Chapter 55 Griffin
Griffin
Griffin couldn’t miss the kickoff of Aria’s new album tour, so he flew out to Los Angeles for the show.
He’s ushered through a backstage entrance—one heavily guarded—and a VIP badge is looped on a lanyard around his neck.
Griffin chitchats with the staff he encounters back there, remembering a few faces and names from the Chicago show crews.
He’s planning on sticking around—in Aria’s life, that is—so making friends with the crew is only a natural extension of his plan.
The show starts, the crowd abuzz and screaming, and Griffin watches from the wings.
At Aria’s request, the special effects are pared down, and there are more moments of only her and a few layers of accompaniment from the band.
“It’s about the music,” Aria always says.
Griffin has told her countless times that it’s also about her—that if it was another person singing it, the effect wouldn’t be the same—but Aria brushes off the remarks.
She’s serious about the music. Her commitment to it comes to life in the songs themselves.
But she’s slightly blind to the unique way only she has, the way she can make music that’s close to the heart—all hers—but also speaks to millions of fans.
Griffin dances from side to side when the quicker songs come on.
He cheers along with the crowd, even being asked twice by crew members to “keep it down.” Griffin can’t help it; he loves her music.
Lest they forget: His fandom was the start of this whole thing between them.
If Griffin Hayes had never sung his heart out at Aria’s concert, they’d still be going about their separate lives. Missing out terribly.
He knew “Until You Came Along” would be the last song of the night, but when he hears the accompaniment music quiet and Aria take the mic, with slightly heavy breaths from her intense dance routine in the previous number, his cheeks heat.
Even now that Griffin and Aria are in a committed relationship—one that’s far more than friends—and the public is in on it too, she still makes him blush.
Maybe it’s simply part of who he is. Or maybe it’s her special effect on him.
Aria takes an acoustic guitar from the band setup and slings it over her front as she returns to the microphone stand at the front of the stage.
The opening chords sound resonantly, and from the crowd come a few cheers of delight. The song has exploded in popularity since Griffin and Aria officially debuted to the public as a couple, even further since they shared the backstory of the song to fans on social media.
Griffin’s chest opens wide as he watches Aria perform, filling him with a lightness that comes only when he focuses on her.
She shines not only as a performer, but in a way that awes him.
Not everyone sees the work and dedication that happens behind the scenes, the way she wrestles with her songs until they’re just right, the way she holds her fans’ opinions as highly as her own.
All of the thought and planning required to make any of this work.
Aria is an absolute wonder, and Griffin is lucky to behold her.
Especially here from the wings, out of sight, he can adore her undercover.
She knows the depths of his feelings for her, but gazing at her as if she’s a miracle becomes a little over the top at certain points—well, at least that’s what he’s been told.
Even if things between them are so effortless it’s easy to forget they were ever once apart, he doesn’t want to scare her off.
But here and now as she sings the lyrics that reeled him back into her life, just as he’d found his footing after his life fell apart, he knows that Aria Wilder might just be the most precious gift he’ll ever receive.
Eventually Griffin’s cheeks cool off, but then they begin to ache. It’s from the smiling. He can’t help but smile when he looks at her.
Aria speaks his name into the microphone, and it pulls him out of his daydreaming.
“Griffin? Griffin Hayes, I know you’re back there. Get your butt out here!”
The crowd goes wild.
It’s not his first time being called out onstage, and he hopes it won’t be his last.
This time he grabs a quick sip of water from the bottle he holds, sets it down, and walks confidently toward the woman of his dreams.
The crowd cheers for him warmly, but under the glare of the bright lights, it’s only Aria he can see.
The perfect view.