14. I already miss you
I already miss you
The next night, Colby sat on Hunter’s bed and watched him pack.
His flight to Vancouver was at the obscene hour of six in the morning, and he had to go immediately to a wardrobe fitting upon landing.
Someone would take his bags directly to the apartment that had been rented for him because after the fitting, he would go to two hours of fight training.
It was on. Hunter seemed more excited than daunted since their little talk in the car, so that was good.
Colby was just trying to ignore the pinch still in his chest. He watched Hunter fold a T-shirt with the precision of a Gap employee and place it on top of two others in his suitcase.
“Are you excited to go back to Canada?” Colby asked because he couldn’t ask what he really wanted to, which was ‘Will you miss me?’ God, that would be fucking ridiculous.
“I mean… yeah, but no. I love Canada. It’ll be nice not to worry about healthcare if I get sliced in half or something on set.
” Colby made a face, envisioning Hunter getting injured.
It made Hunter chuckle before he went on.
“But I really do feel like LA is home now, you know? So, it will be familiar, but… I’ll miss my life here. ”
Colby dared to lift his eyes, and he was rewarded by finding Hunter’s gorgeous brown ones staring back at him with a tinge of sadness in them.
They stared at each other for what felt like a long second, and then Hunter’s lips quirked.
“But I guess it will be cool to have a place all to myself and not be pulling long blond hair out of the shower drain every day.”
“Fuck you.” Colby threw a pillow at him, and Hunter picked it up off the floor and threw it back.
It hit Colby square in the face, causing that long blond hair of his to billow out and then fall against his cheek, a squiggly curl stuck to the corner of his mouth.
Hunter reached over, hooked the curl with his index finger, and pulled it away.
Colby’s gut sparked with desire. “I’m gonna cut it off. ”
“What? Your hair? I was kidding!” Hunter looked immediately distressed.
“Ford says that I’d get more attention with shorter hair. I look too hippie and girlie,” Colby said, and he picked at a thread on the pillow he’d kept on his lap. “And honestly, it would save me money on hair products.”
“Fuck Ford,” Hunter growled, and Colby blinked up at him. He kind of got the feeling that Hunter wasn’t Ford’s biggest fan, but Hunter had never bothered to say anything to prove it. Until now. “He isn’t the fucking genius he thinks he is.”
Colby didn’t respond because the simple truth of it was that Ford was Colby’s biggest hope.
And honestly, he hadn’t really steered Colby wrong yet.
He was making so much money from these regular Range gigs that he was able to cut back on his hours at Trader Joe’s.
The other guys were okay to work with. Good, even.
They didn’t contribute much lyrically, which Colby actually liked.
And Kenner had a great new melody he'd come up with that Colby was working on the lyrics for.
And also, Ford had gotten them a new gig at a club in Silver Lake next Saturday night.
They were co-headlining with a singer named Hannah Wolfe, who was ragingly popular on social media and had a deal with Revolution Records.
That label was on fire with seven artists in the Billboard Top Twenty.
Ford promised that Revolution would have people there for Hannah, who was about to start a world tour, but that meant they would hear Tidal too.
Colby was sick with performance anxiety about the whole thing, but also excited for what felt like a solid opportunity.
He hadn’t told Hunter any of this. Hunter had been so busy getting ready to leave and riding on the happy yet anxious wave of his own success that Colby didn’t want to take away from that.
Hunter wasn’t folding his clothes anymore.
He took a pair of jeans and a pair of joggers and shoved them in the suitcase in a lump.
“You could take a break from Tidal and Ford, and come to Vancouver with me. I’ll buy your ticket.
I have a credit with the airline from my canceled trip to Montreal.
You could do shows around there. Solo ones.
And help me figure out how to convince my mom not to get a new cat. Hers died a couple of weeks ago.”
“Sorry about the cat.”
“It was old. Had a good run. He’ll be missed, but if she doesn’t get another one, she can travel more. Come see me, maybe.”
“I can’t do gigs in Canada. I would need a visa or something.” Colby moved the pillow off his lap and twisted his fingers together instead. “And I’d have nowhere to stay.”
“My place, of course,” Hunter offered without a moment’s hesitation. “Ma maison est ta maison. Comme ici.”
Colby felt heat roar through his body. What the fuck was that—French? Holy shit, that was hot. “You speak French?”
“Un peu,” Hunter replied, his lips quirked in a happy smile. “I’m from Montreal, remember? It’s kinda mandatory.”
He fought against the flush and smiled. “I have no idea what you just said. Was it ‘you are welcome to continue to mooch off me like you do here?’”
“You’re not a mooch.” Hunter frowned. “You’ve been paying rent since Leandra moved out.”
“Speaking of… I’m making decent money with the band, but, like, I don’t know if I can carry the whole place while you’re gone,” Colby said, and then he swallowed and found the courage to say what he’d been thinking for a while.
“Maybe I should find my own place, and you can sublet this properly. Or give it up entirely. Save the money and find a new place when you get back.”
There was nothing but silence for so long that Colby had no choice but to stop staring at the ridiculous tiger-print duvet cover Hunter had and find his best friend’s face.
Hunter’s cheeks were pink. His bottom lip was jutting out more than normal.
His eyes were narrowed. Colby wasn’t sure if he was pissed off or offended, but it was definitely something like that. “You want to bail on this?”
Hunter turned and walked out of the bedroom.
He disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door.
Colby was frozen in shock. Did he just blow up their friendship twelve hours before Hunter was leaving?
Yeah. He fucking did, and regret filled every crevice in his body with such a force that Colby felt dizzy. He stood up. “Hunter?”
There was no response, so with panic streaming through his veins, Colby got up and walked into the hall.
He put a hand on the handle of the bathroom door, but he didn’t open it.
He leaned his forehead against the cheap wood.
“Please don’t be pissed at me. It was just a suggestion, so you don’t waste money. ”
Silence. And just when Colby’s heart started to beat even faster, Hunter opened the door.
Colby almost fell into him but caught himself on the frame.
Hunter’s face was still pink with anger, and his eyes were…
watering? He blinked before Colby could completely register what he saw.
“I’m not going forever. It’s like a little over two months, and then what?
I come back and have nothing? No best friend? No apartment?”
“I’ll still be your best friend,” Colby argued softly.
Hunter brushed by him and stormed back into the bedroom.
He ran a hand into his thick, dark hair and tugged on the ends.
He did that when he was freaking out. Colby knew all his tics.
He studied Hunter as if it were Colby’s favorite school subject.
“I know this apartment kinda sucks, but it’s rent controlled, and you can totally have the bedroom.
You don’t have to sleep on the couch. Not just while I’m gone.
We can rotate or something when I’m back.
And we can get a real sofa bed for the living room.
I can swing that financially after this job. ”
He sounded so earnest and… wounded. He was bartering for what he wanted. Colby swallowed. “I just feel like I… you’re going to hit it big off this role, Hunter. I know it, man. I don’t know why, but I do, and I’ll still be scrambling for local gigs and like… You don’t need that.”
“Oh, fuck off,” Hunter spat out, but it wasn’t anger, now it was disbelief.
Like Colby just recounted some unbelievable urban legend.
“It’s a glorified indie flick. Canadian indie.
It doesn’t even have a streamer attached.
It might just end up at film festivals. And you are so talented.
Half your problem is not actually believing that.
By the time I get back, Tidal could be the next BTS. ”
“We’re so not the next Asian boy band.”
“Okay, then Kings of Leon or some shit. You’re halfway there for fuck’s sake. Look at your Instagram.”
Colby’s only two posts—the one Briar posted after the gig and one he posted yesterday, just playing guitar by the pool in the courtyard—had garnered tens of thousands of views, likes, and reposts. He was also up to 11,000 followers. It was nothing compared to real musicians, but it was something.
“Stay.” Hunter stared at Colby. Colby stared at Hunter. “Don’t move out. Don’t even think about it. Just stay.”
This was a very stupid fight, and Colby knew it. He had nowhere to go, and even if he had a hundred different options, he wanted to be here when Hunter came back. So Colby nodded.
Hunter’s shoulders visibly sagged in relief. He gave Colby a tentative smile and reached up and hooked another wayward wave of hair off Colby’s cheek. “I like your hair, but if you wanna cut it, cut it. But because you want to, not because fucking Ford thinks you need to.”