Page 131 of Next to Everything We Wanted

“That’s the sixteen-and-up club, right?” Raina asked. “That means we can go.”

Emma frowned. “That means Adam and I can’t.”

Sienna patted her shoulder. “I’ll take a bunch of videos.”

“Still isn’t the same.”

“This is so amazing,” Hayden said, his eyes widening as he rose in his seat. “Somewhere in the Sky is finally performing outside of What Do You Bean. All my dreams are coming true.”

Dallas lowered Hayden in his seat. “Don’t get too excited that you knock my milkshake over.”

Hayden frowned at him. “You should’ve finished it by now.”

I chuckled. “It’s going to be great, guys.”

After showering, I went into the kitchen to get a snack. Forrest sat at the table by himself, picking at some leftovers from dinner. When he saw me, he gave me the same tight smile from earlier.

“Hey,” I said, grabbing lemonade from the fridge. “What happened earlier?”

His brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

I thought about all the times I’d asked that question, knowing dang well what the answer was. “You stormed out after we asked if you were okay with performing at Moonlight Lounge.”

He huffed, the heaviness in his eyes growing. “Do you want the real answer?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.” I sat next to him.

“I realized how sad it is that we’ve never performed outside of What Do You Bean. Because of me and how stressed I was about getting more exposure. It made me feel like crap that I’ve held us back for so long.”

I rubbed his knuckles. “You don’t have to feel bad for the past.”

“Well, I do. You four still look for my approval, expecting me to object.”

“I’m sorry if we hurt your feelings. We weren’t sure what you were thinking.”

He sighed, dropping his fork. “Sometimes I worry if I act like my dad.”

I frowned. “What makes you say that?”

“My mom keeps complaining about how I’ve ‘changed’ after recovering from my addiction. Like the change wasn’t a good thing. It made me think about how cold I’ve been to you guys—and yeah, I stopped doing that recently, though it took a bunch of girl drama.”

I offered a smile. “Sometimes we need girl drama to figure things out.”

He gave a short laugh. “I’m with Phoenix on never dating again.” He picked at his food. “But seriously, my mom sometimes compares me to my dad because she’s paranoid about our similarities: the way we get mad over things, how we want to be the right ones, all of that crap. And she wonders why I visit her less and less. That makes her paranoid too, since my dad detached himself before he left.”

“You’re nothing like him.” I’d never met Forrest’s dad, but from everything Forrest had told me, he was a complete loser. He left when Forrest was twelve, and since then, they’ve only met in person less than five times.

“The hell I’m not. I wouldn’t leave my family for no reason and then go radio silent, only to later get married and have kids with a twenty-something-year-old in Arizona. My dad’s a piece of crap. I like to think that I’m not.”

I smiled. “You’re definitely not.”

“Anyway, that’s why I’ve been upset. I haven’t really talked about it since I don’t want to be the pathetic dude with daddy issues.”

“You’re not a pathetic dude with daddy issues. You’re an awesome dude with daddy issues.”

He let out the ugliest snort I’d ever heard from him. “Thank you. For everything.”

I nodded, giving him a side hug. “I’m always here for you.”