Page 19 of Call and Response

“Are you asking me?”

“Kind of.”

She laughed. “No, tell me. If that’s your line, commit to it.”

I sighed. “Uh… yeah. That’s my line.I can’t figure out what the fuck I’m doing. Everybody around me is moving,” I sang both lines together.

“I can’t seem to find my place,” she added, then gestured to me.

“Squandered my lead now I’m losing the race…”

“Disqualified, damn near ’shamed to show my face…”

“Can’t keep pretending the shit ain’t confusing…”

“Holding it together, but the pressure’s all-consuming…”

“I’m giving everything I have one last time…”

“One last effort, one last climb…”

“This is it; this is all, this is me… If that’s not enough, I gotta let it be…”

“Whew,” Audra breathed, shaking her head in response to me taking the last two lines myself, instead of waiting for her to fill in the next thing. She tapped the notebook with her pen, pointing out her hurried scribbles of the lyrics we’d just pulled together. “Boom… a verse. That beautifully exemplifies what you’re feeling about the music. Raw.”

I scoffed as I skimmed over the lyrics. “Veryraw.”

“So what if it’s not perfect?” She shrugged. “It’sreal.And it’syou.It just needs polishing.”

“Me, or the song?”

“Probably both,” she said with a giggle. “But… that’s true of all of us, so don’t take it personally.”

“I’ll try.” I chuckled, then watched as she wrote the lyrics out again on a fresh sheet of paper, with better handwriting this time. She tore the page out and handed it to me.

“You ready to start?”

I looked at it for a moment, then nodded as I took the page from her.

“As much as I’ll ever be.”

CHAPTERFIVE

Audra

It was only supposedto be one song.

That was our deal.

Except, when our effortless flow with each other produced that song way sooner than expected, my brain kicked into overdrive, figuring out a reason for the night to continue.

I hadn’t promised asong.

I promised ahit.

“Let it Be”wasn’t a hit.

It would be well-received, and get streams, but it wasn’t aplay in the clubkinda song. It was a play in your headphones at the gym, blast in your car so you don’t quit your job kinda song.

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