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How did Maggie even find out about that? One of them must have told her. Or maybe she’d heard them talking about it. Either way, Trevor didn’t like the idea of being a topic of discussion amongst the rest of the band.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Skyler said slowly.

Maggie laughed lightly, and Trevor was sure she meant it to sound friendly, but it only made him more uneasy. “Only that we wouldn’t want how close you two are to cause tension with the rest of the band, right? They might get jealous that the two of you are spending so much time by yourself instead of bonding with the group. We don’t want anything to get in the way of the careers you’re both working so hard toward, right?”

“Right,” Trevor agreed, because of course he didn’t want anything to get in the way of that.

“Right!” Maggie said cheerily. Then, with another smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she added, “So maybe it would be best if Skyler slept in his own room. I’m only looking out for the two of you. You understand that, right?”

“Right,” Trevor repeated. But this time the word tasted like acid coming up his throat.

He risked a glance at Skyler, who looked contemplative but not inclined to say anything.

“Okay, then.” Maggie clapped her hands like an enthusiastic cheerleader. Which was definitely not her vibe. “Let’s hurry up and get back so we can finish this shoot.”

When she turned around and started making her way through the sand back toward the group, Skyler shoved his last orange slice into his mouth and got to his feet, so Trevor did the same.

He reached out across the gap between them, letting the side of his hand brush Skyler’s, then swiped his pinkie over Skyler’s knuckles. “Hey. You okay?”

Skyler smiled brightly. Almost too brightly. “Yeah, of course.”

They didn’t talk any more as they hastened to rejoin the rest of the band.

Once everything was set up for another shot, the director had all the guys roll up their jeans and wade into the water with most of the girls, while the lead model walked along the shore fully dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, catching all the guys’ attention. Trevor forgot about the conversation with Maggie as he focused on the job at hand.

Apparently, the concept of the video was that the girl in jeans was more appealing than the scantily clad bikini girls. Trevor was torn between thinking this was cool and thinking that suggesting girls should dress modestly was bullshit. But again, he was getting paid to run around on the beach, so he kept his mouth shut.

They all had to freeze in the water, facing the girl, when it came time to sing the chorus. Lip-sync it, technically. It was strange trying to mouth the words and enunciate without actually singing. Definitely took some getting used to.

You’re beautiful in blue jeans, baby

And I’ve been wanting to tell you lately

The things you make me feel, I’ve never felt before-or

You’re beautiful in blue jeans, baby

And I’ve been thinking maybe you could save me

‘Cause you’re everything I’ve been looking for-or

It was cheesy. The kind of bouncy pop that Trevor wasn’t a huge fan of. But then again, with Skyler standing beside him in the water, it was easy to relate to the sentiment. He was certainly making Trevor feel things he’d never felt before.

God, he was so fucked.

Everything Maggie had said came back to him as his eyes drifted to Skyler without his permission.

He wanted Skyler. How could he not want him? With his giant dimples and the way he cracked the corniest jokes and then winked like a dork.

But Trevor couldn’t have him. They needed to focus on the band, and he shouldn’t complicate things by letting his feelings free. He needed to keep them tucked safely inside himself where they couldn’t do any damage.

SKYLER

One day right beforethe band’s promo tour started, with no pomp and no circumstance, Skyler graduated high school. They had more exciting things going on, like the fact that their first single was about to drop, so he hadn’t planned to make a big deal about it. But Trevor surprised him with an ice cream cake to celebrate. Skyler mentally added this to his growing list of reasons why Trevor was the most thoughtful human ever.

They shared the cake with the guys. And as Oli, Noah, and Jermaine dug in, he and Trevor shared their pieces with each other. Without even discussing it, Trevor scraped off half his blue frosting and dropped it onto Skyler’s plate, and Skyler scooped out most of the chocolate crunchies from the middle of his piece and gave them to Trevor.

Skyler caught Jermaine watching them with a sly smile, but he wasn’t embarrassed at Trevor knowing he liked the frosting the best. If the rest of the guys were really his friends, they’d give him their frosting too.