The Sound of You **on hold**

Chapter 11

Dawson

I'm sitting at the end of Adelaide's couch, and her neck is resting at, what looks like, an uncomfortable angle on my chest. I put my hand under her head and move her to laying down on the couch, with her head in my lap. I sit and rub her arm with my hand.

She must be exhausted if my repositioning her didn't stir her at all. I can only imagine what twelve hours of staring at a computer would do to her in a day. I watch her chest rise and fall with her breath, thankful that she's giving me a chance after I told her everything about my idiot brother and our stupid games.

I study her, noticing her long lashes twitch with the movement of her eyes darting around under her lids. Faint freckles are splayed across her cheeks. She's got a large brown freckle on her ear, in line with two piercings in her lobe, and one in the cartilage. I see a purple line near her hairline at the back of her neck, and I wonder what sort of accident she may have had or if it's a surgical scar of some sort.

Loud audience laughter brings my attention back to the television screen, and I see movement out of the corner of my eye, drawing my eyes to look out the window. I see someone coming up the walkway in the dark, maybe carrying something large. As much as I hate to wake her, I don't think it would be right for me to answer her door, so I nudge her gently.

"Adelaide." I say softly. "Someone is coming to your door."

She stirs, and sits up slowly, looking from the TV to me. "Oh, I'm sorry for falling asleep!" She gets up and heads to the door as someone tries the knob.

The sound of a key clicking in the lock on the door grabs my attention. I didn't think it looked like Pauline walking up the front of the house, who could it be at this hour?

"Fuck!" Adelaide swears, just barely audibly, looking through the peephole. She unlocks the door and opens it. "What are you doing here?"

The guy, who I'm pretty sure is her brother, walks in carrying a guitar case over his back, and a plastic 7-Eleven bag in his hand. Stella sits in front of him, her tail wagging excitedly, waiting for his attention. He pats her on the head. "Well, I felt bad that I forgot we were going to practice and I thought if you were up we could get some in, since I got out of work early."

I stand up politely, watching their interaction, expecting a proper introduction this time. Adelaide is glaring at him angrily, but I can't tell why. He notices me stand up and points his thumb to me. "Is this the guy you went out with the other night?"

"Well you'd really be throwing me under the bus if he wasn't, wouldn't you? Should I slam the door in your face now?" She says sarcastically to him, with her closed fist on her hip.

"Easy..." He furrows his brow, pumping his palm face down at her.

"Sorry. Brooks, this is Dawson. Dawson, my brother Brooks."

I stride over with my hand outstretched. Brooks takes my hand firmly in his. His jaw tenses as he takes me in. His aqua blue eyes study mine, possibly searching for something. He's got the same freckles across his face as his sister, but they are more pronounced. He probably appears my height, or slightly taller, with the mop of curls he has on his head, the sides shaved like mine. It makes me wonder if Aunt Linda tried something too trendy for me with my hair.

"Sorry for slamming the door in your face the other night bud." He says to me, the tension in his face relaxing.

"No problem." I say, "Nice to meet you properly. What kind of guitar you got there?"

He slides the case off of his shoulder. "A Rickenbacker."

"Electric?"

"Acoustic." He sets it on a nearby table and clicks it open. "You play?"

"A little. Haven't played since my Huawind drowned last year though." I look at Adelaide, who looks nervous. "Do you play Adelaide?"

"No!" She just about yells, looking urgently at her brother. "Brooks brings it to play around with sometimes. He says we practice when really he means he practices and I watch."

Brooks narrows his eyes at Adelaide, and I think maybe he's offended that she seems to be making a dig at him.

He nods. "I'll uh, get going then?" He says, looking at Adelaide. She looks back and forth from me to him. She's hiding it well, but she seems unsure. She did mention earlier that she needed some sister-brother time, and I know she's tired.

"Actually," I say, "I was just going to get going."

Adelaide's eyes focus on me, disappointed. Maybe that's not what she wanted. Shit. She is really hard to read. But she nods, crossing her arms over her body and rubbing her hands on them.

Brooks snaps his fingers at Stella and she stands at his side, "I'll just take her out for a minute." And he disappears out the door, leading the dog to the back yard.

"That's decent of him." Adelaide snorts. "Sorry I didn't turn out to be much company."

"I didn't mind." I say, wrapping my arms around her waist, bringing her into me, "When can I see you again?"

"I could still do coffee tomorrow if you want. Or Wednesday is my first day off." She bats her eyes and looks up at me, and shit, I loosen my grip on her so she doesn't think I'm pressing my sudden erection into her intentionally.

"Coffee tomorrow it is." I smile. She wraps her arms around my neck, and pulls my mouth to hers, parting her lips, letting me slide my tongue along with hers. She presses her body to mine, and I lose the shame of my arousal, wishing her brother wasn't right outside.

The gentleman that I am, I don't want her brother to walk in on us kissing. So I reluctantly pull away, leaving her with a peck on her lips, then on her cheek. "I will see you tomorrow."

I wave at her brother along the side of the house as I make my way to my SUV.

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A short one... I think a lot of the time in Dawson's head is going to be relatively short. Songs for this chapter will be included at the end of the next one because I wrote them together!

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, please vote and comment!!