“How long do you have the hotel room for?”

I hadn’t known Magnus very long, but I started to get the feeling that he was the sort of person who just asked the first question that popped into his head. We had been wandering through the streets of Newcastle after breakfast, though I had the horrible sensation that Magnus was expecting me to do something or lead the way.

“One more night,” I said, going back to glancing at a tower of figurines displayed in the shop window before us. “Then it’s back to the grindstone.”

“You work?” Magnus prompted, following my eyeline to gaze listlessly at the figurines too.

“University. In Birmingham.”

This earned a confused look from Magnus, a light creasing between his brows as he tilted his head down towards me. I knew exactly what he was going to ask before he asked it, and so I maintained a solid effort at examining a figurine I had no intention of buying.

“Birmingham? We played there the other night. Why’d you come out here for a gig you could see at home?”

I drew in a deep breath. We were being honest with each other, that was the plan. Did I have to be honest about this too?

“When are you going to tell me?” I deflected the question, looking up at the taller man and readjusting my bag on my shoulder. “You said I could delete the photo after you tell me. So…what’s the delay?”

Magnus narrowed his eyes at me, but that damned lip curl told me he wasn’t annoyed. He was amused.

“If I’m going first and baring my soul, I need to know you’ll uphold your side of the deal. I need to get to know you better.” He shrugged and cocked his head to the side. “Though I’ve noticed a few things already.”

Oh shittity-fuck.

I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, acting like I didn’t care about his apparent sleuthing skills.

I did very much care.

“I could just post the damn photo. Then you’d have to tell everyone what it’s all about.”

“You won’t.”

“…Eh, more fool me, I guess.”

Magnus laughed, then nodded towards the shop.

“Are you wanting to go in, or are we hovering out here pretending to be normal?”

I arched an eyebrow at him.

“I am being normal. I booked a hotel for a few days, saw a gig, now I’m sightseeing. You’re the one not being normal. Aren’t your bandmates worried? Shouldn’t you be travelling to the next venue today?”

“Last night was the last date on the tour,” Magnus pointed out, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “And I’m a big boy. I’m allowed to wander off. The guys’ll be fine with a text. Not like your guy—your phone was buzzing all last night.”

I couldn’t help the exasperated grunt that tumbled out of my mouth at that. I had almost forgotten about the pile of text notifications from Killian on my phone. Magnus had my phone all night—he must have noticed.

By now, Magnus was twisting left and right at the hip with his hands firmly in his front pockets, his shoulders hunched, looking at me like a toddler who’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Boyfriend trouble?”

“No, God, no…Killian’s not my boyfriend…” I hurriedly cleared that misconception up and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“But that’s the problem? For him, at least, no?”

Jesus, he really had sleuthed. I must have given away my shock and confirmation of his theory with a single mortified look as Magnus replied with a sympathetic smile. “This Killian guy’s got it bad for you. And you…wanted to get away for a few days, right? That’s why you booked a ticket for the gig here and not at home. You, er…you wanna talk about it?”

Did I want to blurt my heart out to my idol about boy troubles? Did I want to get his advice on how to deal with a best friend who wanted more, who wanted to give me his heart, when I was quite content with the treasure of our friendship? Did I want to ask if I was a terrible person for rejecting someone’s heart because I knew deep down I couldn’t give mine in return?

Killian was a lovely guy. A great guy.

So, why didn’t I love him back?

It just. Wasn’t. There.

I cleared my throat and looked at the shop door, wondering if I could escape this conversation.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I said firmly, folding my arms. “Killian is a friend. He wants more. I don’t. I needed to get out of the city for a bit. Good for my art to see new things anyway.”

Magnus pursed his lips and rocked up onto the balls of his feet then back onto his heels.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Getting away is nice. Little city break. Sounds nice.”

He looked at me.

I looked at him.

He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes, but a smile demanded to be shown to the silly man on my left.

“We’re stuck together until our deal’s over anyway,” I conceded. “And you won’t uphold your half of the deal until you ‘get to know me better’. So, I guess I don’t mind if you want to join me on my little city break in the meantime.”