Playing Autumn (Breathe Rockstar Romance Book 1) (21 page)

Haley pointed at the Star Fleet officer who walked past them. “He's not from the period either.”

Oliver paused to identify the music being piped in through the “castle” speakers. “You'd think they'd go with Ockeghem or Obrecht at least.”

Haley knew where she needed to go and gently pushed Oliver in the opposite direction. “No one here cares about your nerdiness. Please go enjoy yourself. And check your phone in case I need you.”

He looked like he wanted to say something, and she was surprised to see him grab on to her hand. “Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Good luck.”

She realized then that she had been holding her breath. “Oh. Yeah, thank you.” Behind Oliver, something big and red sort of rustled and then swiped past him—a giant peacock. “Not from the Renaissance at all,” she said.

“This actually looks like a cool place we should have been hanging out in,” he said.

“Then you’ll enjoy yourself.”

“So what exactly can I do here?”

“Eat a giant turkey leg. Or funnel cake. Buy a sword.”

“Funnel cake,” Oliver said wistfully.

“Are you Oliver Cabrera?” A dad and two small kids approached them. “Would you mind having a picture taken with us?”

“Will you take me to get funnel cake?” he said smoothly, the charm back on like rock bottom never happened.

Haley backed away from them then and made her way to the water garden.

***

It might reek of cheese to do anything romantic at a Renaissance fair, but Haley knew people who were that kind of cheesy. She didn't think Logan would be, but she had given up on Logan being a lot of things.

And there they were. At the Venetian-inspired water garden at the fair, closed off from the rest of the fair-goers. Candles floated on tiny boats in the central fountain. Candles on the faux stone steps, creating a path that led to an ivy-covered arch that stood over a table set for two.

Wait. This was
too
romantic and cheesy.

Logan was standing there, right under the arch, and he looked as handsome as he did on the first day of sophomore year. Haley almost wanted for the years in between not to have existed, because this would have been so much easier if they didn't.

He greeted her with a nice-enough kiss on the cheek. He wasn't sure how this would go either. He only for a moment noted that she was in shorts and flip-flops, which looked mildly disrespectful compared to how everything was prepared.

“You're here,” Logan said. She detected some relief in that. “How was performance night?”

“Today?” Did he really want to know? How would she start telling him about Mia, Trey attacking Oliver, and everything else? “It was fine.”

“Haley?”

“Yes?”

“Please sit down?”

God. She was standing there, talking, not sitting. Not getting comfortable. Logan looked good though. Haley coughed and inched toward the seat that was reserved for her. It was ornate and heavy and felt cold against her hand. From behind the wall, a server came out and filled her champagne glass. She watched it fizz lightly, pretty against the delicate candlelight.

“So,” she said. “Special dinner.”

***

There was one time in her life when she thought she and Logan would be together forever: her high school graduation ball. Cass and the yearbook club organized it. It turned out to be better than the prom, not just because it wasn’t held at the gym and the food didn’t remind them of the cafeteria’s. By that time, specifically the day after they had graduated, Haley felt that her life was turning out the way it should. She knew she was going to St. Thomas, and that Logan was too, and that they were still together.

For a moment, while slow-dancing in his arms to a song by Plumb, she was proud of herself, knowing that she made all the decisions that certain people would find sane. The restlessness wasn’t there. For once, everything was self-explanatory, and she finally got to tell herself to relax.

That night was a highlight in her long relationship with Logan, and they both knew it. Even he seemed like he was finally settled for once, comfortable in the fact that he was in a relationship, and at that time the longest one he’d had.

College and everything new about it tested their relationship and eventually broke it, but for that brief moment, they were both okay with each other and what they had.

Haley kept trying to get that feeling back, if only to make sure that things would become self-explanatory again, but she couldn’t.

Also, this ultra-romantic setup was freaking her out. This couldn’t be
hey let’s get back together.

“I can’t,” she told him then, suddenly.

“I haven’t told you anything,” Logan said.

“What’s this about then?” Some part of her was curious about the possible groveling. If she really did want a future with Logan, then some groveling from him was worth sitting through. But she was past that point.

Logan shrugged off his jacket—he was wearing a casual one, but still a little dressy—and dropped it on the table beside his empty plate. “I was going to ask you to stay in Houston.”

“You don’t need to do all this. I might be back here anyway if I can’t find another job in Florida.”

“Cass talked to you…she told you she’s settling back here, right? That she’ll need help with her new business?”

Haley shook her head. “Finding me a job here isn’t the same as being with you when I’m here. Is that what you wanted to talk about?”

His tie came off next, falling onto the same spot on the table. “You don't think I know what you've been waiting for all these years?”

“Please tell me,” she snapped. “I've been asking myself that a lot lately.”

“Come on, Haley.” His voice had become more soothing, trying to turn this in a different direction. “I'm here. I'm ready. I think it's time for us to accept that this is what's going to happen anyway.”

“That's nice,” she said. “You’ve accepted that you’re stuck with me. Am I supposed to be flattered?”

“What are you talking about? You were happy about this, too. You still can be. You know what this is supposed to be about.”

“What, Logan?”

“Responsibility. Starting to do the right thing.”

The words made sense, but they sounded ominous to her. Someone was going to want all of this, the water garden, the candles, the words that made sense. Haley was going to hope she and Logan found each other so she could wish them the best. She told him all of this.

“You're not thinking straight,” was his response. “It's because he's here.”

Logan wasn’t aware how accurate that was, with Oliver being somewhere in the same park. But it wasn’t that, was it? Oliver was everywhere else, branded on Haley, and not just him and what they’d done with each other, but what he represented to her. She wasn’t in a settling mindset.

“Logan, no.”

“You'll change your mind,” Logan was saying even before she completed her thought. It felt more like something he was telling himself and had probably done so privately in the past already. “You'll take time to think about this, and you'll change your mind.”

“Let's agree to disagree,” she said, not wanting to argue. “I think it's time that I go.”

She didn’t even sit down or take a sip of the champagne.
How rude of me
, was the sudden and unwelcome reaction.

Logan was regarding her with a patience that was wearing thin. “You'll change your mind.”

“You think I’m being stupid about this?”

“I think,” Logan said, his voice tight, “you’ve been punishing me too long for something I already apologized for. What kind of groveling do you want to see?”

“I don’t want anything, oh god.” Haley pressed a palm to her forehead. “I’m not playing hard to get. I’m not putting you through a damn test. Please believe me.”

This couldn’t be what he wanted either. How could she tell him that so that this wouldn’t seem like a gesture wasted?

No, there was no way. She should just go.

***

She didn't even have to call Oliver to find out where he was. As she started walking, at first aimlessly and away from Logan, she heard two street musicians (working at the fair) talking about “the guy from the talent show.”

“...fighting a pirate. At the Irish pub.”

“Who's winning?”

“Hard to say.”

Haley panicked a tiny bit. She knew where that was and was breathless by the time she got there—only to find him arm-wrestling a guy who was indeed dressed as a pirate. Her sudden presence in the pub disoriented him, and it was all the pirate needed to throw him down. Cheers and hoots erupted from all the other tables, and Haley jumped a little.

“Talent Show loses
again!
” someone said.

Oliver managed to ignore the entire ruckus though. “Hey,” he said, meeting her where she stood. “I'm sorry—were you calling me? Maybe I didn't hear it. I think I got carried away here.”

She could barely hear
him
right then, with all the laughing, hooting, and the jig medley playing in the background. Every table had an oversize beer mug.

“I want one of those,” Haley said.

“Give Talent Show's girlfriend a beer!” someone yelled.

“I’m not his girlfriend,” Haley told no one in particular, “but I’ll take that beer.”

She didn't pay for a single drink all night.

Chapter 27

Sunday

“I was thinking
Hollow Couple,
” Oliver said.

The comforter was draped over most of Haley's body and face, but he could have sworn he heard her snort. It wasn’t an unattractive sound anyway, despite her making it to express what he interpreted as disapproval.

“What?” he pressed, nudging her.

“It's one of your songs.”

“Yeah, one of a bunch. Because I write them for a living.”

“It's also old.”

“It was very well-received. What’s your point?”

She burrowed deeper under the blue fabric. “Your decision.”

He let her get away with that one. It was past two a.m. and they needed sleep, but he was still sitting up, thinking of what he'd perform at the Sunday concert. In about sixteen hours. His head was still clear at that hour, owing to the realization that his day was not bad at all. Despite fantastically losing at arm-wrestling to an overweight pirate and being heckled by an entire pub, including a family dressed as clowns.

He also felt over himself.

Song choices were set aside as he finally picked up the phone and started going through the messages, the emails, the voice mails.

“Is this the first time you're looking at it?” She was peeking at him from under the covers, her voice slightly muffled.

“It’s been a day or two at least,” he said. “It took a while to scroll down to the beginning. I wanted to read it in the right order.”

“How is it so far?”

He grinned, more at the phone, but he knew she was watching. “Riveting. Do you want me to read a selection?”

“Yes please.”

“This is from my publicist. '
I have to find out from fucking Twitter that you're in some town fair right now. Are you even coming back to NYC?
' This is funny, because I didn’t hear from her at all when the press was on me. But I guess she likes to pretend that she was keeping me in the news anyway.”

The messages weren't as bad as he thought they would be. It was definitely worse when he wasn't looking, and he imagined the hell raining upon his actual world as he hid in this hotel room that looked like a library.

His landlord, for instance, was actually quite professional about his eviction.

“
'Mr. Minot has been working on the relocation of your possessions on your behalf. I assume you will contact me directly if you prefer other arrangements,'
“ Oliver read aloud. “So I guess my stuff isn't on the sidewalk.”

“I'm sure they would have been picked up by people who like free stuff anyway.” She was lying on her stomach, arms stretched over the pillow. He spied sleepy eyes and half a smile. He didn't get a detailed recap of what went down with Logan, but it couldn't have been too bad if she was looking like she was about to purr.