25. Cecelia
TWENTY-FIVE
CECELIA
Things feel less tense after that. They have us in a roped off VIP area for the concert, and while there are a lot of us, it’s way less crowded than it would be if we were out on the main floor.
Em and Jay are with us, and the other Littles, so it feels a lot less like we’re in a fishbowl where everyone in the family is watching.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” I tell Sol before the band hits the stage.
“I brought you these.” I pull out a pair of silicone ear plugs.
“They don’t block out sound but they dampen it.
” Ash uses these a lot, even when it’s just us at home.
He says they aren’t as uncomfortable or as deafening as the foam kinds you get at drug stores, but they help to keep the noises around him from being overwhelming.
Sol looks down at the earplugs like he’s not quite sure what to do with them. “You, uh, don’t have to use them if you don’t want to,” I tell him, unsure. I don’t want him to feel like I’m babying him, but if these might help him have a better time, I should offer them, right?
“No,” he says quickly, leaning down to kiss my cheek. “These are great. Thank you.”
As he slides them into his ears, I catch sight of Wyatt a few feet away, watching us.
I can’t read his expression so I stick my tongue out at him, playing the bratty little sister.
He gives me a brief grin before turning back to the stage.
Just then the lights go down and the venue erupts into screaming as the show starts.
It’s a great show. Ruby Roads has gotten even better than the last time I saw them.
Watching Silas play is always fun—he looks kind of shy up there whenever he glances out at the audience, but when his attention is on his guitar, he’s totally locked in.
It’s also fun watching my dad watch him play.
He always cries, usually more than once. Such a sap.
After the show, the dressing room is somehow crazier than before, with way more people who I don’t know.
Ash tells us there’s no way he’s staying in the madness for longer than a few minutes.
I have no idea if he’s saying that for Sol’s benefit or if he really can’t cope, but I’m grateful for the excuse to leave either way.
“After-party at Grandma’s bar,” Silas tells me when I manage to find him in the throng to say goodbye. “The parents all promised to leave early.”
“Grandma’s Bar?” Jay asks as we make our way through the crowded back hallways and outside to the waiting SUVs. “I’ve never heard of it.”
Ash laughs. “That’s not the name—it’s literally our grandma’s bar.”
“Your grandma owns a bar?”
“She does, and it’s awesome,” I tell him.
Sol doesn’t say anything. I wonder if he’s dreading the idea of meeting even more of my family members.
We’re the first in the family to get to the Purple Cat. We head straight for the patio, which grandma usually shuts down for family events. Sure enough, it’s basically empty back there and we claim a table by the water fountain.
“This is not what I pictured when you said your grandmother owned this place,” Jay says, looking around.
Grandma’s bar is bright, kitschy, and totally over-the-top.
She based it off the beach bum bars she grew up with in Key West. With the bright colors, mismatched tables and teak chairs, gaudy beach-themed decoration, and plethora of Christmas lights hung everywhere, it really doesn’t match the sleek vibes of its Malibu neighborhood.
But that just makes me love it even more.
Ruby Roads is a big enough deal now that they could have had their afterparty at any exclusive club in LA, but we’re all comfortable here. It’s nice to know that the waitstaff isn’t going to try to take cell phone pictures or sell gossip to the tabloids.
“Are those my grandchildren?” a familiar voice calls, and I look up to see Ruby approaching us. I grin at the sight of her and jump up to go hug her, Ash following me.
Ruby is not exactly what most would picture when hearing the word grandmother.
She’s a little fireball of a woman with a hot pink pixie haircut, tattoos, a nose ring, and the kind of clear, glowing skin a 30-year-old would envy.
She didn’t meet my grandpa until after our dads were fully grown, but she’s been around my whole life, and she’s one of my favorite people in the world.
She hugs Ash before moving to me. “I tried to come over and say hi to you before the show,” she says, pulling back from our hug. She tucks my hair behind my ear. “But it was pretty crazy in there.”
“I didn’t even see you,” I admit.
She grins at me and lowers her voice to a whisper. “Too enamored with your friend?”
I roll my eyes. “Too annoyed by our family being weirdos about my friend.”
She laughs, putting an arm around me and leading us the few steps back to the table. “Well, I’ll do my best not to be weird.” She greets Jay, Sol, and Em and tells us someone will be coming out with beer shortly.
“Where’s Grandpa?” Ash asks.
Ruby waves a hand. “Still at the venue. You know how he gets.”
Ash grins. “Probably inspecting all the equipment and lecturing their manager about the band’s schedule.” Grandpa was Ransom’s manager until Uncle Levi took over. He probably knows more about the music industry than anyone in that building.
Before Ruby can sit down with us, her bar manager comes over with some beer-keg-related emergency and she excuses herself to take care of it. “She keeps saying she’s going to retire,” Ash tells the others as she hurries off. “But she couldn’t stay away from this place if she tried.”
The patio starts to fill up as the family and guests of the band filter in.
Thankfully the vibe is way more chill than it was at the venue.
There’s music playing—there’s always music playing when my family gets together—but being outside helps it from getting too loud.
Cousins come over to chat with us, my mom and dad sit for a while, but none of it feels as invasive as it did earlier.
By the time Nix, the band’s bassist comes around to tell the parents they’re being kicked out, I find that I’m actually happy my parents were here tonight after all.
They’ve both been friendly with Solomon and my mom even spent some time talking to him about his grandfather’s ranch.
She runs our family’s charitable foundation so the therapy camps Red hosts are right up her alley.
“Family lunch on Sunday?” Dad asks when he hugs me goodbye. “You can bring your friend.”
I’m not sure Sol will be up for another run-in with the family so soon, so I tell dad we’ll see.
Will and Wyatt leave when the parents do, presumably to get home to their kids.
I’ve been avoiding my two oldest brothers all night.
We’re going to have words about how rude they were, but this isn’t the time.
They both hug me goodbye, but I make sure it happens far away from the table where Sol is still sitting with his friends and the other Littles.
“I’ve already yelled at him,” Eva, my sister-in-law, tells me when I hug her.
“Good.” I glare at Will over his wife’s shoulder. He looks a little sheepish, but I’m not ready to forgive him yet.
After they’re all gone, my cousins get more comfortable. They switch from beer to harder liquor and a few of them don’t bother to hide the fact that they’re smoking. Nix is openly making out with a groupie—gross—but otherwise it’s pretty tame for a rock band’s party.
Sol seems more comfortable now, drinking beer with Cade, Ash and Jay. He keeps one hand clamped on my knee under the table, and I feel silly for how much I like that, the fact that he always wants to be touching me.
When did I turn into such a girl?
Vega stops by our table carrying a pitcher of what looks to be margaritas. “Sweet,” Jay says, reaching for it, but she holds the pitcher away.
“This is for girls only.” She jerks her chin at me. “Come on.”
I look over to see most of my female cousins at a table near the stage. Santana waves to me and another cousin, Lyric, makes a “come here” gesture.
“Go ahead,” Sol says, watching me. “Go hang out with your girls for a while.”
I make a face. “I’m not going to leave you alone.”
“Um, hello,” Jay says, holding his hands up. “Are you just ignoring my existence?”
“We can keep him company for a while, Ceece,” Cade assures me.
I look back at the girls. It has been ages since I’ve seen Lyric and Vega’s older sisters.
Solomon squeezes my leg under the table. “Seriously. Go have fun. I’ll be right here.”
“Come on,” Vega starts tugging on the back of my shirt. “You know the rule.”
“What’s the rule?” Jay asks.
“Chicks before dicks,” Vega says cheerily.
Cade scoffs. “If I ever even whispered the phrase bros before hoes you would castrate me.”
“Damn right,” I tell him, kissing Sol’s cheek before standing up to follow Vega across the patio.
“CeCe!” the girls shout when we get close.
“Hey, I’m the one who brought the drinks,” Vega complains, setting the margarita pitcher on the table. “No one is excited to see me?”
Her sister Santana pats her arm. “That’s because you’re not dating a new boy that we all want to grill you over.”
“Jesus,” I mutter, turning right on my heel to walk away, but Vega’s sisters surround me, tugging me into a chair.
“Tell us everything,” Santana says.
“There’s not much to tell,” I hedge.
“Don’t listen to her,” Vega says. “She’s head-over-heels.” I glare at her and she rolls her eyes. “Don’t even try to deny it.”
“Fine. I like him.”
The girls all laugh. “From anyone else that would sound depressingly timid,” Lyric says. “But from you it’s practically effusive.”
Under much more prodding, and a margarita or two, I tell my cousins more about Sol. Vega and Vi add their impressions, and it makes me ridiculously happy to hear how much they like him.