Page 35 of Paint Our Song (Cloverlily #1)

Six Months After

“ W ow! Great place!” Chase makes his way inside the three-bedroom apartment, bags of chips and soda in his arms. He drops them on the dining table. Gil’s there as well, marveling at their open kitchen layout and new, sleek furniture.

Calvin squints at them from where he’s sitting on the couch. “Why are you here?”

“Housewarming. Duh.” Chase hops over one of the many unopened boxes that are still scattered all over the apartment.

Miles laughs at Calvin’s bewildered expression. He rubs the small of his back as he sits beside him, squeezing himself between the armrest and Calvin.

“Nice place.” Gil’s hair is longer than when Miles last saw it. “Chase said you knew we were coming over. ”

“We did not.” Calvin moves a throw pillow out of the way. “Make yourself at home.”

Chase calls from down the hall, “Fuck! Gil! They have a recording studio! And this other room’s an art studio! Check it out!”

“I’ll take your word for it!” Gil yells after him, and Miles gets a strange amount of pride because Chase likes their new apartment. Shaking his head fondly, Gil asks Calvin, “How’s the music camp you taught in?”

“Not bad. It was fun,” Calvin says, as succinctly as possible, as if Miles hasn’t seen him give a blow-by-blow account of exactly how much he enjoyed it. “Were you interested? I don’t think they’re going to have another one until the holidays.”

“Nah. I was actually trying to gauge if you’re down to make songs with us again.”

Calvin smirks. “You could’ve outright asked.”

“Well?”

“Sure,” Calvin says with a slight shrug, and Miles lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding in. When Calvin shoots him a look, Miles wipes off the giddy look on his face and leans in to kiss him on the cheek. “What’s that for?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Miles says, and Gil huffs a laugh.

When Chase returns to the living room, he’s holding one of Calvin’s many guitars. Calvin frowns but ends up not complaining about it, even when Chase starts tuning it.

“Nice place, by the way,” Chase says.

Miles grins. “Thanks!”

It simply made sense to get a place together after six months of the best time of Miles’s life. Miles hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it for a while now—a place in Ridgeford, with rooms they could make into their studios. A nagging feeling told him that it was still too soon, but he asked, anyway. Calvin had smiled so wide that Miles had to take a moment to calm his heart down.

They had moved in the day before, and there were still unopened boxes everywhere. The first things they unpacked were Miles’s art materials and Calvin’s equipment. Miles was pretty happy that they were able to find an apartment in Ridgeford, close to the inn, so that he could help out whenever needed. They were supposed to finish unpacking last night, but they got distracted. Calvin sprawled underneath him on the floor of the art studio, hands tight in his hair, making them forget they had actual things to do. They tried unpacking again this morning, but only ended up with their mouths on each other—in the recording studio, this time.

“Has your mom seen your new place yet?” Gil asks Miles.

“Nope. She’s in Australia.”

“Wow, she’s really been traveling all over the world, huh?”

“Yup!” Miles beams. She has, and Miles couldn’t be happier for her. Even if she enjoys calling him at the oddest times of the night just to talk about what she did that day.

“How’s Gabby managing now that she’s in charge of the inn?”

“She’s doing great, absolutely perfect for the job.” He turns to Calvin. “Which reminds me, Gabby’s also coming over.”

“That’s okay. I like Gabby.” He narrows his eyes at Chase and smirks. “ She can come over any time.”

Chase glares at Calvin and strums the guitar in a loud, obnoxious way. “Hey, I haven’t received the invite to Cassidy’s wedding.”

“Oh. I have it.” Miles stares at the unopened boxes. “… Somewhere.”

“Cool, because I’m rehearsing for when they ask if anyone wants to stop the wedding.”

Miles puts a hand on Calvin’s knee, squeezing it, mostly to stop him from getting up and hitting Chase with his own guitar.

“You’re such an ass,” Gil pointedly says, and Chase grins wide at him and starts playing a song.

A few minutes later, Gabby arrives. She’s got documents in her hands, and the first thing she does is push Miles away so she can take the seat beside Calvin. “Pleaaase help me with these financial statements. I’m not sure they’re correct.”

Miles doesn’t miss how Chase switches to a love song as soon as Gabby’s there.

“You should take a course on this,” Miles suggests, “Or hire an accountant.”

She nods. “We should hire someone for it. We have the budget. I think.”

Miles grins at her. “We have the budget,” he confirms.

Maybe. Like Gabby, he still hasn’t gotten the hang of these statements. It’s a good thing they have Calvin, who’s a genius and can look over it for them. He trusts him when he says their inn’s finances are excellent. In fact, they’re so excellent that they’re on track to pay off all their loans within a year.

“Looks accurate to me.” Calvin hands the statement back.

“Thanks! Love the new place,” Gabby says, waving around the room. “Let me guess, you did the studios first?”

Miles and Calvin nod in unison. She knows both of them very well.

“Show me.” She jumps up and grabs Miles by the arm, and he yelps as she drags him to the hallway.

Gabby’s expression brightens up as she looks at the music studio, then at the art studio. The two rooms have very different personalities. Calvin’s studio has all sorts of equipment that Miles doesn’t really understand, and his many guitars hang from the walls. It’s also a lot neater than Miles’s studio, which is a disarray of canvasses, sketch pads, and art materials.

“I’m happy for you, Miles,” Gabby says softly.

“Ugh.” He scrunches his nose and pretends to hate her sappiness.

When they get back to the living room, the guitar is with Calvin and he’s playing a tune that Miles hasn’t heard before. A new song, maybe. Chase is beside him, talking in a low voice, and Gil is also intently listening.

The band’s been taking their time to get back on the scene, though Miles is already excited about what they have in store. After a lot of grueling months of trying to figure out how the separation would go, they came to an agreement that the three of them would keep the band’s name.

Miles isn’t so sure what Theo’s up to now, though he did hear he’s still getting royalties. Calvin had blocked his number six months ago, and Miles couldn’t be happier to have no news from him aside from what Calvin had told him about the separation agreement.

“Are you working on a new song?” Miles asks .

Gil’s the one who answers. “Hopefully. Cal, you see the audition videos Derrick sent? Anyone catch your eye?”

Calvin shrugs, still continuing to play on the guitar. “That guy who sang while playing the keyboard was pretty good.”

“The guy who went viral last week?”

“Yeah.”

The three of them look so comfortable like this. He joins Gabby, who’s sitting on a stool near the kitchen, and she offers him a beer. She must have taken it from the fridge and the two of them watch the band play.

“Remember when you were so obsessed with this band?” Gabby teases. “Who knew you’d be living with their lead guitarist one day, and that they’d be writing songs in your apartment?”

“It was on my vision board,” he jokes.

***

Later, when their friends have all left, Calvin disappears to his studio to put his guitar away. Miles finds him there, standing in the middle of the room with a thoughtful expression.

“What’s on your mind?” Miles asks.

Calvin, seemingly startled, turns to look at him. A beat of silence passes, then a smile spreads across his lips. “You,” he says, simply. “Always you.”

God. Even after months of being together, Calvin can still make his heart race like this. He steps toward him and cups his face, tipping his head back and giving him a long, tender kiss .

“I’m glad I found you,” Miles murmurs against his lips.

Calvin grins. “Sappy.”

“That’s a line from ‘Garden,’ jackass. You know, the song you wrote? I can sing it, if you want.”

“I… no. Don’t sing. God, shut up.” Blushing, Calvin grabs him by the front of his shirt and kisses him. Miles has figured out that he does indeed kiss him for the sole purpose of shutting him up. It’s the reason he pokes fun at him, sometimes.

“Love you,” Miles says, and it’s definitely sappy, but he doesn’t care.

That earns him another slow and tender kiss. “Love you, too, even if you sing really, really bad,” Calvin murmurs in return.

“Babe, I’m an artist. You can’t even draw a straight line.”

“Why would I need to—”

This time, it’s Miles who shuts him up by kissing him. He keeps doing it until Calvin sags in his arms, and he pulls away to get a good look at him like he does all the time.

It’s still unreal to Miles that he’s living in this town again and it’s all thanks to this person in front of him—the most loyal, selfless, kind, and prickly man he’s ever met, and who he’s fallen ridiculously in love with. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.