“So Zack I’m thinking if you pitch it there, and then finish with an A it would sound really good” My coach said, I tried it out, fingers flying across the neck of the guitar, he was right it did sound pretty good.

“Nice on Vince” I said giving him a high five, I wrote it onto the sheet music and typing a few things into the computer so that it would add the ending to the recording. “Right I’ll go get this recorded and I’ll give you the demo tomorrow” I said he nodded and tapped something else into the computer. I left to go to the recording studio to get my demo recorded. I saw
Darcy on the way there, she was with her friends, they giggled when they saw me and she waved, I nodded and carried on walking.

When I was done recording I put the vocals on, and it was done, this fucking project that had been consuming my life for the past six weeks was over and I was extremely relieved, I put the disk into my bag and shut my guitar case.

“That was amazing” I turned around and saw Darcy standing there.

“It’s just guitar” I said

“But that was amazing ”

“Are you following me?”

“No”

“I think you are”

“No I’m not, that makes me sound creepy” She smiled at me.

“I think you are following me” I said standing up “I think you’re following me and you’re being a little stalker because you want me to do the soundtrack for the showcase” I smiled down at her.

“You should be flattered I asked you to do it, I only get the good musicians in this place to do it”

“So you think I’m a good musician and you’re not just trying to get into my pants”

“I have other things to worry about other than when I’m going to get some from you Zack” She stood up so that our chests were almost touching, her face was pretty close to mine.

“Really because it seems like you can’t wait to get near me recently” I said

“I still think that you should’ve danced with me”

“I told you I don’t dance and Matt wants to do it with you, I finished my demo so I can
perhaps take a look at doing a track for you”

“You know you wanna do the track for me” She pressed herself against me, her hands resting on my sides.

“Why would I want to do it for you?” I asked her

“Because you like me”

“Whatever gave you that impression?” And then her lips were on mine again. I was startled again getting ready to push her away, but something made me hold on, to keep her lips against mine and not move away, her lips were soft and I got a little too caught in that moment.

“Because you didn’t pull away” She said softly against my lips. I knew I was blushing, I could feel my cheeks heat up, I had to talk my way out of this.

“But I’d be stupid to pull away you’re a very pretty girl”

“Girl”

“Yeah” I smirked at her. She scoffed.

“You’re a jerk” She picked up her bag and stormed out of the studio. I smirked at how flippant she was, but I also felt bad for making her pissed at me, she wasn’t that bad really, just had stupidly high expectations of me and how I could treat her, she likes me as more than a friend and I’m okay with that, she knows that I don’t return the feelings for her, and I’m okay with that too.

X-X-X

“I saw you with Darcy earlier” Brian elbowed me

“Yeah what about her?”

“She had her tongue down your throat”

“No she didn’t”

“Dude you’re fucking that ?!” Jimmy looked surprised “Can you set me up with one of her friends?” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“No I’m not fucking her, she kissed me earlier but I made it clear I wasn’t interested”

“Dude why?!”

“Because I’m not looking for a relationship right now” I said

“You’re an idiot”

“Maybe so but I don’t want to date a girl I barely know and that only really wants me for my
musical talents”

“Dude she wants the dick”

“I doubt it, I bet she’s still a virgin” I laughed.

“Even better” Jimmy rubbed his hands together.

“You shouldn’t talk about her like that” Matt said looking up from his book.

“But you haven’t thought about banging her?” Jimmy asked.

“No”

“Liar”

“No I just have respect for her” He said “She’s a dancer not a whore”

“Could be both?”

“Not likely”

“Matt you’re going soft on us”

“Whatever”

“Either way I don’t want to argue with you over a girl, if you want her she’s yours Matt”

“No she’s not, she likes you”

“Yeah I know”

“So why are you stringing her along like this”

“I’m not stringing her along, I’ve made it clear that I don’t like her back like the way that she likes me”

“But you kissed her back earlier”

“Fucking hell I did not! She kissed me!”

“But you still let her kiss you”

“For like five seconds”

“Longer than you would have let her kiss her if you didn’t like her back or weren’t stringing her along”

“Matt what crawled up your ass and died?”

“Fuck off Baker”

“Oooh he called me Baker he’s getting serious” I rolled my eyes and stood up “Text me when you decide to stop being an ass wipe. I said walking off, I made my way to the library in hope of catching up on some homework.

I ended up staying there for two hours, I got all my chemistry homework done as well as the English paper that I had due, and then I left to go home. When I got home the house was quiet so I could only assume that Dad was home and he’d taken my Mom out for dinner, as I entered the kitchen I knew I was right, there was a dish on the side for me with a post-it note on it.

Zacky, Dad came home, we’ve gone out to dinner, we’ll be home later tonight, try not to go too crazy, Mom xo .

I laughed to myself and threw the note in the trash, Mom had made me lasagne, I took the dish and shoved it in the microwave, when the timer went off I pulled it out, burning my fingers in the process before tucking into my dinner, it wasn’t all that late but I was tired from the day and the argument with Matt, so I just decided to go to bed. I was unconscious in minutes.