Rhythm of Love

Nora’s Point of View

Down in Damien’s basement, I sat on my knees in front of one of the cement walls, the only completely blank one. My eyes traced every crevice, every crack, until I leaned my head back and snapped it forward, connecting my forehead with the speckled, cracked wall. Instantly, I fell to my side in pain and let out a cry of agony. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Noah standing at the doorway leading up to the main floor. His face held frustration at my idea of self-punishment and seconds later he stood above me with a glass of water, a furrowed brow, and pursed lips.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t dump this on you.”

I let out an exasperated sigh, continuing to lay on the dank carpeted flooring. “Don’t have one.” He sighed and sat on the wall next to my head and stretched out his legs in front of him.

“Well, you can’t be acting like this forever,” he murmured, stroking my hair. “We have to practice. The Battle of the Bands competition is coming up soon, you know. We need to have our female lead in top shape.” My head perked up at the mention of the music competition. I had totally forgotten!

Battle of the Bands was a music competition for all bands in the general area to compete in; and, by ‘general area’, I mean at least five to ten other towns take part in it. Through a series of different competitions, even those that put a few teams into groups for group competitions, a panel of judges and the audience decide who moves on a becomes the champion. Before I had even found out about going to France, we had been thinking about entering as a rookie band and seeing how far we’d go just for fun. However, due to the abrupt move, my band decided to not go ahead with the competition, claiming they lost their ‘secret weapon’. Of course, they had a fully able band with a vocalist, lead guitarist, bassist, and drummer so there really was no reason for them not to. But still, it was sweet of them to wait for me.

My eyes must have been bugging out of my head, because there were a few chuckles at the door. Noah and I turned to see Dylan, Damien, and Troy grinning like Cheshire Cats. However, Damien took notice of my red forehead and tearing eyes and sighed before saying, “Nora, calm down. Seriously, you need to grow a bit of a backbone sometimes. None of this was your fault, Alex even said so. Okay?” But that’s the thing, I thought, grimacing at him. It’s not okay. Noah looked between the two of us and sighed.

“Maybe today isn’t a good day to practice…” he mumbled, standing up and drinking the glass of water. “I mean, it seems you two still have some issues to settle. Sure we’re behind on all this, but we can’t work well if we have two six year olds bickering about unrelated subjects.” I was about to protest, saying that it was all Damien’s fault for bringing it up when he added, “Let’s all go out and do something, like old times. It’s been awhile since we all hung out, and now that Nora’s back it can be just like when we were all little kids.” A grin spread on my face and I jumped to my feet.

“I second that notion!” I squealed, bouncing around before sprinting between the group of males and up the stairs. “Let’s go!”



“This is not exactly my idea of fun,” I groaned as the four boys flashed their IDs to the club bouncer. Of course this was their idea of fun, they were legal, single, beer-loving males. Me on the other hand? I would qualify as under aged, hater of all liquor, and I wasn’t even sure what my relationship status was. Eli and I were definitely getting along really well, but I hadn’t seen him since a few days ago, when all shit fired down on our little town.

Damien was the only one who turned around, however he just flashed a grin at me and mouthed, “Just wait there for a bit. We’ll be out early!” Oh yeah right. More like after midnight.

The bouncer eyed me carefully as I sat with my legs stretched out on the cement sidewalk, humming Chasing Car just because of the similar situation. He seemed unsure of what to do with me, whether it was alright to just leave me sitting there or if he should shoo me away. This conflict was evident on his face and I tried to be discreet in me watching him but I was sure he saw my lips twitch into a grin. However, if he did notice this, he made no effort to show it.

As seconds turned into minutes and minutes into an hour, my day was slowly taking a turn for the worse. So far, I’ve seen about one hundred things I could have lived without seeing, nonetheless in public. My mind wandered to what the guys were even doing in there; were they flirting with all of the girls, or were they just drinking like alcoholics? The thought of alcohol made my stomach twist into a knot at the remembrance of a few days ago. I can’t take it, I thought as I abruptly got to my feet and, after waving to the bouncer, headed in a familiar direction. With every step, I felt anger seep through my veins and my light steps turn into frustrated stomping. Even when I arrived at the vacant park and started through the bushes and forestry, my anger only escalated. How could it not? Ever since I came back to the one place I thought I could call home, all I’ve felt is heart break, sadness, confusion, and anger. There were those few joyful moments, like singing at The Rev and going on the date with Eli, but each one somehow turned into a bitter moment. All due to the same reason or, more accurately, the same person.

As I approached the weeping willow, I glared at it’s lifeless form and then peered down at the initials engraved in it. E.B&N.M

With a growl that bubbled up from the back of my throat, I braced myself and smashed my foot against the bark in a fit of rage. “I still love you, damn it!” I shouted to the whistling wind and the full moon. Anger seeped out of my voice with every breath until I was left with frustration. “Damn it all! You idiot!”

But that last statement wasn’t to him. It was for me.