"Why do you look like you just found out that Kulti guy got married again?" Mason asked me in a loud whisper. We were in Antwerp for the last day of the tour. The Cloud Collision was about to go back onstage for their encore performance, and in the meantime, while Eli and Gordo talked to fans in the audience, this baboon was keeping me company.

I remembered that he had in fact been around when I found out my longtime crush, Reiner Kulti the German soccer icon I’d adored once upon a fifteen-year-old day, had the nerve to get married to some actress. Ugh. It had been a bad day, to say the least. "I'm sad the tour is over."

He shrugged. "It was pretty fun, wasn't it?"

I nodded.

Mason gave me a goofy look. "You got to tour with the most attractive men in Prog—"

"I think that's kind of stretching it."

He frowned but kept going. "Got to see the world. See a kangaroo in person—"

"Saw you almost get punched by that same kangaroo—"

"Watched your brother get hit on by that transgender guy—"

I made a face at him, remembering the incident. "I'm pretty sure that was you."

Mason didn't even bother confirming or denying my statement. "Went to a bunch of boring museums—"

I groaned. Mase and I had very different standards for what fun was.

“Got to spend time with your best friends—”

He had me there.

"And you met your little snuggle bug," he cooed with fluttering eyelashes like an idiot.

I relaxed my facial expression to look at him with boredom. "You forgot something."

"Carter ripping his pants when we were in Stockholm?"

"Nope."

"Julian and Eli getting blow jobs from the same girl an hour apart?"

I gagged at the reminder of that little ditty. They'd both been grossed out, more so Julian than Eli because he'd been the second guy to mess around with the girl. Disgusting. "No."

Mason narrowed his eyes. "What, then?"

"Me punching you in the nuts for the first time," I told him while simultaneously swinging my fist in the general direction of his balls.

He jumped a foot back with a laugh. "Jesus! I'm glad I called the wedding off, you crazy." He whooped, but I couldn't hear him because the music started up again so loudly, it was impossible.

There were only a couple of songs in their encore repertoire. After three months of being on tour, listening to the bands night after night, I could probably sing to all of their songs and play all of the instruments from memory. And I didn't even know how to play any instrument very well. Or at all, whatever.

My heart ached a little knowing that this was the last time I'd get to see either band play for who knows how long. It seemed bittersweet that I'd agreed to come along reluctantly at first, only hoping to get away from crap back home. Now I was heartsick that the experience was coming to a close. Who would have known?

"We only have a few songs left, Antwerp! Before it gets fast and heavy, we'd like to thank all of you for coming out tonight on our tour closer! It's been an insane three months with our friends in Ghost Orchid, who have stuck it out with us. Thank you to our crew, and especially," Sacha put his hand over his heart, smiling a tiny playful grin, "to my beautiful girl, the greatest thing since the invention of air conditioning, My Gaby, for making this the best fucking tour ever." The people in the audience started whistling and yelling out things I didn't understand. "Are you guys fucking ready?"

“YES!” the audience yelled in response.

Sacha pointed out into the audience before jumping up high off of a speaker, at the same time the cymbals on the drum set crashed and the second to last song began.

Me.

Me.

I was the greatest thing since air conditioning, and who didn't love air conditioning?

When I looked over at Mason with what I'm sure was the dumbest, goofiest smile to ever exist, he grimaced and shoved at my head, which only made me smile more.

In that moment, I made that decision that there was nothing, and I mean nothing, that I'd let stand between Sassy and I. There would only ever be him. He was the end to my beginning.

An hour later, when we were standing around outside while the guys finished signing autographs and posing for pictures drenched in sweat and smelling like dirty socks, I let myself take it all in. Sacha walked over after ending a conversation with a couple of fans and grinned. The bastard knew I had the swoons for him and his words. Plus, he was still wearing his stage clothes, specifically the suspenders he’d added to his performance wardrobe.

"I love air conditioning," I told him, threading my fingers through his when he stopped in front of me.

He nodded, smiling that same grin that I'm sure I’d replicated when he'd spoken to the audience earlier. "Me too, Rocky. Me too."

In twenty-four hours, we were going to be separated by thousands of miles. But distance was insignificant when you loved someone the way I loved Sacha. Like air conditioning. And laughter.