5
When I walked into the rehearsal room on the day of our jam session, Liam was already chatting with the guys. He must've been telling some sort of joke or funny anecdote because Gael, Nathan and Seth were laughing. I thought I even caught a twitch of Julian’s lips.
Liam eyed me as I walked carefully through the door.
"So this is the new band," he said, gesturing to the group of us.
"For now," I said. "You're only here for the tour. This is a temporary situation."
Gael shot me a look, as if to saydon't be so rude.
"So is it true you were the founder ofForever Night?" Seth asked, his hazel eyes lighting up. He was practically vibrating with excitement. I had to wonder if he'd been a fan.
Liam's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. The corners of his lips turned down. His expression soon smoothed out.
"Yeah, that was me." He didn't elaborate any further.
"So why did you guys break up?" Seth continued.
"Creative differences."
"Why don't you just start another band? Why just work as a session guitarist?"
Liam turned to me, ignoring Seth's question. "We should get started, shouldn't we?" he asked. "If we're going on tour soon, I'll have to learn all your songs and figure out how best to work with our different performance styles." He turned to Julian next. "You said you could provide me with sheet music?"
Julian gave a sharp nod. His dark hair fell over his eyes and cheeks. He went back to fiddling with Seth's drumsticks, no doubt eager to end the small talk and get started.
I hesitated in the doorway.
For now, Liam was keeping things professional. Maybe that was because we were in front of the guys, and he wanted to keep this — whatever this was — between the two of us.
He knew Gael was my brother. He would no doubt want to keep his advances a secret. The stereotypical protective older brother was a stereotype for a reason. I'd lost count of the number of guys Gael had almost punched in the face for trying to hit on me.
"Are you familiar with many of our songs?" my brother asked.
Liam nodded. "I knowNineteenandKneel Before Uspretty well. Why don't we start with those to get us warmed up? Then we can move on to the songs I don't know."
I was impressed Liam knew any of our songs. He hadn't expected to audition for Cherry Lips, so he couldn't have prepared ahead of time. Maybe he really did like my band and didn't just pay attention to us because of me.
The guys gathered their instruments and got into place. I grabbed my microphone and put it in the stand. The atmosphere in the room turned tense, filled with nervous expectation.
Liam was good but we didn't know how he would mesh with the rest of us. Each band had its own unique dynamic. Bringing a new person into the mix always risked ruining that. That was one of the reasons why I'd been so reluctant to hire a temporary guitarist.
I shouldn't have worried. The instant the song began, Nathan and Liam wailed on their guitars in unison, perfectly complementing Gael's heavy bass. Seth pounded on his drums, keeping the band in time, as Julian joined in with the keyboard. As I sang the first lines of the song, the music vibrating throughout the room was in perfect harmony.
By the time I finished singing the first verse, our muscles relaxed and the tension melted away. It was early in the game and things were already going well.
The lyrics flowed from my lips easily. I knew this song even better than I knew my own brother. It was one of the first Cherry Lips songs I'd ever worked on.
One of the first I'd written after…
One of the first I'd written about how…
I dug my nails into my palms, refusing to dwell on those thoughts.
This song usually brought up a lot of unwanted emotions. I'd considered dropping it from our set list once we had enough songs for a full concert, but the audience loved it. Gael refused to let me cut it.
The words were painful. The lyrics used to dredge up awful memories. Memories of what I'd lost.
