A male voice set in that didn’t sound like him at all. It was flat, almost shy, with obvious pitch corrections layered over it. The melody, the words, the whole arrangement went in one ear and straight out the other. The song wasn’t terrible, but it was so forgettable that I zoned out until the very end.
“I’m so sorry you had to listen to that,” Sebastian said, fumbling his phone back into his pants pocket as if he wanted to make sure I knew he wasn’t going to force me to listen to it ever again. “Still think I’m a great singer?”
My chin dipped slightly. It wasn’t the worst song ever, but he was right—it wasn’t good either. Now, how was I supposed to tell himthatwithout hurting his feelings?
“You can say it.” Sebastian yanked his arm up and slammed it on my shoulder. “I can see it all over your face.”
All I could focus on was the warmth radiating from his lingering hand. But when he pulled it back a second later and hid it in his lap, I knew I had to say something.
“Did you write that song?” I asked.
“Yeah. It’s shit, right?”
“Well. I wouldn’t go that far. It’s not even about the song. What I hate about it?—”
“Hate?Oh, no.”
“What I hate about it is that it doesn’t sound like you at all. I’ve only heard you talk and hum, but your voice is so distinct I can’t even put it into words. And none of that was there. If you ask me, the problem is not you; it’s whoever tried to force you into a corset that was never meant for you.”
“That’s what you think?” His chest rose as his breathing got heavier. “That’s… Thank you so fucking much. That’s exactly what I thought, too! Sure, the song is boring, but what they did to my voice was unforgivable.” He stared at me, his breathingloud in the quiet air. “Alex, I… Can I tell you a secret?” His eyes pierced me as if he were trying to see if he could trust me.
“My lips are sealed.”
“My whole family thinks the label dropped me, but…Iwas the one who walked away. When I heard what they’d done to my voice…” He shook his head. “I hated it so much. Even though it was my song, I didn’t want my name attached to it. So, I told the producer what I really thought when he asked me. He said it didn’t matter as long as it sold, and if I wasn’t ready to go through with it, I should say so now.” He swallowed. “So, I did. I backed out. I’ll never forget the look on everyone’s faces, but… I couldn’t pretend this was who I was.” He pulled his phone out again. “This here is the demo that got me into the room with them in the first place.”
He pressed play. A single electric guitar strummed the same chords we had heard earlier, poorly recorded but played with more grit. After the short intro, the vocals came in, and the difference was like night and day. The voice actually sounded like him. Sure, the recording was rough, but his magic still reached me.
I got goosebumps.
He turned off the song after the chorus. “It’s still a crappy song, but it at least felt like me, you know?”
“It also sounded like you, and I mean that in the best way.” Our eyes met. “I stand by what I said. You’ve got a beautiful voice.”
Silence stretched between us as we both couldn’t stop staring at each other.
“I have to admit,” he added, “after hearing your track earlier, I’m curious to hear more from you, too.”
“Say no more.” I got my phone ready and pulled out the pair of in-ear headphones I always carried in case I needed to drown out noise. I held them up to him. “Here.”
“Headphones?” As he took them, our fingers brushed, sending a jolt through my body. “Wow. We’re getting fancy.”
“First impressions matter.”
I wanted him to hear the songs properly. If he didn’t like them, I didn’t want to blame my phone’s speakers later.
He put one earpiece in and held the other out to me. “Share?”
“I know my songs inside and out, and they’re mixed for surround features, so you take both.”
“Can’t argue with that,” he replied, sliding the second earpiece in and nodding toward my phone. “I’m ready.”
I scrolled through my personal playlist until I found the track we had used for the video. I was eager to see how Sebastian would react. He had no idea what he was in for. The part Nicholas used came from a break two-thirds of the way in, where the tempo and style change completely. The song actually opened with a string quartet before evolving into a danceable pop anthem with techno influences.
“Tell me if it’s too loud,” I said and pressed play.
“Volume’s perfect,” he murmured a second later, all the muscles in his face working hard not to give away that the strings had caught him off guard.
Sebastian’s eyes stayed on the ground while mine stayed on him. I could faintly hear the strings playing in his ears. After spending hours fine-tuning them, I knew exactly what he was hearing. The strings climbed to a high note, then dropped like a ship riding a sudden current—and the beat kicked in.
