Page 97 of Hard Rock Muse

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“How about this?” I said to Julian as I pressed a few piano keys. “We change it up this way.”

He nodded thoughtfully and repeated what I’d just done.

“Could work,” he said. “Let’s try it.”

We were so close to being done the song. All we needed was a great ending and we’d be finished. The last few seconds were critical.

Julian played as I sang. We’d been working on the lyrics for what seemed like forever. I didn’t know exactly what Cerise thought a Julian Woods song sounded like, but what we had must have been close.

The song came ended. We met each other's eyes and nodded.

“That’s it, then?” Julian asked.

“I think it is.” A smile spread across my face. “I think we’re done.”

He leaned back and let out a sigh, blowing out a puff of air so hard it ruffled his hair, exposing more of his face than usual with those long bangs of his. His expression showed exhaustion mixed with relief.

“Thank fuck,” he said, running a hand over his face. “This has been torture.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry that working with me has been so painful.”

He peeked at me through his fingers and quirked a smile.

“You know what I mean,” he said. “Writing songs always takes a lot out of you. And this one has been something else.”

I agreed. I’d never worked so hard on a song before. Cerise wouldhaveto say it was good enough. If it wasn’t, I didn’t know what else to do. I’d tried so hard to convey Julian’s thoughts and feelings into the song, even when he wasn’t able to express those feelings out loud.

Julian left the piano and came to wrap his arms around me.

“Thank you,” he said. “I never could have done this without you.” He stroked my hair, examining the strands as his fingers sifted through them. He looked entranced at their pink color. He brought a handful to his face and inhaled.

“Somehow I feel like you should smell like strawberries,” he said.

“I thought you liked cherries,” I joked.

“I like you,” he said simply.

We stared into each other’s eyes. I willed him to say it. Willed him to say those three words. How much more could I do to prove myself to him? What was he waiting for?

But he didn’t continue.

“Why don’t we go and celebrate?” I said to fill the silence. “We can get dressed up, go for a fancy dinner or something. Blow all that sweet, sweet royalty money we’re going to get.”

“Oh,” he said, his eyes going wide. “I can’t. I need to call Seth and Cerise and Nate.”

“Nathan?” I asked. “Why?”

“I need to see how this is going to sound when it’s arranged with drums and guitar,” Julian said. “Piano is one thing, but I need to make sure it’s going to sound good as a rock song.”

“Do you have to do that right now?” I asked. “I thought it would be nice if we—”

“I don’t want to waste any time,” he cut in. “We spent so long on this, I don’t want to keep Cerise waiting any longer. I think they should be free today,” he murmured to himself. He pulled out his phone and flicked with his thumb. “I don’t see anything on their schedule.” He put the phone to his ear and spoke quickly. “Hey, you free? Come to the eighth floor music room. Yeah, I got something. Thanks.”

Julian looked up from his phone and gave me a startled look, as if surprised I was still there.

“Oh. Are you staying?” he asked.