Melody of the Heart (6 page)

He shook his head. “I don’t ever need an out when it comes to you. Now are you going to be my girlfriend or not?”

I grinned. “I am.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear it.” Rubbing his hands together, Brayden said, “Now that we have that out of the way, it’s time to get serious about food. We’re lucky this place is close because it’s legendary.”

“It is?”

“Oh yeah. Best chili dogs in the whole state.”

“Hamburgers?”

“They’re awesome, too.”

“Why don’t you order a little bit of everything, and we can share.”

Brayden grinned at me. “I sure do love a girl who isn’t afraid to eat greasy, artery-clogging food.”

When the guy came back, Brayden placed an order for what should be a carload of people. At my expression, he laughed. “Trust me, I can put all that away even if you don’t eat any.”

While we waited for the food to arrive, we talked about anything and everything. Conversation seemed to flow so easily between us. I felt like I could tell him anything.

After biting into a hot dog smothered in chili, I moaned in delight. “Oh my God, this is good.”

“I told you so.”

Chewing thoughtfully, I then asked, “So what happens now with the band?”

Brayden swallowed the large bite of cheeseburger he’d taken. After swiping his mouth with a napkin, he said, “I guess I just see where it goes. I needed to get my foot in the door with college bands since they’re usually the ones who have more gigs and resources. I don’t know if these guys will go anywhere, but that’s not the point for me right now. I just want to play.”

“I think you could go all the way.”

His brows arched in surprise. “You do?”

Dabbing a French fry in some ketchup, I nodded. “You’ve only been playing for six months, and look how amazing you are? Think about what it might be like in a year or two years?”

“Thanks,” he murmured.

“For what?”

“You’re the first person who has ever really believed in me and my music. Well, besides myself.”

“Don’t your parents think you’re good?”

Brayden took a long gulp of his drink—something called a frosted orange. “My dad still hasn’t come to terms with my football death sentence. I think he somehow believes that in a year, my prognosis will magically change, and I’ll be back to where I was.” He glanced at me. “He just thinks the music is something I’m screwing around with while I heal.”

“I’m sorry,” I murmured.

“It’s okay. He’s not a bad guy. He’s just one of those Southern men who lives and breathes for football. My mom, well, she’s just so thrilled that I’m all right compared to the alternative. She wants me to be happy, so I guess once she realizes it’s music that makes me happy, she’ll be okay with it. As long as I still plan on going to college.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“I’m hoping for Georgia Tech.”

“So you can be close to the guys in the band?”

“Sort of. But it’s where I wanted to go before I got hurt.” After polishing off his chili dog, Brayden asked, “What about you?”

“I don’t really know enough about the colleges around here yet to decide.”

“I think you should go to Tech, too.”

I giggled. “Is that right?”

He nodded. “Or at least Georgia State.”

“Let me guess. Georgia State happens to be close to Tech?” With a wink, Brayden’s hand dove in the bag for more fries. “All right then. I’ll start checking on the teaching programs at Georgia State.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

A glob of ketchup remained on the side of his lip, so I leaned forward and slid it off. Not taking his eyes off mine, he flicked his tongue against my thumb before sucking off the ketchup. The suction of his mouth, along with his expression, caused a shiver to run through me. To get my mind off what he could possibly do with that mouth, my eyes went to the clock on the dash. “Shit. I don’t have much longer before I have to be back.”

“Okay,” he said softly.

Turning back to him, I said, “I wish I could stay out all night with you.”

“You do?”

At the possible implication of my words, I felt warmth rush to my cheeks. “I-I mean, I wish I could stay out talking to you. I like being with you.”

“I know what you mean.” After he had managed to get our trash back into the bag, he hopped out to throw it away.

“Thanks for dinner.”

“You’re welcome. I hope I was able to convert you to being a Varsity fan.”

“Oh yeah, I think I’m sold.”

“Good,” he replied. We made the drive back to get my car. Thankfully, nothing crazy had happened to it while we were gone. Like a true gentleman, Brayden got out and came around to get me out. As we stood there in the dark, staring into each other’s eyes, words seemed inadequate.

“I just realized how historic this night really was,” he said, with a smile.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I got in my first band and I got my first real girlfriend all on the same night.”

His first girlfriend? Is he for real? He was one of the sweetest, gorgeous boys I have ever met. How had he never had a girlfriend?

I smiled back at him. “That is pretty momentous.”

“It feels fucking amazing, if I was honest about it.”

With a laugh, I leaned forward to bestow a kiss on his lips. He pulled me to him and kissed me back. After just a few seconds, it had become an all-consuming, all-powerful lip-lock. One I didn’t think I would be able to pry myself away from. Finally, Brayden released my mouth and pushed himself away. “You better get going. I promised your dad I wouldn’t mess up.”

“Oh yeah, about that. As much as it was thoughtful of you to call my dad, let me know next time so I can get our stories straight, okay?”

Brayden gave me a sheepish grin. “Oops. Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay,” I replied. On shaky legs, I slipped inside my car. Brayden waited until I cranked up and started down the street before he got into his car. I couldn’t think of anything but him the entire forty minutes home.

LILY

                 
THE PRESENT

Giovanni furiously scribbled on his notepad before looking up at us. “That was quite an interesting story about how you two first got together. Although if I had to argue that from the sound of it, it truly was love at first sight.”

I laughed. “I guess you’re right. At least it was for me after our first kiss.”

Brayden held up his hands in defeat. “Trust me, I was pretty much a gonner from the moment I laid eyes on her.”

“And you were pretty much inseparable from the day you met, correct?” Giovanni asked.

With a grin, Brayden said, “I couldn’t let her out of my sight. I mean, you see how gorgeous she is. I didn’t want her running off with anyone else.”

I gave his thigh a playful smack. “We just got a long so well that we didn’t want to spend any time apart. We had our separate interests, but luckily, we were able to support each other in those.”

Giovanni nodded as he chewed thoughtfully on his pen cap. “Now Brayden, during her story, Lily touched briefly on your first band, The Benders. How long were you with them?”

Scratching his chin, Brayden became contemplative. “Let’s see I was a junior in high school. And then we broke up when I was twenty.”

“What happened there?”

Brayden remained silent for a moment. I knew the sordid details from being in the thick of everything with him, but it wasn’t my place to talk about it.

He drew in a ragged breath. “Tom and Grayson had issues with addiction. Lots of alcohol and some drugs. It derailed the entire creative process for them, but they never wanted to include any of my songs. We weren’t getting anywhere on the music scene, and then things just seemed to be spinning out of control personally with them. So I left.”

Giovanni nodded. “Do you ever see or hear from them?”

“Grayson died from an overdose about a year after I left. I think after that, they just dissolved the band.” After looking down at his hands, Brayden shook his head. “No, I don’t hear from any of them. You know, the guilt is hard sometimes. I’ve heard different artists talk about how you have this guilt about making it. Kind of like survivor’s guilt. Like, what was it about me that deserved to make it, but Tom and Grayson didn’t?”

Tapping his pen on his pad, Giovanni smiled. “I think that shows a great depth of character. So many artists lose their hearts and souls with fame and fortune.”

When I tensed at Giovanni’s words, Brayden sighed dejectedly. “Trust me, I went down that road. It wasn’t pretty.”

“We’ll come back to that one in a few minutes. I’m trying to keep to the timeline of your relationship, and I have a feeling that comes during the part when the two of you were broken up.”

“Yes,” I murmured. When I had first agreed to the interview, I hadn’t envisioned having to relive some of the darkest times of Brayden’s and my relationship. It was even harder knowing that it would be documented in a magazine for everyone to read the sordid details. I guess in the end, our breakup didn’t come from anything salacious like I caught him having an orgy. To some it might not even seem like that big of a deal. But for me, it was life altering.

“Lily?” Giovanni asked.

I jumped. “Yes?”

He smiled. “From those early days together, what is the most romantic thing Brayden did for you that truly cemented your feelings for him?”

Glancing over at Brayden, I found that he was giving me a concerned look. I knew he wasn’t thrilled about having to dig up the past either. I smiled reassuringly at him. “I know some people will think that this was a planned response, but the truth is the most romantic thing he ever did for me was write me a song.”

“Ah,” Giovanni replied, scribbling something down. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that song was the first of Runaway Train’s hits.”

“You are right. It was the first song of ours to ever be played on the radio. Our first Billboard hit,” Brayden replied.

Giovanni smiled. “And it’s all because of Lily.”

Bobbing his head, Brayden said, “You got that right.”

“So where did you first play it for her?”

Brayden glanced over at me with a sheepish grin. “I guess you could say it was a very acoustic performance.”

LILY

THE PAST

I bolted upright in my bed out of a dead sleep. Just when I thought I had been imagining things, something scratched against my window, and it wasn’t a branch caused by the wind. With my heart beating wildly in my chest, I threw back the covers, poised to run down the hall to my parents’ bedroom for help. But then a hushed voice outside stopped me.

Brayden’s voice.

For a minute, I thought I might just be imagining things. After our first date last Friday night, we had been pretty much inseparable for the next few days, so it made sense I would think I was hearing his voice. Not to mention the fact, that he had taken me to the preseason bonfire at the school earlier tonight.