We Can Be Forever

Siri woke up from a pleasant dream in which Jackson was teaching his little sister how to read. She smiled and touched her bare stomach. Even though the bump was not noticeable – most definitely not to Carson – she could tell the difference. She hadn’t decided when she would tell him about it because they had been talking about getting married and he had been on the fence about the whole thing. The last thing she wanted was to force him into a marriage out of obligation for their child. She had made sure that Jackson, in no way, should be the sole reason for their marriage. She wanted love, not just honor. She yawned, reaching to his side of the bed to find that it was empty.

She sat up and hummed at the sound of the rain outside. From across the room, she could see the time display on the digital clock become 8:09 PM. It had been raining ever since they got back to the house from their impromptu beach picnic. After their bath together, Siri and Carson decided to stay in bed for the rest of the day. Even though the storm has left Hawaii for quite some time, there was still some lingering rain. While she didn’t mind being inside, as long as she was able to spend time with her boyfriend, she really hoped the weather wasn’t going to stay like this for the rest of their vacation. She started to call out his name but her throat stung from their earlier activities so Siri cleared her throat before saying his name. “Carson?”

He didn’t answer, but she could hear the soft tones of his voice in the living room through the door that had been slightly ajar. He was talking to someone on the phone. When she got up, she pulled the blanket with her, letting it drag on the ground as she made her way to the living room of their rented vacation home. Was something wrong with Ruby? When Siri pulled the door open, she heard him say, “Adam, I don’t know about this.”

Adam? The first face that came to mind was that of Adam Levine’s. She remembered seeing him a while back at the restaurant on Jackson’s birthday and he had looked different. No longer the overly confident superstar with money and a supermodel girlfriend from Victoria Secret, he was just Adam Levine from Maroon 5, the singer. There was a sort of sullen humility to him that made him a little more tolerable to her than when she had first met him two years before when Carson joined The Voice as the host.

“Look, Adam, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but we both know what happened two years ago and honestly, I’m not very inclined to let it happen again.” It had been one of the few times she has ever seen Carson snap at someone, even if it had been on the phone. After a moment of silence, her boyfriend sighed and murmured softly, “I know… neither of us could have prevented it. Just… let me think about it, okay?”

When he hung up the phone, she sat down behind him, massaging his shoulders and asking gently, “What’s wrong? Is everything okay with Adam?”

“Yea, he’s fine,” Carson rubbed his eyes tiredly, “He said he ran into someone who reminded him of Ruby today and thought he would ask me for her contact information to look into her being Maroon 5’s opener for when they go on tour.”

“It was probably her,” she leaned against his back, yawning softly. When Carson hummed in agreement, she said, “And you don’t want to give it to him?”

She could feel him tense instantly as he asked, “I’ve never told you what happened, did I?”



“Hi. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but I’m actually deaf.”

There was a silence drowning everyone in that room with shock and disbelief. The girl, who had lulled everyone into their own little world with her song, was deaf? Carson bit his lips, wanting to tell everyone that she was lying and to hurry her up in choosing a judge and get off the stage, but he couldn’t. She didn’t want him to get in trouble and at this point, there wasn’t much he could do about it. She has made her choice. The first to shake her head was Christina. She bit her lips, having the most uncomfortable expression on her face, one that would never be seen on national television, and said, “I… I don’t know what to say, Ruby. Your voice is incredible and yet I feel like bringing you into the competition would be unfair to you. I can tell you have experience in singing but I just think it wouldn’t be fair to put you up against people who can hear while you can’t. I’m really sorry, but I can’t have you on my team.”

Ruby nodded, and turned to Blake when he said, “I love your voice, I really do, but I’m gonna have to agree with Christina. The song selection we have ranges from the classics to newly composed songs – in fact, in the last round, the competitors are expected to learn a song composed by a writer who has written for them specifically. I feel like you have tremendous talent, but this isn’t the show for you.”

“I understand, thank you,” Ruby said slowly, smiling sadly.

When it was his turn to speak, Cee Lo frowned, “Ruby, I am in awe by what you can do and the fact that you are speaking to me without any indication that you are deaf is just a peek of what America is missing, you had all of us under your spell from the moment you started singing and I have no doubt that America will love you, but I agree with Christina and Blake not only because they are right but because I don’t think I have that potential to place you where you need to be, to help you along with your gift in spite of the obstacles. I’m sorry, Ruby.”

Ruby was already preparing to leave the stage; she couldn’t look Adam in the eyes. She didn’t want to know what he had to say. He had been the first to press his button and he had laid out such a promise that she didn’t want it to break into pieces. She knew, from reading his lips, that he was the only one who could have helped her. She would have picked him, but now she was in no position to do so at all. It was over. The only thing keeping her from bursting into tears was Carson’s hand on her arm and as the seconds ticked past, she was becoming less and less certain that she was going to be able to keep from breaking down.

Adam was looking down at the small table attached to his seat with his fingers intertwined in front of him. It was only when he realized that everyone’s eyes were on him that he started to speak, “I’ll take you. That is, if you want me to be your coach. I believe that all the other coaches would agree with me if I were to say that today, you have humbled us all. I could hear not only the raw emotions in your voice, but my god! There was also that seductive confidence that had to have taken years to build up. I can tell you know what you’re doing. Even though there’s a communication barrier between us, I believe we can get past that and get you where you deserve to be. It would be an honor to work with you, Ruby.”

She could see the sea of people in the dark rise up and move their hands as though they were clapping, but she had stopped trying to read Adam’s lips when he said that he would take her. She thought that he had been lying to her or giving his regrets about not being able to add her to his team because it would stunt him. She stared blankly at him, trying to register what he had been saying. Did he truly say what she thought he said? Could she be dreaming?

Her fears were to be unfounded by to the gentle push of Carson’s hand and the sight of Adam standing up with his arms outstretched that propelled her forward. When Adam’s arms enclosed around her, she wrapped her arms around his waist tightly, letting her tears wet his shirt. His lips moved against her ears until he remembered that she could not hear him and he pulled back with a smile on his face and awkwardly wiped her tears away as he mouthed, “You’re going to inspire the world.”

After the show when Ruby stood backstage with Carson to wait for Adam, they couldn’t find him. She had wanted to thank him for taking a chance on her and to tell him that she would be working towards overcoming her disadvantage. She had watched the other singers come and go, and though she could not hear what they were singing, there were little nuances in the way they sang that let her know that they would be formidable opponents. While she had never seen herself going into competitive singing (in spite of the competitions in which she was involved during high school), Ruby truly thought this would be a good change for her.

She followed Carson around backstage, going through hallways after hallways. They had passed by Christina’s doorway and while she could not hear anything she was saying, she could tell the singer had been frustrated at something. When they had passed by Cee Lo’s door, a furry white cat ran out and brushed past her leg and she sneezed, being allergic as she was. They had run into Blake on the way out and he had been walking with his wife, Miranda. Ruby recognized the blonde country singer from her youth when she had to learn how to sing country music for a concert. She had admired the lady and her feisty style and in spite of their difference in heights, Blake and Miranda were perfect for each other.

She smiled and hugged her. Blake hugged her and said, “I’m sorry that you couldn’t be on my team, Ruby. I’m glad you picked Adam. It’ll be refreshing to have you on the show.”

She nodded and thanked him before turning to Miranda and speaking slowly, “I’ve admired your music in high school. I think Blake is lucky to have you.”

After talking for a while, Carson and she continued their way towards Adam’s room. She nearly ran into the older man when he stopped abruptly upon their turning the corner. There was suddenly a tense expression on his face as he watched the scene in front of him. Ruby frowned and peeked over his shoulder to see Adam with his back to them while he was speaking to an older gentleman outside of his dressing room. There was an expression that was mixed with both anger and annoyance on the man’s face. He was wearing a gray suit and immediately from his stature, one could tell he had a position of authority.

Adam, on the other hand, was rigid. He kept shaking his head and for moments at a time, she could sense the frustrated expression on his face as he responded to the gentleman. Ruby wanted to come closer to see what they were saying, but Carson stopped her. Finally when Adam punched the wall beside him and the man muttered something with a leer before turning around and heading down the hall. Adam kicked the wall and when Ruby started forward towards him, Carson stopped her.

Right then, Adam saw them and it was like on the stage when she couldn’t meet his eyes – only this time, it was the other way around.



“They disqualified her because of her condition?”

Carson nodded, “It was cruel, but I had to be the one to sit her down and tell her that continuing in the competition was only going to end up with her losing because there was no way the director and producers wanted someone like her on the stage. The show would lose its ratings if she were to leave and someone of her image was not what they were looking for in a singer. The producers decided that America was not ready for someone like her.”

“And what did Adam have to do with this? Didn’t he fight for her?”

“He did, but at the idea of his being kicked from the show, he gave up and Ruby was left by herself. We had to cut out that portion of the show and everyone had to act like it never happened.”

“No way, there must have been at least one person in the audience who spoke out against that.”

“We lied and said that she had received some sort of singing contract and therefore withdrew from the competition. Not everyone believed us, of course, but there was no evidence of the tape for any reporter to show and the cameras and other recording devices had already been taken up before everything had started. So if anyone said anything, it’s simply word of mouth. Over time as the competition started, people started to forget about her.”

“Carson, that’s not something everyone can help.”

“No, but Adam shouldn’t have raised her hopes in the first place. The worst part is why he did it.”

“What do you mean?”

“He knew what would happen to the show if they were to let her lose, so she was literally his lifeboat. When he was talking to the director, he was talking about how, with her singing abilities, Ruby could easily make it to the last round and what more did America need than to see someone win, especially someone who was fully capable of singing but at the same time, deaf? She would be a national treasure, don’t you see? Adam wanted to win and what pissed me off was that he was using her as a handicap win.”

“I don’t get it, what would he have gotten from this if they had won?”

“Another contract of their own, proceeds for being able to endorse a singer, fame, what else?”

Carson was tired and torn. It was easy to see why. It has been two years since his meeting with the younger girl and Siri could remember the day when he came home with the most desolate look on his face that all she wanted to do was hold him until he felt better. He told her that he had failed someone and no matter how much she tried to get it out of him, he would not talk about it. Now that she knew it was Ruby, she had a bias against Adam – knowing that he has done such a thing to her. It was unfair and part of her wanted to tell him that Adam should have no part in her life at all, but the opportunity that was presented made it so hard to not want to give him one more chance. If they could get her infection taken care of in time, she would be on her way to the tour, fully capable of drawing the world’s attention.

“What are you thinking of doing now?” she asked, rubbing his shoulder.

Carson let out a heavy sigh, “I don’t know, Siri. The reason why we brought her here is to help her back on her feet and when something like this comes up, I know it’s the perfect thing for her. Adam has changed since last year when he broke up with Anne and you remember seeing him the other day, he’s changed and I really want to believe that. I just… it’s Ruby and you know with what happened to Linda. I don’t even want the idea of what happened two years ago to resurface again.”

“Carson, why don’t we just leave this up to her? I know we brought her to California to stay with us, but it’s not as though we should make her stay with us forever. After being with Linda for so long and then suddenly go without her, she has to make her own choices eventually and we can’t hold her hand forever, you know. She has so much ahead of her. She has to sing her heart out in front of the world, to meet someone and fall in love with them just like I did with you, to start a family and settle down, and sometimes we can’t make those decisions for her. Why don’t you just send her a message when we get back or something?”

Siri smiled reassuringly when Carson nodded. She stood up, letting the blanket fall from her body as she tugged his hand, “Come on, let’s get back to bed, we still have two weeks left and you promised me a month of us time.”



Ruby squinted at the light in front of her. Even though the room looked empty, she could tell that everyone’s eyes were on her. She wasn’t sure whether or not Nathan had told the MC that she was deaf or what, but it was too late to wonder about that now. She was standing on the stage in the midst of silence while the audience was waiting to hear her voice. She shifted her attention to her bare feet resting on the ground. When the slight hum of vibrations strummed up her body, she started counting. This song was an old song, one with which she was well acquainted from her old school days.

Nathan had told her about a mini mike event at a poetry bar he frequented during his college years a few days ago and asked if she had wanted to join it. Even when she had expressed her reluctance, he told her that after hearing her sing, she was a lot better than some of the talents that sang as regulars simply because of her years of training. There was no special prize other than to have people listen to her and then applause her. So hesitantly she agreed.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on the other vibrations that had joined in and imagined those sensations to be music. She remembered singing this with Reid when he taught her to lower her voice by an entire octave in one measure. She wished she had paid more attention to the beats and rhythms back then, but she was too immersed in the melody, the lyrics, the outer beauty of the song to also appreciate the inner beauty that is not always known to people.

Remember those walls I built? Well baby they’re tumbling down…

The words left her lips and she could feel her voice box shivering from the notes being dropped. Oh, the bliss, it has been such a long time since she has let herself be completely immersed in the song. It had been one thing to be surrounded by the melody of the song, but quite another to imagine that there was melody while one was singing to it.

Feels like I’ve been awakened, every rule I had you breakin’
From the risk that I’m takin’, I’m never gonna shut you out

By now the audience has disappeared. For Ruby, it was only her on that stage. It was small, cramped bar that smelled of coffee and a hint of cigarettes but on that stage, she was in her own world. Ruby bobbed her head to the sound of the imaginary piano and as the notes went higher, so did she.

You’re everything I need and more,
I’m surrounded by your embrace
Baby I can see your halo
You know you’re my saving grace

Her entire body felt light when the feelings through which she placed her voice, her entire being, soared high. She thought about the past few years when she had been immerse in the bliss of knowing that her voice affected the world, taking the beauty of her range for granted and losing the ability to hear her own voice and most of all – music. She thought about how she felt after she came home one day, a freshman in high school, to find her grandmother weeping on the couch, mourning the loss of her daughter and son-in-law and how, while she had been at school goofing around with her friends, she became an orphan. She thought about her grandmother and her letter to Pattie, telling her that her precious granddaughter’s dream has always been to sing to the world and she wanted that dream to come true even after she, Linda, has left this world, and how that letter has gotten her to where she was now – several months into California with Carson and Siri and the others, singing her heart out in front of a faceless crowd at a bar.

While it had not been what she had originally planned, there didn’t seem to be any other way she could be happy. She let the chorus fade softly into the background as the light turned on and suddenly she was met with the sight of people clapping and smiling at her. She could recall the same moment two years ago, the mesmerized audience stirred awake from a fantasy, but even when the audience is more subdued and smaller, she felt closer to the crowd, more humbled by what she could do and could not do. She smiled and gave a short bow before making her way off the stage and towards Nathan, who was sitting at the bar. He grinned and signed to her, “See? I knew you’d do an awesome job. It’s a riot here.”

The MC passed her on the way towards the stage and patted her on the back before giving her a wink. She returned the smile and sat down next to Nathan as the show continued. She was watching the fingers of a guy playing on his guitar, lips unmoving and fully concentrated on the movement of the strings, until she felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around, a man with short brown hair waved lightly at her and behind him stood three other guys. She blinked curiously at him as he opened his mouth and said something. “Hi, you are Ruby?”

She nodded, looking over to Nathan, who was shaking hands with the other three guys. She wasn’t sure what to say to him as she was sure that the bar was either too loud for anything to be heard coming from her lips or too quiet that it would be rude to interrupt what had been such a performance. Nathan said something to the guy before he finally nodded in realization and started signing to her, “Sorry about that. I’m Jesse.”

“He’s a friend, Ruby,” Nathan articulated. “They wanted to talk to you about something.”

She nodded and gestured to the seat beside her and waited for Jesse to sit down. When he sat down, he introduced his friends as Mickey, Ryan, and James. He had signed everything so well and on occasion with words unfamiliar to him, he tried to articulate it. The other guys would say something to him and he would sign it for her. Finally, out of curiosity she asked, “How did you learn sign language? Does everyone in California know it or something?”

He laughed before responding, “It’s because of an ex.”

She finally nodded, “So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?”

His face finally got serious as Jesse settled into his seat, “Oh, that. Yes, my friends and I thought your singing was awesome… so imagine our surprise when we found out that you were deaf.”

“It’s not the first time I’ve been told that,” she remarked.

“Well, we’d like to ask you for a favor – about being an opener for our band. We’re going on tour soon and our opener has canceled on us. So we’re stuck without an opener and we’ve also got a duet written for our lead singer that we need someone to sing with him and my god, I think your voice would absolutely mesh with his.”

She blinked. Was he really saying what she thought he was saying? There was no mistaking it. Even at first glance, she could tell he was proficient at ASL so it was hard to believe that he had been saying one thing and she had been misinterpreting his words. She turned to Nathan to see what he would say but instead he nodded at Jesse and signed, “It’s a really good band.”

When she turned back to Jesse, he finally signed, “Look, you don’t have to decide now. On Monday, we have rehearsal. If you want, I can give you the address and you can come and meet our lead singer, give it a shot with him and see if there’s any chemistry. If you like it, great, we can take a few moments out to talk about the tour and if not, it’s all good. Originally, I thought we’d be able to work everything out but I realize how it changes things when I heard about your situation and I can understand if you’re hesitant about all of this.”

She breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he could tell what she was going through. Jesse continued, “Not to mention, we’re all just four strange guys going up to talk to you about singing with us. In spite of all that, I don’t want you to think this is a scam or anything. Just give us a chance, okay? You can even bring Nathan with you if you want. He knows the way to our studio. He has worked with a couple of our friends before.”

Ruby nodded and before she turned to Nathan, she remembered what she had to say, “Thank you for being understanding, Jesse, but I think there is something you should at least know about me first. I’m currently undergoing treatment for the infection that caused my hearing loss so you should know that I’m not exactly in peak condition, not that I was in such condition to begin with. I am not confident I will be able to sing a duet with your lead singer as I haven’t sung with another person in almost eight years.”

Jesse went quiet for a while before he looked over to his other band mates and excused himself for a while to talk to them. Ruby turned to Nathan, shrugging as he squeezed her shoulder in reassurance. He leaned closer to her and mouthed, “Don’t worry. They’re great guys and I honestly don’t think that what’s going on with you is going to be a hindrance in any way, though I thought it was pretty brave of you to tell them, they are just trying to work out how communication would work in addition to your condition.”

“Tell me more about them.”

“Their lead singer, Adam, is a great guy. Carson has worked with him before so they know each other pretty well. He writes most of the lyrics to their songs and the rest of the composition is usually up to Jesse and Mickey over there, the guy with the leather jacket.”

“What is their band called?”

Before she could make out the words on Nathan’s lips, a hand clasps her shoulder and she turns around to see Jesse’s apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. We were just trying to make sure—Oh fuck, your ear’s bleeding!”

She blinked, momentarily confused as to why he was pointing at her with his eyes widened in horror. His lips were moving so fast that she almost couldn’t tell what he was saying. The room, as dark as it already was, had become darker and from behind him, Ruby could see the moving shadows of people blur into one another. She felt light-headed, like she had while singing Halo but it wasn’t the good kind of light-headed. Ruby saw the room spin around her and that light-headedness disappeared into a sinking sensation, like gravity was determined to bring her down.

In that moment, she could almost hear a rush of wind through pierce her ear and feel Nathan’s tight grasp on her arm as she went down. Was it really over? Ruby didn’t remember thinking anything else except that it was a shame that her last moments of life had ended in complete and utter silence, with Nathan and four strangers towering over her and many dreams which would go to waste.



Jesse glanced at his watch for the twentieth time. He realized that he didn’t have to be there at the hospital but somehow he felt like he had to. The girl had been bleeding from the ear and he would feel like a total ass if he had left, even if he did know Nathan personally and the kid had told him everything was halright. Nathan was on the phone with his doctor, who was also the girl’s doctor as well and they were trying to figure out what went wrong with the medication. He stared at the curtained wall behind which laid the unconscious girl. Jesse had caught her before the back of her head hit the ground, but she had been out cold before then.

Jesse’s first impression of Ruby was that he thought she was still in college. Her shoulder-length hair has been recently cut, as he could tell from the neat trim, and unlike other Californians, she didn’t have that beach tan that came from walking along the shores everyday. When he walked into the bar in the middle of her rendition of Beyonce, though it wasn’t the powerful solid notes that had gotten to him, he was surprised to find himself drawn to a more elegant and refined remake of the piece, he found himself beckoning his band mates – though they didn’t need much beckoning since he didn’t doubt that they felt the same upon hearing her voice – towards the front of the bar so he could see the stage. Much to his surprise, he found a short girl standing in knee-length shorts and a plain white t-shirt, barefoot on the stage, clutching the microphone for dear life and singing her heart out, unaware of the audience that had been enthralled by her.

He had wanted to speak with her right away but for some reason, no matter how much he called to her, she just kept walking towards the bar, ignoring him completely. Fortunately he saw Nathan there talking to her and he explained to him that she couldn’t hear and that she was very much out of school if anything. Nathan hadn’t seemed very surprised to learn that Jesse had wanted her to work with the band, but then Jesse imagined that even she would not be very surprised either, considering the amount of training and talent she had.

He knew that her condition should have been a no-no when it came to working with Adam. For one, he was struggling to hit his original range and it would have made things more difficult to work with someone who could not hear well, but then he knew that her voice would be perfect. It would have been what they were all looking for in terms of who would sing the duet with Adam. It was not easy to find a voice to match Adam’s as he did not usually play around with a wide range of music, instead, focusing on perfecting what he already had in his arsenal. At this point with his standing in the music industry, they had to make everyone overlook his past deeds and by god, they were desperate to find the perfect singer for him.

“Are you Ms. Li’s family?” the doctor asked him. Jesse looked up to find Nathan standing in front of the doctor, talking to him. When he was just about to join them, his phone rang.

“Hey Adam, what’s up?” he answered, moving to a quiet corner.

“Where are you, Jesse? I’m on my way to the café.” Jesse could hear the sound of cars honking and people talking in the background and the fluctuation of Adam’s voice as he walked down the street.

“I’m going to be a little late, man. I’m at the hospital right now.” A pause. “No, no, I’m okay. I’m just here with someone. She’s a potential for an opener. The guys and I thought she would be awesome for that duet we wrote for you and we were in the middle of speaking to her before it went a little crazy.” Jesse nodded when Nathan pointed towards Ruby’s space and mouthed that he will be inside with her if Jesse still wanted to speak to her. “She’s awesome, Adam, you’re going to love her. I just gotta get her to agree to a rehearsal first. Hey look, I gotta go, okay?”

Jesse started towards the space until Adam stopped him and he responded, “You wanna meet her?” A pause. “Yea, sure you can come. I don’t know how much longer we’ll be here but I think she’s awake. Just hurry.”

The brunet walked towards the curtain and pushed his way through to see Ruby sitting there staring at her hands on her lap. Her white shirt is now partly bloody and there was a light bruise at the side of her face where she bumped it against the bar on the way down. Nathan was furiously signing something to her with a frown on his face until she finally retorted, a little tongue-tied, “They were working for a short while, so I thought it was okay. I had no idea it would make it worse.”

“You should have told me or Eve about it at least,” Nathan responded. “When did you say it was working? I don’t remember you telling me.”

“It was a couple of days ago when I was meeting you at that sandwich shop. I bumped into someone and for a second, I could hear everything and then it went away. I’m sorry Nathan, this is the first time it’s happened and if I had known, I would have told you guys.” She shook her head and looked up at Jesse, a little surprised to find him standing there. Apologetically, she said “I’m sorry. I’m sure this isn’t what you are bargaining for at all.”

Jesse shook his head and signed, “I didn’t expect you to come completely without any flaws. If anything, we would have been suspicious as to what other baggage you had – you’re not doing drugs, are you?”

Ruby laughed at his attempt to lighten the mood and shook her head, “No, I’m just deaf.”

“Well, I can handle that, I think. Look, it’s about to be August and we’ve got about four more months before we officially go on tour. Our lead singer has recently gotten out of a puddle of misery and we’re working towards our goal. I honestly think we’re going to be more than prepared come December and if you’re still up for it, I think you’ll be great on our team. Like I said before, just come into rehearsal and check us out. It’ll be a learning experience for everyone. You can continue your treatment and we can work through those obstacles with your doctor if you want.” Jesse paused and looked at Nathan, “She can sing and be in loud places, right?”

Nathan nodded and said, “Yea, that’s fine. Eve had said that if anything, it would be beneficial in terms of trying to get that infection to be displaced. Just don’t get too crazy with it like 80’s rock.”

“Not a problem, I don’t know if you’ve heard of us before, but our music is fairly laid back,” Jesse started to say more but the buzzing in his pocket stopped him. He pulled out his phone and glanced at the text from Adam, “Hey, look, our lead singer is coming. He wanted to meet you when I told him about you.”

“I’m in no condition to meet him!” Ruby furiously shook her head while pointing at her bloodied shirt, “I look horrible!”

“It’ll take five minutes, and he already knows about the situation so he doesn’t mind at all,” Jesse shook his head on the way out, not allowing her a chance to refuse, “It’ll be fine!”

Nathan sat down next to Ruby again, squeezing her arm, “Look, you can tell he obviously wants you on the band. I think you should give it a chance.”

“I don’t know, Nathan. I’m afraid to disappoint them. I know Eve’s going to get a piece of me for not telling her about it but it worries me to think about starting the next treatment and what if I’m not there half of the time?”

“You will be, I’ll make sure you’re there, okay? I’ll go with you to rehearsal and bring you back home.”

She laughed, “What about Jackson? He’s going to kick our butts for leaving him alone for so long.”

“No he’s not. Mrs. Larson loves having him around because he’s the only one who eats her sweets and you know he’ll never get mad at you because you’re the only one who spoils him! So don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on you, make sure everything’s going alright and next thing you know, we’ll get you hearing again.”

“Well, if you think it’ll be okay… then I’ll believe you,” Ruby got off the bed with his help and fell into deep thought before frowning, as if she had realized something, “What band did you say it was, again?”

Nathan had started to mouth the words but Ruby was no longer looking at him. Instead, she was staring straight ahead at the two who had just entered the room. Jesse was saying something to Adam, whose eyes were fixed on Ruby. Whatever conversation they were having quickly dissolved into thin air and suddenly the tension fell over them, thick and suffocating. A frown fell upon her lips as Adam walked up to her and held out his hand, introducing himself to her and saying what a pleasure it was to meet someone about whom Jesse sang such high praises.

The PhD film graduate has never seen his friend mad before. Flustered, embarrassed, and sometimes sad, perhaps, but mostly he had gotten used to the smile on her face whenever she was with Jackson and the peaceful look on her face while she got lost inside her own world, one filled with music, but this – this was something new. There was some kind of fire lighting up in her eyes and when Adam held out his hands, the fire exploded and it was like watching everything in slow motion. Her hand came out as though she was going to return the gesture, but instead, it bunched up with tensed white muscles and before anyone could say anything, Adam’s head snapped to the side when her fist collided with his cheek.