Brand New Sky

by Heidi Hutchinson

  “Would you mind if I came with you?” Sway asked. “I need to figure out where everything is and stuff.”

  “That's fine,” she said. “How long are you staying in Tawny's house?”

  “At least four months. That's how long she's supposed to be gone, anyhow.” Sway stood and stretched his arms over his head. “If you wanna go to the gym, I'll go get my stuff and we can head out right away. Hopefully get you some good sleep tonight. I know the perils of a reversed sleep cycle.”

  She followed him with her eyes and nodded. “Oh yeah, I never really thought about that. We probably keep similar hours.”

  “How very rock star of you,” he teased with a wink as he stepped backwards down the steps and headed back to his house.

  ***

  Ryan was grateful.

  Maybe that was a strange reaction to have, but it was the truth.

  She had jumped too fast the day before. She could attempt to blame it on lack of sleep, or brain damage caused by too much coffee. Or maybe her inner frustration with Cathy and Liam had begun to make itself known in other ways. The reasons hardly mattered. She'd acted impulsively and out of character.

  Thankfully, and this was where she was grateful, Sway was more than willing to give her a do-over.

  Actually, he was letting her skip over all the awkward friendship building that she detested and go straight to the “I accept you for being weird and I promise not to judge you” part. The only other person who had jumped the usual acts of decorum was Tawny.

  Ryan was beginning to see why they were friends with each other.

  Besides, Sway wasn't wrong. One of the reasons she had been so reckless the instant that she met him was because when she'd turned around and saw him standing there, openly watching her interact with Liam, her first thought was, “You're finally back.”

  It was unexpected, but not unwelcome.

  However, feeling like you knew a person after just meeting them and actually knowing them are two different things. That was a lesson she wouldn't need to repeat.

  That didn't mean they couldn't be friends.

  Which was how she found herself dressed in compression pants and an oversized t-shirt that said “DARE to keep kids off drugs” and sitting in the passenger seat of Sway's gold Lexus.

  “The GPS is going to tell you to turn right, but there's road construction, so keep going straight and take the next right,” she supplied while picking at a stray thread on her shirt hem.

  “Okay,” Sway said, following her directions.

  He found the twenty-four hour gym easily after that, parked the car and they both got out. Ryan's plan was to focus on the program that Tawny had written for her. That was it. No deviation, no last minute changes just because she happened to be working out with a rock star.

  “How long do you need?” Sway asked her as she slipped her earbuds in and thumbed her music on.

  “I don't know,” she mumbled, looking at the emptiness if the gym and feeling her tiny bit of anxiety drain away. “At least an hour.”

  “Cool,” he said, already walking away.

  Ryan started with the stair climber to warm up before moving onto the free weights. She only had to check the slip of paper she'd scribbled Tawny's instructions on twice. She felt eyes on her and looked up to see Sway, a disheveled sweaty mess, standing before her with his arms crossed.

  She tugged one earbud out and lifted an eyebrow.

  “I'm gonna shower,” Sway stated, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. “How much time do you think you have left?”

  Ryan frowned and looked at the clock on the wall. Whoa, that hour had flown by.

  “Just this last set.”

  He studied her for a second, his lips twitching with questions. “Is that enough, or do you need more?”

  She shrugged. “I might go back to the stair climber just to really exhaust myself, you know?”

  He smirked and nodded, heading for the locker rooms.

  Yeah, definitely more stair climber, she decided as she returned the weights and still didn't feel finished. Tawny would either be very proud of her or be calling her completely mad. At least she hadn't abandoned her schedule completely. Sure, she'd been thrown off with Sway's arrival and her strange compulsion to know him. Damn, what had gotten into her? She had acted like an extrovert. Whoops, she chuckled to herself. Better not do that, Cathy would expect her to hang out more.

  “What are you laughing about?” Sway asked, freshly showered as he took a seat on a weight bench facing her.

  “Oh, Cathy's face,” Ryan said without really thinking about it.

  He snickered. “What is it about her that you don't like?”

  Ryan shrugged. “I don't know. Her polite hatred of me?”

  “She hates you?” he asked, his brow furrowed. Either he was confused or offended. Maybe both.

  “It seems that way. Like, she doesn't hate me hate me. She just doesn't like anything about me. She's always trying to fix me and make me a more viable human being.”

  Sway's eyes narrowed as his frown deepened. “You're not serious.”

  Ryan rolled her eyes, then had to blink extra hard to clear the sweat she had jostled around her eyelids. “It's not a big deal. I really don't give a shit.”

  His frown eased slightly as he smirked at her reply. “And Liam is her...?”

  “Fiancé,” she supplied.

  “Right,” Sway said dryly and Ryan grinned at him.

  This was easy. Hanging out and talking and just... being with him. Why was it so damn easy?

  Truth be told, she kind of missed hanging out with a guy. Guys were easy to talk to, get along with, be yourself with. Like right now, for instance, she was all sorts of sweaty and gross and she didn't even care.

  Sway didn't seem to care either.

  “I should probably add something more challenging to my workout,” Sway said, stretching one arm across his chest, pulling, and then switching sides.

  “Yeah? Like what?”

  “I don't know, maybe something inappropriate... like hula hooping.”

  “Don't be ridiculous, Sway,” she answered with a pant and an eye roll. “Hula hoops have been around for decades. They're not inappropriate.”

  The stairs were getting harder to climb and she was feeling the burn in the special part of her butt. Why did working your glutes always feel like you were getting ready to have the world's most awkward charlie horse?

  “Naked hula hooping would be inappropriate,” Sway deadpanned.

  She barely considered his words before replying. "I suppose it depends on how aggressive you decided to be with it.”

  "Oh, I plan on being very aggressive."

  Then he stood up to demonstrate his level of naked hula hoop aggression and that's when the charlie horse hit Ryan hard.

  Her legs stopped moving as she let out a loud belt of laughter. The kind that old ladies do, or an entire pack of hyenas. Sway's demonstration coupled with the tightness in her butt was too much. She wanted to cry in pain, but she couldn't stop laughing.

  She draped herself over the handle bars of the machine and tried to suck in a breath, but it only gave her more momentum on her next outburst. It was crazy laughing. Like, loony bin worthy. And she couldn't stop.

  “My butt!” she cried out. More laughter. Sway was watching her and trying to stifle his own amusement, but he was failing. “No, really. My butt hurts so bad!” Tears had started to run down the side of her face and she wasn't sure how she was ever going to move again.

  “Are you okay?” Sway asked, clearly confused, but still grinning.

  “No,” she managed to choke out. “I can't move. My butt is having a seizure!” More uncontrollable laughter.

  Sway came around the side of the machine and carefully helped her down. Ryan sank to the floor on her stomach and continued laughing, but it was laughter born of pain.

  “I'm calling Tawny,” Sway announced, staring at her as he pressed his phone to his ear.

>   Ryan watched helplessly, wondering why her life was so randomly weird. Of course her butt had to have a major freakout in front of the rock star. Why not?

  Sway nodded and stared at Ryan, looking apologetic, worried, and determined all at the same time.

  “Okay, here, you tell her what I'm going to do.” Sway shoved the phone at Ryan and then jogged to his bag.

  “Hello?”

  “Oh, you foolish, foolish woman,” Tawny chastised immediately. “How many times have I told you not to push too hard when you haven't been sleeping properly?”

  “I thought you were just bossy,” Ryan attempted to give a hard time right back but the pain in her right buttock caused her to whimper.

  “Sway is getting you a multivitamin and some electrolytes. You need to rehydrate and get home to take some potassium. But before Sway puts you back in the car, he has to massage the muscle.”

  “What?!” Ryan lifted her head off of the floor in panic.

  “Calm down,” Tawny said firmly. “This is what you bought, now you'll have to take it like a grown ass woman.”

  “I'm fairly certain the grown ass is exactly where the problem lies,” Ryan countered.

  “Har har.” Tawny did not sound amused. “He has to massage the muscle for a few minutes until it relaxes and you can walk again. When you get home, put some ice on it and drink plenty of water. That's H2O, not coffee.”

  “I thought you'd be less of a pain once you left town,” Ryan grumbled.

  “Really?” Tawny asked sarcastically. “You have a literal pain in your ass, that you put there yourself, and you're giving me attitude?”

  Ryan didn't reply because Tawny was right. That didn't mean she had to like it.

  “Listen, there are worse things in the world than having a rock star have to rub your butt.”

  “Musician,” Ryan corrected. Sway's blue eyes connected with hers and he smiled.

  “Oh geez,” Tawny growled. “I'm so glad you two are besties. That's exactly what I needed. Give the phone back to the boy please.”

  Ryan lifted the phone back to Sway. “She wants to yell at you now.”

  “Yeah... Uh-huh... It's not a problem.” Sway handed a bottle of Gatorade and a vitamin to Ryan and then walked around to her backside. “I will, Tawny. I promise.”

  Ryan swallowed the pill and then drained the bottle as Sway got quiet. She assumed he was off of the phone now.

  “You know, I almost feel better,” she lied. “Another five minutes and I think I can make it to the car.”

  Sway took a deep breath that was audible and then he sat down on the floor beside her, giving her a very serious look.

  “I know this is not gonna be fun. I'm really sorry.”

  “I don't like to be touched,” she whispered, anxiety lacing her tone.

  His face gentled. “I know.”

  Her eyes got wide as the cramp seized again. “My butt feels like it's going to laugh on its own.”

  Sway's lips twitched with humor, but he didn't respond.

  “Just hurry up and rub my butt,” she exclaimed, closing her eyes. “I can't take it anymore.”

  “Okay, sweetheart,” he said softly.

  It wasn't as awkward as she was afraid it was going to be. It was too painful to be awkward. And Sway talked to her the entire time, which, weirdly enough, was very relaxing.

  “I had to rub Harrison's butt one time. He over did it during a mountain biking excursion a couple of years ago. He made me keep it a secret because he wanted to save face in front of Lenny.”

  “Who's Lenny?” Ryan asked, gritting her teeth against the discomfort.

  “At the time, she was our assistant. Now she's married to Luke.”

  “And Luke is the singer?”

  “Yep.”

  “And Harrison plays the...?”

  “Guitar. He's the best of all of us. You'll love his fiancée. She's the nerd girl who makes sandwiches and is addicted to sugar.”

  “You say that like I'm going to be meeting them.”

  “Well, I'm living next to you. And now that we've run the gamut of most bizarre icebreakers—which has only made us closer I think—you'll have to meet them when they come to check on me.”

  “When is that going to be?” Ryan asked, already planning to be away that weekend.

  “Who knows. They worry about me too easily, so it could be sooner than I think is necessary.”

  Ryan heard something in his voice she couldn't identify without being able to read his face. And since she was face first in the carpet at the moment, she would have to ask for clarification.

  “Why do they worry?”

  Sway was quiet for a minute before he answered. And when he did, it was slow, thoughtful, and honest. But it wasn't the whole story.

  “I'm the youngest. So I think most of it is habit. But they worry that I'll get distracted... Or something.” He sniffed a laugh under his breath. “They don't worry when I'm on the road. Which is funny because the road is where I make the biggest mistakes.”

  “What kind of mistakes?” she asked.

  Sway hands stilled their movements briefly. “Trusting people.”

  That resonated with Ryan in a big way. “People are the worst,” she said flatly.

  “Not all people,” Sway said gently.

  ***

  The drive back to their little neighborhood had a completely different vibe than it did earlier.

  Sway had always lived his life on the very edge of sanity. Usually other people's sanity. He pushed and they retracted, and he would push again until they disappeared or finally pushed back.

  He was trying to be a better adult, and less of an adolescent these days.

  He didn't want to push Ryan.

  And yet, all he thought about was pushing her.

  Interestingly enough, their circumstances seemed to be pushing each of them. Pushing them down, pushing them around. Making them bend and share and... need to change tactics. The next four months would not be quietly lived out. They wouldn't be polite neighbors who waved at each other on occasion.

  He knew she wanted to slam on the brakes and stop the rapid propulsion of their fledgling friendship. Something he wanted to do for her. He wanted to give her what she needed, what she wanted. To stay at arm's length, to help her be comfortable.

  This wasn't going to happen.

  They were moving at light speed.

  And not just because he'd had to massage a charlie horse out of her butt earlier that evening, but because as he pulled into the driveway, a Ford Expedition opened up to reveal his bandmates.

  He parked the Lexus and sighed. Ryan was watching with quiet scrutiny out the passenger window as four rock stars approached.

  “So,” Sway said, drawing her focus. “Are you ready to meet my family?”

  Chapter 7

  Treacherous

  “What if we just left?”

  Alexa's head shifted so that she could crane her neck back to look up at him. “Like, right now?”

  Sway's fingers traced the back of her hand where it rested on his chest, his other hand rubbing gentle circles on her back. The sky looked impossibly big tonight.

  Open and free.

  The potential completely untapped.

  “I don't know,” he said more to himself than to her. “I was just thinking, I guess.”

  She pushed her head back against his shoulder and the scent of her strawberry shampoo filled his lungs.

  “Where would you go?” she asked sleepily.

  She said “you” not “we,” like he had. That made sense. The separation was already taking shape for her.

  So where would he go?

  Out there. To the sky. Someplace new. He wanted to wake up under a foreign sun, with a day ahead that he hadn't screwed up yet.

  Alexa's breathing grew heavy and her body sank into him further as she surrendered to sleep.

  If Sway did decide to just go, would she come with? If he had no promise to offer but an adventur
e? Would she leave her plans behind?

  No. She would not.

  And that was okay, Sway decided. Alexa was amazing, but they both knew that this was only a season for them. He couldn't be all that she was going to need. And she wasn't the one. He didn't like knowing that, he would much rather believe in a hypothetical hope that maybe they would be who they needed to be in the future. But that was just setting themselves up for heartache.

  She was returning to Boston tomorrow and he would continue with the tour like everything was normal. They had talked about it, it was good. It made sense. No intense breakup, no fight. They would remain friends, they said.

  That didn't mean it wasn't going to hurt.

  But he had his family, his bandmates. They were all he needed.

  ***

  “Guys, I still think it would have been a better idea to call rather than just show up,” Harrison cautioned from the backseat as they all watched the gold Lexus pull slowly into the driveway.

  Luke ignored the guitarist and asked a question to his drummer. “Did you know he was dating someone?”

  Mike squinted at the female in Sway's passenger seat. “Maybe that's why he hasn't called.”

  “He's been gone for two days. That's hardly avoiding us,” Blake pointed out from beside Harrison.

  “But you'd think that if Sway were seeing someone, he'd have it plastered all over social media by now,” Luke countered.

  “Maybe not,” Mike said, turning to face his lead singer with a shrug. “A lot has changed over the past couple of years. Maybe he wants to keep it quiet until it's like, a thing.”

  “You think this is a thing?” Harrison asked.

  “This is why we should have waited for the girls,” Blake pointed out. “They make us sound way less stupid.”

  Blake wasn't wrong, Luke surmised. “Too late for that now,” he said nonchalantly and reached for his door handle. “Let's meet Sway's girl.”

  ***

  Ryan pictured, quite clearly, the image of flinging herself from the car and army-crawling back to her house. Completely undetected, she'd make it to the low window by the living room and crash through it like an action movie. Miraculously, she wouldn't cut herself to ribbons on the shattered glass, but would survive to make it up the stairs and into her bedroom. Where she would hide under the bed until she died. That's where historians would find her years later, a mummified corpse, still clutching the cross bar of her bed frame.