My Lucky Charm is a Rose (HSMTMTS)

18. I saw you on the news!

"I saw you on the news! Baby, you were so good. I loved that song you wrote." What she, and everyone else, doesn't know about that song is how little time it took to write. "And, honestly, it was amazing, even for singing it a capella."

"Yeah, I was hoping it'd sound good without any music, and it looks like it paid off." Smiling into my phone, I almost start to feel happy about the results. My new passport, birth certificate, and other legal documents pertaining to my dual citizenship are being processed and will be mailed back to my home in Salt Lake City. Now, it's time for two long plane rides with a  three hour layover sandwiched between them.

"It really did, sweetie. So, have you told any of your friends about all of this?" My heart freezes, skipping more than one beat when I hear my mother's question. I've told a couple people about the US stuff, but not a soul—except for maybe Zachary Roy, if he figured it out—knows about the UK side of things.

"No. I'm hoping to tell them when I get back." And wait a few days. Feeling my phone buzz in my hand, I pull it away from my face to see Ricky is calling me. What is this all about?

"Hey, mom, one of my friends is calling. I'll talk to you when I get to the airport." Hanging up her call, I take Ricky's and he launches straight into things.

"Juliette, I think there's something weird going on with Nini. She's being all weird and distant and I don't know why." Considering I'm not in the same continent, never mind the same country, this is about to get interesting.

"Have you tried talking to her?" Ninety percent of problems with couples comes from lack of communication.

"I can't even get her to stand near me for a couple seconds." This is going to be a long conversation. "I also, accidentally, deleted a post from some talent scout on her Instagram."

"Richard Bowen, did you recover it before it permanently disappeared?" One thing I've managed to learn on my own about Instagram is that you can, in fact, recover deleted comments if you can manage to press undo within the window. What that window is, I'm not actually sure.

"I, uh, no." Guys are idiots.

"Do you know the account that posted it? Or even part of the name?" Why am I making this my problem? I'm seven hours ahead of him and, very soon, going to get on a plane. Neither of which I can explain without him knowing about my entire past.

"Wait, I think I do." Ricky starts babbling about what he remembers about the account and I, eventually, take enough notes for him to research the account and contact them himself.

"Now, Ricky, you do still need to fess up. This can't just be fixed with a simple 'I'm sorry'." I can tell he's a little disappointed I reminded him of that tiny obligation. Nini is his girlfriend after all, and I know I would be more upset if my boyfriend tried to hide it rather than admit to his mistake and his attempt to fix it all.

"Like what? The last time I screwed up this bad, I broke Nini's heart." Yeah, that surely doesn't help the situation, that's for sure.

"Ricky, what would convince you to continue trying if you were in Nini's shoes?" Maybe, the whole put-yourself-in-someone-else's-shoes thing will actually work. Actually, that's not a half-bad idea for a song.

I guess I always do the wrong thing
No matter how hard I keep trying
So what would it take
To keep you in my wake?

"I don't know. I mean, she loved the song I wrote for her for Christmas." Ricky Bowen, you are a genius. If anything will convince her to forgive you, it's a song by you. Knowing what I know about Nini, she would feel touched by the fact that you put in the effort to bare your soul and put it to a melody. If there's any time to write a song, it's during a crisis.