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Chapter Fifteen
Despite what they’d said as they parted ways, Remy didn’t see Vivi much the following day—she was busy with promo stuff before the show, and afterward she flew out to the next tour stop so she could do a magazine shoot in the morning. Remy found himself following Vivi’s movements the same way so many fans did—via cell phone and paparazzi photos on sites like Celeste’s and Vivi’s own Instagram account.
The show was done, and Remy was back on the bus, falling asleep to the hum of the road beneath them, when his phone chimed.
Vivi Swan: Good news and bad news
Remy Young: Good first
Vivi Swan: I have workable lyrics for basically the whole Maybe It’s Me song now.
Remy Young: Bad news
Vivi Swan: It just came out we’re working together
Remy Young: Ok
Vivi Swan: Is that ok
Remy Young: Why wouldn’t it be
He rose and slid out of the bunk, avoiding David’s hand slung through the ladder rungs. He tiptoed to the galley and pulled the door shut, closing off the sleeping area, and called her. Actuallycalledher, which felt weird and wrong but still rather like a trophy marking just how familiar they were now.
“Hey,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck both from the exhaustion and the warm, rushed feeling he got whenever he started a conversation with her.
“Hi.” Vivi’s voice was small and precious, and it slayed him.
He inhaled the sound. “So. We’re caught?”
“Apparently. I’m not sure who leaked it—maybe Eddie?”
“Who?”
“Walter’s assistant?” Vivi said, sounding alarmed that Remy didn’t know. “It could be anyone on the tour, though. I’m thinking I’ll put a few plant stories out there and see what shows up so I can pinpoint who it was. But Eddie came by last night, I said we were working on music, and then the story leaks today…I don’t know. It’s fine, I’m just…ugh. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not mad. I’m not sure why I’d be mad to begin with,” Remy said as he slung onto the couch. There was warmth on the phone line, flickering between them and conquering the chilly, vacant feeling the bus always had this time of night. Every so often the moon broke through the rain clouds to make the gently sloping mountains look blue and storied. Remy watched the highway zip by, trying to shake the remaining sleepiness from his bones.
“I guess I just… It was ours, you know? It’s this celeb blogger named Bianca Treble—she’s been a pain in my ass for years. It’s like the minute I plug one leak with her, another one pops up. You and I should have done everything by phone…”
“I—” Remy found himself unsure what, exactly, to say. He inhaled. “I don’t think it would have worked as well that way.”
There was a long stillness, then, “Yeah. You’re right. Yeah. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you before someone else did.”
“Well, it’s two o’clock in the morning, and I don’t start accepting social calls from the general public till three o’clock, so good move,” he said, smiling into the phone.
“Damn it, did I wake you up?”
“Of course you woke me up. It’s two o’clock,” Remy joked. Vivi made an apologetic sound, but Remy cut her off. “It’s fine—it’s not like I don’t have all morning to nap. What about you?”
“I have a Make-A-Wish thing tomorrow afternoon, but that’s it. So I can nap too, can’t I?” Vivi said in a way that told Remy she hadn’t thought about sleep all that much. They sat in silence for a moment, listening to the sound of each other’s breath.
“Play the song for me,” Remy said, dropping his voice a bit—he thought he heard someone stirring.
“Right now?”
“Yeah. Please? I want to hear it with the new lyrics in, especially if the Vivi Swan fandom is about to know all about it.”
Vivi laughed a little, more a breath than anything else. “Alright. Hold on—I’m putting you on speaker. Don’t hang up.” He heard her rustling around then the hollow zip and twang of a guitar being lifted. She tuned it swiftly then called, “Ready?”
