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Because there he stands—dark suit, dark hair, light eyes in the darkness of this room—surrounded by deep-red, velvet couches; black walls; and gothic chandeliers, providing muted light to the room around him—and everything about it is just so damn sexy, and seductive, andsinful.

Sinful, sinful, sinful, because the thoughts running through my mind right now are anything but holy.

Andholy shit, but adult Greyson is so fucking attractive it hurts. Literally—physically—aches inside my chest.

And obviously I already knew this, having seen him twice in the past two weeks, but I wouldn’t know it with the way my heart skips at least eight solid beats when he spots me at the bar and smiles, one corner of his mouth pulling up higher than the other in the way that I’ve always loved.

There’s something about the way he looks at me now that’s different from earlier tonight, though, and different from the day we ran into each other at the coffee shop, too.

An intensity, a familiarity, in the way he strides towards me, eyes searching mine. I could be crazy, but his are saying so many things.

Is there still something here? Do you feel this too?

I’ve missed you.

I’ve missed you; I’ve missed you; I’ve missed you.

And surely, if he was taken, he wouldn’t be here right now looking at me like that, right?

A throat clears beside me. “We’re embarrassing ourselves here, ladies,” Ricky says.

I force myself to look away from Greyson. It’s no small feat. I have to peel my eyes away from his face and body, inch by agonizing inch, before I can turn in my seat and face Ricky.

And it’s only now that I see the looks on my friend’s faces, the way their mouths have all hit the floor. Every single one of them.

Except Ricky’s. He’s the one who invited him here, so he’s not at all surprised, obviously.

“Really, guys? We’re more civilized than this.” I say.

Kat is the first to pull her attention away from Greyson and back to me. “That’sGreyson?” she whispers.

Oh. So that’s the surprise:Surprise! Greyson is hot as fuck.

If I could love them any more than I do in this moment, my heart would burst. They could’ve easily looked him up online, behind my back, but it’s clear they never did. They kept their promise not to.

The surprise on Kat’s face, and Sita’s at the gallery, tells me that.

Maggie has seen him once before, though; she was there when I saw his viral video for the first time.But I’m starting to think I should’ve given them all permission to stalk him online, becauseholy hellbut they really are over the top right now.

“Reign it in, bitches,” Sita says as Greyson closes the last few feet of distance between him and our table, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Guys, this is Greyson. Greyson this is Kat, Maggie, and Sita,” I introduce, pointing down the line of them. “And you met Ricky earlier.”

Greyson nods, smiling. “Nice to meet you all.” He sits down in the seat beside me, the seat that Ricky has magically vacated with the speed of lightning, and I watch as my four best friends immediately dive in and start interrogating him.

They ask him about his music, and life on tour, and how long he’s in Seattle for, and I really want to hear the answers to these questions, but my ability to listen is being drowned out by the mosh-pit of thoughts churning in my mind.

This is surreal.Greyson sitting here, in conversation with Maggie, Kat, Sita, and Ricky. Past and present colliding. Two worlds fusing themselves together.

Somehow, I can physically feel it happening. Piece by piece, stitch by stitch, they’re sewn together, and I’m left with the picture in front of me: Smiles and laughter on the faces of five of the most amazing people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know.

It squeezes at my heart, tightening in my chest. A snapshot of this moment could never capture the way it makes me feel. Like being welcomed back home with open arms after years of being gone.

Warm and inviting. Strange, yet entirely familiar.

Laughter erupts again at something I’ve missed, and I pull myself out of my own head and force myself to be present, to take this all in and enjoy it. For however long it lasts.

Greyson is telling them about the first time he ever played for a crowd—how nervous he was. I remember it with a soft smile, my eyes on his side profile as he tells his version of the story.