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  “Hey, D. Where do you want to sit?” Elliot asked.

  “Wherever. As long as I’m next to you it doesn’t matter.”

  He and Elliot usually had fun at signings, texting each other under the table and if there was enough cover, playing with each other’s hands and tangling their feet together. The girls online liked it, at least the ones who apparently had skills like the CIA and noticed the way he and El were together even when they thought they were being sneaky. As long as not too many people noticed, they’d continue to get away with it. Danny went to guide Elliot to the two corner seats.

  Peter, who’d been on the phone, gestured to Elliot. “You can’t sit together,” he whispered.

  “What?” Elliot looked pissed. “We’re at a band event. We can be together at band events,” he whispered furiously.

  “Not anymore.” Peter shook his head. “You guys pay too much attention to each other. It’s noticeable.”

  Danny didn’t hate Peter. He was just the messenger, and Danny knew for certain that he was cool with him and Elliot as a couple. At that moment, though, it was hard not to want to punch him. Elliot glared mutinously. He took the seat at the end of the table and gestured for Danny to sit right next to him. The other three boys had left room for them to be together, as usual. It really was the only seat left. Danny sat.

  “Webb,” Peter whispered. “Can you trade with Danny today?”

  “Why?” Webb asked with a frown.

  “Just do it.”

  Webb obviously didn’t want to make a scene, so he stood. Danny and Elliot traded a long glance before Danny also sighed and stood. He didn’t want to make a scene either. Apparently, Elliot had no such problem.

  “This is bullshit,” he said quietly. Even though it was quiet, his voice was still angry.

  “We’ll talk about it later. The fans,” Peter reminded him. Elliot ground his jaw. Danny willed him to chill out.

  “Okay.”

  Danny knew it was the thought of the fans in the end that did the trick and calmed Elliot down. Elliot, and all of them, knew that these kids had been waiting to see them, some of them looking forward to it for months. He wouldn’t want to ruin it for them. Danny sent him a text under the table.

  “Love you <3”

  Elliot smiled grudgingly from his side of the Webb wall.

  “Love you too <3”

  They stared at each other across Webb until he elbowed Danny in the side. “It was dumb to separate you two since you can’t seem to stop freaking staring no matter how far apart you’re put,” he whispered, “but pay attention!”

  “Yes, sire,” Danny mumbled sarcastically. Webb smirked at him and lined his set of permanent markers up on the table. Webb always liked to have everything neat and orderly, at least until Reece started stealing pens and making a mockery of Webb’s system. The rest of them thought it was funny. Webb never did.

  THE signing went off smoothly, as did their mini acoustic concert. Everything was fine until later that night when videos of Elliot’s showdown with Peter surfaced online. It got worse when fans caught wind of them.

  Cara D @Dellyisreallove

  @Tarheelsbaby I saw your vid on youtube where they got separated at the signing. Holy crap is that for REAL?!?!? #DellyVid

  Nikki G @Tarheelsbaby

  @Dellyisreallove 100%. I was recording my little sister. She was gonna sneak up to say hi to Reece (I think??). They got separated and told off. WTF? #DellyVid

  Cara D @Dellyisreallove

  @Tarheelsbaby Anything else happen?

  Nikki G @Tarheelsbaby

  @Dellyisreallove Not really. They just flirted with each other around that hot guy who was between them. It was super cute. What’s the problem??

  Staticgrl4life @Ellysbaby

  Do you really wanna know? @Tarheelsbaby This so proves we’re right!?! Mgmt jerks! @Dellyisreallove #itsnotevenasecret #theyretogetherokay?

  Alyssa Jones @ILuvStatic

  Awww I just saw the #DellyVid. Our poor babies just wanted to sit with each other. #TeamDelly for life!!

  Nikki G @Tarheelsbaby

  @Ellysbaby Yeah, I wanna know! I felt really bad for them. Screw it. I’m joining #TeamDelly

  StaticFan#1 @Rateisgreat

  Welcome @Tarheelsbaby. We’re the few, the “deluded”, and the ones who are right! #TeamDelly

  StephSteph @IShipChelly

  That #DellyVid proves nothing other than Elliot was having a tantrum. Danny was probably annoyed with him. #ChellyNOTDelly #deluded

  Nikki G @Tarheelsbaby

  @IShipChelly Don’t you know, the word for that is “delusional”, not “deluded”? #SchoolWorksIPromise

  Cara D @Dellyisreallove

  LOLOLOL!!! I <3 @Tarheelsbaby. Welcome to the madhouse :)

  THINGS got a bit tighter after the signing event debacle. Lots of girls online took that as proof something was being hidden. Of course, they were right, but nobody could acknowledge that, and everything had to look sunshiny and very platonic just so life could go back to normal, whatever normal happened to be. Danny and Elliot tamed down their stage show. A lot. And they had help doing so. A very pointed reminder from side stage would send Elliot scurrying away from Danny when he got too close. Hand gestures from the front row would let them know they needed to spend more time joking with Tate, Webb, or Reece. It wasn’t as fun as the beginning of the tour had been. But it was still better to be on the road and performing than stuck back where they’d been in LA. Danny didn’t want that ever again. So they watched what they said in interviews, watched even more how they acted in public. Elliot was amazing and strong and tried so hard to act like it didn’t bother him.

  Danny knew it did.

  Every night they held each other, kissed, made love. Elliot smiled and laughed and seemed to be handling things beautifully. Danny just hoped it lasted until some sort of solution to the mess they were in could be found.

  “OKAY, time to break some hearts. Which of you boys has a girlfriend?” The interviewer asked. Tate raised his hand. “Just Tate?” she prodded.

  Webb elbowed Danny in the side. “Oh, I have one too,” he said and raised his hand as well. Tate rolled his eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t hear the question.” Elliot smirked at him. Danny tried not to look at Elliot too long or he’d start smiling too.

  “How long have you two been off the market?”

  “Nearly three years,” Tate answered with a smile. He always smiled when he talked about Felicia.

  “Almost a year,” Danny answered absentmindedly.

  “Really?” the interviewer asked. “I thought I just started reading about you and Chelsea around Christmas.”

  Shit, shit, shit. He’d thought of Elliot. Danny thought of not being single, and he freaking thought of Elliot.

  “Oh,” he laughed. He hoped his laugh didn’t sound awkward as all hell. “I’m not very good with dates.”

  Which was so not true. He sometimes swore he remembered every single moment with Elliot, milestones, tiny things… the first time they kissed, the day they finally said they loved each other. Everything.

  The interviewer laughed and gave him a “boys will be boys” look.

  “Any special plans while you’re in New York?”

  Seeing as though none of them had ever been there other than Danny, the boys burst into lists of things they wanted to try. Danny was relieved the attention had been taken from him. He let his mind wander over everything he’d like to show Elliot in the city—the park at sunset, the Rainbow Room for a really good dinner, Times Square with all the lights lit up. Danny loved that he’d get to see all of that again through Elliot’s huge wondering eyes. Elliot had changed him so much.

  Elliot reached over and pinched the side of Danny’s leg. He smirked when he got his attention. That quirky little smile said “I love you.” Danny reached down and ran his fingers over the back of Elliot’s hand. They were covered by the other boys’ backs. It wasn’t a big deal. “I love you too,” his hand said.
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  Their freedom had been restricted, a lot, but things were still good with them. Danny couldn’t wait to get out of the press room and show Elliot the city.

  TROUBLE IN PARADISE?!?

  A Candy Scoop Exclusive

  Seems like our resident STATIC sweetie-pie, ELLIOT PRICE, might not be so sugary sweet after all. Gasp! Candy Scoop’s oh-so-close to the boys’ source says that ELLIOT got so jealous of bandmate DANNY BRIGHT’s time when his girlfriend CHELSEA (from THE PIXIES) came out to visit on tour that he told DANNY he wasn’t to bring her out to visit again. He even threatened to go to their tour managers and tell them she was disrupting their work schedule.

  ELLIOT! That’s not very best friendly of you. DANNY already let us know that the “Delly Girls” have put a strain on his relationship with CHELSEA as well as his friendship with ELLIOT. Is ELLIOT joining the Delly girls in their quest to break DANNY and CHELSEA up for good?

  “I really hope not,” our source says. “But it looks like Elliot sure doesn’t like Chelsea getting in the way of the friendship he has with Danny and the other boys. I hope he doesn’t end up breaking the band up with his temper.”

  Yikes! Well, there you have it.

  —CS

  ELLIOT hadn’t ever been to Toronto before. He’d never been to a lot of the places they’d blurred their way through so far that summer. He had a little notebook where he kept a running list of places he wanted to revisit later, when they weren’t on tour. With Danny.

  So far Toronto was one of them. Not because of the actual place; it was a nice city, he imagined. But because of that morning. It had just seemed different for some reason. They’d woken up in a hotel, just like most days that summer. Danny had kissed him and held him and said he loved him, just like he always did, but it felt different. The kind of different that had Elliot thinking about jewelry stores and very serious questions.

  That afternoon, they trailed into another interview, this time for another music TV channel. Elliot felt like he’d seen the lady before on television. His parents had satellite TV back when he was in high school. It was possible.

  The boys were all shuffled onto a few stools around what was supposed to be an inviting round table. He knew they were meant to feel comfortable. He didn’t. Elliot hadn’t ever been one for bad omens, but he’d felt like something was coming in the Chelsea department ever since articles about him being jealous and getting between Danny and Chelsea started surfacing. They’d promised Danny that the tour had meant the end of his fake romance. But after Miami it was like that promise just disappeared. Chelsea and Danny were back in the tabloids, pushed on the fans, pushed on Elliot. He tried to ignore the press’s accusations; things were so great with him and Danny. But it was out there. And yeah, the articles were crap, but Elliot knew they had an ulterior motive. They always did. The question was, what was the motive? Were they trying to set him up as the bad guy when Danny and Chelsea ultimately “split”? It was possible, he supposed. He was fine with it as long as they did actually make the split happen eventually. Elliot just wanted it all to be over—he regretted his antics in Miami if they really were the cause for all of it. He wanted to get back to how amazing he’d felt that morning with Danny, back to the future and the possibility of forever.

  The beginning of the interview was fine. They answered the same questions over and over anyway. They all knew the answers practically in their sleep. Nobody was really paying much attention. Then the interviewer threw a curve ball.

  “So tell me about this Delly thing. The fans want to know what the real deal is.”

  Most interviewers avoided that question, probably at the request of their publicist. Danny looked surprised… and intensely uncomfortable. He smiled, but it was his fake smile. Elliot wanted to pat Danny’s leg under the table, tell him it was fine. He realized it was not the time.

  “Elliot’s my best friend. Ever since we first met, we’ve just gotten along.” Danny’s smile grew soft and genuine. It was true, after all. Evasive but true.

  The interviewer smiled. “I don’t think that’s what they want to know.”

  “What do you mean?” Danny asked. He had to know damn well what that woman wanted to know. They all knew.

  She flipped her shiny dark hair off her shoulder and smiled. It was that same shark-slick smile Elliot remembered from Liselle Marten back at the Band Camp house. “Some fans are pretty convinced there’s more to you and Elliot than meets the eye.” She stared at Danny. The back of Elliot’s neck grew hot too, waiting for the inevitable.

  Danny chuckled. It couldn’t have sounded more forced. You can do this, babe. “Well, yeah.” He forced out another chuckle. “Some of them are convinced we’re together. It’s crazy, isn’t it?”

  Good, good, good. It hurt Elliot to hear Danny even partially deny them, but he had to do it. Danny was in an awful position. Elliot just wished the damn interviewer would drop it. Elliot fiddled with his watch.

  She cocked her head to the side. “Well, you’re a slippery one, aren’t you? That’s not an answer. Are you or aren’t you more than friends with Elliot?”

  Elliot couldn’t believe it. Apparently, neither could the rest of them. Webb, Tate, and Reece leaned in toward him defensively. They’d always figured Danny for the stronger of the two, but Danny needed support too, so Elliot reached out and slung his arm across Danny’s shoulders in what he hoped looked like a best friend’s embrace. Danny needed it. He stiffened at first but then relaxed into Elliot’s one-armed hug.

  “That was definitely an answer,” he said. “We can’t control what the fans say. They’re just having some fun. There are rumors about the other guys too.”

  “And once again you’re being evasive.” Jesus, she’s not going to give up, is she? Elliot knew that woman was going to force Danny to say it point-blank. He wondered if it was another one of their management’s plans or if she was acting all on her own. “If you’re not together, why won’t you just say so?”

  “I don’t think I should have to defend myself against rumors. The fans are going to think what they think, aren’t they?”

  “And you don’t mind them thinking you and Elliot are together? That your relationship with Chelsea is just an act?”

  Laugh it off, babe. It’s fine, it’s cool, Elliot’s my best friend, we do love each other but….

  “The idea of that is insulting.”

  What? Elliot could’ve sworn his heart froze. That was the last thing he’d ever expected Danny to say. Especially not in that awful voice. He let his hand slide down Danny’s back until it was in his own lap once more. Insulting? Elliot couldn’t look at the interviewer. He sure as hell couldn’t look at Danny. He stared down at his hands and messed with the clasp on his watch again.

  “It’s insulting that you’re pretending with Chelsea or insulting that people think you love Elliot?”

  “Yeah to both of those. How is it fair to her? She’s constantly being harassed with these questions. It’s enough to put a strain on any relationship. It doesn’t help that she sees me with him every day in close quarters. Chelsea’s great, but she’s human. She can see.” And she sees the way Elliot looks at me…. He hadn’t said it. But it sure was implied.

  Elliot felt like he’d been stabbed. Three pairs of very shocked eyes stared at Danny. Elliot just looked at everyone else. He couldn’t look Danny in the eye. He wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to for a long, long time.

  Maybe it was naive of him, but he never thought Danny would take it so far, he never thought Danny would actually say it was insulting when people thought he loved Elliot. Yeah, it was a line. Yeah, it was faker than his overly publicized relationship with Chelsea. It still fucking hurt. Elliot didn’t know if he could stand to hear anything like that again.

  As it was, he was fighting tears and hoping the interview would end so they could get the hell out of there and he could collapse in peace.

  “JESUS, El. I’m so damn sorry. I really didn’t mean for it to come
out that way.”

  Elliot still felt like he’d been stabbed. He kept trying to tell himself he was being ridiculous. Overly dramatic. Out of line. But he felt it, and it freaking hurt like hell. “I know you have to say we’re just friends, I know that’s the damn game. But you made it sound like I was ruining your relationship with Chelsea. That the fucking rumors about us, rumors, were hurting you and her. You didn’t have to say that.”

  “They backed me into a corner. You saw it. What was I supposed to do? Just lay one on you in public? Say that it’s not a rumor, that we’re in love?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know. You didn’t have to flip out like that for damn sure. Have you seen the shit they’ve been saying about me online?” There was page after page. Gossip sites, Twitter accounts, nobody had anything nice to say about Elliot and how his attitude was hurting Danny’s relationship.

  “Have you seen what they’re saying about me?” Danny countered.

  “Who?”

  “The girls who know we’re together. They hate me, El. They say your face just crumpled when I said all that stuff. They think I broke your heart.”

  “You kind of did. It felt so real. It was like you were breaking up with me on television in front of all those people. And a few girls on Twitter and Tumblr isn’t the same thing as every tabloid in the universe. Because of this whole thing, I’ve been called a home wrecker and desperate. Like I’m trying to break up your fucking engagement.”

  “There is no engagement! Not even a fake one. That was all just hinting and innuendo. Jesus, El. Remember what Reece said? How none of that crap is real? It’s not.”

  “It feels pretty damn real to me, D. I want to put an end to it.”

  Danny was silent for long moments. “E-end?”

  “Yeah. We need to talk to management. I’m tired of being the damn bad guy. If I have to come out to fix this, it’s not like I’m trying to nail the closet door shut anyway. I’ll do it.”