Chapter Fifty-Five

Inervously sit at my vanity and repeatedly tap my tube of red liquid lipstick on the table. I try to remind myself to take deep calming breaths but with every second that goes by, it's getting harder and harder to do. I hear the door to my dressing room open, and I fly towards it.

"Any news? Is he here?" I ask Willow.

She won't make eye contact with me. "No, he isn't."

I drop down into my chair. "He hated it. He hates me."

Willow kneels down in front of me. "No, he doesn't. I'm sure everything is fine. He's probably just running a bit late."

My face falls. I can feel tears threatening to come out, but I refuse to let them. No matter what happens, I still have a show to put on.

"Al, sorry, but I have to run. I have a few things that need to get done. I'll talk to you after the show." Willow gets up and heads to the door.

"Wil, wait," I start.

"Break a leg!" She steps out and closes the door behind her.

I turn back towards the mirror and stare at my reflection. I can't believe this is happening. Archer isn't here. And we go on soon.

I know what I did may have completely thrown him. Who knows how he's feeling. But I just can't believe he would do this. He's always been so professional with his work. Even after we broke up, he still came to every show. It was hard for me to see him, so I can only imagine how hard it must've been for him, but he still showed up.

I can't believe he would just be MIA with no word today. But maybe it just was too much for him. Maybe that was the final straw. It's my fault. I shouldn't have done that. I should've just talked to him.

"You can do this," I say to myself. "You can do this."

I'm under the stage on my mark, waiting to be raised up to the main stage. I still haven't heard any word of Archer being here. I wring my hands as I stand there and wait for my cue.

"Alison!" I hear a man's voice say from behind. A glimmer of hope flashes through me. I quickly turn towards it.

My heart sinks. "Stephen?"

"Yeah, hey sorry to do this last minute, but Archer isn't here. You're going to have to go out on your own. Just do your songs like you did them before Archer joined. Basically go back to the original show. Make a small announcement about Archer feeling under the weather and that you're sending him good vibes to feel better and then go on with the show. Can you do that?"

I nod my head at him but say nothing.

"Good, you got this. Break a leg."

I'm watching his retreating back before I can say anything.

Just do what you did before. You can do this. Go back to how you performed before.

Before Archer. Before you found an amazing guy that you absolutely crushed. Before you found the love of your life. No big deal. I can do this.

The floor starts raising me up to the stage. I tighten my grip around my microphone. I can do this. I can do this.

The second the top of my head hits the base of the floor, I plaster a smile on my face. I make it my personal mission not to let that smile falter for the next few hours.

Once I'm finally at stage level, I look out to the crowd. Usually they cheer when I come up, but it's quieter than normal. It almost sounds like low murmurs throughout the stadium.

"Hello, everyone! I'm so happy to be here with you tonight. Welcome to the Enchanted Tour!" I start, trying to put as much pep in my voice as I can. "I'm Alison!" I wave out to the crowd like I normally do, but I still hear murmurs.

I see soft glows throughout the stadium, almost like the glow of cell phones, but they're not pointed up like they're recording the show. It seems like everyone is looking down at them.

I try to ignore it all and step forward on the stage. I'm probably just getting in my own head with everything going on. I bring the mic back up to my mouth.

"So today, there is a small change," I start, but the screens around the stadium light up.

I spin my head around looking at the screens. The audience's heads are finally up as they are watching them, too. They start with a bright light that turns different colors and then I see him. Archer's face is there, smiling down at me. I quickly turn behind me to see if he's on stage, but he's not.

I look back to the video. It looks like he's sitting in a chair in a room. Maybe it's his room? His guitar is on his lap and he's quietly strumming it with a glittery bronze pick. I laugh at the Easter egg I'm hoping he left for me. A number flashes across the bottom right of the screen and it's constantly growing. It's well past one million at this point.

"Hey, everyone. It's Archer Stiles here," he starts and my stomach turns into an angry horde of butterflies. "I know it's been awhile since I've posted a video here, but I've been a little busy." He laughs. Ugh, that laugh could literally bring me back to life.

"I thought now would be a perfect time to finally get back on here because . . . well . . . this is kind of where it all started. You see, not too long ago, I wrote a song in response to a song written by a really pretty girl and it kind of went viral. She didn't really like that. At all. I believe when she first met me, she actually hated me." He laughs. I smile and roll eyes.

"I still don't quite understand how it happened, but I was invited to join her tour and sing with her. It started off a little rocky . . . you know the hating me part was a little bit of a barrier . . . but I somehow managed to win her over. Not only that, but by some miracle, I convinced her to love me. And I love her. More than she even knows."

And those tears from earlier are let completely free.

"The other day, she went on TV and sang me a song. I was hoping that tonight, you guys would be willing to let me do the same for her. I kind of figured that since this all started with a viral video that it needed to end with one as well. What do you guys think?"

A roaring wave of cheers and applause takes over the stadium. Their noise sends a ripple of energy through me. I smile as tears continue to fall.

Archer pauses for a second as if waiting for their reaction.

"Perfect," he finally continues.

He looks down at his guitar and starts playing a chord. The numbers at the bottom of the screen continue rolling upwards at a crazy speed.

Views? Are those the views that he's getting on this video. Holy crap!

"She says that I'm Mr. Perfectly Mine, but she has no idea just how much she makes me shine," Archer starts.

All of a sudden the crowd is screaming. I turn back towards them and my mouth drops. There he is. Standing on the stage. Mic near his lips and guitar in hands.

"It feels like an invisible string was meant to bring us together . . . I'm going to take it as a sign . . . that she was meant to be Miss Perfectly Mine."