When the sun forms a dim outline around Mike’s blackout curtains, I finally give up on sleep and make a pot of coffee. I take Phoenix out to let her use the bathroom before opening my laptop on Mike’s kitchen table. And then, coffee forgotten on his counter, I look up Mike Madden.
I find all the pictures Danica showed me—and more, and more, and more. Not just pictures of him with girls, but pictures of him with guys, other bands, famous people I recognize. There are pictures of Adam, Shawn, Joel, and Kit too . . . performance pictures and promotional pictures and pictures with fans. The sheer volume is overwhelming—because there is my boyfriend, smiling in hundreds, thousands of pictures.
I sit there for so long that my laptop idles and my screen goes black, and then I see my reflection: wild hair, big eyes, an unguarded frown on my face.
I swipe my fingers across the touchpad to get it to go away, and then I look Mike up on YouTube. The most recent video is from a few days ago, and I click it.
“Are you excited?” a female voice with an Australian accent asks a bunch of girls standing outside of an enormous city building. The sky is bright blue, and all of the girls are gorgeous. Different shades of sunshine-yellow hair, white smiles, pretty makeup.
“I’m freaking out!” a girl with rose highlights says with a laugh.
“What about you, Amy? Are you excited?”
“I’m dying,” Amy says, pulling the camera in close. “Dying.”
“Who are you excited to see?”
“All of them,” she says with a devastatingly beautiful smile.
“Pick one. Say you get to go home with one. Who do you pick?”
Another girl’s hand shoots up into the air. “Adam! I call Adam!”
“You can’t call Adam,” the camera girl scolds. “Adam is mine.”
“Bitch, I will cut you,” the Adam fan says, and the girls all laugh.
“Shawn or Mike,” Amy finally decides, and my stomach drops to my feet. “Probably Mike.”
“Why Mike?”
“Uh, have you seen him?” Amy asks, and the camera girl giggles.
“You think he’s hotter than Adam?”
“Way hotter than Adam,” she says, taunting Adam Fan, who launches onto her back. They’re all joking around when one of the other girls suddenly gasps.
“Oh my God. Is that them?”
The camera swings wildly around, and a chorus of screams erupts from a long line of people as Adam, Joel, Kit, Shawn, and Mike walk down the line, talking to people as they do.
Camera Girl spins the camera around so we can see her wide blue eyes. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!”
“Hey,” Adam says when he gets to the girls, and Adam Fan suddenly becomes absolutely speechless.
“We’re making a YouTube video,” Camera Girl announces, and the corner of Adam’s mouth tips up as he looks into the camera.
“Oh yeah?” He reaches out and takes the phone from her, turning it around to capture her blushing cheeks. “Have you gotten this huge line of people?” he asks, and Camera Girl nods as Adam backs up further to capture the true scope of the line, which stretches as far as I can see and then wraps behind the building. “How’s everyone doing tonight!” Adam yells, and the line cheers wildly. “Are you excited for the show?”
More screams, and then Adam winks into the camera before turning it on Shawn.
“What about you? You excited?”
Shawn pushes the camera away so we can see more than just his green eyeball, and Adam laughs as he turns the camera on Kit. “Excited?”
“This show is going to be sick,” Kit says as she ties back her long black hair, and Joel slides in front of her.
“Joel, you excited?” Adam asks, and Joel smiles brightly into the camera.
“I’m hungry.”
Adam’s braceleted hand reaches out to push Joel out of the way, and then the camera lands on Mike, who’s busy checking his phone. “Mike, how much do you love Australia?”
“Huh?” Mike says, lifting his eyes and pocketing his phone.
“Australia. Thoughts?”
“The toilets don’t actually flush counter-clockwise, so I’m pretty bummed.”
Adam is laughing when he turns the phone around again. “There you have it, folks. Pretty bummed.”
“They have good steak though!” Mike amends as the band goes inside and Adam stays outside interviewing people in line about toilets. Eventually, he mumbles, “Whose phone is this?” and the video cuts to black before Camera Girl’s face reappears on my laptop screen.
“Adam Everest just touched my phone,” she squeals, panning to the shell-shocked faces of her friends. “He hugged you!” she tells Adam Fan, whose face is burning bright red.
“I can’t believe he hugged me.”
“You’re never showering again, are you?”
Adam Fan shakes her head furiously, and Amy laughs.
“I still say Mike is the hottest.”
The girl beside her nods. “And he smelled so good.”
“He did smell pretty amazing,” Camera Girl agrees. She spins the camera around to tell viewers, “Guys, I know you can’t smell this video. But trust us on this. Mike Madden smells fucking amazing.” She closes her eyes and sighs. “I can’t believe we just met The Last Ones to Know.”
“And they were all really awesome,” Amy says, and the rest of the girls agree.