Chapter 41
Easton
Better Days—One Republic
Stunned, we sit huddled together on the sofa, which is much too small for all of us, staring at Skye’s iPad.
Rayne is on my lap, her fingers digging into my hand.
Jase is crouched on the armrest with Zoe leaning back between his legs.
The guys sit next to me on the sofa, and Mae and Skye are standing by the coffee table.
Skye looks nervous; it’s the first time I’ve ever seen her this way. The living room is silent.
“Can someone please say something?” Skye laughs, but even that sounds anxious.
“This is just . . .” Jax starts, but breaks off because his voice fails him. Mine isn’t working either; I can’t get a sound out.
“Wow,” Colin says, finishing Jax’s sentence for him.
“Insane,” Beck adds.
We’re all still staring at the little screen, which has gone black now. Just a few seconds ago, we were watching ourselves on it. Us. In a music video.
It’s a music video that was semiprofessionally shot by a dance student in an empty warehouse, with a band that has never done anything like this before. Except you can’t tell any of that from the video. Not at all. Whatever Skye did, she exceeded every expectation.
“How did you do that?” Rayne turns a little on my lap to look at Skye, who actually blushes.
She shrugs awkwardly. “It’s not rocket science,” she says dismissively. “It’s all a matter of practice.”
“It’s incredible,” Zoe says, a little in awe.
“Really?”
“Really,” I say with a nod, finally finding my voice again, even if it still sounds a little strange. “It’s really, really good.”
She exhales, and only now, as her shoulders relax a little, can I see how tense she actually was. “Okay. Good. Thank you. Oh my God.” A relieved laugh escapes her. “I’m so glad you don’t hate it.”
“As if we ever could! How could anyone ever hate this? It’s amazing!
” Jax stands up and reaches out his hand to her.
Only at the last second does he seem to remember that whatever was going on between them no longer exists, and he pivots to running his fingers through his hair as he clears his throat. “Seriously. It’s totally mind blowing.”
She gives him a small smile. “Thanks.” Then she turns back to the rest of us. “I edited a few shorts for you guys to use on TikTok and Insta. The full video is probably better for YouTube. I’ll send you everything later, but I wanted to see if you liked it before I show you the rest.”
“You did more?” I stare at her in disbelief.
“Yeah, well, I was in the flow, and we had so many good sequences that I couldn’t use them all for the long video. Besides, you’ll need to spam social media with teasers anyway, so everyone wants to see the video and hear the song.”
“You don’t happen to want to be our marketing manager?” Beck’s question sounds like he’s joking, but I’m pretty sure he’s serious.
Skye shakes her head. “No way. I’ve got enough to do. But I’d be happy to keep editing your videos.”
Beck gets up and hugs her. “Thanks! You’re the best.”
“Oh, stop. I enjoy doing it,” she says, letting go of Beck and giving him an awkward pat on the shoulder.
“I’ll send you the ones I’ve already finished, and we can upload the first one right away.
It’s best to make your song into a TikTok sound so everyone can use it. And then hopefully you’ll be famous.”
Colin, Jax, Beck, and I exchange glances, and for a moment, it’s just us and the absurd hope that this could actually work. That we could really do it. That our dreams could come true.
“Then let’s get started.” Skye’s voice rings with enthusiasm; I think she’s almost as excited as we are. Understandably. She put an infinite amount of effort into this video. She wants it to be worth it. I don’t know how we’ll ever be able to thank her.
* * *
Hours pass, and we post the first videos on TikTok and Instagram.
Skye has edited dozens of shorts, some with the same sequences, always with the first chorus of our song in the background.
The first video does well, the next two don’t, but we have enough views to keep going and post more clips. Two or three a day.
Days pass, and people comment wanting to hear the whole song. They want more. More from Rayne and me. It’s crazy. We post the video on YouTube, and our friends share it, then lots of other people do the same. Thousands. More than we ever thought possible. Comments and DMs flood our account.
A week goes by. We post the short where Rayne and I kiss, and everyone goes crazy.
It’s totally wild. They don’t know us, aside from what they see in the video, but suddenly there are thousands of comments from people who want to know if we’re really together; they say if we’re not, we definitely should be.
“Dance with You ’Til Midnight” hits like a bombshell. It’s surreal. It can’t be possible. But it is. It’s true. It’s our reality, and our life.