Page 20 of Love is a Lyric
Sitting at the kitchen table, the three members ofFateshoveled Chinese food into their mouths as they talked excitedly.
But it wasn’t the fact that they were eating without her or that they’d seemingly forgotten she’d even be coming back. Her eyes bounced from face to face before landing on a single sheet of paper in the center of the table.
A new song.
Piper’s chest tightened as she neared. The page wasn’t torn from her secret notebook. No, Quinn had rewritten the words in her own handwriting.
Conner and Quinn didn’t seem to notice she’d arrived as Quinn explained the inspiration for her song. Only Ben’s eyes found her, brightening as they did. “Piper.” He jumped up. “Quinn said you had a date, so we ordered food.”
Unable to voice words clogging in her throat, she walked into the kitchen and set the takeout bag on the counter, willing her tears not to come as she heard Quinn singing the first lines of the song.
We didn’t know
This wouldn’t last forever
We didn’t see
The end of everything
* * *
Tears built in Piper’s eyes as she bent over the sink trying to catch her breath.
A firm hand landed on her back. “Hey, you okay?”
It took everything in her not to turn into Ben’s arms and let the feelings swirling inside overwhelm her. But that wasn’t who she was. She held people together, she didn’t break them apart. Sucking in a breath, she nodded. “Fine. I’m just not feeling well.”
“You should sit down, then.” He pulled a stool over and guided her onto it. “How was your date? Matt, right? I always liked that guy.”
When she didn’t answer him, his eyes found the food fromEmma’s.“You didn’t have to bring us dinner.” He stepped around her to rummage in the bag.
“You don’t have to eat it. I know you have Chinese food out there.”
He looked across the kitchen island to where Quinn and Conner were laughing about something as they poured more wine. His eyes drifted back to the Styrofoam in his hands as he opened it. “You got me a bacon burger?”
“I know. I know. You’re going to tell me you can’t eat it.”
He gave her a crooked smile and wrapped his free arm around her for a quick hug. “I was just going to say thank you.” He took a bite. “How do you know me so well?”
“It’s my job.”
“You say that a lot. I don’t want us to just be a job to you.”
She shrugged, cringing as Quinn’s perfect voice sang Piper’s not-so-perfect words. They were never meant for public consumption. The songs in that specific notebook were raw, real. Piper poured every emotion into them, unlike the more salable songs she wrote forFate.
Ben gazed at his girlfriend as if he’d never been more in love.
Piper wanted to puke. She didn’t want this particular song to be another prop in their love story.
I never wanted to say goodbye
“I can’t,” she whispered to herself. Jumping off the stool, she avoided Ben’s concerned frown, leaving her own bacon burger on the counter as she rushed from the room, not stopping until her bedroom door slammed behind her. The tears broke free, rushing furiously down her face as she ripped her notebook from beneath the mattress and opened it to the page she knew would be missing.
Quinn never left evidence behind that her songs were not her own.
“Not that one, Quinn.” In all these songs she tried to keep hidden, “Goodbye” was the one she couldn’t bear to hear hit the airwaves. She flopped onto her bed and buried her face in the pillow as she recalled the rest of the words she’d written.
There was zero chance Quinn didn’t understand the meaning of the words she sang. She wasn’t an idiot.
