Page 33 of Paint Our Song (Cloverlily #1)

M iles doesn’t stay at the hotel that night. He tells Calvin he has paintings to finish, mostly because he’s brimming with inspiration at the moment and he doesn’t want to waste it.

They’ll see each other the next day. He’s going to go to the studio and hang out in the band’s dressing room while they have their meeting. Miles had insisted on it, because he wants to be there for Calvin, no matter what he actually decides to do.

When he gets back to his apartment, Miles realizes he should finish Calvin’s commission before anything else. Even if it’s past midnight. It’s never been fair that Calvin and the rest of the band held up their part of the deal by helping them with social media, even playing for free at the wedding, and he never finished the painting. It’s already inked, and he puts it on his easel, prepares his paints, and drags a stool over.

There’s a buzzing in his head as he works, and he hasn’t felt more focused in years. Miles gets up a few times to stretch his back, which is already sore because of how long he spends bent over the painting. At around two in the morning, he heads to the kitchen for a quick snack while the current layer of paint dries out.

He should probably sleep and continue it another time. It’d be sensible to get some rest, except that he doesn’t want to do that at all. Miles goes right back to painting.

He doesn’t realize it’s morning until he sits up straight to stretch, and the light from outside the window hits his eyes. Miles squints at the brightness, then he stands back to get a better look at the completed painting. There’s an ache in his wrists, but he doesn’t care.

The band looks pretty good in his style, he admits to himself. Especially Calvin.

At seven a.m., he decides he should really get some shut-eye now, but his brain’s not quite ready to stop. He grabs an empty sketchbook and gets to work, again.

Miles ends up with a dozen new sketches. There are several ones of a black cat with narrow eyes. His favorite one is of the cat sleeping on a patch of sunlight on a patio, next to a guitar, surrounded by potted plants. The sketch is busy, crowded, like it usually is—it’s cozy, and he can already see how he’s going to paint it, and he wonders if he could have it made into a keychain to replace the one Calvin always uses.

** *

Miles walks to the record label late in the afternoon like he told Calvin he would. He’s signing for a pass by the front desk when an arm suddenly wraps around his shoulders and tugs him. Miles yelps, only to see that it’s Chase, grinning widely at him.

“You made up with Cal?” Chase asks.

“I think so.”

Chase punches him on the arm. “Good! Come on. We can hang out at the cafe. Gil’s already there. You’re early and Cal’s not here yet… He texted that he’s across town with his sister.”

“I met her,” Miles says, following Chase as they pass through security. “She’s pretty cool. I can see why you’re into her.”

He snorts. “She is pretty cool, but you know I only like to mess with Cal, right? I find it hilarious when he gets all huffy and puffy. I’d never actually flirt with his sister. Especially now that she’s engaged.”

“Oh.” He can’t help but ask, “So… did you ever get back together with that guy you mentioned?”

“Nah! It’s whatever, though. Tired of people complaining because, apparently, I’m dating my best friend more than them. Whatever the hell that means.”

Miles holds back a smile. “You mean Gil?”

“Yes. Fuck that. Can’t friends spend a lot of time together anymore?”

“I… well. Yeah. I guess you’re right.” He gives Chase a long look.

Chase leads them toward a corner of the modern-looking cafe where Gil’s sitting, and Gil glares at Miles, his chin resting on his hand. Gil asks, “Why are you here?”

Cackling, Chase takes the empty seat beside Gil. He waves at Miles to sit down as well, and Miles does, quite awkwardly.

Miles says, “Calvin knows I’m here.”

“Fantastic,” Gil deadpans. “If you could not mess with him again, that’d be great.”

There are two cups of coffee on the table, and Chase slides the other one toward Miles, even if Miles knows it was supposed to be for him.

“I didn’t mess—” He stops, takes a deep breath, and buries his face in his hands. “I didn’t mean to.”

With a grin, Chase knocks a shoulder against Gil’s. “I’m going to tell management I refuse to work with Theo moving forward.”

“What’s that, like the tenth time you’re saying it?” Gil asks.

“Oh, fuck off. I mean it this time.”

Miles says, “I’m surprised you agreed to try again, honestly.”

“Because Cal asked,” Chase says, shrugging as if it were the most obvious answer. “I’d do anything for that guy—jump off a cliff, bury a body, fight entire wars if he’d asked.”

Miles nods. He gets it. He’d do all that for Calvin, too.

“I didn’t want to leave him with Theo,” Gil says. “Remember when I told you Cal’s the most loyal person ever? He is. And that’s good. But that also means he self-sabotages. We’ve been trying to convince Calvin for years to stop trying to fix things with Theo, but… I guess we’re to blame too, because we’ve never quite convinced him.”

“I think Cal blames himself too for everything that went down,” Chase mumbles. “Which is stupid.”

“Yeah.” Gil fidgets with his coffee cup, his eyes downcast. “I asked him once why he defends Theo so much, and he said it’s because if he didn’t, it’d be three against one. He said Chase and I have each other’s backs, and if he were on our side all the time, too, Theo would only have himself.”

“He said he’s worried about his career,” Miles points out, because that’s also a strong reason Calvin wanted the band to stay together.

Gil shrugs. “Calvin’s way too talented to not ever have a career.”

“What an odd thing to be worried about,” Chase says, and Miles couldn’t agree more. “But really, it’s over. We all need to move on.”

“I mean,” Gil says, softly. “I get it. It is hard to move on sometimes.” His eyes flicker over to Chase momentarily, and it finally clicks for Miles. He recognizes that look. Miles has made that look before too, when he wanted nothing more than to be with Calvin.

Jesus. These two have a lot to figure out, and Miles isn’t sure they even realize that.

“I didn’t actually realize how bad it was until I saw how Cal was with you,” Chase says, snapping Miles out of his thoughts. “Cal’s so fucking happy. Right, Gil? He seemed more like himself than he’s been in years.”

Gil glares at Miles again. “That’s why I’m really pissed you decided to break his heart like that.”

“…Sorry,” he mumbles.

“Anyway, this has to stop,” Gil says. “It’s incredibly toxic, and I’m not interested in doing this any longer. We’re supposed to meet up in about thirty minutes to talk about it, and this time, I’m going to flat out say I refuse to work together anymore.”

Beaming, Chase says, “Me too. I’m glad you’re here, Miles. Calvin will need you.”

“I’m not glad.” Gil stirs his coffee, frowning. “Hurt him again and I’ll fight you.”

Wow. Okay. He didn’t know the well-mannered and calm Gil could be this intense. “Noted,” Miles says.

***

Calvin’s running late, so his friends lead Miles to the dressing room where he can wait for the meeting to finish. There’s a door on it with “Cloverlily” posted on it, and inside, Miles marvels at how it looks like a grand hotel suite with a floor-length mirror on one side and couches on the other. toward the back there’s a storage room labeled “merch”, and Miles already knows he’s going to sneak into it the first chance he gets.

After Chase and Gil leave, he opens the door to the storage room. Inside, there are shelves with all kinds of paraphernalia. Shirts, caps, mugs—it’s a haven.

He’s going through some mugs when the main door slams open. He peeks out of the room and an awful sensation settles in his chest when he sees none other than Theo. Fucking perfect.

Miles raises his hand to greet him, but Theo doesn’t even notice him—he’s got a phone pressed to his ear as he walks in, talking loudly. “This is bullshit,” Theo says to whoever’s on the other line. He takes a seat on a couch. “They want to do a meeting. Again. I know Chase is going to start whining again about how he doesn’t want to do this anymore, and of course, Gil will agree with him. ”

As much as he dislikes Theo, he shouldn’t be hearing this.

Theo says, “No, listen, you’re right. It’s not the right time to go solo yet—and that I jumped the gun. Need to do maybe a year or so with the band first, build up the momentum again. I’m really, really trying to get on their good side, but it’s frustrating because I guess I’m not that over Cal yet or whatever.”

Miles takes a step outside the merch room, but Theo’s leaning down with his face in his hand and can’t see him.

“Yeah. You’re right. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure this will be another ridiculous meeting and Cal will back me up, and the two will agree to stay in the end. I’ll be nicer, and mean it this time—I’ll even sing Cal’s songs, if that’s what he wants, even if they’re about that guy he’s pining over.”

“Hey, Theo,” Miles says, giving it another attempt to get Theo’s attention. His voice is harder this time, his jaw clenched.

“Yeah, he’s hung up on someone else right now. Some painter he’s been hanging out with,” Theo says, and he sounds aggravated. “Doesn’t matter, though. That won’t last. Calvin and I always get back together. He’ll do anything for me. I say jump, and he’ll ask how high. He knows he needs me. Nobody else will put up with how prickly he can get. The best solution is we worked as a duo, but I need to give him time to see that.”

Okay. That pisses Miles off. Never has he wanted to punch someone as much as he does now, and he reigns in his annoyance. Miles pinches the bridge of his nose and groans.

“ Theo ,” he says, much louder this time—definitely loud enough for Theo to hear him, unless he’s doing this on purpose .

“Shit!” Theo turns to him, jaw dropped. “Since… since when have you been here? What the hell. Are you eavesdropping on me?”

“I’ve been trying to get your attention,” Miles says. Asshole. “I was in the backroom when you came in, and you didn’t see me.”

Theo opens his mouth to say something—and closes it again. His chest heaves as he exhales, and Miles lets him stew in the awkwardness. He ends his call, mortification all over his face.

“I didn’t mean any of that.” Theo meets Miles’s unrelenting stare.

“So, you don’t think that if you tell Calvin to jump, he’ll ask how high?”

Theo purses his lips. “No. Of course not.”

“Right.” He’s not going to stand here stuck in a room with this guy, so he walks toward the door. He’ll wait for Calvin in the hall.

“Look, Miles,” Theo snaps, getting up. It’s surprising that he even remembers Miles’s name. “Cal and I are going through a rough patch, but we’re good together and we’ll get through this. We always do.”

“You treat him like a tool.”

“I do not.”

Miles’s mouth twitches. “You don’t see how amazing Calvin is,” he says. Miles doesn’t get angry like this, he doesn’t confront people, but—he’s furious. “Chase and Gil, too—you use them. Calvin writes all your songs, even lets you take credit for them, he backs you up and defends you, and then you… This is how you talk about him?”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with you. What are you even doing here? ”

“You should be more grateful for what he does for you,” Miles mutters.

Theo snorts and throws his head back, his eyes closed. “Get off your high horse.”

“I’m serious. You only got this far because of him.”

There’s noise behind him, but he doesn’t care enough to look.

“The band only got this far because of me, because I’m the only one who cared to keep pushing. He wrote you a few songs and you let it get to your head, Miles. The only reason he has a career is because of me. That’s why he needs to see that us being a duo would be the best idea. Without me, he—”

“I what?” Calvin’s voice suddenly asks.

Theo’s eyes snap open, and he stiffens, stare drifting behind Miles. Bewildered, Miles follows his stare, and his heart sinks to his stomach.

Calvin’s standing by the door, his hand still holding it open, a tight frown on his lips.

“Cal,” Theo breathes.

Shit. Miles looks between the two of them. Calvin steps inside and stares right at Theo. He’s silent, his face unmoving.

“Calvin,” Miles says.

He raises a finger in Miles’s direction. Calvin’s not even looking at him. Scowling, and putting his hand back down to his side, Calvin says, “I’m not working as a duo with you. And I don’t owe you my career.”

“What’s going on?” Chase asks, stepping inside with Gil, because of-fucking-course they’re here too. “Theo, management’s waiting upstairs. I said I’d check if you were here. You too, Cal.”

Gil says, “Can we stop wasting their time and get a move on?”

Ignoring them, Theo scrubs at his face and groans. “Wait, hear me out, Cal.”

“No.” Calvin shifts his stare toward Miles, and Miles blinks. Calvin’s quiet and tight-lipped demeanor is kind-of scary. It’s also kind-of hot.

Theo takes a step forward. “Hear me out,” he says again.

The door opens and Derrick comes in, takes in the situation, and he instantly goes red. Derrick grits his teeth and says, “Please don’t tell me you’re all fighting again. Seriously, guys? You all need to stop this.”

“But it’s getting good,” Chase says, and Gil shoves him.

“Cal,” Theo says. “Love.”

Miles is frustrated all over again at that single word, so he looks away and grimaces.

“We’re done,” Calvin says. He shifts his attention to Derrick. “Either he’s out or I am.”

Derrick nods, not saying anything, his expression forlorn but understanding.

Theo frowns. “As if this band will get anywhere without me.”

“You little shit—” Chase balls his hands into fists and makes a move toward Theo. Both Derrick and Gil grab him.

“Good luck getting anywhere without this band, then,” Calvin says with a shrug. Rolling his eyes, he leaves the room, slamming the door behind him, leaving the rest of them standing there in stunned silence .

“Miles!” Gil hisses, pointing wildly at the door. “What are you doing? Go follow him!”

…Oops. Frantically, Miles yanks the door open. Calvin’s walking so fast he’s already at the end of the hall, a few steps away from the elevator.

“Calvin!” he yells.

Calvin halts, his shoulders tensing. He turns around slowly as Miles jogs up to him. His expression softens when he meets Miles’s gaze.

The hallway’s empty. Miles takes that as an opportunity to hold him by the face and smash their lips together. Calvin sags under his hold, all the tension leaving him, and he willingly accepts Miles’s kiss.

Miles pulls away, grinning. “That was really, really hot.”

“You mean humiliating.”

“No.” He kisses him once more. “That was awesome. I’m really fucking proud of you.”

Somewhere down the hall, a door opens, so Miles steps away from him.

Calvin asks, “Can we get out of here?”

“Yes, please.” Miles lets out a breath. That’s exactly what he wanted to hear.