Page 73 of Counterpoint and Harmony

Coda

Coda:literally tail; a passage that brings a piece or movement of music to an end

Lauren

I walk in from the kitchen carrying a pitcher of margaritas and three glasses in time to hear Gabby ask Charlie, “So things are going good with you and Damian? Even though you’re doing the long-distance thing?”

Charlie sees me and stands, taking the glasses from my hand as she answers. “Yeah. I mean, it would be great if we could do what you and Jonathan are doing, but he still has another year left of school. I’m moving back to Spokane, though, so when I’m not in the studio or when I’m on breaks from touring, I’ll be here.”

Gabby’s forehead wrinkles. “I thought you were keeping your place in LA.”

“Yeah. For now, at least, since I’m still finishing up my album. It makes sense to hang onto it. But we found a great condo here with good security. Damian’s going to move in at the end of the semester, once his lease is up. And he can travel with me during the summer.”

Gabby opens her mouth, and from the look on her face, I know she’s going to criticize something, but she catches my look and falls silent.

“I think it sounds great,” I say. “Not everyone can join their hot rockstar boyfriend”—I nod toward Charlie—“or girlfriend on tour and help them write songs and be amazing.”

Charlie gets a dreamy look on her face. “Damian makes me amazing without doing any of that.”

I grit my teeth and give her a smile, tamping down the jealousy that rears up that both my closest friends have perfect relationships, and I have …

Well, I have memories of a road trip and sporadic visits and phone calls from the guy I’m hung up on. Oh, and let’s not forget Facebook stalking, where I console myself that his relationship status still shows as single even when I see him posting pictures of himself with other girls.

For someone who accused me of being a man-eater, it’s funny that he seems to be such a manwhore.

But why am I surprised?

He’s hot, he’s got that whole “I used to be a popstar” thing going for him since he was the drummer for Brash, and now that Jonathan is famous again and they occasionally join him for Brash reunion sets, Brendan and Colt get more media attention than they used to.

Colt eats it up, of course, but that, again, is no surprise.

Brendan, though … he seems like he’d prefer to be away from the public eye, content to be on the production side rather than the performance side now.

That surprised me. Everything about Brendan surprised me, if I’m being honest.

But really, I need to get over it. I need to get over him. We had a road trip, a fantasy, a fairy tale. But it had to end. And like all fairy tales, the happily ever after is just a myth.

I haven’t heard from him in over a month now. Not since he showed up out of the blue apologizing for missing my recital. I need to focus on finals, what I’m going to do this summer, applying for grad schools, and preparing my senior recital.

I don’t have time for boys, much less ones who run so hot and cold that I get the worst of both worlds—burned and frozen at the same time.

A knock on the door stops Gabby and Charlie’s conversation and pulls me out of my dreary thoughts. Grateful for the distraction, I stand. “I’ll get it.”

But when I pull the door open, the person standing there is the last person I expect to see. As though my thoughts conjured him, drawing him here. Though if that were possible, he should’ve been here a million times between Christmas break and now.

“Who is it?” Gabby’s voice calls from the other side of the door.

When I answer, my voice is only a rough whisper. “Brendan.”