slipped the curse. （ a. knight ）

0.5 // dinner parties

A month had passed and I still had not returned to Clay & Paper to paint in their art therapy studio. I tried not to allow myself to feel weak or embarrassed that I couldn't face the studio or the other people that would be there, but it was hard. Awsten was steadfast and supportive, as always, and I was grateful for his joy and creative energy as the Fandom release date was fast approaching. Talking about music broke up the grief and sorrow I was wrestling with, and I was grateful for the distraction.

"It feels surreal to finally send out the wedding invitations," Awsten said as we climbed back into the Lexus after dropping the invites off at the post office. "We never got to before."

"I still can't believe you still want to marry me." I reached for my coffee after getting settled in my seat.

"Of course I want to marry you, Chirp. Your name is the only one that sounds good with mine anyway."

"I still think Victoria Knight has a good ring to it, and she knows you exist now," I teased him.

Awsten rolled his eyes. "I'm over her now."

"Since when?" I laughed.

"I can't like girls who like me back. Too boring. It was more fun when she didn't know who I was," he said, as if that explained anything at all. "Now I'm crushing on Zendaya."

"You and me both, Knight."

"I saw her first."

"You're so annoying."

He flashed a grin at me. "I love it when you talk dirty."

Awsten's phone started to ring just as I was scrolling through his Spotify looking for music to play in the car.

"It's Cody. Am I allowed to answer it?" I asked.

It was mostly a joke, but I knew that Awsten got a little hot under the collar when Cody Carson was around and I didn't want to make things any worse for him and his jealousy.

"Of course you are."

I answered the FaceTime call and smiled warmly at the familiar face of Awsten's very good friend. They'd been friends for years now, ever since Waterparks and Set It Off toured together all those years ago. Set It Off was also one of my favorite bands, but everybody knew that.

"Hey, it's my favorite girl!" Cody hooted and it made me laugh. "How are you, Lia? It's been a minute."

"It has been a minute! I'm good! How are you, kid?"

We chatted and caught up for a few minutes. It was so weird to be so friendly with someone I admired greatly. How do you talk casually to someone you love and admire? I still made a fool of myself in front of the Maddens and I had met them and had conversations with them many times now.

"God, I'm getting so distracted. The reason I called is because I wanted to see if Awsten wants to get together and fuck around with some music for a bit. We're writing some new stuff."

"Fuck yeah, dude!" Awsten said and tilted the phone to face him, though he didn't take it from me. Respectful Texas manners meant he kept both hands on the wheel. "That demo you sent over the other day was so sick!"

"Right! That chord progression in the second verse is-"

They lost me with all the music talk. I wish that being around Awsten for so long would've taught me anything about music, but truthfully, all I knew was that he was very talented, wrote amazing lyrics, and sang beautifully. He tried to teach me technical things, but they were lost on me. I was lucky if I remembered the chords to the chorus of Royal, the only song he'd tried to teach me to play many years ago.