With Love...

rekindle a lost friendship

BELLE

"Do you have any idea what this is going to do to your career?" Haley scolded me in my living room as she paces around. I can practically see the smoke coming out of her ears she so upset with me.

I groan and throw my head back onto the couch. I have had this constant back-and-forth with Haley for half an hour about how much of a toll my being home for an extensive period of time will have on my career. technically, after my tour, I was supposed to go on all these talk shows and have all these meetings and outline my next album, blah blah blah. Whatever. I haven't thought about any of that since the tour ended.

I've honestly been wholly focused on Theo and Theo alone. I think I'm starting to get through to him. Very slowly at least. He doesn't look at me with complete resentment when I speak which I think is a step in the right direction. He also responds more when I speak. which is another positive step. Then again, anything that isn't years of absolute silence between the two of us is a positive step.

However, Haley yelling at me right now just makes me wanna bash my head into a wall. Repeatedly.

"Haley, my career is fine. Just because I'm taking a break and want to be in touch with reality again, does not mean my career will come crashing down. that's not how this works. You think I'm stupid," I explain to her.

Haley stops and looks at me, looks at Bep, and then looks at me again. "He's staying here and watching you. I hope you know that. The second your career starts to go downhill, he is taking you back to Los Angeles."

I dismiss her with a shake of my head and she immediately starts tapping at her phone and storming out of the room. I hear her acknowledge my parents before the front door slams right after her. I close my eyes and sigh before leaning back again.

I love music. I always have. I just don't know if it's worth going back to. I realize how much I lost when I left the first time and I know Theo is waiting for me to drop the bomb that I'm going to leave again. And I know how much it's going to hurt him when I have to.

I run to my room and grab my guitar before going out to the front porch and taking a seat on the first step. I strum a couple chords, trying to find a good groove before I begin playing a melodic tune and humming along to it. My brain scrambled with lyrics trying to find how this would even fit but nothing seems to click.

"Hey," Theo says and startles me. I look up at him taking in his appearance. He's dressed in jeans and some work boots and an old tshirt. His hair is a little messy but not in a bad way.

"You scared me," I tell him and strum another chord.

"Are you working on something?" he asks me as he takes a seat a step or two below me. He looks up at me, his beautiful eyes capturing mine for a few moments and I practically melt into him for a split second.

I shrug and continue to strum lightly. "I don't know. It'd be easier if I just had my journal. I had pages of lyrics in there, but I can't find it anywhere."

He just stares at me. "Well, just get a new one. Write more lyrics."

I shake my head. "I want the ones in that book. My life is in that book. My immediate raw emotions for years are in that book."

He doesn't say anything for a couple minutes and the sound of my guitar fills the silence. The soft chirping of birds and the sound of a lawn mower humming in the distance.

"I remember when you got that journal," he tells me and I look at him confused.

"You do?"

He nods. "It was your sixth birthday, I think? Maybe your seventh. You had that mermaid themed party and invited the whole grade. The boys made fun of you because they said it was only a girl party."