Fame's Revenge

Chapter 24: Now

His lips parted slightly as he looked at me, dumbfounded. A moment later his eyes began to search my face. "Why don't you come on in, then? That way you can give it to me properly." He went over and unlocked his door, then held it open for me to go in first. "Sorry about the mess but I just got some gaming stuff in yesterday and haven't had time to put anything away."

Boxes and bubble wrap and packing peanuts were strewn everywhere, along with gaming equipment and the packaging. "It's fine, don't worry," I said, barely missing an empty box.

He gave me a small smile as he walked past me. "You don't have to lie. I know it's pretty bad. So, let's see this notebook," he said as he propped the large box against a wall.

I handed it to him and then followed him to the couch, sitting on the end opposite him. He opened the cover and began reading. I waited impatiently for him to finish. Surprisingly, I didn't feel as shy as I thought I would. I really did want him to know what all had happened.

Eventually, he turned the last page and found my note with my apartment key taped to it.

Gavin,

I'm sorry for kicking you out. I was having trouble dealing with the fact I had to throw out Sylvie. I needed some quiet and I'm sorry I didn't tell you. When I said to leave, I wanted you to keep this. I meant my apartment, not my life. I love you so much and I don't want you to go anywhere any time soon.

Liz

He looked up at me. "I'm sorry, too," he said. "I should have thought before I spoke. I said what came to my mind without considering how it would make you feel. I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it, Gav."

He gave me a small smile as he took the key, working it out from under the tape while trying to not mess up the page.

"So what's in the box?" I asked.

He blushed and smiled to himself. "After you told me to leave, I made a few rounds and got you a little something. I don't know if you'll like it or not." He got up and brought the box to me. "Open it." He handed me a box cutter from a nearby table.

I gave him a small smile. "It's from you, so I'm sure I will." I leaned it against Gavin, realizing for the first time that he was standing it on end instead of laying it down. I pulled back the flaps and covered my mouth.

"I know it doesn't look  exactly like-"

"It's beautiful," I said, cutting him off as I reached out to run my fingers down my brand new guitar. It was the same one as Sylvie, but this one was black instead of white with a silver pick guard. Also, it appeared to be of a better quality. Carefully, I removed it from the box and got a better look. "I love it," I breathed. I ran my hand down the strings and then began to tune it.

Gavin just watched me as I took a deep breath and played the first note. Beautiful. The tone was rich and I fell in love. "Liz, are you crying?" he asked, shocked.

I wiped the tears that were beginning to form. "Gavin, thank you so much." I shook my head. So many thoughts were racing in my head that I wasn't sure where to even begin. I loved the sound, I loved Gavin for thinking to get this for me, I couldn't wait to show it off, and this was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for me. All of these thoughts were permeated by affection. I'd never felt anything like it before.

Gavin smiled at me and leaned in, aiming to kiss my cheek. At the last moment, I turned my head and let our lips meet. It was still new and I was unsure, but I wanted to give him something.

He pulled away first, but only a few inches. "You don't have to, you know," he said quietly.

"I know." I gave him one more quick kiss and pulled away entirely. "I can't wait to record with her," I said, running my hand over the guitar.

He chuckled softly. "You could always do an acoustic version of one of your songs."

I furrowed my brow. That actually wasn't a bad idea. "Would you post it on your channel? Like, a couple video? Maybe us giving a couple update. My manager is working on PR about all this, but I think we could do that and explain about Sylvie."

He thought about it for a long moment before nodding. "I like it. Let's run the idea by our managers and see what they think."

---

"So something you said in your notebook had been making me think about something," Gavin said, stirring his soda with his straw.

"What's that?" I popped a fry into my mouth. We were at a family-run diner after filming later that day. I'd recognized it the moment we walked in as the place he'd taken me on our third date to see a band I liked.

"You said you wanted me to stick around for a long time. We never really got around to talking about where we want this to go after your GMA performance. I think it's time we make sure our expectations are the same."

I had to agree. It made sense. "So what do you want?"

He shifted in his seat. "My parents raised me to be a gentleman and that dating someone should be taken seriously. Liz, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He blushed again. "I've loved you for a long time. I remember when your first single came out. It wasn't the first time I'd heard of you, but it was the first time I saw you. I kind of dropped hints to my manager that I wanted to meet you, and the next thing I knew, our first date was being scheduled. When I saw you step out of the car, there was something about you that had me hooked. I wanted just to get to know you. You didn't look happy."

I wasn't sure if I was ecstatic he liked me before he met me, or if I was sad that he kind of pitied me at first. "So where would this relationship ideally go for you?"

"I'd commit to it. Like, I'd want to marry you one day."

I felt my heart melt at that. It was what I thought about when I played the song I'd wrote for him. I wanted that. I wanted to wear a white dress and walk to meet him in front of all our friends and family. I wanted to wake up to him every morning. I wanted to see what our kids would look like. I wanted everything with him. Tears came to my eyes as I finally admitted it to myself. "I want to have everything with you," I said, voice thick. "I want to marry you, too."

He sucked in a breath and reached across the table to take my hand in his. "It's settled then. We are going to get married and have two kids and live in a normal house, no matter how much money we have."

I giggled, wiping my tears away with my free hand. "I don't know about two of them, but that all sounds pretty good to me."

"Want to pick out your ring?"

I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but I decided to take him seriously. "Honestly, it doesn't matter to me what the ring looks like as long as it's something you picked out yourself."

He smiled at me. "Okay, then."