The melody evolved through my fingers as the words continued to take shape, line after line, verse after verse, nothing grand or dramatic, only devastatingly honest. By the time I reached the chorus, my hand slowed.
The truth stared back at me from the page.
This wasn’t just a song. It was a confession.
On impulse, I picked up my phone from the coffee table where I’d left it. There was only one person I trusted to do this song justice. I opened my messages and typed.
For when you wake up. I want you to take a look at something.
Three dots appeared almost immediately.
Julian: What makes you think I’m asleep? And why are you awake at 3 in the morning?
I could ask you the same question.
I just got home. I got invited to a sex party. What’s your excuse?
I glanced at the notebook next to me. I wrote something.
Three dots.
Do I get any more than that?
I wrote a song.
Three dots. *That* kind of something.
I exhaled slowly. If I send it, can you look at it tomorrow?
The typing bubble appeared again.
Send it now.
This assumes you can read my scrawl.
I snapped a photo of the page and sent it. Thirty seconds passed.
This is beautiful. Is there music?
Yes.
Can you send that too?
Give me a minute.
I clicked on voice recorder, set my phone down, and played the whole thing. I sent the recording.
OK, I’ll listen in the morning.
I chuckled as I typed. It *is* morning.
We can talk about this in rehearsal. Night.
Apparently, Julian had run out of either words or steam.
I left my phone of the table and crept back to the bedroom. Quinn was still curled on his side, one arm stretched across the space where I’d been lying earlier.
I slid back into bed beside him, and within seconds he shifted closer, pressing against me.