do
Both (Chorus):
Don’t let it fade away
Don’t make me regret the words I say
Don’t let it fade to black
Don’t say words and then take them back
Don’t let it fade away
Don’t let it fall to pieces
Don’t take away my breathin’
Don’t let it fade to grey
Don’t break my heart one day
Don’t let it fade away
Don’t let it fade away
Phoenix:
Promise me a future that’s better than the past
And promise me a love that’s truer than the last
Promise me your heart, and I promise the same
And etched in my soul will be the sound of your name
Promise me your all, and I’ll promise you the world
I can be what you need; this I swear to you, girl
But there’s one thing I
must ask of you
There’s only one thing you have to do
Chorus 1x:
Bella: Don’t break me
Phoenix: Don’t shake me
Both: Don’t complicate me
Don’t take me
To a point of no return
Bella: I’ve already been burned
Phoenix: I can’t be broken by you
Both: You’re too good to be true
So promise that you
Won’t let it fade away
Chorus 1x:
By the time Phoenix and Bella are done singing, I’m a sobbing mess. They may be a rock band, but their words speak to and from the soul. I bury my face in my hands as I register the words, and I know. I know somehow Colin has been corresponding with at least one of the bandmates without my knowledge, because this selection of music sounds personal. It sounds like the words Colin wishes he could say.
“Nickayla.” Colin’s voice pierces me, and it breaks through my crying fit. “Nickayla, sweetie, what’s wrong?”
He sounds completely worried, and I forget that he can’t tell the difference between my cries, not even after being together for a year now. He makes a move to stand up, but I hold out a hand to keep him at bay. “Nothing’s wrong. It’s just that…everything’s so right. I love it. And I love you. I couldn’t have asked for a better anniversary present.”
Behind us, Silence of Sound is playing one of the songs off their EP, Echoes, and it’s one of my favorites ever. It’s called Oblivion, and it’s been on repeat on my iPod for weeks now.
Colin stands up and pulls me to my feet. The minute I’m up, he jerks me forward until I come crashing into his chest, and I giggle up at him. His arms encircle me and I feel his palms at the small of my back, and I rest my head in the crook of his neck.
“You look beautiful tonight, Nickayla,” Colin whispers, swaying me along with the beat of the slow song. “I am so in love with you. You’ve no idea how happy I’ve been with you this past year.”
I look up at him and give him a wicked grin. “I just love you.”
His lips descend upon mine, and I’m kissing him like I’ve never kissed him before.
His lips are soft, and the minute that they meet mine I’m pulled back to the night of our first kiss, the night that I found out the only secret that he ever had. I recall how vulnerable he was that night, but also how badly the both of us needed that kiss. I was burying pain from my past, and Colin was faced head-on with the pain of his present. When we kissed for the very first time, though, none of it seemed to matter anymore.
It’s amazing how far we’ve come since then. Colin and I are stronger now.
“I want to give you your gift now,” Colin says against my lips.
He lowers his forehead so that it rests against mine, and my gaze travels from his lips up to his sparkling green eyes. I inhale sharply as his hands drop from around my waist.
“I thought my gift was the girl cave.” I can’t hide my shock.
“That was gift number one. You know I never do anything half-ass, pretty girl.”
I grin, completely ignoring the fact that Silence of Sound is playing another of my favorite song of theirs, Catfish.
“It better not be expensive. You outdid yourself on my birthday and Christmas and even Dia de los Reyes even though I asked you not to. I don’t think there are any more electronics you can give to me.”
Laughing, Colin leads me toward the table. I sit down across from him and reach into the pocket of my jacket for Colin’s gift.
I’m not sure how I can possibly top the gifts I gave him on his eighteenth birthday. Bringing his siblings out to Big Springs to celebrate such a big birthday for him was more than enough, but the mason jar was the icing on the cake.
Colin sets a small box on the table, and I secretly hope it isn’t another piece of jewelry, even though I know most likely, it is. Then he sets a much larger box next to the smaller one, and I inwardly groan.
My gift to him isn’t quite as extravagant as I would have liked, but I’m hoping that I can make up for that on Valentine’s Day, after I’ve gotten my first check from work. Like his gift to me, mine has multiple parts. I planned it a few months ago, because anniversaries, holidays, and any special occasion, really, are a huge deal to Colin.
“Open the big one first,” Colin says, propping his elbows up on the table and resting his chin in his hands. “I really think you’re going to enjoy it.”
I sigh, because really, I wish that my only gift was my girl-cave. It was absolutely perfect. Colin knows me better than anyone in the world, and he knows how much I absolutely hate to be spoiled. But for some reason, that doesn’t deter him from doing it anyway.
I reach for the larger box and pull it toward me, untying the ribbon that ties the lid to the rest of the box. I know for certain that Colin got either Michie or my sister’s help with this, but I decide not to comment on it. I lift the lid off and pull out the wrapping paper to find a tall stack of books, wrapped together with twine.
“Colin.” His name escapes my mouth almost like a prayer. I can’t hide the love that’s behind my voice as I lift the package out. I untie the twine and let it fall to the sides. I spread the books across the table and I’m overwhelmed with excitement and awe. In front of me is a series of ten books: Hopeless, Losing Hope, Slammed, Point of Retreat, and This Girl by Colleen Hoover, Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth, If I Stay by Gayle Forman, This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen, and An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. Before I look up and meet his gaze, I wonder if he’s been snooping in my Amazon.com search history, because all of these are paperbacks that I’ve been aching to own. “Colin!”
I break out in a grin and I make to get up to hug him, but Colin shakes his head. “Don’t thank me until you open the second gift.”
He slides the jewelry box over to me, and I tear the wrapping paper off of it. I flip the lid of the box and I about fall out of my chair. Hesitantly, I reach forward to touch the jewelry, but I feel completely inadequate after seeing what was inside the box. The locket he gave me for my birthday wasn’t nearly this extravagant.
It’s a stunning pair of emerald chandelier earrings set into white gold. Finally, I let my hand drop to the table and place my pointer finger on top of one of them just to make sure that they’re real. “Colin, they’re just a little…gorgeous! My God!” I meet his gaze and he’s grinning at me like I just gave him the whole entire world. “Thank you. These are—wow. Wow.” I pause, dropping my gaze and sighing. “My gift for you seems silly now.”
Colin chuckles. “Nothing you ever give me is silly, Nickayla. I still have the piece of paper with that poem you wrote for me. Every time I’m having a shitty day, I grab a slip of paper from the mason jar. And I’ll never forget what you and Michie and everyone else did to get Keaton and Suze out to Big Springs last summer.” He pauses before he speaks again. “I have everything anyone could ever ask for. Great friends, a great family—with the exception of my parents, my own home, a job here and one waiting for me in Big Springs after graduation. But more than that, I have you, pretty girl. You’re the reason I wake up in the morning. You’re the reason behind my smile. You’re the reason I’m still standing today. I don’t need you to buy me expensive, extravagant gifts. That’s my job. That’s what I’m supposed to do for you. The only thing that I want from you in return is your love. Anything else is just extra.” He reaches for my hand across the table. “So whatever your gift for me is, I promise, I love it.”
“You haven’t even seen it,” I point out.
“It came from you. So even without seeing it, I know I love it already.”
Here goes, I think, pulling Colin’s gift out of my pocket and setting it on the table.
It’s not much, I know it’s not. But I still want desperately for him to love it.
I watch as he opens the box I’ve just given him, and his emerald eyes meet mind in confusion. He pulls out a small picture frame, and beneath i
t is a receipt.
“Nickayla, what the Hell?” he asks.
I shrug, feeling the heat rise into my cheeks. “Uh. Um. Well, the reason I couldn’t get you an actual gift to actually give you right now, is because I used all my earnings from my job last summer.”
“On?”
I sigh, feeling incredibly embarrassed. “On, um. Um, I hired some contractors to build you another…well, I don’t know the word exactly to describe the place your grandfather built you. But, Hayden’s sister Lizzie has been overseeing them as they build you another one in the backyard of the Westwick estate. I mean, um, you said we’d be living there after we graduate, so I figured that you’d feel more at home if you had another…Place.” I lean forward, pointing at the receipt in his hands. “And um, that’s a receipt from the Raleigh Guitar Center, where I’ve been paying off an Yngwei Strat with the rest of my earnings. I know it killed you to put Fuego down, so I thought a new guitar would help.”
Fuego was Colin’s favorite guitar, and it was the only thing he was able to save from the remnants of his place when it got burned down.
He brings both his hands up to his mouth for a second, and I wonder if I’ve fucked up somehow.
It’s been almost a year since he spoke to his parents, and ever since it happened, we’ve never spoken of the night his father burnt his place to the ground. His late grandfather had built him a shed sort of thing, and he would play all his music in there, and always feel like he was safe. On the night of my seventeenth birthday, and I stilldon’t know why or how it happened, to this day, his father lit it up, and then proceeded to beat him. When I got to their house, Colin was weak, and seemingly broken. That night, as he watched the rest of his childhood go up in flames, his sister a wreck in the back seat, was the first time I’d ever seen Colin cry.
“I can’t believe you did this,” Colin says, his hands still covering his mouth as he stares at me in wonderment. “I can’t…I can’t believe it.”
He shoves away from the table, then storms over to my side of it. He extends his hand to me, and hesitantly, I take it. He pulls me to my feet, and I’m afraid that he’s totally pissed and he hates my gift. I open my mouth to start apologizing when he pulls my arm gently and envelops me in a hug. His chin rests on top of my head, and I can feel his heartbeat beneath my cheek as I nestle against his chest.
Almost Everything (Nickayla Quinn Trilogy Book 2) Page 4