Star-Crossed ✔️

28

i did it! i wrote the chapter!
soooo sorry for the wait
my life is in shambles

- 28 -

I was as unprepared to leave Lina as I was to get back to the tour.

She hugged Noah so tightly I thought she'd break his spine. They promised to keep in touch and he said he would call her after the season finale of the show they got hooked on in the week we spent at her house. Lina kissed my cheek and threatened bodily harm if I didn't keep in touch and—at the very least—check on Mom every once in a while. I promised her I would try.

Back on the bus, Chester the cat greeted Noah like he'd been gone for a decade. I'd asked the bus driver to feed and water him while we were gone. "I know, I missed you, too," Noah cried as the fat orange cat climbed onto his shoulder somehow. I chuckled to myself, taking a large step around the reunion in the doorway. "Theo, get back here and pet your stepson."

While the insinuation that I was his cat's stepfather was alarming at best, I played it off and joined them on the ground. Chester seemed equally excited to have me back, as well.

"Are you excited that we've only got the west leg of the tour and then it's over?" I asked, although I wasn't very excited at all.

While it'd been a rollercoaster getting to know Noah all over again, falling for him and, somehow, getting him to fall for me as well, I was nervous. I didn't know what the future would bring for us. With both of us mostly in the closet yet scrutinized by paps everywhere we went, it would be hard to sustain a healthy relationship. If that's what we even were. Sure, he said he loved me and he was affectionate towards me, but I didn't actually know where we stood after everything.

I was a little bitch who didn't like to share and he was an injured bird with one wing out of commission. He wasn't ready to just leap into a relationship, regardless of his feelings for me.

We only lived twenty minutes or so apart. It wouldn't be impossible to hang out. Keeping up the discretion was going to be the difficult part. Harriet was good at making things go away and Joey was chock-full of ideas to distract public eye from unsightly rumors. If it were up to me, I'd tell everyone about me and Noah. I was proud to say I bagged the best person in Hollywood. It was hard to think that maybe he didn't feel the same way, but I'd long accepted that Noah and I's opinions of each other differed more than I liked.

So yeah. I wasn't sure what was going to happen between us when we got back home. He had some personal Noah time to tend to regarding his relapse and I . . . had nothing.

I had absolutely nothing.

Once the tour was over, I didn't have any plans. Joey suggested taking a small break and then doing some auditions for the hell of it. I wasn't against getting back into acting, but it didn't thrill me either. Was it crazy to say all I wanted to do was just spend all my days with my Noah forever until I ran out of fame and money?

Yes. It was.

"I definitely miss sleeping on solid ground," he said. "You know what's kind of funny?"

I got up and plopped down onto the couch. I frowned when I couldn't find the controller. "Hm?" I hummed absentmindedly. Noah got up, too, and sat at the table across from me.

He laughed. "Being on tour almost makes me miss the rush of all of it. I . . . I've been thinking about maybe asking Joey if he'd manage me. If it's okay with you, of course."

My head shot up just as I finally found the arm of the controller sticking out of the crack of the couch cushions. "You want to work?" I asked. He had the smallest smile, looking a bit shy and uncertain. "That's . . . Of course it's okay with me! I'm really happy for you. And Joey's the best in the business. I could talk to him for you."