Page 53 of Paint Our Song

Since they’ve deemed Miles and his definitelynotrough hands useless, he sulks and waits until they’re done. Calvin and Mom work on the garden until the skies turn an orange hue and the sun gradually sets.

Mom claps her hands together and puts her gloves away, and leads Calvin to a small faucet near the exit door. Miles watches with a strange fascination as they wash their hands, still talking in low voices. What are they talking about now? Calvin’s family tree? He wouldn’t put it past Mom to ask every detail about him.

“My shift’s starting.” Gabby takes a sip from her tumbler and getsup.

Smiling, Mom tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and her eyes flicker at Miles. “I’ll come down with you. I need to check on the kitchen.”

Miles steps forward. “I’ll help—”

“No. Stay here. You’ve been running around all day, and you should rest.”

Miles realizes Calvin hasn’t said much until this point. He seems much quieter when in a group. It’s a wonder Mom was able to get so much information out of him. “You should ask Calvin to let you listen to the new song he’s working on.”

His jaw drops. “You let my mom listen to your song!?”

Calvin raises an eyebrow at him.

“And me,” Gabby chirps. She bounces over to Mom and hooks an arm around hers, and they make their way toward the door. “It’s really, really nice.”

When the door shuts behind them, Calvin says, “Stop pouting.”

“I’m not… but I haven’t listened to your new song. It’s not fair.”

“You can listen to it when it’s out.” Calvin puts his hands in his pockets and looks away, toward the lake. “If it’ll ever be released, that is.”

Okay, Miles is definitely pouting now. “How’d you end up getting dragged into my mom’s gardening?”

“Oh… I was playing my guitar, and she came here. We talked a bit and then she asked me if I wanted to help her transplant tomatoes.” Calvin shrugs. “So, I said… yes?”

Miles chuckles. “Do you want to play more? I can leave, if youwant. Since you’re so determined on not letting me hear your song.”

“No, I’m done. Do you want to go grab dinner?”

“Yeah—wait, no.” Suddenly, he remembers why he had sought Calvin out last night. “I haven’t shown you the sketches for your commission. Can I go grab them from my house?”

“Oh.” Calvin nods. “Yeah. Sure.”

He’s not sure why, but Miles rushes all the way home. Miles is panting when he gets to his room, though he likes the exhilaration. He grabs his sketchbook from the desk and wipes sweat off his brow. There’s too much energy in him, and he needs to burn it off before he heads back to Calvin.

It’s not until he’s crossing the street toward the inn that he realizes that Calvin’s leaning over the parapet, watching him from a distance.

Fuck. His heart races again. As soon as he gets inside the inn, he sprints toward the elevator, and Gabby yells at him from across the room to slow down.

“Why were you in such a hurry?” Calvin asks, when he reaches the roof. He’s sitting with an elbow on the table and moves his guitar slightly—to make space for Miles’s sketchbook, he presumes. While the skies weren’t totally dark yet, Calvin had turned on the hanging lights while Miles had been gone. They cast a slight glow to his profile.

“What, you’re the only one who can exercise?” He puts the sketchbook down on the table, right next to the guitar, and takes a seat beside Calvin. His heart’s still beating too fast, and he doesn’t know if it’s from all the stupid sprinting he did or becauseof… well, Calvin.

Calvin snorts. “That was your exercise?”

“Okay, relax. Not everyone gets up at the break of dawn to jog around the lake.”

“You’ve seen me jogging? I’ve never seen you around that early.”

“A few times. I get up early because breakfast service is one of the more hectic times of the day.” He’s seen him from the pier, too. Drawn him from it, even.

“We can jog together if you’d like.”

“Pfft. No thanks.”