Dozens of faces crowded closer through the door, trying to get a better look at whatever was happening. They looked . . .

anticipatory.

“Isabel —” I started. But I didn’t know what was happening, so I couldn’t finish it.

“Ta-da,” Isabel said. The big microphone in front of me picked up her voice and played it through the headphones sitting on the stool. A smile was threatening on her face. A real one.

“Culpeper, maybe I don’t like ta-das,” I said, even though there was nothing in the world I liked better.

She knew it, so she just put her arms tightly around me. It was the first time I’d felt her hold me before I held her first. The first time I felt her hold me like she wanted to hold me more than anything.

She said, loud enough for the microphone to pick it up again, “Stay.”

But I had been staying. She had always been the one going.

“How do I know you’ll stay, too?”

In my ear, she whispered, “I love you.”

She rested her face on my shoulder, and I pressed mine into hers, and we just held each other. Like something solid, for once. I thought of all those times standing on a ledge, real or not, looking for something real or not, never finding what I needed.

I felt it now. This was what I needed.

The heart was pumping sunlight.

I didn’t want to think about the cameras, but now that I could breathe again, it was hard not to. And it was hard not to realize that Isabel had framed an absolutely perfect ending episode to this show, because she was a diabolical genius and she knew me. How that crowd must be dying inside right now.

I felt Isabel shaking, and it took me a moment to realize she was laughing soundlessly and witheringly.

“Fine,” she whispered into my collarbone. “Just do it. I know you’re thinking it, so just do it.”

She lifted her head. I looked at her. She asked, just loud enough for the microphone to pick up, “Why did you even come here, Cole?”

I touched her chin. This place, this beautiful place, this girl, this beautiful girl, this music, this life. “I came here for you.”

And her mouth quirked, because she knew it was no less real for saying it in front of a crowd.

Then we kissed the perfect kiss. The people in the studio went absolutely insane.

I’d known how to pull off the way just fine when I was just Cole St. Clair.

But we did it better together.

Epilogue

· cole ·

f live: Today on the wire we have young Cole St. Clair, lead singer of NARKOTIKA, giving his first interview since Heart (Attack) released. Cole, most bands tour after their release. Instead, you’ve opened a recording studio.

Let’s discuss. Actually, let me go deeper. Since you moved to L.A., you’ve survived a stint on reality TV, recorded two pretty damn hot albums, opened a recording studio, produced Skidfield’s hugely successful debut album, and digitally released a new song every month this year, culminating in Heart (Attack). All the while, you’ve refused the advances of every major label. Please tell me you’ve also finally gotten a dog.

cole st. clair: No dog. But we’ve decided to keep Leyla on as our drummer, and she’s pretty hairy.

f live: Do you think of yourself as a label? Is that happening?

cole st. clair: Whoa, whoa, Martin. Keep your shorts on. “Label” sounds a lot like commitment. It’s more like, sometimes friends come over to the studio and we throw some stuff together.

f live: Friends like Skidfield?

cole st. clair: Yeah.

f live: That thing you “threw together” with them sold over a million copies.

cole st. clair: Yeah, well, they’re good friends.

f live: I’ ll bet the — What’s that noise?

cole st. clair: Los Angeles. Leon, can’t you make these people move? Martin, possibly you remember my fearless driver. Say hello.

leon: Hello.

f live: Leon! Where are you taking our fearless hero today? To record another indie hit? To take over Broadway?

leon: Can I tell him?

f live: Tell me what? Is that Cole shouting? What did he say?

leon: He said, “Now I don’t have to work anymore!” His girlfriend is graduating from medical school today.

f live: Wait — this is Isabel, right? The girl from the show. Put Cole back on.

cole st. clair: Of course it’s the girl from the show. Who else is there? Congratulate me. I always wanted to date a doctor.

f live: Congratulations. After th — cole st. clair: You know what — yes. Yeah, I’m just going to get out of the car here.

f live: Wait! Where are you? Are you on the freeway?

cole st. clair: Yep. You know what, Martin, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m hopping out here. You should go ahead and play that track I sent you, and I’ ll call you back to see how the world liked it.

f live: Look both ways, Cole! Look both ways!

cole st. clair: Always. All right, I’m out. Leon, you coming with?

f live: Is he?

f live: Cole?

f live: Leon? Is anyone still in that car? Well.

f live: Ladies and gentlemen, that was Cole St. Clair of NARKOTIKA.