Page 96 of Love is a Lyric
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Ben
You will not fall in love with her because of her words. She is good, Ben. The kind of person who doesn’t belong in our world.
Quinn’s words still echoed in Ben’s head, and he could no longer deny the truth of them.
Was that why Piper lied to him? Why she let him believe the words that spoke to him, the ones he felt with every chord of music, weren’t hers?
She’d seen this coming, the day of truth.
But she hadn’t wanted it.
Ben stared at the TV screen, watching people fall in love without even seeing each other.Love is Blindwas addictive, if unbelievable. But hadn’t he fallen in love with someone without knowing who she truly was?
No. He shook his head despite the fact he was alone and no one would see him. The music didn’t make him blind. Not anymore. He knew who it was speaking to him. Just as he knew she’d never believe the music wasn’t the reason he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
“Gah, I really messed this up, didn’t I?” He spoke only to the TV screen and the couples who were completely oblivious to the train wreck he already saw coming for them.
The front door of the apartment banged open, and Chase walked in, setting his computer bag on the counter and dropping his keys next to it. “Please tell me you aren’t sitting here in the dark watching a dating show.”
Ben shrugged. “I won’t tell you, then.”
Chase crossed the room and dropped onto the couch. “Love is Blind.” He snorted. “What a crock of—”
“Hey! They’re falling in love without considering appearances. What’s so wrong about that?”
“Yes, but they still talk of hoping the girls are hot. And if they weren’t? If this show had a woman who didn’t have a flat stomach or long, beautiful hair? There’s no way the couples would last. These guys are still shallow, even if they can’t see the women.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Chase lifted a brow. “Are we really arguing about a dating show right now?” He pointed to Ben. “My rockstar brother, ladies and gentlemen.”
Ben lifted the remote and turned off the TV. “It’s just…” He couldn’t finish the sentence.
When he’d arrived at Chase’s door five days ago, he’d told him everything. How he never stopped thinking of Piper. That the video of her singing was everything.
And then the information that could end his career. Quinn’s lies. Piper’s lies. It all fell out of him, landing at Chase’s feet in a messed-up blob.
Chase let him stay, he helped him avoid the rest of the world, not even telling their parents he was here.
Picking up Ben’s discarded phone from the coffee table, Chase looked to him. “You ever going to turn this back on?”
Ben sighed. He’d imagined the messages sitting unanswered. Melanie, the guys and gal of Rockstars Anonymous, Quinn, Conner.
But all he wanted was to see one name flash across the screen. Yet, Quinn’s words continued their loop.Don’t love her just for the music.
“I talked to Quinn today.”
Ben’s eyes snapped to Chase. “Why would you do that?”
“She called me.” He shrugged. “Remember, she’s part of my family too. Even ifFateis breaking up. You didn’t tell me that part.”
“I didn’t know we were.” That was only a half-truth. He’d known what walking out the door in that moment would have meant.
“Your music, brother, it helps people. It helped me a lot over the years. It’s good. Really good. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you that. When your first album released, Piper downloaded it to her phone, and the two of us used to take blankets and lots of Milk Duds to the woods. We’d lay there for hours, and I was so proud of my big bro and his music.”
Ben shifted his eyes away. “That’s the thing, Chase. It wasn’t my music.”
