The Music to His Lyrics

Harry was trying his very best to concentrate on remembering the melody he had been working on with Emma three days ago. He sat at the piano with his composition notebook on the music stand and a pencil behind his ear. Every now and then he would play a few notes and cross out or edit lines of lyrics in the notebook. Ted and Cole were in their rooms, playing Conquest for the Galactic Empire on their widescreen on the wall across from their bunks. It was on surround sound; loud enough so that even Harry, from his place at the keyboard in the rec room, could hear the humming sound of the music and the whooshing noise being made by the laser beams being shot by the war faring ships in the videogame.

Harry put on his ipod headphones and replayed the track from the demo CD sent in with the fan letter. The girl’s voice on the track blew his mind. It inspired him to continue focusing on his work. He felt as though he was on the verge of coming up with something new to add to the song he wanted to finish by Thursday when he found himself subconsciously playing the opening jingle from the videogame the twins were playing. Frustrated, Harry set his ipod aside, and decided to simply close his eyes and listen to what else was occurring around him to gain a sense of focus. Instead, he decided to subtly listen in on the conversation Steve and Jared were having.

“The doc says he’s doin’ fine. Cole’s come a long way in such a short amount of time. With luck and some of the prescribed medication, he’ll be healthy and up on his feet again by Friday,” Steve said with a smile.

“That's perfect.” Jared smiled.

A moment later, Steve’s cell began to ring, and he quickly whispered, “I need to take this call,“ before switching to his headset, walking outside of the tour bus, and closing the door behind him.

In an instant, Jared switched on his own cell phone and dialed a series of numbers. He slipped off his jacket, tossed it on to the sofa behind him, and began to pace back and forth, pressing the phone closely against his ear. Harry placed his ipod headphones on, but left the end unplugged in his pocket. He preoccupied himself with scribbling swirls onto a piece of scrap paper he had crumpled up while listening in on Jared‘s harsh whispers.

“Baby, I can’t today. I have somewhere else to be around six.“ he mumbled, cupping his other ear with his hand.

“Baby?” Harry thought to himself, “Jared only ever called Emma by her last name: Parker. The closest he had ever gotten to a pet name for her was sweetheart.”

Maybe Harry was jumping to conclusions with scant traces of evidence. What boyfriend didn’t call their special girl ‘baby’ every once in a while? Nonetheless, he decided he’d get a better idea of what was going on if he could hear Jared’s voice more clearly.

A curious Harry walked over to the kitchen, pretending to bob his head to a beat that wasn’t being played by his ipod. Across from the sofa, Jared was pacing back and forth, pressing his phone against his cheek in order to hear whoever was on the other line. Opening the refrigerator door, Harry pretended to be incredibly interested in the last slice of New York cheesecake. While serving himself the slice, he heard the rest of Jared’s conversation.

“I’ll only be able to stop by for an hour, an hour and a half tops,” Jared continued uneasily as he eased himself on to the couch. He had caught Harry looking at him with a confused expression on his face. It was then that Harry noticed that Jared‘s tone was hushed.

“You okay with that?” he spoke into the phone, glancing at Harry who was eyeballing him while eating the slice of cheesecake by the kitchen countertop.

“What?” Harry said in an annoyed tone.

Jared shook his head, and quickly finished the conversation in a rush, saying, “All right. Well, I’ve got to go now. I’ll see you in a bit then. I know the time crunch is a hassle, but we’ll make the most of what we’ve got. Okay. Bye. Yeah, me too.”

Jared hung up his phone and shoved it into his pocket. He quickly pulled his jacket over his shoulders and walked over to the kitchen where Harry was finishing up the slice of dessert.

“Who was that?” Harry asked, taking off one of the ear buds of his ipod headphones.

“Miss Lauret, the lady in charge of setting up the venue for Night of Dreams. She wanted to confirm everything about how we wanted the stage, the lights, and the equipment set up over a late lunch,” Jared replied nonchalantly as he took a can of Red Bull out of the refrigerator and snapped open the pop tab.

“Isn’t that Steve’s job?” Harry said, placing his plate and fork in the sink.

“I can’t help him out?” Jared asked.

Harry raised an eyebrow and asked, “Weren’t you going to take Emma out later when she came over after work?”

“Yeah,” Jared replied with a nod, “I haven’t forgotten.”

“Are you going to have enough time for both?” Harry asked.

Jared shrugged his shoulders and grabbed his wallet off of the top of the counter, saying, “I’ll make some time.”

With that, Jared walked out of the tour bus, holding the door open for Steve, who was finishing up his business call.

The door shut behind Steve, and he hung up his phone call, turned to Harry, and said, “I just got off the phone with Miss Lauret, the young lady in charge of the stadium set up for Night of Dreams. I told her about Cole‘s condition, and she said she‘d make everything in order for us so that the performance goes well.”

“Really?” Harry said, raising an eyebrow.

“I have to make one more call,” Steve said, “It has to do with the tickets for the previous concert that we postponed. Then everything should be in order.”

Steve dialed a series of numbers and again exited the room. Harry was left thinking about Emma. He was worried about her. He knew that Jared was bound to break her heart at some time, but he hadn’t counted on him doing so this soon. Jared was cheating on her behind her back, just as he had done with all of those other girls.

Emma was getting played.

Harry's jaw clenched out of anger, as if a fire began to consume his entire body. He promised himself that he wouldn't let Jared hurt her anymore. He would tell her what was going on. The question was, would she believe him? And if she didn't, would it break apart the friendship they had built up over the last two weeks? At this point, he didn't care. He had to take his chances.

It was then that Harry truly realized how he felt about Emma. It was this feeling that had mesmerized him each time he saw her, every time he played the song he had wrote about her, and whenever she sat beside him on the piano to hum a melody. It was the feeling that led him to drown in his own envy each time he saw Jared wrap his arm around her, or plant a kiss on her soft lips. It was the feeling he had gotten in the pit of his stomach the moment he had met her, when he swore that an angel had fallen into his arms.

He was in love with her.