Page 113 of Composed
A bead of sweat rolls down my nape. “And now?”
She beams, her eyes glitter, her cheeks round, and fucking fireworks explode throughout my veins.
“Why don’t you go find out?” She tips her head in the direction of the boxes.
I push up onto shaky knees and shuffle across the floor.
The first box I pull down is lighter than I expect.
I peel back the lid, my chest thumping when I get a good look at what’s inside.
I pull out a worn, aged festival wristband.
My brows rocket upward. “Is this the one where Ax threw his bass in the puddle?”
Hendrix chuckles. “Yeah, that’sthe one.”
I hear her move closer.
Then her fingers brush mine as she digs through the box.
She pulls out a photo and waves it in front of my face. “And this was the time you threw a fit because they told you not to swear on stage.”
I snatch the picture and laugh. “Why did I let Ax talk me into red highlights?”
Hendrix hums, noncommittal as she glances at me. “I thought you were cute back then.”
“You were biased.”
She shrugs, a smile on her face as she lifts a wad of pictures out and spreads them across the floor.
She leans over them before pointing at an old one of Saint in year twelve with a spectacular bleach blond buzzcut. “Now that was a bad idea.”
I shake my head and roll my lips. “God, that was the day he strolled up to Theo in the lunchroom and asked if she loved his new hair.”
“He really thought she’d be into it because he’d overheard her talking about how fit she found Eminem in theStanmusic video.”
“Man. What a time to be alive.” I flick through all the pictures, my grin widening with each one. “I’d forgotten about half this stuff.”
She shoves another box in front of me.
All my old notebooks sit inside, all her notebooks, allours.
“You kept everything?”
“Uh-uh.” She sucks in her lip stud. “I told you, I wasn’t ready to let go, Rock Star.”
My jaw slackens as I flick through the first notebook in the hefty pile.
There are hundreds of unused songs living in these pages. Every emotion we felt, every word we said to one another, lives right there, in the black book sitting in my hands.
I look up, the room blurring around me until the only thing I see is her.
“Cole, I—”
“You want to go do something today?” I blurt, before I can think better of it. I consider taking it back, but then she looks up at me, her lips twitching and I don’t. “Just you and me?”
She breathes a laugh. “Are we not already doing something today? Kinda why I’m here. You know, music, work, songs?”
