Her eyes flick to mine and then down to her iPad. She knows it’s true. I’ve never been more certain of anything than I am that Bristol cares deeply about me. I wasn’t guessing last night when I said she watches me. She does. I know she wants me, but a lot of girls do. None of them care about me the way Bristol does, though. The same bottomless devotion she has for her brother, for her few close friends—hell, even for her mother, who doesn’t deserve it, she has for me. She hides it in friendship and excuses it with business, but every time I catch her looking, I know the truth.
“So I think I have the final song.” Rhyson starts tapping the iPad in front of him until the first strains of the track fill the conference room. A song I never meant anyone to hear.
“Oh, not that one.” I go into the shared folder, searching frantically for the file he’s playing so I can shut it down. “Rhys, not that one. Let’s not—”
“This one is the best option.” Rhyson tilts his head, a look of consternation on his face. “Can we just hear it?”
I don’t have to hear it. I know every word.
I fell for her before the beat dropped. Between the verses and
After rehearsal and
In sixteen bars I was intoxicated
After sixteen bars, me and her was faded
Had our first kiss on a Ferris wheel
We was on top of the world.
I’m on top of the world (When I love her)
Top of the World (When I hate her)
Top of the world
(When I take her or leave her)
With her I’m on the top of the world
I roll her up tight in my blunt paper
Inhale her like smoke, in my lungs she’s a vapor ‘Cause she always on the run
Making me hunt, making me chase
Making me run like it’s a race
Making me work like it’s my job
Even when she bottom she come out on top
She be on top of the world
I’m on top of the world (When I love her)
Top of the World (When I hate her)
Top of the world
(When I take her or leave her)
With her I’m on the top of the world
At the last note, Max starts a slow clap. Everyone around the table joins him. Everyone except Bristol, who stares blankly at the shiny conference room table.
Shit.