I glanced expectantly at Sacha who was just standing two feet away by then with a pleased expression on his face, smiling this grand, beaming thing that made my chest shimmer on the inside. We hadn't gotten a chance to talk since the whole kiss-on-the-neck thing the night before. I'd fallen asleep on the ride home and barely made it to my room intact.

"We're going to eat. Do you want to come with us?” he asked me.

“I can’t, I promised Carter I’d help him count merch.”

He nodded but it was his mom that spoke up. “That’s too bad. Maybe next time,” she said but I couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or if she really meant it.

"Sach!" Miles started yelling at him from the back door to the venue.

He frowned and said something about being right back while his mom stayed where she was, her attention on me. The second Sacha was far enough away from us, she took a step forward. Her entire demeanor turned serious and tense.

“Is this all you do?” she asked coolly.

“Do you mean sell merchandise?” I made sure to draw the question out so that I could understand what she clearly meant. Apparently Sacha had told her enough about me so that she’d know I sold merch. I eyed Julian but he was busy pretending to mess with his equipment. Coward.

“Yes.”

“Right now it is. I just graduated. I’m not sure what I’m doing.”

Miss Viktoriya hummed, giving me another thorough inspection. “From high school?”

“From college.”

Her ridiculously long eyelashes lowered just a fraction. “What did you study?”

Yeah, I didn’t care for her tone at all, and I felt my own eyes narrowing in her direction. “History.”

The tip of her nose rose a quarter of an inch. “What are you planning on doing with that?”

Why did I feel like I was going through the weirdest, most judgmental job interview ever? Well, if she thought I was going to cower, she had another thing coming. “I have no idea.”

“I see,” she said but it wasn’t exactly in an “I think you’re an idiot” tone, more like… curious. Actually interested. On the other hand, maybe I was imagining it.

Glancing to the side quickly, I spotted Sacha making his way back toward us. Apparently so did she because the next thing I knew, Miss Viktoriya, reigning queen of perfectly powered opera performances, took a step forward and whispered, "My boy has always known what he wants, and he dives into things head first without hesitation. Break his heart, and I will ruin your life."

She left me with those words.

“What did she say to you?” Julian finally spoke up once the opera singer was gone.

I blinked at him, still figuring out what the hell she’d meant. “I think she just threatened me.”

He didn’t look remotely surprised; he simply tipped his chin down. “Makes sense.”

* * *

That night, when he knocked on my door and I asked him for the password, he said, "Gaby should get a gold medal for being alive."

I laughed because I wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not, like most things that came out of his mouth. "Anddd?"

"I have a present for you," he said following a chuckle.

"Seriously, Sassy, you don’t always have to bring something," I told him, opening the door with a smile on my face.

He grinned as he shuffled in, kicking off his shoes as he pushed a yellow bag in my direction. "I saw it when I went to dinner with my mom," he explained before I'd even opened the bag.

"You're spoiling me," I looked up at him briefly before pulling out a small white shirt with a baby kangaroo on it, the words Call Me Joey written in lime-green bubble letters. I laughed and threw my arms around Sacha a split second later, aiming for his waist. "Thank you, Sassy."