Eden chewed the insides of her cheeks. “I ran into your ex in the bathroom.”

“Right.” Willow frowned. “Uh… which one?”

She hated him a little bit.  “Lydia.”

“Oh.” He stared up at the sky. “She wasn’t… she didn’t say anything, did she?”

“What do you think?” Eden heard the cold snap of her mother in her voice. “She told me you love pulling halfway famous girls up to your level, saying a bunch of romantic bullshit then yanking the rug out from under them.”

He didn’t say anything. Eden downed the last of her champagne. “So, it’s true. That’s what you’re like? That’s what you’re doing with me?”

“Eden, that’s not what’s happening with us. You know that.”

“I don’t know anything.”

He put a hand on hers, his skin flaming hot. “I’m not gonna lie. I’ve gone out with some people and some of them have been kind of famous—”

“Congratulations.”

“—But I’ve never felt the way I do about you.”

She laughed, the sound cruel even to her own ears. “Yeah, that’s another thing Lydia said. You love telling girls you’ve never felt this way about anyone. Whatever the fuck ‘this way’ means.”

Willow buried his face in his hands. “Jesus.”

Her insides wrenched. Why couldn’t everything be simple? Her and Willow eating together, fighting about how clean her kitchen should be. But even as she thought it, she knew it wasn’t what she wanted. She was going on tour. She’d travel the world with her crew, playing music for thousands. Why was she getting upset about Willow’s history if she knew she couldn’t be a part of his future?

“Eden? Did you hear what I said?”

She shook her head. She felt drunk now. Slow and silly. “I hate that what we have isn’t special. That you’ve done it a million times before.”

“Pretty girl, no.” Willow got on his knees, crawling toward her.

Eden leaned back. “Please don’t touch me.”

He sat. “I don’t know what I can say to make you believe me, but everything we’ve done together—it’s all new for me. It’s all different. You’re the first person I can see myself being with forever.”

Eden hated the glow his words stirred in her. First and forever. Because wasn’t the same for her? The first guy she’d wanted to be close to. The first person who made her want more. The first man she’d ever imagined having a—

She turned her face away. “That’s just words. You’re just saying what I want to hear.”

“I swear on my dad that I’m not.”

She closed her eyes. “It doesn’t matter though, does it? I’m still going on tour. It’s real. I’ve got the contract. I’ll be gone for months.”