Page 24 of Spark

KENDRICK

“ I t’s official!” Ruby shouts, looking down at her phone. “They accepted my demands. I’m going to be Laila’s mentor!”

I high-five her and whoop. “Congratulations, sweetheart!”

We’re sitting together on the airplane to LA, so Ruby tilts her screen toward me to show me Eli’s exciting text.

“The press conference announcing the cast is so soon after we get back,” Ruby says, referring to the timeline contained in Eli’s text.

“Yeah, they always do it the night before the season starts taping.”

As Ruby taps out a reply, it occurs to me this is a good opportunity to try to persuade her to stay at my place while they’re doing repairs at her condo.

“So, have you figured out where you’re going to stay? You know, while they’re making those repairs on your place?”

“A hotel. It’s only a week.”

“Don’t do that. Stay with me.” I wiggle my eyebrows. “Your fake boyfriend. ”

“They’re not requiring us to live together. I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

“Would you stop with that? It’ll be fun. Like when I used to visit you on weekends at school. We’d also save the world by carpooling to the press conference together.”

“Well, that’s true. I certainly wouldn’t want to be a bad global citizen.”

I smile. “It’s settled, then.”

“Only if you’re sure I won’t cramp your style.”

“Ruby, I’m not Kai or Savage before Laila. Like I keep telling you, I’ve got no style for you to cramp.”

Ruby giggles, and I feel a rush of adrenaline to be able to make fun of Kai without worrying I’m rubbing salt in an old wound.

For so long, I’ve avoided all mention of Kai’s sexcapades, thinking I was saving Ruby from memories of her rejection at Kai’s hands.

But now, it’s like all the guard rails between us are down.

The eggshells I’ve been tiptoeing around for so long, vanished.

“Now that you’re supposedly my beloved girlfriend,” I say, “I couldn’t date anyone in LA, even if I wanted to.” Which I don’t . On the contrary, after The Kiss That Changed Everything, I can no longer deny Ruby’s the only person I want to kiss on Planet Earth.

“Okay, I’ll stay,” Ruby says. “Thank you. But after the press conference, if my place isn’t ready, I’ll get a hotel or stay with Savage and Laila.”

“Don’t do that. I’d be insulted.”

Ruby blushes. “Hopefully, it won’t take that long, and it’ll be a moot point.”

“I’ve got fingers crossed for you.” I nudge her. “So, are you going to text Reed and tell him about the show?”

“I’m sure he already knows. Nothing this big happens to one of his artists without him knowing about it. ”

“No, I mean, are you going to text him to admit Cooper’s song has turned out to be a blessing in disguise, like he said?”

Ruby scoffs. “I think I’ll wait to see how the show pans out first.” She pops out of her seat. “I’m going to tell my brother the good news and thank Laila and Savage. You want to come?”

“No, I think I’ll chill for a bit. Maybe chat with Kai.

Would you be cool with me telling him the good news and declaring an end to the Cold War?

” Ever since the emergency band meeting the other day, I’ve been giving Kai the cold shoulder, in solidarity with Ruby.

But I feel like the time has finally come to bury the hatchet.

“Sure. I’m so happy right now, I can’t muster the energy to hold a single grudge. Not even against stupid Kai.” With a cute little squeal, Ruby musses my hair and bounds off to her brother a few rows back.

I wait a few minutes to peek behind me again, and when I do, Ruby has finished talking with her brother, and she’s now at the back of the plane, chatting enthusiastically with Savage and Laila.

With the coast clear, I unbuckle my seatbelt, slide into the aisle, and head not to Kai, but two rows back to Titus.

“Hey, man. Can I sit for a second?” I take the seat next to him. “So, about last night. I want to talk to you about that.”

“It didn’t go down nearly as platonically as you two said? I figured as much.”

“No, no. I swear nothing happened. I’d never make a move on anyone who’s shitfaced, Titus.”

“But if Ruby had been sober, that would have been a different story?”

Shit. Is that what I just admitted? “No. That’s not what I meant.”

Titus grins. “It’s okay, Kendrick. Like I said, I just didn’t want you two getting together for the first time drunk. Other than that, you can do your thing, if that’s what you want to do.” His next words, he murmurs under his breath. “And it seems to me you do . . .”

My eyebrows ride up. My brain feels like it’s scrambling.

I think that means Titus is giving me his blessing to date his sister?

It’s a moot point, anyway, since Ruby’s not interested in me like that.

But still, I can’t deny it’s pretty cool to find out Titus would be cool with it.

Especially because, during our emergency band meeting the other day, he didn’t have quite the same reaction to Kai making a move on his sister.

“That’s . . . Wow,” I stammer. I pause, gathering my courage, and finally ask the thing I’m dying to know. “Has Ruby ever expressed interest in me to you? As more than a friend? Or was your comment about me making a move only . . . hypothetical?”

Titus grins. “It was hypothetical. Sorry to disappoint you, man.” Well, that’s pretty damned clear: Titus knows I’m into his sister. And not only as friends. How long has he known that?

My head is spinning. In a short space of time, I’ve let the cat out of the bag with Savage and Laila, and now it kind of feels like I’ve done the same thing with Titus. And you know what? The sky isn’t falling. The band isn’t crumbling. In fact, it feels like all three are totally rooting us on.

My heart thumping, I peek toward Savage and Laila at the back of the plane and discover my best friend is now sitting alone, and Ruby and Laila are nowhere to be seen. Probably chatting with our tour manager, Caden, in the next compartment.

It’s the perfect opportunity for me to pick Savage’s brain in private, so I beeline over to him .

When Ruby stays at my place this coming week, it’ll be the perfect opportunity to make her see me in a new light—as more than a friend.

But how ? Normally, I’m pretty good with women.

No, I’m awesome, actually. But when it comes to Ruby, I don’t trust myself to get it right without some help.

I’m too close to the situation. Too invested.

But Savage? He’s not only far more detached and clear-headed than me, he also happens to be one of the world’s foremost former fuckboys.

True, he hasn’t plied his trade in several years now, ever since meeting Laila, but I have to assume seduction is like riding a bike.

So, hell yeah, I’m going to use this opportunity to come clean and seek his expert counsel.

“Hey, Savage, can I get some advice from you?”

Savage looks up from the movie he’s watching on his iPad. “What’s up?”

I slide into the empty seat recently vacated by Laila.

“What I’m about to tell you is highly confidential. You can’t even tell Laila.”

Savage’s dark eyebrows cinch together. “Okay.”

“Promise me, Savage. I mean it this time. If you’re going to tell her, I can’t tell you this.”

He twists his mouth. “I mean, realistically, I’ll probably tell Laila, without meaning to do it. But I swear to God, nobody else. And I’ll make sure Laila doesn’t tell anyone. She’s super trustworthy, KC, unlike me.”

I can’t help laughing.

“I don’t want to keep secrets from her,” Savage adds earnestly. “She’s my wife .”

I pat his shoulder. “Okay. That’s good enough for me. But you have to make sure she understands she can’t tell anyone, especially not Ruby. This is life or death for me, Savage. Promise me that, on your life.”

“I promise on my life. What’s going on? You’re scaring me. ”

I take a deep breath. “I’m totally obsessed with Ruby, man. Sexually, I mean. Romantically. In every conceivable way, actually. And if I don’t take things to the next level with her soon, I’m pretty sure I’m going to physically die.”

Savage looks deeply amused. “So, Laila was right. That kiss was for real?”

I run a tortured hand over my face. “No. Well, yes, for me. But not for Ruby, unfortunately. She thinks I was brilliantly playing along to help her mess with Cooper.”

“Shit.”

“What did Laila say?”

“That you two left the party after that kiss to fuck for the first time.”

I shudder. “God, I wish. Sadly, no.”

“How long have you been feeling this way?”

I pretend to think about it, but I’m only doing a bit. “I think, uh, hmm, since . . . the instant I met her.”

“What?”

“Remember how Kai accused me of inviting her to audition because I had a crush on her? He was right. I hadn’t even heard her play yet.”

Savage throws his head back and belly laughs. “What the fuck, KC? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know.”

“I had a feeling you were into her that first night. But then you kept denying it and swearing you only wanted to help the band, so I eventually took your word for it. And then you two became such close besties, I figured . . . Damn, KC.”

“I know. It’s been torture. I mean, the friendship has been real. But I’ve loved that girl for as long as I can remember.”

He shakes his head. “Jesus, Kendrick. I’m sorry.”

“When I dropped out of school, I was determined to come back home and finally tell her the truth. But that’s when Kai told me she’d been desperately in love with him from day one, and not only that, she’d asked him to have sex with her at her birthday party, so . . .”

“Fucking Kai.”

“When that domino fell the other night, combined with her ditching Cooper, I started to feel this crazy electricity, Savage. Add in my kiss with her, and I can’t go back to the way things were. I have to have her, Savage. There’s no other option for me now.”

“Hell yeah. Get your girl.”