The Raving Love (Enemies To Lovers)

by Emma Vikes

  I sat on the stool and motioned for Audrey to turn on the switch so she could hear me and she did so and leaned to the mic to speak. “What are you doing?”

  “There’s actually a song I’ve been working on. I want you to be the first one to listen to the first few lines I wrote.”

  Audrey pursed her lips and nodded her head, leaning back on the chair and motioning for me to start. I took in a deep breath and placed a hand above my heart, wanting it to be still so I could finally start because my erratic heartbeat was deafening and I wondered if she could hear it despite the glass that separated the two of us. I cleared my throat and began to strum the first notes of the song.

  I’ve been crossing oceans and climbing mountains

  Chased the wind and pushed through heartaches,

  Been through every nook and cranny

  Took detours that led to nowhere

  Until I lost track of where I was meant to

  But God took the lever and suddenly my path led to you

  You’re the only right in a symphonies of wrong,

  Put my heart in paper and every beat will write you a song

  I’ve searched for you everywhere, wherever and now here I am,

  Right where I was always meant to be,

  Here in this moment, here and now.

  The moment the last line left my lips, I looked up and met Audrey’s eyes. She was staring at me like she was about to cry and I took a deep breath and thanked God because He steadied my heart. “I like you, Audrey.”

  Audrey could only stare at me and my heart was breaking like crazy as I lowered down the guitar. The seconds turned into minutes and it ticked right by with her not saying anything until I cleared my throat and scratched the back of my head. “I think it’d be a great time for you to say something.”

  I was aware that the glass wall still separated us and the only reason she could hear me was because the switch was turned on and I quickly hopped off the stool and got out of the booth. Audrey was still staring at where I was a moment ago. “Audrey, please say something.”

  “Number seventeen. Don’t fall in love with me.”

  She turned to look at me and I could see the dilemma in her brown eyes and I slowly approached her, turned her chair so she was facing me and knelt in front of her. “You’re not my assistant anymore, Audrey.”

  “I can’t…I don’t think…Julian, I’m sorry,” she looked at me with apologetic eyes and I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I like what we have now, whatever it is. Those things work better with you anyway.”

  “You know how they say that there’s always one girl that’ll change your perspective on everything. Mine was you, Audrey,” I said softly and reached to touch her on the cheek, “and I’ll accept your rejection. Give me two more tries. Give me two chances. Go on two dates with me. I promise I’ll make you say yes.”

  “You sound so confident.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh and then caressed her face with my thumb as I look into her brown eyes. “Baby, I’ve always believed in love and knew that one day I’ll find my match and now that you’re here with me, I’m not letting go that’s why I’m not taking a no.”

  22

  Julian

  To say that I was confident to acquire a yes from Audrey seemed to be an understatement.

  If you told me a month and a half ago that I would ask Audrey Finch out on a date with me and ask her to be my girlfriend would’ve gotten a ‘fuck you’ response from me. But as everyone often said, a lot can happen in a short time span and I never expected that I would want her the way I did a month and a half later.

  The same way that I never expected that the voice I’d been searching for belonged to her because not once did it ever occur to me that she would be into singing the way she was. But then again, her family owned a recording company, it kind of made sense that she had passion for music too. Since the voice belonged to her and since I’d sort of been searching for her for so long, there was no way that I was letting her slip through my fingers.

  No matter how many times she would reject me. I wasn’t going to give up.

  “When are you leaving for Irving?” José asked as he was fine-tuning his guitar. We still had practice sessions and we all decided to keep the channel up for a while and use it to release official music videos and songs. When we were signed with W&R, they made an official YouTube channel for us and profited out of it more, only giving us our cut. With Finch Records, we agreed that the profit would be shared.

  I was meant to leave for Irving on Friday which was actually tomorrow. There wasn’t really anything much going on other than keeping my promise to Mom that I was coming home sometime in February and I’d already discussed things with the new manager that Audrey got for us. But as for Audrey…she didn’t know that I was coming to Irving and I really did want to ask her to come with me but I knew that she had a lot of things on her plate at the moment which meant that I had to tell her today that I was leaving.

  That is…if I get her to go on a date with me for a day.

  “On Friday,” I replied as I slid the plate of steaming honey-sriracha tofu to him and then grabbed a fork and began to dig on mine. It was already around four in the afternoon and the two of us got hungry while we tried to make more music for another album. “Then I’ll be back on Monday, the latest, if I don’t get held up.”

  “You do realize that you had an entire month to go to Irving and you decide to leave when we’re signed up and should receive schedules anytime soon for the album that we’re going to make soon and not to mention we have a YouTube channel that needs running.”

  I swallowed and shrugged. “I’ve never been good with the YouTube thing, that’s what you and Dylan are meant for. We don’t have a schedule yet and even if I receive one over the weekend like I said, I can be back on Monday, the latest.”

  José smirked as he looked at me. “Seeing the chairwoman of the company has it’s perks, huh?”

  I almost choked on my food with what José said. I didn’t bother to hide my attraction to Audrey with the boys because I knew that they would figure it out one way or another so there was really no point in hiding or denying it. Still, claiming that I was already ‘seeing her’ implied that we were dating and although I would love for us to go in that direction, that was still an audacious claim.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied coolly, composing myself.

  José clucked his tongue. “Don’t be sly with me, Julian. We both know that you’re screwing Audrey behind closed doors and we’re not going to judge you on that. I’m just curious, what made you do a complete 180? Did the sex change your mind?”

  “First of all, screwing Audrey behind closed doors is a disrespectful claim.” I put my fork down and fixed my gaze on José. Out of the boys, he was the one who was with me when Audrey kicked me out in the hospital and he was the one that knew just how much Audrey pissed me off that day. “And second of all, you know how detached I am with feelings when it comes to bed.”

  José furrowed his eyebrows. “Then why the change of heart?”

  I finished my food and set it in the sink. I had a lot of things that I needed to do today if I wanted to make Audrey mine. “Sometimes someone just comes along and turns your world upside down.”

  José snorted. “I never thought the day would come when Julian Hudson would sound like a fool in love.”

  Fool in love. I was meant to leave the kitchen after what I said to José and ignore whatever comment he has to me afterward but that one made me stop. I’d been with so many women in this lifetime but not once had one ever made my heart beat so fast and drove me crazy in a good way.

  “I think that’s a too soon kind of statement.”

  When I looked at him, he had a knowing smirk on his face. “You better figure that one out soon, Jules, before it becomes too late.”

  Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, I couldn’t help but shake my head at him. “You’re making yourself sound like yo
u’re some kind of sensei when it comes to love.”

  “You may be the one that girls throw themselves to the most but the one thing that the three of us have as an advantage over you is how we’ve all been in love once in our life and Carlos is still in the process of that, lucky him.”

  I could only shake my head at José and chose not to respond to his statement. Sometimes silence was a better answer and I really needed to head out if I wanted to make sure that my plan happened according to how I imagined it to me. I pulled out my phone and called the team of people that I asked help from. In all the years since I’d started going out with girls, I never thought that there would come a day that I would pull some strings in the name of effort.

  I called Audrey the moment I buckled in my car. “Hey, what’s up?”

  The smile that spread over my lips seemed automatic after hearing her voice. It was silly, if you asked me, but then sometimes I just couldn’t stop myself from feeling giddy when it came to Audrey. It was weird, to be honest, because the last time that I checked, the idea of Audrey seemed to piss me off to no end.

  “What time are you done with work?” I set the phone on the phone stand I had in my car as I backed out of the garage.

  There was a pause on Audrey’s side. “Why?”

  “Can I pick you up?”

  “Julian…” I smirked at the sound of a warning in her voice. She hated it every time I tried to get across the line that she was setting. I understood why she wanted to make things clear between us that we couldn’t go out in public together lest we be seen and for people to speculate about what was going on between us but it never meant that I didn’t like poking on her about it just to see her reaction.

  “And I’m taking that as a no. I’m only being chivalrous.”

  Audrey let out a soft sigh as I turned the car in a corner. The place that I had in mind was a little far from where I lived but closer to where she worked. Not a lot of people knew about the café and it was owned by someone I knew which made it even better. It wasn’t as if I rented the whole place for us because I also wanted to enjoy being with a crowd.

  The thing was, the owner wasn’t a fan of getting artists to perform and announce it to the whole city just so he could profit more out of it. Since he had the place running, I would come by and do cover songs, sing in a room filled with people who just wanted to listen to good music without having to worry about fans going crazy. It also helped that he banned phones the moment you come in so no one could ever have the chance to record me singing.

  It was the perfect place to let Audrey reacquaint herself with her first love.

  “Why do you want to pick me up?”

  “I miss you,” I replied without hesitation and I listened to Audrey suck in a breath and I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself, aware of the effect I now had on her. “Have dinner with me at a café. Don’t worry, not so many people go there but the food is good and I know the owner. Plus, I’ll keep myself lowkey so people wouldn’t be suspicious of who I am.”

  “Like on a date?”

  I grinned as I entered the freeway. “I told you that I want you to go on two more dates with me. Go on with me on this one and then by the next, I promise I’ll make you say yes.”

  “You’re a little too full of yourself, Julian.”

  “Would you rather be full of me?” I teased and Audrey let out a hissing noise of irritation. “I’ll wait for you in HeBrews Café. It’s near your company, about fifteen minutes away. I’m already on my way there. I’ll text you when I arrive.”

  I didn’t even bother to hear her response because I didn’t want her to give an excuse to say no on the date that I had planned but I had a feeling she wouldn’t say no. Nearly twenty minutes later, I finally arrived at the café that I planned to meet Audrey in and I couldn’t help but feel a little sheepish when I saw her car already parked in front and she was waiting for me outside of her ride.

  She had her arms crossed over her chest as she looked at me. She was dressed in the same manner she was the day she marched into my house but a lot more colourful. She had on a pastel green suit and an orange dress shirt that was tucked in her high-waist pants. Her brown hair was tied in a messy ponytail and her brown eyes were narrowed at me as I got out of my car.

  “What happened to riding your toys?”

  I shrugged and approached her, circling my arms around her waist and pulling her close to me and inhaling her cinnamon scent. Audrey visibly relaxed in my arms, as if even she had now come to terms that maybe my arms were her safe-place. She looked up at me with her brown eyes and in the golden hour, I never thought brown could look so beautiful.

  I kissed the side of her cheek and turned my face to the side so she could kiss my cheek. I caught her rolling her eyes before I fully turned my face away and I couldn’t help but inwardly chuckle when she pressed her lips on my face. “Sent them to a shop to be tuned up and polished. José invited me to bike outside of town and I’m totally game for it.”

  Audrey made a face. Despite the many times that she had ridden my motorcycles, she still disapproved of them. “I think you need to crash and break a bone so you’ll understand the danger that you’re putting yourself in.”

  I laced out hands together and wiggled my eyebrows at her suggestively. “I like it when you’re concerned. But let’s not turn me on this early. C’mon, I told Lucas that I’ll be coming and had him reserve us a good seat.”

  Pulling her in the small café, I turned to look at her to see her looking around. Lucas’ café had a rustic theme and most of the material were made out of real wood. It always felt like a cozy haven for me, especially when I wanted to leave the house and write music somewhere else. In the past month, I didn’t have the chance to come and visit because of how we needed to turn out situation around.

  “This place is beautiful,” Audrey said as I led her to a seat that had the ‘reserved’ sign on it. “How come we never came here before?”

  I shrugged as I took a seat next to her. “Because I was too busy trying to turn the situation of my band around and you were following me wherever I went. I also had that house thing on my schedule so I didn’t really have the time to come here. It’s far from where I live.”

  Audrey nodded as she checked the menu and just as her attention was focused on it, I stood up and headed to the stage. I had my cap on so I lowered it down even more so the crowd wouldn’t realize who I was. I knew that they might recognize me when I sing but I didn’t really care because it’s not like a recording of me singing would ever go online since Lucas banned phones.

  “Sorry if I’m a little late for my gig but I’m here now and I really do hope that everyone is enjoying their time,” I said in the microphone and when I looked up, my eyes immediately meeting Audrey’s and I could see the confusion in them, “the reason why I’m late is because of my date right over there.”

  I motioned to where she was sitting and her eyes widened even more and I could hear the chuckle of our small crowd. “Nah, I’m kidding. She actually arrived before I did. I just live pretty far but Lucas still lets me sing here no matter how late I am because my talent is free for him.”

  In the back, Lucas waved at me and laughed, turning to one of his servers. I already made arrangements with him for the whole thing and I knew that he would get his staff to serve Audrey the food in exchange of me singing a song. I didn’t really mind since I planned on getting Audrey to come up on the stage too and get in touch with the singer within her.

  I cleared my throat. “So I thought that since I’m meant to sing everyone a song, why not dedicate one to my lovely date. I hope you guys enjoy.”

  I took the guitar and then began to play the first notes of ‘Grow Old With You’ as I began to sing the song, my eyes focused solely on Audrey who was trying to avoid eye-contact and tried to act like she wasn’t flustered at the fact that I was singing to her. Everyone kept glancing at her and she was failing to focus her attention to anything else other than me bu
t she kept throwing glances at me still, the small smile playing on her lips making my heart flutter.

  “I could be the man who grows old with you,” I stopped strumming the guitar and held Audrey’s gaze, hoping and praying that she wouldn’t turn away but somehow, she seemed to be stuck in a trance as she stared back at me. “I wanna grow old with you.”

  The crowd burst into applause and I could even hear some clinking of glasses as if this was a wedding and Audrey was trying her best to hide her flustered and blushing face. I held my hand up to silence the crowd and their applause. “Thank you, everyone. But you know what I would love to happen most? Can I call my date to come up here?”

  Audrey’s eyes widened and she began to shake her head. Lucas approached her and pulled her up and she was struggling to get away from him but Lucas pushed her to the stage. I asked him to do so because I expected Audrey to say no and I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of the crowd. The moment that she was within reach, I pulled her up to the stage and wrapped my arm around her waist so she couldn’t leave.

  “What are you doing?” She hissed at me, her brown eyes bright with annoyance. “This isn’t what you do on first dates!”

  “Who said this was a conventional first date?” I whispered to her as I pulled her to sit on the stool. I focused on the crowd. “You know, we just started seeing each other but we’ve known each other for a while and I never knew that this girl right here has the same affection for music as I do.”

  Audrey’s eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. “I have no idea what you’re saying, Julian.”

  But I chose to ignore her. “So I thought that maybe she could sing all of you a song. Guys, she’s a lot better than me, just a disclaimer.”

  Audrey’s eyes widened even more and she punched me lightly on the shoulder, causing a round of chuckle from the crowd. “What are you doing, Julian?”