Page 69 of After Midnight

Sebastian

MY FACE HURTS FROM FAKE smiling all day. From early this morning, we were filming promo content: Tribe videos, posed photos, interviews under bright ring lights that have my head throbbing as I coast through Dex and Nora’s gated neighborhood in the Hills, following Dex’s Range Rover back to their place. The sun is already going down, sending gold and coral across the California sky, and the color makes me think of my still-painted toenails. Knowing mine match Remi’s makes me feel a bit better, and I wiggle my toes in my Vans as I pull up at the house and park.

Dex and Michael climb out of the Rover as I throw my door open, and a moment later, Lucas’s E30 rolls up, the engine grumbling as he parks beside me.

“Nora and Jordan will be here soon with food,” Dex says as I join him and Michael.

“And beer?” Lucas asks, walking up behind me.

Michael smiles and slaps Lucas on the shoulder, making him frown. “Yeah, and beer.”

We head into the house, and River comes running to greet us, her toenails clattering across the hardwood floors. I give her a scratch behind her ears, making her tongue loll out of her mouth, then immediately set off in search of Margot. She has a few specific places where she likes to hang out, and I find her curled up on the back of Dex and Nora’s couch.

“There’s my favorite girl,” I say as I sink down onto the couch. She lets out a small meow as I bury my face in her warm black fur. Leaning back, I tickle her chin and say, “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“Yeah, ’cause you’re in Vegas all the time now,” Lucas says from where he’s now perched on one of the stools at the marble island.

He’s probably right. Usually, I spend most of my free time with the guys, but recently, whenever we have a stretch of time that we’re not working, I’ve been flying out to see Remi.

As I rub Margot’s cheek with my thumb, I think for the thousandth time today that I wish Remi were here with me. I feel like she’d get along with the group. And she’d probably love to meet the dogs and Margot.

I didn’t fully invite her to Cali—at least, not yet—but I tried to drop a hint when I left my hoodie behind, knowing she’d find it in her bed that night.

I’m still sitting on the couch when the front door opens, and Nora and Jordan walk in carrying big paper bags from our favorite Tex-Mex place, along with two six packs of beer. Immediately, I’m hit with the smell of lime, salsa, and queso, and it makes me remember making tacos at Remi’s place.

Everything makes me think of her.

I give Margot one last chin scratch, then join everyone in the big kitchen as the women take all the food out of the greasy bags. I give Nora and Jordan hugs, then snatch up a container of chips and salsa. I drop onto the stool next to Lucas and ask, “Hey, is Alisha coming?”

A muscle in his jaw twitches. He doesn’t look at me as he says, “Nah. She had other shit to do.”

My gaze flicks up, and I catch Nora and Jordan exchanging a look, though Dex and Michael aren’t paying attention, too busy opening a few bottles of beer while River dances around their feet, waiting for a taco to fall into her big smiling mouth.

I decide not to press. Lucas was in a halfway decent mood today, and I don’t want to piss him off.

“Hey, wanna skate?” I ask instead.

Immediately, he perks up. “Sure.”

We each grab a foil-wrapped burrito, then head out front. I grab my board from the Raptor while Lucas grabs his, and as soon as I step onto the skate deck, I start to think of her again. I remember that night on the rooftop, the hot desert wind in my face, Remi’s laughter as I tried to land tricks I had no business messing with. I’m still shocked I didn’t break something—or multiple somethings.

I eat my burrito with one hand while coasting around the big driveway in front of the house. The others trickle out to join us, and Dex grabs his board, but Michael sits with Jordan instead. Nora’s on her own, leaning against the Rover while she eats soft tacos and watches us, and I glide over to her on my board.

“Hey.” I step off and prop the board up with one foot, then gesture to it with my burrito. “You wanna learn?”

Her brown eyes widen. “How to skateboard?” She gives a quick shake of her head. “Definitely not. But thanks.”

I take another bite of my burrito, then lean against the Rover next to her, watching Dex and Lucas fuck around on their boards.

“So . . . how’s everything going with Remi?” Nora asks, voice soft. “That’s her name, right?” She looks up at me, taking another bite of her avocado taco.

“It’s . . .” I try to think of a word to describe how things are going, but I’ve never been one for fancy words, and all I can come up with is, “Awesome. It’s going awesome.”

Smiling,Nora dabs a smudge of avocado from her lip. “I’m happy for you. Are you going to invite her to visit?”

My shoulders rise and fall in a shrug, and I use one foot to roll my board forward and back. “I don’t know. I’d like to. But she’s got so much going on there. I don’t know if she’d be down for it.”

Nora bumps me gently, leaning her shoulder against me. “Well, you’ll never know if you don’t ask, right? The worst thing she can say is no.”