Chapter 45 Stevie #2
“But if I’m not the best man in your wedding, it’s over.” Adjusting his glasses, Rudy tugs the phone closer until he’s all the way zoomed in. “I mean it, Lex. I have a speech prepared. It’s long, it’s inspiring, and it’s been sent to five different editors already. This moment is mine.”
“Deal.”
The two men share a smile that goes beyond Hollywood glitz and industry deadlines, rooted in genuine camaraderie and mutual respect.
Rudy gives me a salute. “Keep him in line, Stevie. I’m counting on you.”
“I got you.” I salute him back, my tears reflecting back at me on the screen.
“We’ll be in town to tie up loose ends,” Lex adds. “We can do dinner or something.”
“Bring Stevie’s sister, and it’s a date.”
With a final farewell, Lex disconnects the call and pockets his phone, pulling me to his chest. “Sorry that was sudden. I don’t know if it’s forever, but…I think I need a break. Some time to sort out what I really want.” He lifts my cheek, finding my eyes. “You good with that?”
“I’m so good with that. Take all the time you need.”
His eyes change, fusing with something deeper. “You’re with me?”
I sit up straighter, pressing my fingertips to his jaw and tipping his face toward mine. He tries to look away, but I pull him back. “Lex, I’m with you. I’m not going anywhere.”
“It’s just—”
“No justs . You won’t hurt me. You won’t scare me away.
I’m in this, with you, one hundred percent.
Whatever you want to do, whether it’s going back to Hollywood and creating more masterpieces, writing or producing behind the scenes, or…
even buying a farm and living a quiet life away from the spotlight. ”
He frowns curiously.
“It doesn’t matter,” I say. “You have me.”
Nodding, he glances down at his bobbing knee. “You were right when you said this is new, so I just…I don’t want you to have any regrets, Nicks. We’ve been through a lot. I’ve fucked up, more than once, and I can’t promise you I won’t do it again.”
“Lex…” I tip his chin, our eyes clinching back together. “That’s what love is. It’s the ups and downs. The in-betweens. The dark, the ugly, the beautiful, the surreal. It’s in both the perfect melodies and the off-key notes. The hardships make us stronger. Braver. That’s how love grows.”
Sighing, he presses his forehead to mine. “I never thought we’d make music again.”
Tears fill my eyes as I press a kiss to his lips and whisper back, “We never stopped.”
***
It’s no surprise we end the night up here.
Lex sits beside me on the rooftop while starlight bathes his face in an ethereal glow.
We’re those two teenagers again, lost, misplaced, finding glimmers of belonging in the quiet, unassuming moments together.
We both lean back against the dormer window and let the early-December wind blow icy kisses on our faces.
“This is the place I’d always come back to whenever I couldn’t sleep,” Lex says, his breath puffing out in smoky white plumes.
The stars flicker from a million miles away yet feel so close I could reach out and pluck one from the navy sky.
I turn to him, our shoulders fused together. “Me too.”
His eyes are closed, a peaceful smile drawn on his lips. “I’ve missed your rooftop, Nicks.”
“Way better view than my apartment.” I smile. “We don’t ever have to leave.”
“Sounds like a dream.”
I think about dreams. How they change, sway, manifest into something we never saw coming.
Sometimes it’s in a blink, a single sharp breath, and sometimes it’s an aching, tugging slow burn, growing quietly until the dream evolves, blooming into colors that redefine us.
Things far beyond what we ever could have imagined.
And maybe that’s the real magic of them—how dreams can still surprise us.
I glance at the man beside me, at my dream. No award trophy, no big paycheck, no stage to dance and twirl. Just a girl with pins in her knee and love in her eyes and a boy with songs in his heart and ghosts I’m determined to scare away for good.
When he catches me gazing at him, he turns to look at me, our eyes meeting through the dark night. His brows pinch together, his tongue poking out to wet his lips.
“What are you thinking about?” I ask softly.
He doesn’t miss a beat. “That I want to marry you one day.”
My lungs collapse on a stunned breath. “What? Are you proposing?” My hand drops to his thigh, my nails burrowing into his pantleg. “Lex. Oh my God. I’m going to fall off the roof.”
“That would track.” He harnesses the grin, dusting a finger down my jaw.
“I’m not prepared for a grand proposal—and trust me, it will be fucking impressive—but yes, I want to marry you someday, and I can’t not tell you this while we’re sitting up here on your roof.
” Lex takes both of my hands in his until we’re facing each other, the stars glowing brighter, his pale-blue eyes shimmering with purpose and conviction.
“I have an idea for a ring. It’ll take some time to make it perfect, and it’s not a six-figure diamond or anything flashy, but it’s you.
It’s us. And when the moment is right, I’m going to get down on one knee and do it the right way. ”
“Yes.” A sob of joy expels like water.
“I haven’t officially asked you yet.”
“My answer will be yes.”
“Yeah?” His eyes close, the creases on his face softening.
“I don’t know what the future holds or where we’ll end up, and fuck, I don’t even know if I can live up to everything you deserve,” he says.
“But I have two hands that will hold you forever, a voice that will sing to you until we take our last breaths, and eyes that will see you for all that you are, every day, every minute, just as you’ve seen me.
” He pulls me closer, our hairlines touching.
“You’re it for me, Nicks. You’ve always been it for me. ”
“You’re it for me too,” I whisper back, brushing my thumbs along his cheeks. My tears fall like warm rain as I hold him tight, every inch of me on fire. “Come what may, right?”
He presses a sensual kiss to my mouth and breathes out, “Come what will.”
We pull apart, and I glance over his head at the stretch of stars, my eyes landing on my favorite twinkling jewel: my Morrison star. I rest my cheek against Lex’s chest, our hands linking together, just like they had when we were kids, and our hearts beating in perfect rhythm.
And then I thank the sky for giving me the best star of all.