Painting Flowers

Soph gripped the armrest to her seat tighter as she felt the all too familiar pull of the plane as it acceded farther into the sky. She had never been a fan of flying and now that she was in someone else’s body, it was even worse. Just hearing the engines roaring and the slight popping and groaning the plane did as it continued to inch higher and higher didn’t help much either. At least when she couldn’t hear, all she could do was feel the plane. The pull of gravity pushing her down in her seat and the vibrations of the plane. Now experiencing the whole thing made it even worse for her, if that was at all possible.

A slight chuckle next to her pulled her thoughts from the plane slightly as she turned her head and met Alex’s eye. He had offered to sit with her since no one else besides Zo knew what was really going on. They hadn’t even discussed how they could possibly explain how she was now in her boyfriend’s body and that Jack was in hers. She was even trying to still wrap her mind around the idea of it. It was just too strange, and yet here she was on a flight to Japan in her famous rockstar boyfriend’s body.

“Don’t like flying?” Alex asked with a still slightly amused look on his face.

She rolled her eyes, “what made you guess that?”

“Whoa, no need to get pissy, just trying to get your mind off of it.”

“Then why did you bring up flying if you’re trying to get my mind off of the fact that I’m scared of flying?”

“Good point,” he muttered as he broke eye contact and looked to the front of the plane. They were quiet a few moments before he turned to her once again. “Don’t worry, once we’re in the clear for turning on electronics I’m going to reintroduce you to the wonderful world of music.”

“Why do I need to be reintroduced? I’ve already heard all the great music, what more is there for me to hear?”

Alex smiled, “you’ve heard music without your ears, now it’s time to actually hear music.”

Oh. That’s what he meant. And now that she thought about it, she began to get really excited. After realizing that she had somehow magically switched bodies with Jack, that’s all that had been on her mind, she hadn’t even thought about what it meant that she could hear again now. She could watch her favorite movies without subtitles, actually hear the voices on the tv and not have to ask what a certain voice sounded like. But the best of all was the fact that she would be able to actually hear every part of a song now.

But which band to start with? There were so many and even if it was a long flight, she still wouldn’t be able to get to all her favorites by the time they landed in Japan. Does she start with Blink or Green Day? Or what about All Time Low? Or even her own band. She would finally hear what their songs fully sounded like and hear Addie’s voice that everyone always loved. She would be able to experience it and experience a full concert when the tour officially started. And now, her mind was fully off of the plane and buzzing with ideas of what she could do now that she had her hearing back.

Another grueling ten minutes later, the flight attendant finally announced that they could use most electronic devices and she was nearly peeing herself as Alex grabbed his iPod out of his bag and plugged in the headphones handing one to her. She immediately put it in her ear, frowning slightly at the fact that the world got slightly muffled once the object was in place but shrugged it off. She could deal as long as she could hear again and listen to music.

Alex took another five minute to scroll through the device to find the best first song for her to listen to. Soph was about to complain and tell him to hurry up when suddenly noise filled the headphones and she jumped slightly not expecting it. Guitars and drums were playing a fun beat for fifteen seconds before a voice came in and started singing. She listened closely, soaking up the words and after the first line, she gasped and turned to Alex with a huge smile.

“All The Small Things!” She practically yelled as Alex burst out laughing at her reaction. He nodded and turned the music up a little as she told him to start the song over again so she could listen properly.

He did as told and she sat bouncing in her seat as she listened, soaking up each word and trying to determine which voice belonged to Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge. Finally she ended up asking Alex and he started the song over once again so he could point out who was who. He also explained the different guitars, pointing out which was the lead and rhythm and also the bass and drums explaining who played what and showing her how they all came together.

“Oh my God, that was amazing, I now have a whole new appreciation for Blink!” Soph stated once they had finished listening to all of Enema of the State and Alex was scrolling through his music to find something else. “Wait, go to your stuff! I want to hear some of that!”

Alex just nodded as he went back to the iPod and then moments later the beginning notes of a guitar came and a slightly familiar voice began to sing through the speakers. She gasped as she realized that that was really Alex’s voice and turned to him with a huge smile on her face as she asked which song of theirs was playing.

“It’s called Weightless, it’s off of our third album. It’s actually one of my favorites so I decided to play it.” Alex explained.

“I can understand why it’s your favorite. I love the lyrics, which guitar is Jack’s?”

He began to explain again which guitar was who and the meaning behind some of the songs they wrote. They finished all of Nothing Personal and then went on to Dirty Work since Soph had wanted to hear more. By the time their newest album was done, Alex mentioned he was going to surprise Soph with the next choice and tried to wait patiently as he found what he was looking for.

The first thing he heard once the song started was the beat of the drums and a few seconds later a voice started to sing beautifully just as the guitars and bass also came in. Soph listened to the words, trying to figure out who the band was and after the song was halfway though, she gave up and turned to Alex with a confused expression. He laughed as he turned his iPod so she could read the band name and gasped once she read it.

“This is our music?” She asked, referring to the fact that the band name read Code Name For Crushes.

Alex just smiled and nodded and she snatched the iPod away from him, turning the music up and listening to their song for the first time ever. And not to sound totally cocky, but they were good. Really good.

As she continued to listen, all their problems were suddenly gone and all she cared about was music. She couldn’t believe she had her hearing back and could finally listen to music properly again. It was amazing. She missed it so much. Maybe switching places with Jack wasn’t that big of a deal after all. Sure it was going to be a challenge to try and get the others to believe them but for right now, she really didn’t care. She knew that Alex was there to help her and everything would be ok. But that was really the last thing on her mind as she scrolled through Alex’s iPod to find something else to listen to. She was going to take advantage of this moment and push all her other worries and thoughts away for the time being…