Chapter 14
14
Iris wasn’t one of those people who was unable to remember anything after a night of drinking. Her brain was too organized for that.
The minute that she opened her eyes the next morning, she recalled every detail from the night before. Crying in front of Angel in her hotel room after her talk with Elaine. Drinking those spiked slushies. Skating arm in arm with Angel. Angel singing to her before they fell.
She sat up slowly. Sunlight peeked through the blinds. Her elbow was a little sore, but otherwise, she felt fine. No hangover headache, thankfully. She wiped her eyes. Mascara residue appeared on her fingers and she sighed. She, of all people, knew how important it was to remove makeup before bed. She glanced over and noticed a piece of paper on her pillow. She peered at it and recognized Angel’s handwriting.
If I had a superpower, I would use it for you
Anything you wanted, anything you needed, I’d get it for you
If I had a superpower, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do
Without context, it might seem like a poem. But Iris knew that they were song lyrics.
Her chest tightened fiercely as she ran her fingers over the page, tracing his words. She imagined him singing them to her, softly in her ear, like he’d done last night. She’d gone into some kind of trance while listening to him. His voice had literally caused her to lose her balance. Her skin flushed hot now just thinking of him.
Angel was so different from what she’d expected from a celebrity of his magnitude. Most of the time when it was just the two of them, she forgot that he was famous. He was kind and thoughtful and caring. He listened— really listened—to her when she talked…
Frowning, she hopped out of bed and unzipped the back of her dress. They had to be at the airport soon for their flight to Atlanta. She needed a shower. She needed to get ahold of herself.
Her thoughts were beyond unprofessional. Dominique had trusted Iris to successfully carry out this tour and restore SFB’s reputation, not form a crush on the brand ambassador.
Ignore him, she told herself as she got dressed. You will just have to ignore him.
But she couldn’t do that. Ignoring Angel would be just as unprofessional as harboring a crush.
She shrugged on her airport clothes and carefully folded Angel’s note, placing it in her wallet. She’d read the note only a couple times, but she already had the lyrics committed to memory. Another side effect of her organized mind.
Before leaving her room, she called her mom to check in with Calla, and after Calla shared how excited she was to visit the Liberty Science Center that afternoon at day camp, and she and Iris exchanged I miss you s and I love you s, Iris finished packing and left for the hotel lobby. Bree was already there, waiting, and Iris smiled as she walked over to her. When Angel and Ray stepped off the elevator, Iris took a deep breath and reminded herself to be polite to Angel, but not to treat him any differently. Then his mouth tipped up in a grin, aimed at her, and her limbs loosened slowly, like she was melting.
“Good morning,” he said to the group, eyes lingering on Iris.
He stood beside her, smelling once again of cinnamon. Someone with a weaker willpower would have trouble fighting the urge to sniff him like a bloodhound.
Iris began to question her own willpower.
Gulping, she straightened her posture and smiled. “Good morning.”
She kept her gaze forward, even as his presence surrounded her and invaded her thoughts.
—
“ Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, big brotherrrr. Happy birthday to you! ” Leah sang to Angel. They were on FaceTime, and Maxine bumped her way into the camera’s view and sniffed the phone.
Angel was in his Atlanta hotel room, sprawled across his bed. He grinned at his sister and their dog. “Thank you. That was beautiful.”
“Yeah, right. We know you’re the singer of the family,” Leah said. She was at his apartment once again, as opposed to her dorm. “And you’re getting old. Pretty soon you’re gonna have dentures.”
Angel snorted. “Wow, that hurt my feelings.”
“Sike, sike. Your birthday gift will be waiting for you once you get back.”
“You know you didn’t have to get me anything.”
“I know you don’t like gifts,” Leah said, sighing impatiently. “But I got you something anyway. It’s a pack of those notebooks from Kinokuniya that you like. More space for you to write down your angsty lyrics.”
Angel laughed, shaking his head. “Thank you.”
“How’s the makeup stuff going?” she asked.
“Skincare,” Angel corrected. “It’s cool, I—” He stopped abruptly as another call came in, interrupting their conversation. His muscles tensed. “Uh, hey, Mom’s calling me. I’ll call you back.”
Leah mouthed Yikes and said that she’d text him later.
Angel sat up. He breathed deeply and counted to ten before answering. It wasn’t that he was surprised that his mother was calling him. It was his birthday after all. Usually Angel was able to prepare before their interactions. He liked having a ready script on hand; that way he was able stay on track without being ruffled by the inevitable little comments that she made. But being so relaxed while talking to Leah had thrown him off. He’d have to quickly adjust.
“Hey, Mom,” he said.
“Happy birthday, son.”
Angel automatically straightened his posture even more at the sound of Cora’s stern voice. He cleared his throat. “Thank you.”
He heard the banging of pots and pans in her background. Gospel music played faintly from the small radio that she kept on the kitchen counter.
“Do you mind if we pray?” she asked.
Angel walked across his suite to the balcony. The sun was shining. Birds were chirping. It was a beautiful Georgia day. He tapped his knuckles against the sliding glass door. He took another deep breath.
“Okay,” he said.
Cora began her prayer with thanks that Angel had made it to twenty-nine years, and then she quickly slipped into asking God to remind Angel that it was never too late to change his ways and repent. Angel zoned out as she continued talking. He stared at a blue jay that was perched on a tree branch below, ready to take flight. Whenever he spoke to his mom, he felt like a bird with clipped wings.
“Amen,” she said, finishing her prayer.
Angel didn’t say Amen back. “Okay, Mom, I’ve gotta—”
“I’m cooking for Mr. Price,” she said. He heard more pots banging. “His wife passed a few days ago.”
Mr. Price had been one of Angel’s Sunday school teachers in high school. He and his wife had always been so kind to him and the other kids.
“I’m really sorry to hear that,” he said. “I’ll send him some flowers.”
“A call would do better,” Cora said. Pointedly, she added, “He hasn’t heard from you in so long.”
Another deep breath. “Yeah, that’s true.”
“You’ll be able to give your condolences in person anyway. Mr. Price is planning to be at the ceremony next month.”
“Oh,” Angel said. “Right. So I’ll see him then. Mom, I really can’t talk right now—”
“Mhmm. Now, where are you gallivanting to today?”
Angel closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the cool glass of the sliding door. If he were someone else, he would lie. But he couldn’t. Another steadying breath. “I’m in Atlanta, actually.”
Cora’s pause was considerable. “You are ? Doing what?”
Angel swallowed and cleared his throat. “I’m working.”
She breezed right over that answer. “You’re less than two hours away. Did you have any plans at all to see your own mother?”
Angel rubbed a hand over his face. Years ago, she’d refused to see him. It wasn’t until he started making regular donations to their church that she’d decided to be part of his life again. He wouldn’t mention this, though. Technically, he could see her. The event at Refine was later in the evening. He hadn’t planned to do anything today prior to that, other than get brunch with Ray.
“I—um, yeah. I can see you.”
“Good. But come soon. I’ll be leaving in a bit to drop this food off at Mr. Price’s and I have several volunteer activities with the church group, as you know.”
He promised his mom that he’d leave soon. After they hung up, he sat on the bed and held his face in his hands. What had he just agreed to?
A knock at his door startled him. He stood and opened the door for Ray.
“I’m hungry as fuck,” Ray said, walking into the room with his loud, heavy footsteps. “Ready for brunch, birthday boy?”
“Uh.” Anxiety spread in the pit of Angel’s stomach. “I just did something really stupid.”
“What?” Ray wasn’t looking at him as he grabbed a water bottle from the mini fridge. “Accidentally post a nude online?”
Angel smirked, but the humor didn’t reach his eyes. “No. Worse. I agreed to visit my mom.”
Ray whipped around. “ Today? ”
“Yeah,” Angel said, sighing deeply.
“But she drives you nuts. Why would you ruin your birthday like that?”
Angel laughed, but reality was beginning to set in. His anxiety worsened.
“You go to brunch,” Angel said, looking for his sneakers. “Don’t lose the reservation. Take Bree.”
Ray stared at him, raising an eyebrow. “You sure?”
“Positive.” Not everyone’s day needed to be ruined. “You think you can help me get a rental car? I’d rather drive myself.”
“For sure. The event starts at seven, so you’ll need to be back before then.”
Angel checked the time. He had a good six hours. “Okay.”
“If Iris and Bree ask where you are, I’ll come up with something.”
“You can tell them the truth,” Angel said. He thought of Iris and the open, calm expression she wore whenever he spoke to her. “Actually…I’ll tell Iris myself.”
He wanted to reassure her that he’d be on time for the event and that being on time was important to him. He didn’t want her to worry about his absence.
Ray nodded and moved toward the door. “I’ll get on renting a car for you.” He paused and doubled back, embracing Angel in a tight bro hug. “Happy birthday. Don’t let your mom and her shit get to you.”
“Thanks, bro,” Angel said. Ray was the only person who could hug him and make him feel short.
Ray patted Angel’s back as he pulled away, saying he’d let Angel know details about the rental car soon.
After he left, Angel slid on his sneakers and threw on a hoodie, pulling the hood over his head so that he wouldn’t be recognized in the hall. He was going down to Iris’s room to tell her where he planned to be this afternoon. But he also wanted to apologize about leaving that note on her bed. In hindsight, he knew he’d overstepped. She hadn’t mentioned anything about it this morning on the way to the airport, but he wanted to apologize for being so forward. They were developing a friendship now and he needed to be okay with just that.
He went to her floor and knocked lightly at her door. He heard the sound of her feet padding against the carpet. After a brief pause, Iris opened the door. She wore the same plain white T-shirt and jeans that she’d worn on the plane. Her short curls were pulled behind her ears by a thin black headband. Her brown skin was smooth and blemish free.
“Hey.” She glanced up and down the hall before looking at him. “Everything okay?”
“Uh, yeah. I wanted to let you know that I’m driving to Maren. It’s about two hours from here.” He added, “Maren is my hometown.”
“I know. The internet, remember.” She tapped her temple and smiled. She tilted her head. “Are you going to see your family?”
“Yeah, my parents.”
Iris let this information settle. “Is Ray going with you?”
“Nah, just me. I’ll be back before the meet and greet tonight. I just wanted to let you know.”
He recalled the other reason that he’d shown up at her door. He wanted to apologize about the note. “About last night—”
“Do you want some company?” she asked.
His heart stuttered as he blinked. “You want to come with me?”
“If you don’t want to go by yourself,” she said. She bit her lip. “But I understand if you’d rather go alone, of course. It sounds very personal.”
His knee-jerk reaction was to tell her no. His mom was a hard pill to swallow and he was nervous about introducing her to Iris.
But then he thought about taking the two-hour drive with Iris. Uninterrupted time, just the two of them. He thought about showing her around his hometown, a place that still held a small, special place in his heart, even though he didn’t make a habit of returning.
There were only two days left in the campaign tour. Selfishly, he wanted to soak up as much time with Iris as possible.
“I want you to,” he hastened to say. “I’d like that.”
“Okay.” She flashed a quick, relieved smile. “Let me grab my bag.”
He nodded and waited for her in the hall. She returned, slinging her purse over her shoulder. She closed her door and glanced up at him as they fell into step together.
He’d meant to apologize about the note, but now as he looked at her, new lyrics formed in his head.
Do you want some company?
That was what she asked me…
It was almost like she was becoming his muse.