Broken Barbie

Chapter 7

“You play guitar?” he asked, his eyes lighting up. I paused for a moment, surprised by his reaction as I took another sip of my coffee. “Yeah.” I responded simply, not knowing what else to say. He smiled brightly and the corners of his eyes crinkled in that way that made me melt. “That’s so cool! I’ve always wanted to learn how to play an instrument, but I’m basically tone deaf.” he said, a soft pink dusting over his pale cheeks. I chuckled.

“Barbie, I’ve heard you sing. You’re anything but tone deaf.” I said. He looked up at me and his blush turned brighter. “Y-you’ve heard me sing? When?” he asked. I looked at him with a confused expression. “You were singing in the car on the ride over here.” I said. He looked down at his lap, as if he was ashamed. “Sorry. I thought I was being quiet.” he said. I was even more confused. “Why are you apologizing? You sounded like an angel.” I said. It was my turn to blush in embarrassment as I realized what I had said, Adrien’s crystal blue eyes looking into mine with surprise. “Really?” he asked, unsure of himself. If God was testing me right now, then they were a cruel being. Despite the perspiration on my palms, I simply smiled and nodded.

   
The holidays were over and I was a little peeved. After Christmas, Meri had told me that Adrien had been in town and was still avoiding me. Apparently she had heard it from Coach Kendra during her girlfriend’s cheerleading practice. How Meri landed a cheerleader, I would never know. I was currently playing around with the piano in the studio we had rented to practice our new songs. Logan especially liked the songs I had written this time. “Wow. You’ve been writing nothing but sad break up songs for ages. What’s with the change of heart?” he asked. I shrugged, trying not to give my inspiration away. 

“Guess I felt like trying something new. By the way, when are the Zodiacs planning on getting here?” I asked. Our bands had agreed on meeting today to start on our collaboration piece. “Should be here any minute. Scorpio said they were only sending one of their members while the rest of them fine tuned their set.” he said. 

“Any idea who it is?” Leah asked, packing up her keyboard and sheet music. 

“It’s definitely not Taurus. That kid couldn’t write music to save his life.” Lynn commented.

“Might be Capricorn. He is the leader of the group after all.” Luis added, unhooking his guitar from the amp. 

“Definitely not. He wrote their music before and let’s just say there was a reason they were a cover band for a while.” Logan stated.

“Then what changed?” I asked. 

“Sorry I’m late! My GPS was on the fritz.” 

I turned around to see Adrien stepping into the building, bundled up in a pastel pink and blue sweatshirt with faded skinny jeans and light gray sneakers. His glasses were askew as he speed walked into the room, loose sheet music and folders pressed against his chest by his thin arms. His messy blonde hair was covered by a soft, blue beanie and he was struggling to hold his car keys, phone and papers all at the same time. Leave it to Adrien to take on everything by himself. Logan helped him with the papers and greeted him. 

“Hello again, Gemini. How were your holidays?” he asked. He was being rather friendly with Adrien which set off my old jealous boyfriend nerves. I was surprised that I still had those emotions after so long.

“Good. Sorry that it’s just me. The rest of the guys like to dump me with the work since I took a composition class. One perfect score and suddenly I’m releasing albums.” he said, chuckling. Logan laughed and I noticed that Lynn was glaring daggers at Adrien. I suddenly remembered what she had said before we left for vacation and I tried to calm her down telepathically. It wasn’t working, since she wasn’t even looking at me.