Page 43 of Love is a Lyric
13
Piper
They’d settled into a quiet summer routine at the Evans house, one that reminded Piper of why she loved this family so much. Julia spent her days puttering around the house, cleaning and fixing things. The woman was seriously a superhero.
Jonathan always came home from work tired but smiling.
Chase hung around in the evenings, playing video games with his brother and just being there.
And Ben… sweet, sweet Ben who Piper had never gotten to know as anyone other than her sister’s Ben, the guy Quinn ran around with as kids, the one she made music with as adults.
Now, there was no Quinn between them. The band was never far from her mind because their future was still up in the air. As far as she knew, Ben hadn’t decided what he’d do about anything. He went from moping around the house to cackling in laughter around the dinner table.
It was enough to give a girl whiplash, but she was glad his family lightened the load hanging around his neck. For the last year, she’d toured the world withFate, surrounded by people who wanted something from them. There were concerts, parties, and after parties. It was every bit the rock tour.
It was a young man with a guitar’s dream, one most never reached. And yet, as she watched Ben chat with his dad around the fire they’d built in the pit near the deck, she realized she hadn’t seen him that relaxed in a long time.
His phone buzzed in her pocket. Call her crazy, but she’d taken to carrying both her phone and his in the oversized pockets of her cotton shorts. She hadn’t looked at his messages. That would be an invasion of privacy, but the buzzing didn’t stop. Text after text came in until she couldn’t take it anymore.
She pulled the phone out, her eyes going wide at the number of messages on the lock screen.
Drew. That didn’t surprise her as much as it would have last week.
Dax. He’d told her they knew each other.
Noah Clarke… Her breath quickened at the thought of the British bad boy.
Jo… Jackson? The drummer who’d driven her to the airport with Drew.
Why were they all in a group chat together? Five of the biggest rock stars at the label were… friends?
She let her eyes linger on the messages.
Noah: Drew told us what’s up, brother.
Jo: Yeah, some girl was pathetically upset about it.
Piper’s eyes narrowed until she read Drew’s message.
Drew: Lay off Piper.
She smiled.
Noah: If you don’t answer one of our million messages, dude…
Jo: (Eye roll emoji) these boys take RA way too seriously.
RA? She didn’t get a chance to read the rest of the messages because the phone rang, and Dax Nelson’s name appeared on the screen. She threw the phone into the grass with a scream. One tap of her thumb, and she’d be on the phone with the man whose music haunted her dreams.
Well, the other man whose music haunted her dreams. Ben’s was better, and she was totally biased.
Chase gave her a “what the heck” look before going back to his conversation with his mom.
Piper stared at the phone until it went dark. She lifted her eyes to the flickering flames, trying to make herself believe it was years ago and she’d never left this house. Everything had been so simple then. She and Chase held bonfires with their friends when the weather allowed. When it didn’t, they invited people over for game nights.
Yes, she was aware how incredibly lame they were, but she’d liked lame. She’d never dreamed of fame like Quinn. She didn’t want people screaming her name and inviting her to crowded parties. Maybe that was why she allowed Quinn to have the songs. The words deserved recognition even if the girl behind them did not.
Her phone buzzed, and she sighed when she saw Conner’s name. It was probably Quinn because Piper hadn’t been answering any of her sister’s calls. Standing, she excused herself. It was time to deal with this. She couldn’t stay… not angry exactly, more like disappointed.
