Susane Colasanti - Now and Forever

Ethan smiles at me. “How can such a tiny, cute girl eat like you and stay so tiny and cute?”

He’s kind of right about the tiny part. My doctor says I have a high metabolism. But the cute part? I’ve seen at least a hundred girls who are knockouts post photos of themselves on Ethan’s page. Will he still think I’m cute after seeing hundreds more?

“Yo, Ethan!” some football player from school yells from the other side of Shake Shack. “Heard you on the radio! Nice one, man!”

Ethan gives him an air pound. Air pounding is Ethan’s new thing.

“So Gram’s back from the hospital,” I say.

Ethan’s face lights up. “That’s awesome! How is she feeling?”

“Better. Sort of. It’s hard to tell with her. She never really says when she’s not feeling well. She’d rather hide it than bother someone. Not that it’s even bothering—”

“Can I get you anything else?” A waitress who looks a few years older than us is hovering by our table. Hovering by Ethan.

“No, we’re good.” He flashes her the stellar Ethan Cross smile that makes girls melt. This girl is no exception.

“Okay . . . well . . . just let me know if you need anything.”

“Will do.”

I stab three cheese fries together.

“You were saying?” Ethan reminds me.

“What? Oh, just that I think Gram’s feeling better.” Could this waitress be any more obvious? First off, the only time they ever come out to the tables here normally is to clean up. You order at the counter. Which is also where you get your food when it’s ready. There was no reason for her to come over here. Other than to try to make Ethan notice her. Did she even notice me ?

It’s hard to swallow my fries. They almost get stuck in my throat. I start coughing and grab at my lemonade.

“You okay?”

I take big gulps of lemonade. Get a grip, Sterling. This is only the beginning .

“Some VIP service, huh?” Ethan gestures to the waitress. She’s back behind the counter, but she keeps looking over here.

“Better get used to it.”

“I can’t stand that stuff. Like when celebs walk into some restaurant and if they don’t get the best table they’re all, ‘Do you know who I am?’ It’s like, ‘Yeah, you’re a pretentious bitch, sit the fuck down.’”

I laugh. Celebs can be so obnoxious. Even the ones who were nice before they were famous. Why do they get like that? Just because everyone knows who they are? How does that entitle them to treat people like dirt? No matter how famous Ethan gets, he would never be rude to anyone.

“So what’s going on with you?” I ask. “It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever.” Between Ethan’s insane workout schedule, dance practice, and everything he’s doing to launch his career, I’m lucky if I get to see him more than twice a week outside of school.

“Sorry about that.” Ethan reaches across the table to cover my hand with his. “Zeke set up all these interviews and promo for the album. I can’t believe it drops in two weeks.”

“Then your dad will finally have to admit you’re not wasting your time.”

“Don’t bet on it. He was fighting with my mom again last night. He’s pissed that she keeps—and I quote—‘enabling those silly rock star fantasies.’ Like he can force her to stop helping me out. It’s her money, too.”

Ethan’s mom is incredibly supportive of his dreams. But sometimes it seems like all Ethan cares about is winning the approval of his dad. His dad never spends time with Ethan. He’s always working. When he is home, he’s the first one to tell Ethan that he should be spending more time on school and less time on music. It’s probably part of the reason Ethan craves the attention that comes with insane fame. He’s not getting it at home from the person he wants it from the most.

“How can he keep being so oblivious when your single’s on the radio and your album’s about to drop? It’s like he wants to be in denial.” I’m quivering with sympathy for Ethan.

“He doesn’t care. You know what he said when I told him about all the interviews I’m doing? ‘It’s great that things are going well for you now. But what’s your plan for the future?’”

“He did not say that.”

“Totally said it.”

“He has no idea how huge you’re going to be. Watch when you get a million followers. He’ll be begging you to forgive him.”

“That’s not the only drama. Zeke wants to change the band’s name from The Invincibles to Ethan Cross and The Invincibles.”

“Why?”

“I think he’s trying to phase the guys out. Not phase them out, but eventually he just wants to call us ‘Ethan Cross.’ He said the band members are irrelevant. He said I’m the one people are coming to see. Which makes sense. Forever has my name on it, not the band’s.”

“Wow. Do the guys know?”

“Oh, yeah. Gage is furious. Drew and Stefan said it was okay, but I can tell they’re not happy, either.”

“I don’t blame them.”

“You don’t agree with Zeke?”

“No, I do, but . . . I mean, of course he’s right. But to put it out there like that is kind of harsh.”

“Reality is harsh sometimes. It’s not like the guys won’t be in the band anymore.”

I can’t believe Ethan’s being like this. It’s like he doesn’t even feel bad for those guys. We haven’t really disagreed on anything. But this feels like it could escalate into our first fight if we keep talking about it.

I stab another cheese fry.

Ethan looks at his watch. “We have to go soon.”

“Already? We just got here.”

“I know. But I can’t be late for training.”

My stomach fills with hollow shakiness. Today should have been epic. We’ve been waiting to hear Ethan’s first single on the radio for so long. But sitting here with him has just felt empty. The cute moments and inside jokes we always share were missing. Ethan seems preoccupied, like he’s carving out time to see me from his busy schedule. A schedule packed with priorities that are more important than me. I used to be the most important thing in Ethan’s life. I don’t feel that certainty anymore.

I must look as crushed as I feel because Ethan comes over to my side of the booth. He slides in and puts his arm around me. “Things will calm down after Forever drops. I have to tear this publicity stuff up like a beast to get enough buzz going. But we’ll get back to normal soon.” He gives me a sweet kiss on the cheek. “I promise.”

[861,133 FOLLOWERS]

“We are gathered here today to say goodbye to a spirit that will be missed,” Georgia intones. We’re having a plant funeral in her backyard. Her beloved ponytail palm succumbed to aphids. It wasn’t pretty.

Georgia loves plants. Her room is filled with them. She gets most of them from the farmers market. Even though she has way more plants than she probably should, when a potential new plant calls out to her, she has to adopt it. Or “him,” as she would say. That’s how it was with the ponytail palm. She was considering a more mature ponytail palm. But this scraggly little guy called out, “Pick me!” She wanted to give him a chance. Just like Charlie Brown did with that runt of a Christmas tree. She had to take him home.

Being scraggly wasn’t his only challenge. He must have been suffering from an aphid attack that Georgia didn’t notice when she was first smitten with him. She saw the fuzzy white bugs on him a few days later. No one knows where they come from. They were probably on the plant when she bought him. Or they could have been in the soil Georgia used to repot him. They could have even been in the air. That’s how they travel from plant to plant.