Page 106 of Paint Our Song

“Yo,” Theo says, halting in front of him.

Hi, do you want some jam?Miles almost asks. Instead, he gives a slight nod. Theo responds with a smile so forced that Miles can see right through it.

Theo scratches at his neck, and there’s a small tattoo on his wrist. A lily, just like the one Calvin has on his hip.Well. Shit.

Noticing him staring, Theo takes a long look at his own wrist, as well, his brows knitting together. Miles blinks. Then he blinks some more. Has Theo always had that tattoo? It doesn’t look new, so he most likely has. Miles wracks his brain, trying to remember if he’s seen it before, but he doesn’t make it a habit of looking at people’s wrists, even if they’re TheoReid’s.

“What?” Theo asks. “You don’t like my tattoo?”

“Uh. It’s great. Just caught my eye because it matches Calvin’s.”

There’s a pause. Theo’s expression twists as he puts his hand back down. “You’ve seen Cal’s tattoo?”

“Sure. A few times.”

“What, you go swimming a lot in Ridgeford?”

Well, that was a strange and sudden change of topic. “Once. Calvin doesn’t like swimming.”

Theo narrows his eyes. “I fucking know that.”

Alarmed, Miles lets out an awkward laugh. “Okay?”

Then he realizes what’s wrong.It’s on his hip.The majority of times he’s seen it certainly isn’t because they swam a lot, but because of other times that Theo frankly has no business knowing about, but Miles accidentally broadcasted to him.

“Theo, go,” Derrick says, stepping up beside Miles.

Jaw tightening, Theo walks away.

Derrick smiles at him, completely oblivious to the mess Miles might have started. “Enjoy the show. Hope they behave.”

The interview starts. The host introduces the band, and their voices are loud in the room which Miles is in. They chat about nothing in particular at first, and the host gives each of them equal opportunities to speak. Miles has watched and listened to interviews like this before, and he’s familiar with their dynamics. Still, it’s out of this world that he can actually see it in person—to be here as their guest.

Chase is loud and chaotic, like he always is, while Gil is the most well-mannered of them all. Theo’s charismatic, and what an act,honestly. He’s toned down from how he was before, probably still awkward with the rest of the band, but he speaks well and he’s funny. He also seems on edge, somehow.

Then there’s Calvin, the most quiet of the group, who’s polite but gives the most curt answers. Chase teases him now and then, poking at him and making jabs until he scowls and says more. Maybe that’s why he does it—he teases him to get him out of his shell.

“We’re going to take questions from the audience now,” says the host, bringing out his phone. “Type them in the chat box, folks! And be respectful!”

Someone asks Chase if he’s single, which almost always seems to be the first question asked in these things. He hollers and says, yes, he’s single. Miles wonders what Calvin would say, if anyone asked him that.

A fan asks Gil how he got interested in drums, which he gamely tells. They’re all asked how the band got together, and Theo tells the story of how they met back in high school. Miles listens, even if he’s heard it before, and decides that he doesn’t particularly like it when it’s Theo telling the story.

Miles pulls out his phone and types in the chat box, “this is for calvin! have you ever left mean notes on people’s cars?” Then he realizes his actual name will show—shit. He deletes the message, logs out, and starts creating a dummy account.

“Tell us about the new single you’re releasing soon,” the host asks, and Miles looks up in the middle of typing in a password.

“Calvin can tell us about that,” Theo says.

“I—” Calvin does a double take, clearly caughtoff-guard. Theo usually takes these types of questions. “Me?”

“Yeah, you wrote the lyrics, didn’t you?”

Miles almost drops his phone. Calvin goes red up to his ears while Gil and Chase exchange a look with each other.

“No way,” the host says. “You wrote this song, Calvin? We can’t wait to hear it. Is it the first song you’ve written for the band?”

“He’s the band’s main lyricist.” Theo throws his head back and chuckles. “We’ve been pretending it was me because Calvin here doesn’t like the limelight, but it’s time you all know.”