Between Songs

by N. Kognytao

  She walked through the various aisles, finally finding Kyle Hayward’s name in the Dark Romance section. There were seventeen different books on the shelf, but Leah grabbed the one labeled New Release—it was the last one on the shelf.

  Leah felt silly hiding the book in her bag as though it was contraband when she walked back to her tiny dorm room. However, with how many times she had accidentally bumped into Kyle Hayward, she felt as though buying his book was a form of stalking him. That, and it was also classified as a romance book, and she did not want to be teased for reading a romance novel should she be spotted with it.

  She pulled it out of her backpack and set it on the desk, staring at it for several long minutes, preparing herself. She was not sure why she thought reading a book that anyone could buy as something to be ashamed of, but the feelings in her stomach were confusing her.

  Because she knew, deep down, that she desperately wanted to get to know the author.

  Hesitant, she opened the front cover and began reading.

  By the end of the third chapter, she completely forgot her nervousness about reading the book. Aaron had been correct about one thing—the story was dark. The Eye of Andrew was about a young man living in a post-apocalyptic world where creativity and art was banned for fear of social uprising. However, Andrew had seen a brutal government murder when he was a child, and became obsessed with the color of blood. Andrew was finally driven by his obsession to paint on any surface he could with his own blood, creating renditions of the world around him with the improvised ink.

  Half-way through the book, just as Leah was beginning to feel the mania Andrew was experiencing, a woman named Marianne discovered one of his depictions and introduced him to an underground society of artists, poets, and writers who were staging an artistic revolution.

  Unfortunately, the rising sun reminded Leah that she was expected to be in the recording studio in a few short hours and she had not slept at all. However, her brain was turning over every phrase, every dark detail, each emotion that the book awoke within her. The imagery resonated deeply within her and the author’s words from the first night she met him before the audition ricocheted in her brain.

  With no sleep and several cups of coffee in her system, Leah found her way to the recording studio on time.

  “You look like shit,” Jay noted bluntly.

  “Didn’t really sleep,” she murmured, reaching into her bag and pulling out the notebook, turning it around to show Jay the new lyrics. “But I finished the last refrain.”

  Jay grabbed the notebook and looked over the lines as the exhausted lyricist held the warm coffee cup in her hands and took a tired sip.

  Jay looked up at Leah and nodded, the smallest hint of a smile quirking at the side of his mouth.

  “Alright,” he said. “Let’s finish this song.”

  * * *

  Leah did a pre-recording of her voice that day, but recorded better audio the following day after she had rested. The entire band was there to listen to the final recording of the song and work on the back track for their lives performance. Everyone was very pleased with the final song—even Jay seemed impressed with the final product.

  Therefore, the following day, only a few days before the concert, Leah found herself in the Aurora Dome one more time, standing on stage and facing the emptiness of the venue.

  However, rather than deter her, it only seemed to excite her. She danced around stage, looking all over the venue as the musicians set up.

  Jay sat on the end of the center walkway of the stage, leaning back on his hands and looking around the venue, watching Leah bound around excitedly.

  “Alright, calm down, now. You need to focus.”

  “I’m focused, I swear!” Leah assured, walking over to the stage hand that was handing her a microphone and battery pack for an in-ear. She stared at it. “Why do I need this?”

  “You will not be able to hear properly without that,” Jay explained. “If you sing without that you’re going to be a second behind the beat. The echoing in here will make it impossible to keep time.”

  “Really? I did fine in the audition.”

  “The settings on the microphone and speakers were different,” Jay explained. “And you were a little off-beat.”

  “I was?!” she gasped, horrified.

  “We all know that’s how it works in here. It’s fine. You still got the spot in RM.” Jay sighed and rolled his neck around. “Why don’t you all just play the song a few times to warm up? Or hell, play any song. Just get warmed up and ready. Then we’ll run through the song.”

  Leah ended up asking each band member to pick a song to play for their warm up, and even though she was putting her all into every song, her energy only seemed to increase with each song. Jay spent most of the warm-up time fiddling with his phone, answering text messages and emails, but he would look up occasionally and watch them perform, seeing them all getting lost in the excitement Leah brought. They were playing around, laughing and having fun as they played well-known songs from other RM Entertainment singers.

  As they were finishing a fourth song, Jay sent a text to Tim Gracie.

  Michael was right.

  It was only one minute before he got a response.

  Tim: Send me a video.

  Jay organized the young musicians and told them how the opening act would occur. They were expected to be on stage when the lights first came up and Leah had the option of singing first or doing their introduction first.

  Without hesitation, she said she wanted to sing first. Jay told them to run through it as though it was the actual performance and told them were to stand at first.

  When they took their positions, Jay motioned to the stage technician to start the vocal backtrack while he started recording a video on his phone.

  Leah did not think about where she was moving when she sang. They had no set choreography for the song, so she moved however she felt inspired to as she performed. She went to each side of the stage, playing toward each section of the audience, imagining the faces that would be looking back at her in a few days.

  During the bridge, Leah motioned for Aaron to come forward for his guitar part, which he obliged and played passionately, smiling as he moved along with the beat.

  When the last, powerful verse was sung, the energy of the band increased yet again and they put their all into the last bars of the song. A few of the stage hands and technicians stopped what they were doing to watch the rehearsal, enthralled, bobbing their head with the song.

  When it was over, there were smiles all around the band and those who had watched.

  Jay stopped the video and sent it to Tim before walking to them, gathering them all together to watch the recording.

  As they were discussing the lighting changes they wanted for the performance and things they could change, a voice caught their attention.

  “What’s going on here?”

  They all turned to see the three members of the Glaring Night band walking onto the stage.

  “Hayden,” Jay greeted the leader as the five other musicians watched them approach. Leah was about to excitedly greet one of the top bands in the RM label, but when she noticed the rigidity in her teammates as Glaring Nights approached, she hesitated.

  “Jay,” Hayden greeted back. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m helping your opening act rehearse,” Jay explained. “I assumed you knew that.”

  “We’re scheduled to rehearse today,” Hayden said. “We have lights to finalize for the run-through tomorrow.”

  “I think you can allow another hour for us to practice,” the producer said shortly. “Allow me to introduce you. Hayden, this is Leah Dillon and these are her bandmates, Aaron, Carson. Jasmine, and Keith.”

  Leah extended her hand and Hayden stared at it for several heavy seconds before taking it half-heartedly.

  “Blake and Chris,” he said, disinterested as he nodded back to the two young men behind him. “Jay, the show is for Glar
ing Nights. We need the time to make sure the concert is perfect. This is our kick-off show.”

  “I understand that,” the older man agreed. “But, as I recall, you were given ample time when you were only an opening act as well. I’m sure you can allow Leah and her team more time to rehearse for their first stage.”

  Leah smiled at Hayden, but the leader of Glaring Nights did not reciprocate. He stared at the others and then glanced back at his own team mates.

  “One hour,” Hayden said sharply. “We’ll meet with the stylists.”

  He motioned for the others to follow him and they left the stage.

  Aaron groaned as Yasmine shook her head.

  “They think they’re so amazing,” she snarled. “They’re not all that.”

  “They’re the top-earning group in RM right now,” Jay said with a soft, scolding tone. “They’re not untalented.”

  “They’re not really friendly, though,” Leah noted.

  “They’ve never been friendly,” Keith agreed.

  “No argument there,” their producer agreed. “Ignore them. We’ve got your performance to worry about.”

  Hayden stopped near the door to the backstage rooms and leaned against the wall, watching the new group from a distance.

  “Hayden?” Blake asked, confused. “Aren’t we going?”

  “No,” he said. “Let’s see what’s so special about the new girl.”

  Unaware of Glaring Nights watching them, Leah practiced certain parts of the song with Jay and the band, fine-tuning what they could in the short hour they had left.

  * * *

  With rehearsals having to be planned around Glaring Nights’ own rehearsals, a lot of the following days involved sitting around and watching the band move around the stage, going through each set and changing a few things about the lights and the short talking segments that would allow them to catch their breath and take a short rest between sets of songs.

  While Leah enjoyed most of the songs she was hearing and she was fascinated watching the process of Hayden and the others working with the stage managers to produce a performance everyone was happy with, she did not like the attitude Hayden displayed. He treated everyone, even his own bandmates, as if they were below him.

  Then and there, Leah vowed to never become like that, even if she made it big as a singer.

  Three days before the concert, Mr. Gracie came to watch the run-through, including the opening act from Leah. Leah could not see the CEO’s face from the stage, but she put on the best performance she could, hoping to impress Mr. Gracie.

  Then she sat with the rest of her band and watched the run-through of the Glaring Nights concert. She had to admit, after seeing it so many times, she was a little bored watching it. She was sure that when the band was in front of an audience, they put a lot more energy into their songs, but she felt as if he was watching a movie on repeat. Everything was the same. Everything was predictable.

  Mr. Gracie gave the band notes, talking about a few things they should change for the concert. After his notes, he told them all to get some rest and practice again the following day before leaving the Dome to whatever was on his schedule for the rest of the day.

  As he was walking away, Leah ran up to him.

  “Um, Mr. Gracie? Sir?”

  The CEO turned. “Ms. Dillon.”

  “I wanted to ask…would it be possible to get tickets for my family?”

  “Oh, of course,” Mr. Gracie answered quickly. “I’ll put them under your name at the will-call. They can pick them up that night.”

  “Thank you so much, sir. Um, but, could I ask for one extra ticket?”

  “Sure.”

  “Well, um…” Leah stopped, embarrassed. Mr. Gracie looked her over, smiling.

  “Yes?”

  “It’s just…I don’t think that the other person will want to be in the crowd. Is there any way for them to be in a box, or something? I’ll pay. You can take it all out of my earnings…when I get them…uh, you know what, never mind. Sorry.”

  “Ms. Dillon,” Mr. Gracie chuckled, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder as she started to turn away, “RM has a company box that I’m sure will have some space.”

  “Is…I mean, is that okay? I know it was kind of presumptuous to ask.”

  “It was, but that’s okay. So far, only the producer of Glaring Nights is in that box for the show, so if your other guest struggles being in crowds, that would be the perfect place.”

  “Thank you so much, you have no idea how much I appreciate it,” Leah said, placing a hand over her chest, hoping her sincerity was obvious.

  “You are very welcome,” he said. “Stop by my office tonight and I’ll have my secretary give you the ticket.”

  “Thank you. Really, I can’t thank you enough.”

  * * *

  Leah was becoming nervous that she would not see her other intended guest in time for the concert.

  On the second night of her sitting at the top of the plastic slide in the park, overlooking the flickering city lights, she fell asleep against the cool plastic, exhausted from her harrowing schedule and staying up late reading The Eye of Andrew. The previous night of her staying up late in the park also added to her growing exhaustion.

  There was no guarantee he would appear at the park again, but Leah was hoping against all odds she would see the author before the concert the following night.

  She woke up to the sound of a voice.

  “Hey.”

  She jumped, surprised, and lost her balance at the top of the slide, slipping down the two bumps and landing hard on the ripped landscape cloth and dirt at the bottom.

  Groaning in pain, she reached for the hand that was offered to her, standing with a wince of pain.

  “Are you alright?” he asked, trying not to smile.

  She dusted off, trying to hide her mortification at her clumsiness. “Yeah,” she said, clearing her throat.

  “If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were stalking me,” he noted, watching her straighten up. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a carton of cigarettes. “I seem to keep running into you. I’m getting suspicious.”

  “The last few times were on accident. But, I was hoping to see you tonight.”

  “Then you are stalking me?”

  “No!” she gasped. She watched as he removed a cigarette and lit it nonchalantly. “You never told me you were a writer.”

  He exhaled smoke from the side of his mouth.

  “I believe we were too busy talking about your new career.”

  “It’s not like I meant for that,” Leah said, blushing in embarrassment. “And you didn’t seem too interested in telling me anything about yourself.”

  “Not much to tell,” he said simply, replacing the cigarette between his lips. “So, why are you stalking me?”

  “Um…well…” She looked to her feet, suddenly very nervous. She was not sure why she was so anxious. She had read all about Kyle Hayward online and knew he was five years older than her, but somehow, his attitude made her feel like a child next to him. “You see…” She took a deep breath. “I’m opening for Glaring Nights tomorrow…and I would like to invite you to attend.”

  He let out another long puff of smoke. “Concerts aren’t really my thing.”

  “I asked for a box ticket,” she assured, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the small card. “It’s the RM company box, so I don’t think anyone will be there other than the managers and producers.”

  “Why do you want me to attend?” he asked, suspicious.

  Her nervousness grew ten-fold. “Um…because…you were with me through the process, in a way, even if it was just because we kept bumping into each other. It’s my way of saying thank you.”

  “You already thanked me.”

  “That doesn’t count,” she said with a shy smile. “I mean, you helped me create this song in a sense. I feel like it’s only right that I share it with you.” She extended the ticket further. “This is
the only way I can think of to do so.”

  A heavy silence fell between them. With a sigh, the author placed the cigarette back in his mouth and reached for the ticket.

  “No guarantees I’ll be there, but thank you for the invitation.”

  The fact that he took the ticket was already more than Leah could have hoped for. She smiled and nodded quickly.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I would love it if you could come, but I understand if you can’t.”

  He looked her over, his eyes sharp in the dim light from the street lamp above. Leah stared back, feeling a strange sense overtake her. It was as if he radiated with energy, a warm energy that she was desperate to get close to. She felt as though her entire world was moving to focus only on him.

  “Um…I read your book,” she started lamely.

  “Which one?”

  “The new one, The Eye of Andrew,” she answered. “I really liked it.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  “I hope to read a few more,” she continued. “You have a lot.”

  “I’ve been writing for a while.”

  The silence overtook them again. Leah was desperately scrambling to think of something to say to him, but her brain had turned to static. She looked at her feet, wondering what she could talk about that would get him to stay and talk, but as her mind raced for topics, it also came to a realization—he was not leaving.

  She glanced back at him and saw him staring distantly into the playground, not at all uncomfortable in the silence. It was as if he was lost in his own thoughts, and yet still present with Leah.

  “May I call you Kyle?” she said meekly.

  “No.”

  “Mr. Hayward it is, then,” she amended quickly.

  A smile took over his lips.

  “Braydon,” he corrected. “Kyle Hayward is a penname.”

  Her heart skipped a beat upon hearing his name and seeing the smile. Her entire being was drawn to him, and she longed to see that smile even more. She wanted to hear his laugh and see the light play in his eyes. The strange feeling she had at seeing him smile at Griffin’s Point was magnified at that moment as they stood in the park where they had first met.