The Sound of You **on hold**

Chapter 12

Adelaide

"What was that?" Brooks asks accusingly.

"What was what?" I play dumb.

"I just come here to hear myself play do I?" He mocks.

I sigh. "I don't want him to know I sing just yet."

He quirks an eyebrow. "Didn't you meet him at Karaoke night?"

"Where I rapped to Eminem, Brooks." I sit on my couch, rubbing my eyes, remembering that 5 minutes ago, I was asleep. "If he knows about Thieves, he will want to come to the show on Thursday. That's not something I'm ready for."

"Ad, you have an incredible voice. You're going to be great."

"I'm not worried about that. There are some pretty personal songs in our set, Brooks. I'm not ready to explain why."

"Oh." He says awkwardly, "You could not sing those songs, you know... they are pretty new and unrehearsed."

"I know. But I need to."

He sits next to me on the couch, and wraps his arms around me. "You know, if this goes somewhere, you will have to tell him someday."

"Yes, I know." I let my head rest on his shoulder, hugging him back. "But I can take things slow with him and tell him in my own time."

We sit like that for a minute, then he lifts his head off of mine, "So have you done it with him yet?"

I roll my eyes, let go of him and swat him away from me, "That is none of your business!"

"Hey where's Pauline?" He looks at her bedroom door which is wide open, the doorway dark, clearly empty.

"On a date. Wait, she's not with you? I thought you two ditched me for each other." I wink at him jokingly.

"Only in my dreams!" I roll my eyes. They make these jokes all the time, but I never see either of them do any real flirting.

I clear the glasses and books off of my cajon and pull it out to sit on. I glance at the clock of the stove. It's late, but maybe I'll be able to sleep later during the day tomorrow if I deprive myself of sleep now. "Should we practice?"

Brooks and I down some Red Bull he brought with him, and breeze through a couple of our old songs, and we go over the newer ones I had written when I broke up with Nathan, synchronizing ourselves and perfecting the beats.

Around two in the morning, Pauline comes walking in.

"Woah! Someone had a good date!" I call to her.

"Baby girl, I'm hurt." Brooks holds his hand over his heart, wounded.

She looks at us unimpressed. She throws her coat and purse aside and comes to sit with us. She sees our notebooks and pencils sprawled out on the coffee table and the couch.

"What's all this?"

"Music." I say. Not in the mood to elaborate.

She glares at me. "Thank you Adelaide." She sneers. "Brooks, baby, why are we playing music at two AM on turnover night?"

He smiles brightly, "Because we need to be in tip top shape for Thursday night."

"A show?!" Her eyes go wide and she whips her head in my direction. "Really?!"

I smile, tilt my head, and turn my arms out in front of me with my palms in the air. Then I flash her a shiny fake smile. Despite my outward emotions about this upcoming gig, I'm actually really excited for it. We used to perform all the time. Then I started dating Nathan and as the drama increased, our shows became few and far between. Then I fell apart at our last show not long after our split and I haven't had the desire since. But I love performing. I love singing with Brooks and we complement each other's voices in harmony. The fact that we're related probably gives us an advantage in playing music together.