Page 107 of Paint Our Song

Eyes narrowing, Calvin stares at Theo. He doesn’t look pleased. Chase leans forward and claps Calvin on the back, trying to salvage the situation and says, “Damn right, it’s been Calvin all along!”

The hosts zeroes in on this, excited, and the chat box does as well. “Wow! So all these love songs of yearning, they were all by you, Calvin? Must have been for a very special person.”

Ouch.All the air leaves Miles’s lungs. Beside him, Derrick rubs a hand over his face and sighs.

“He told me he wrote them for someone special, yeah,” Theo says.

Chase freezes, seemingly realizing the direction of this and what Theo is actually pointing out. He turns to Gil and pretends to gag.

“Not really,” Calvin says, quite icily, his glare still directed at Theo.

Derrick looks up at the ceiling as if pleading for a miracle. “I should have gone to medical school.”

He sounds like Andy. Maybe it’s a manager thing. At least Miles finds some humor in that, despite wanting the ground to swallowhim whole right now.

Theo puts a hand on Calvin’s shoulder, squeezing it, and Calvin squints at him. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? That he’s felt that strongly for someone all those years? You can hear how intense it all is in the songs, and I’ve always been honored that he’s let me sing his words.”

Calvin shakes Theo’s hand off, scowling.

Shit, this is all going downhill, and all because of his stupid comment about the tattoo. His stomach sinks because, not for the first time, his presence caused a rift between the band. Maybe if Miles left now, nobody would notice. Heck, maybe he can jump out the window; that seemed faster. Jumping off the second floor isn’t so bad. He’ll survive it.

The host prods, “Would you like to tell us who inspired all these songs?”

“Do you want to tell them?” Theo says, beaming. “It’s up to you.”

Calvin grimaces. “No.”

“C’mon,” Theo says with a wink.

“Oh, fuck off, actually,” Chase blurts.

Sighing, Gil closes his eyes and slumps into his chair.

The interview is incredibly tense after that, even if Gil tries to salvage it by keeping it light. Sighing, Derrick decides to cut their losses and calls the attention of one of the producers. He slashes at his throat, and the host is signaled to end it.

When the outro’s done, the host walks over to Derrick with a baffled look. The band files out of the recording room behind him, still arguing amongst themselves.

The host says to Derrick, “Well, that went… It went somewhere,I guess. Not sure what that was.”

“Your boys are still fighting,” a crew member says to Derrick.

Theo and Calvin are standing right outside the recording room and seething at each other. Chase and Gil are watching them, their eyes going back and forth.

“I am so sorry,” Derrick says to the host and to the producers. Miles has no idea what to do. Does he sneak out? Some of the crew are being ushered out by the producers, and Miles slowly approaches the band. Maybe he should just apologize for pointing out the stupid tattoo. As soon as he steps close enough to hear their fight, his throat goes dry.

“You were all annoyed that I never told people you wrote the songs, and now you’re complaining?” Theo hisses, putting his hands up in the air and rolling his eyes. “What do you actually want from me?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Calvin asks, voice much quieter but just as pissed off. “What, all of a sudden, you’ve turned a new leaf? Suddenly you want to tell the world we were together and that I wrote most of our lyrics?”

“Yes! I’m trying to fix things!”

“Naaah.” Chase shakes his head. “That was you trying to mark your territory.”

“And Calvin isn’t your territory at all,” Gil adds.

His tone mocking, Chase says, “He wrote it for someone special.”

Derrick gets between all of them. “Enough.”