Page 18 of Pretty When It Burns (When The Lights Go Down #1)

Chapter fifteen

"Cliché" - mgk

Mia

“Is everybody decent in here?” Rylee calls out from the front door.

I’m getting dressed in my bathroom while Grayson went out to grab a few things to help me pack.

I’ve been waiting for Rylee to come home, anxious to tell her about what Grayson has talked me into. I’m certain she’ll think I’m crazy, but I’m not going anywhere without her. I wonder if convincing her to come will be as easy as Grayson thinks.

“Hello?” she calls again. “Mia? Grayson?”

“Hey,” I say, emerging from my bedroom. “He’s not here—you’re safe.”

“He didn’t show?” Rylee fumes, her face growing as red as her hair. “Oh, I could just kill him! I just slept on my friend’s crusty ass couch for nothing! If I could just—”

“Whoa, Ry,” I laugh, rushing over to her to keep her from throwing something in her rage. “Slow down. He showed. He’s just running errands so I could have a moment alone to talk to you.”

Her mood shifts on a dime.

“Oh, good!” she gushes. “I honestly didn’t know what I was about to walk into. But he came! Wait, what did you want to tell me?”

I fumble for my words.

“I—he wants me, or both of us really, to move,” I say. “He wants us to move to LA. He wants us to be the exclusive media managers for the band, tour with them, everything.”

Rylee’s eyes widen. “He what?”

I watch and wait as she stops for a moment, closing her eyes before she responds again.

“Are you thinking you want to go?”

“I think I do,” I say hesitantly. “But I can’t do this if you’re not going to come with me. You’re my closest friend. I need you.”

She pauses again. I can tell she isn’t sure about anything I’m saying, and she’s trying hard not to rush to judgment.

“I don’t trust him yet, Mia,” she finally admits. “I want to—for you. I really do. But I just want to make sure you’re making the right decision for you. You knew him before, sure… but do you know him now? Do you even like him in the after?”

“So, you’re saying no? It’s a bad idea?” I huff.

She hugs me, tightly, before looking directly into my eyes. “You’ve never asked me for anything, not once. Besides, I’m never going to figure this shit out with Eric unless I’m able to see him every day. So, if this is what you really want, we should go. I’ll go.”

A wide smile spreads across my face. I didn’t realize how invested I was until it seemed like she wasn’t going to say yes, but she did. We’re really going to go, and maybe, just maybe we can both end up with everything we’ve ever wanted.

A knock sounds on the front door and Grayson enters, retail bags and lunch in hand.

“I had a feeling I’d need to bring food for three,” he says, setting everything down on the kitchen table before making his way over to me and kissing my cheek. “Hi, beautiful. Welcome back, Rylee.”

My cheeks redden as Rylee makes her way to the kitchen to check out the food situation.

“So, what do the guys think about this half-assed plan of yours to move us to LA? Have you even told them?” she asks as she pulls a box of French fries from one of the bags.

She looks up at Grayson and glares, waiting for his response. Leave it to Rylee to be anything but subtle.

“I’m sure Eric will be thrilled,” Grayson shrugs. “Your brother will be excited to have you closer, too. And you know Tony always goes with the flow; he’ll just be happy to have more people to play those awful games he comes up with.”

“I could pretend that I hate this idea,” Rylee says slowly.

“Because I don’t trust you, Grayson, and if you hurt Mia…

If you hurt her, I will do to you something ten times worse than anything you could imagine.

But I want to trust you, and I do want to come to LA.

This seems like it could be good, for all of us. ”

Grayson has planned for everything, truly, I thought.

There really is room in his and the band’s life for me and Rylee both, and he isn’t afraid of her protectiveness of me.

I smile at Rylee, staying beside him and holding him as close as I can, trying to assure them both that it really is going to be okay.

“So, we’re all in?” Grayson asks both of us. “I didn’t go get all of this stuff to help you girls pack for nothing?”

“I’m still in,” I say, looking at Rylee, who has turned her interest back to her French fries.

“Oh, I’m in,” she agrees. “But only if I can have all of the fries.”

Packing for LA comes together quickly for me. I’ve never been one to hold on to much, so it doesn’t take long to pack my clothes and the few comfort items I’ve had in every place I’ve lived since I moved out of my mother’s house.

Rylee, on the other hand, had a harder time.

Most of the furniture and accessories in the apartment are hers.

Since Rylee’s parents had provided her with newer and nicer things than the hand-me-downs I’d gotten from my older sisters, I had no issue letting her outfit this place when we decided to move in together.

When I’d brought the last suitcase down to the SUV Grayson had rented, she’d been on the phone with a full-service moving company.

She was in the midst of coordinating the packing of what she couldn’t take on the plane, including the transport of her furniture to a storage unit in LA and lastly, getting our cars shipped to the band house.

I was grateful that Rylee had taken charge of the logistical side of getting us to LA, because my mind had been racing with thoughts of what my new life would look like.

As Grayson had predicted, my bosses went wild about the idea of getting up close and personal with Catastrophically Charismatic. What they don’t realize is just how up close and personal I’ll be getting.

Rylee had called Eric the night we’d agreed to come to LA.

As it turns out, he was already halfway to Dallas to convince her to come back with him.

Like Grayson predicted, he was over the moon when she told him she’d made up her mind.

The three of us board the first flight out the next morning—too many bags in tow and more butterflies in my stomach than I can count.

As the town car pulls up in the driveway of the LA house, I remember the feelings I had seeing it for the first time.

Grayson squeezes my hand from the seat next to me, turning my attention to him.

I can’t help but remember the first time I’d seen him, too, and felt my heart swell at the fact that I’m back at this beautiful house, this time with Grayson knowing exactly who I am and nothing to stop us from being here together.

Rylee jumps from the town car excitedly, leaving her many bags behind and rushing in the direction of what I’m sure is Eric’s room. Grayson slips the driver some cash and asks him nicely if he’d mind grabbing our belongings from the trunk before turning back to face me.

“Ready to go inside?”

I nod and he takes my hand.

When we enter through the front door, the familiar smell of French vanilla coffee and cinnamon fills my senses again. It’s comforting, just like it had been before.

We stood there for a moment, taking it all in. It seems like the beginning of something that feels like it’s been a long time coming. It feels like coming home.