Page 17 of Love is a Lyric
6
Piper
What were words?
The question rolled through Piper’s head as she tapped her pen against her notebook. What were words? Where did they come from? And how did she make them come when they got lost?
“Ugh.” She groaned and threw herself back against her pillow. After she’d come up from the beach, she took a shower, finished Quinn’s laundry, and sat down to do what they’d come to Gulf City to do.
Create music for their new album.
Well, not their album. Piper had no ownership of it despite the secret that only she, Quinn, and possibly now Julie knew.
Quinn couldn’t write a hit song if her life depended on it.
That was mean, and Piper didn’t want to have those thoughts. Everyone had different talents. Quinn could hit any note in a song, she could dance across the stage and transfix an audience. She didn’t need to also be a songwriter. Though, she wanted everyone to believe she was.
Piper wasn’t sure how it all started or why she’d let it continue. The first time she heard one of her songs on YouTube, she’d run to her notebooks—she had many—only to find a missing page. Quinn hadn’t let her hear the song before recording it, and Piper knew instantly why.
She’d stolen it.
Piper was fifteen at the time, andFateexploded in a way none of them saw coming. The song, titled after the band singing it, got them a record deal and proceeded to soar up the charts and turnFateinto an instant success. After that, there was no stopping them—or Quinn when she wanted new songs.
Piper couldn’t have stopped writing them if she tried. They flowed out of her, demanding space in her head, action in her pen. And Piper enjoyed hearing them, she loved seeing what kind of music Ben put to her words. Credit for her work had never been important to her.
But as the band gained more and more success, the pressure increased. She’d always wondered if the reason Quinn held on so tightly to her assistant was for the songs, not the sister relationship.
If Piper left, Quinn would have to find her own way. Maybe that was the one thing holding her back.
The door burst open, and Piper shoved the notebook under a pillow before she saw that it was Quinn. With a sigh of relief, she pulled it back out.
“How’s my little sister doing?” Quinn asked.
Piper gave her a tight smile. “Fine.” What Quinn meant was how are her little songs doing?
With a smirk, Quinn walked toward the suitcase Piper hadn’t had time to unpack and rifled through it.
“Hey.” Piper scooted to the edge of the bed as her sister unfolded all her clothes.
“Just looking for something.”
“I can see that. Mind telling me what?”
Quinn pulled out a stack of notebooks—it was an obsession—and flipped through them. Piper knew exactly which one she wanted, the unicorn notebook. It not only sported a pink unicorn on the cover, it held what Piper called her unicorn songs, the ones that she felt so deeply she couldn’t give them to Quinn.
How had Quinn known about it?
Piper wouldn’t tell her that notebook currently resided between the mattress and the bed frame. The first thing she did when getting to a new place was hide it.
“Do you have anything new for me?” Quinn dropped the notebooks back into the suitcase.
Piper sighed. “I’m trying. Having a hard time getting inspired.”
“Pipes, we’re in a beautiful house on the beach. What more inspiration do you need?”
A house Piper had spent the day folding laundry in and cooking meals. She’d only escaped for a short time. But she didn’t say any of that to Quinn. She never did. “I just have a lot on my mind.”
Quinn sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped an arm around Piper. “You know I’m just looking out for you, right? I want you to succeed in everything you do.”
