Page 108 of Paint Our Song

“Okay.” One of the producers is talking now, his voice even more commanding than Derrick’s. “Everyone but the band and theirmanager, out.”

Uh. Alright. Miles blindly follows everyone out the door. Calvin seems to have forgotten he was even in there. Just as well, since he wouldn’t know what to say about any of this.

Theo throws his hands up in the air again. “Holy shit, you assholes are impossible. I’m the one who should be pissed. Your boyfriend’s messing with me for no reason!”

“What the hell are you even talking about? Miles is standing there minding his own business!” Calvin yells, his voice a lot louder this time around.

Miles walks faster, not missing the way that Calvin didn’t say anything about him being called his boyfriend. He’s unreasonably giddy about that for a split-second before he catches a glimpse of the frustration and anger on Calvin’s face.

It gets even more awkward out in the hallway, when everyone who left the room waits for the elevators to arrive. The producers, the staff, and the host—they’re all muttering in little circles and speculating about what had happened.

“A lover’s quarrel?” asks a girl beside Miles. “This sucks. I’ve heard Calvin and Theo are together, but I thought they were only rumors.”

Another girl responds, “I heard they broke up, and that’s one of the reasons the band’s falling apart.”

“How are they going to write love songs like this?”

“Did you hear what Theo said? That this is because of Calvin’s new boyfriend…? Geez, imagine being the reason for Cloverlily’s breakup. What a fucking waste.”

Miles exhales and turns around, deciding to take the stairs.

***

When Miles thinks about it deep enough, he realizes that the lady had been right. This night had devolved into shambles because he couldn’t keep his stupid mouth shut. Back at the music festival, things went south because of him, too. And even if he told Calvin that he should fight for the band, he also thinks of the many times he wished Calvin would stop answering Theo’s calls.

He can’t even imagine how tomorrow’s release would go if he did show up, taunting Calvin’s ex with his presence.

Miles pulls out his bag when he gets home, even if it’s barely been a day since he unpacked it. Fuck it, he’s going to go back to Ridgeford. He’ll help the new trainees, and Andy did say maybe being in the inn will help him paint, now that he doesn’t have the distraction of trying to save it anymore. Never mind that he’s unable to paint when he’s in town, especially when Calvin’s not around. When he does force himself to paint anyway, he only comes up with the most stupidly boring pieces.

His phone rings, and he stares at it. He’s not so sure it’s a good idea to answer it right now since he can’t trust his brain not to say something he’ll regret. It rings a second time, and Miles breathes deep and answers it.

“Hey,” Calvin says. “Where are you? I’ll come to you.”

“Oh. Uh… I’m leaving for Ridgeford.”

“What? Why?”

“I thought everything was good, but Gabby said they needed help. New staff.”

A lie. Gabby has it under control.

“You’re leaving?” Calvin asks.

“Yup,” he says. “I’ll catch up with you soon, okay?”

There’s a long silence. “Are you actually leaving?”

“Yes. I’m home right now, packing my things.”

“Why’d you leave the studio without telling me? Did you see what happened? I mean… when did you actually leave?”

“I saw what happened,” Miles admits. “They told us to leave, so I did. I waited downstairs for a while, but you seemed pretty busy, so I headed home.”

“Shit… that means you won’t be at the release tomorrow?” Calvin sounds hurt, but Miles really believes it would be much better if he weren’t there. He heard what the crew had been saying. Him being there would only ruin it for the band.

“No,” Miles says. “I’ll watch your stream from the inn. I promise.”

Calvin lets out a deep breath. “I’m so sorry you had to see that today. That was a fucking nightmare.”