Page 71 of Love is a Lyric
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Piper
Piper couldn’t stare at Ben without a cord squeezing the oxygen from her lungs. So, she didn’t. Her eyes bounced around the room, settling on the notebook sitting on her bed, the one full of half-finished songs. She hadn’t finished a single song since ripping up her old notebook and giving years’ worth of music to Quinn, since returning home.
It would be so easy to tell Ben the truth about everything, to make him see the music had never led him to her sister.
But then what? Would he fall hopelessly in love with her because of this idea that they were connected? She’d seen it before. For so many years, Ben and Quinn fell deeper into a relationship based on this idea they were meant to find each other. Their entire careers centered around the love that didn’t truly exist.
“I won’t be a replacement for Quinn.” The words popped out before she could call them back.
“Piper—” He stepped further into the room. “You don’t understand.”
“I do actually. Last night was a mistake.”
“Don’t say that.”
She finally lifted hard eyes to his. “Have you read what they’re saying about me?”
His silence was answer enough.
“I’m a band wrecker, a home wrecker. I betrayed my sister. The worst kind of woman. This is what the world now thinks of me.”
“None of it’s true.”
“I know that, but it doesn’t change the facts, Ben. We should never have let it get that far.” For once in her life, she wanted to be strong for herself, not for anyone else.
“I think I’m—”
“Don’t say it. Benjamin Evans, don’t you dare say it.” If he told her how he felt, she’d waver. She’d fall into his arms, wanting to pretend this didn’t have to hurt so much.
“Piper.” He stepped close, one hand traveling up her arm. The side of his head rested against hers, their breaths syncing.
She didn’t want to say anything, to break the moment.
“I was going to leave,” he whispered. “This morning, I sat on Chase’s couch convincing myself to just go back to my life in L.A.”
“And now?”
“Now, I don’t know what I’m doing.”
She closed her eyes, soaking in his nearness as the words of the press rolled through her mind on repeat. She wasn’t that girl.Fatecouldn’t end because of her. Ben needed his music more than he’d ever needed anything else.
“I haven’t finished a song,” she whispered.
“What?” He pulled back to look into her eyes.
“Since we left Florida, I haven’t finished a song.” Songwriting normally came so easy for her, like the lyrics flowed from her heart to her pen. She sat on the corner of the bed, lifting the notebook into her lap. “We’re like these songs, Ben. Unfinished. Unpolished. And most of them will never get their endings.”
A love song was like life, taking the listener through the highs and lows before giving them their happily ever after. But many songs never went through the process. A promising start didn’t mean a satisfying ending. Many ended up as forgotten pages crumpled in the trash can.
Were they a forgotten lyric?
Or were they a song that didn’t belong to her? One she’d given to Quinn just like everything else.
“You could never replace Quinn.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
Piper’s heart stuttered as pain enveloped it. “I know.”
