Can You Keep A Secret?

Chapter One

-2 months earlier-

-Mikey's POV-

I hadn't been expecting for my entire world to be flipped upside down – I'd only been prepared to meet Andy's best friend. I felt like I already knew her with how often Andy spoke about her, and from the quick conversations we'd exchanged when Andy needed somebody to hold the phone when they were Facetiming. I'd had the feeling that we would become friends quite easily.

I didn't know that my first glimpse of her would take my breath away. Even now, as we were curled up on the couch, being with her made my heart feel like it was about to leap right out of my chest. And, although Andy never had a shortage of praises to say about her, nothing could've prepared me for how beautiful and amazing she would be in person.

Following the first time we met was a whirlwind relationship. Being with Liv changed my life completely – It was hard to feel anything other than love and happiness, the bubbly fizz of a first true love. At night, I found it hard to fall asleep because I couldn't stop smiling, since she was always on my mind. I used to laugh with the boys over how lovesick people got in cheesy rom-coms, but now I was the sort of person to avoid hanging up the phone, opting to keep arguing that I loved her more instead. Andy would make gagging noises in the background as we did, and I probably would've done the same if the roles were reversed, but it didn't bother me enough to stop. I was enjoying my movie moments. Even though we'd only been dating for four months, I couldn't imagine my life without her.

I remembered our first date – We'd gone out to eat, and I'd been so nervous that I'd accidentally spilled spaghetti sauce all over my white shirt. She'd tried to dab the stain out with paper towels, but the blotch remained for the rest of the night.

I'd had kisses before, but nothing compared to the first time that I kissed Liv. We'd bumped noses at first, causing us both to separate into a fit of giggles before trying again. When out lips met, fireworks went off behind my eyelids. She made me feel like the world was full of magic just waiting to be uncovered.

If anyone ever asked how she makes me feel, I probably wouldn't be able to answer. It was something that words couldn't touch, the sort of happiness that you worried was only for fairytales, the sort that you spent your entire life dreaming of. It was something that you waited a lifetime for, and I didn't want to let it, or her, go.

Blair, our manager, had already known Liv from when he managed Andy in a different band. He still lived in Manchester then, and only moved to our flat in Slough once Road Trip began. The five of us – Andy, Brooklyn, Rye, Jack and I – live together, rarely going home to see our loved ones. It was a sacrifice that had to be made in order to chase our dreams in music. Surprisingly, it hadn't taken much whining to from all of our parts to convince him to let Liv come stay with us.

Everything between us was perfect and ideal – Except for one tiny thing. She brought it up again now, even with her head resting on my chest and her fingers intertwined with mine.

She wanted to go to university.

It unnerved me every time that she brought it up, the fear of being separated from her nearly driving me mad. I wanted what was best for her, but it was hard not to yearn for what was best for me, too. What was best for us. I wanted her to always be by my side, to have countless more moments like this one, because the air didn't go in quite the same when she wasn't breathing it in beside me.

The band was beginning to take off, and I didn't want to be alone again. Not now, and probably not ever. As awful as it was, I felt a little relived when she said that she couldn't afford it.

I switched the conversation topic to ask her if she wanted something cool to drink – As it always was for about a week in the summer, the heat was cranking up to a near unbearable temperature, not stifled at all by an air-con, because the brilliant architects of housing in the UK hadn't thought to include any. Luckily, she dropped the argument.

As terrible as it sounded, I would do almost anything to keep her here with me.