Chase

My palms started sweating when I saw Taylor there. She was hugging someone, but I couldn't tell who. The mystery person was about her height and had black hair. I tried to see who it was, but she ran off before I had the chance to see her face.

I walked over the Taylor and accidently startled her. You'd think that the loud sound of my crutches hitting the ground would've given her an idea that someone was behind her yet she still jumped like she was about to be robbed or something. "You're really paranoid, you know?"

Her face lit up at the sight of me and my stomach felt like it had dropped from a hundred feet. "It's the second time someone tells me that today. What are you doing here?" She nervously looked at the direction of the bathrooms as if she was looking for someone.

"Are you waiting for someone?" She quickly shook her head, too quickly. If there was something that I had learned about girls after being friends with Camila for four years is how they lie. At least with the women close to me I can tell most times. It can be hard sometimes, but not impossible. I decided to ignore her since I'd learned the hard way that pressuring a girl for answers never ends well.

I walked to the coffee machine to get myself some liquid energy. As much as music was my passion, writing and composing was extremely tiring especially while having to revise all of my band mates' writings as well.

While I waited for the coffee to be ready, I leaned against a wall. Having to carry those stupid crutches everywhere was just as tiring as band practice. On my journey to the lobby I hadn't expected to encounter any of the two girls that were driving me crazy, but I had the luck to find one of them. Flirting with Taylor was not at all in my plan, but once she started I couldn't stop.

"You're going to the concert this weekend, right?" She once again flashed me her million dollar smile and I couldn't help but feel more and more attracted to her.

I started to nervously move my broken foot from side to side. It'd been a while since I was this nervous about a girl. With Camila I was usually more calm and collected yet Taylor caused some indescribable feeling inside of me.

Before she could answer I accidently hit the cast against the machine. The coffee machine stayed intact. However, my foot (and dignity) didn't. I roared in pain and attracted the eyes from a few wandering students. Taylor did her best to comfort me. "Are you okay?" I nodded in pain and redirected my attention back at her.

The roaring pain of my foot was nothing compared to the one that intensified when Taylor put her hand on my arm. A normal person would've shivered at her cold hand, but I felt so much heat from embarrassment that her coldness was in fact comforting.

"I will. Will you be playing with your band?" A hopeful smile crept across her face and I realized that playing hard to get was impossible. This girl was breaking me.

I got lost inside her beautiful blue eyes. In my song I'd written about a blue eyed angel, and for some reason it had taken me a long time to realize that I was looking at her that moment. The whole time I believed that the song I'd written was for Camila, but Will was right. I'd written it about Taylor.

She frowned, but still didn't take her hand away. From the feel of her hand on the goosebumps on my skin I could tell that she was nervous, perhaps that's why she wouldn't take her hand away. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

I smiled and laughed awkwardly, pondering on whether I would tell her or not. I thought that if I told her she'd run away, but my mouth had other ideas.

"It's just that... I wrote a song the other day for the concert and until now I realized that it was about you." She laughed and looked deep into my eyes. Her stare was intimidating, though not frightening enough to keep me from tucking a strand of hair that fell on her face behind her ear. I kept my hand there a little longer, my brain no longer working in symphony with my body. She blushed a deep red that matched mine.

"I'm sorry; I don't know where that came from." She smiled and made it so that our hands 'accidently' bumped. I moved my fingers close to hers so that they were touching, and she interlaced them with hers.

"I don't mind at all." She gave me a small smile and then looked around. She frowned and released her hand from mine, leaving me with a feeling of emptiness and coldness.

"Sorry, but I was here with Camila before you came. She went to the bathroom a while ago and hasn't come back. I'll go look for her, but we'll talk later, okay?" Before she left I grabbed her arm. I had no right to do what I was about to do, but that didn't stop me anyway.

"I'm guessing she hasn't told you about the dreams, right? I shouldn't be telling you this. I'm breaking the best friend code just by thinking of telling you, if she and I are even best friends right now. But she has some really bad nightmares. I know for a fact that they've been really bad lately. When you find her, don't ask questions, just comfort her and put on her favorite movie. It's The Last Song, by the way. Treat her like a child and you'll be okay."

She gave me a hug and kissed my cheek, causing the roaring from before to come back. "You're a great friend, Chase. I wish I had a friend like you."

I pulled her close and wrapped her in another hug. Hugging her was like being on the clouds. "I am your friend. I mean, not that I want to friendzone, but I mean, like, um... I think I have to go back to practice."

I walked as fast as I could from the awkward situation. A voice stopped me before I went too far. "Hey Chase? I think you forgot your coffee." Taylor walked over to me, gave me the coffee and waved at me goodbye. Then I was left there standing like a lovesick idiot with a cup of coffee that was burning off my hand.

When I had recovered from...whatever that was I ran (more like walked sort lf fast) to the music room where my friends were waiting for me. The smile on my face stayed there the whole way to where practice was.

"Why are you so happy? Did the machine give you free coffee?" said Patrick while taking the coffee from me and taking a sip. The girls followed and soon my coffee became public.

"No. I, uh, ran into someone at the lobby. She's... I think she's into me." I couldn't hide the smile that wouldn't leave even if I wanted it to. The problem was that Valery got it all wrong and caused me more embarrassment than I could handle after the coffee incident.

"Woah. Camila likes you? I told you, Melissa! Pay up!" Valery looked at her sister, her hand in front of her. I stood confused for a second until I finally understood what she meant by that.

"No! I didn't mean her. I don't like her and she doesn't like me. I meant Taylor." Valery's eyes jumped in surprise and Melissa did the same, instead she literally jumped.

"Yes! In your face Val! You owe me twenty bucks. You do mean Taylor Wilson, right?" Valery glared at her sister, but all I could do was stare in awe at both girls.

"Were both of you seriously betting on my love life? You know what? Don't answer that, let's just start with practice. Why don't we play my song a few times and then work on the lyrics for yours?"

Patrick grinned and patted my back. "Sure thing, Casanova." I glared at all of my friends, but grabbed my guitar anyway. The rest of them prepared their instruments and I searched my computer for the right track. When I found it I took the lyrics and tried to remember how it went.

"Ready?" I looked up to find Melissa looking at me, bass in hand. I gave her a quick nod and plugged my guitar to the amp. I looked at Patrick, who was still reading over the lyrics to know them a little better. He turned a keyboard on and all of us were surprised to see that he even knew how to press a button on it. According to most school bands, Patrick was never the best with instruments, which is why he was kicked out of most bands he'd been in.

I began the song with a soft melody on my guitar. It wasn't on the original track I'd made on my computer, but it'd been stuck inside my head for a while and I thought I would give it a go. Melissa, Valery and Patrick were disorientated for a few seconds, but still managed to continue the song with little to no problem.

We played the song until we could no longer remember how to play our instruments, but it was worth it. We had our very first song and it was amazing. It was far from perfect and it didn't matter. To us, it was.

Playing a song at least twenty times can become boring at certain point so when Valery suggested that we took a break from playing and perfect the other songs we agreed without hesitation. It's not like I didn't like my song, but it was driving me crazy.

Before we went our separate ways I said, "Don't you guys think it's ironic how we're called The Heartbreakers yet our songs are about love?" Patrick and Melissa laughed, but Valery stayed silent.

"Don't go so ahead of yourself, mine isn't about love. In fact, mine does have to do with heartbreak." My danger-radar started beeping inside my head uncontrollably, but I managed to control myself. She couldn't be talking about me, right?

Patrick and Melissa went on their way to finish their song while I stayed behind with Valery to help her. She sat down next to me and showed me her notes. She was writing a song that she called "I'm Sorry". I frowned at the odd name, but read it anyway.

The song was about hurting someone who didn't deserve it and doing it over and over again, without thinking of the consequences brought upon themselves and the other person. It didn't take a degree in psychology to realize that the song was about the theater incident, the words she'd written were enough.

They read:

My lips did what they shouldn't

And suddenly I was alone.

I hurt you and I broke you.

I'm sorry I ever came close to you.

I'm speechless and sorry.

Don't forgive me if you want,

I swear I'll understand.

But know that I am sorry,

Deep within my heart.

I read through it over and over again, trying to find what was missing from it besides the truth. Well, no. If there was something my asshole of a father had taught me besides that I'm an idiot and a disappointment is that you can never judge a person before you hear their story. For all I knew Valery was actually sorry for what she did to Camila and her song was genuine.

"It's good..."

"And here comes the "but". Just say it, rip the Band-Aid off." I sighed and leaned back on my chair. The possibility of hurting her feelings made me want to have shut up in the first place, but I had already spoken and there was no turning back.

"It's good, but it's missing something. Though I'm not sure what it is yet. Let's work on the song together and I'll revise it later. Does that sound like a plan?"

Apparently when I said, "work on the song together" Valery misunderstood it and thought I said that she should work on it alone and completely shut me out. I was fine by it though. At least it gave me time to do nothing, as if I didn't do enough of that already.

During time of being useless my computer called me, so I took it and tried to make a track. My initial plan would've gone perfectly if I wasn't so mentally drained. Half an hour later I had three guitar chords and a melted brain, though the brain thing was a regular thing for me in any class that involved science.

"I give up! I can't look at this stupid computer any more. I vote we finish for the day."

The three of them shook their heads and I groaned in protest. I would've stomped my foot like a child as well if it weren't for the fact that I was determined not to lose any more of my dignity after my time with Taylor.

"So what do you guys suggest we do? Go old school? Sorry, but I'm too damn tired to do this the good old fashioned way."

Patrick tried to pat my head like I was a dog, but I moved out of his reach. "See, I'm a big fan of your uncle."

"You know who my uncle is?"

"Isn't it obvious? You share last names and a love for music. Who would be dumb enough not to realize you're family?"

"Um, one of those dumb people is your sister in law."

"Whoops. So, I was saying." Valery glared at Patrick and showed him her pretty finger, but having his back to her made it a little difficult for him to notice her. "I'm a huge fan of Aaron Harding and one of the things he did best is jamming. I heard that his number one hit song was made during a late night jam session. I think that we should give it a try. I mean, we don't lose anything and Chase if you say we lose time I will grab your guitar and break your other foot. Now, everyone get your instruments and let's get this things started!"

Most people would never listen to anything Patrick Adams has to say, and usually I wouldn't have either, but since Valery and Melissa did I had no choice but to follow along. What he said about my uncle Aaron was right; his biggest hit was a jam session. I knew because it was the first time he let me play with him and the moment I realized how much I actually loved music.

Listening to Patrick was never a good thing. He wasn't very smart and the only thing he knew how to do was sing and (apparently) play the keyboard, ideas weren't his fort. But for some reason that day it was the first time I saw with my own eyes that he was more than a good voice.

We played and it didn't sound good, it sounded great. It was like we were all synced, every one of us blending together like we were one mind playing four instruments at the same time. A good thirty seconds after we started I wondered what was the point if we wouldn't even remember what we played, but Patrick had already thought about that. His phone was recording us. I guess appearances can fool you sometimes.

The session went on for ten more minutes and let me tell you that those were the best ten minutes of my life. I'd jammed before, but all those other times didn't compare. That time it felt like heaven because for the first time I wasn't jamming as Aaron Harding's nephew helping him with a song because his guitarist was somewhere drunk. Instead I was Chase Harding playing with his band with his band mates who he had bonded with over the course of a few days.

"I think I found us another song." Said Patrick when we stopped playing. We arranged the first three minutes of the jam session to fit Patrick and Melissa's lyrics and made another song. A minute after we finally finished a teacher came to kick us out. Somewhere in the middle of being musically drugged we lost track of time and it was time for curfew. As much as I was wishing to go to sleep before now I didn't want to stop, but I had a pretty clear idea that if we didn't it would earn us a trip to the principal's office and I was positive that wouldn't do me any good.

The four of us left our separate ways feeling very satisfied with ourselves, so of course something had to come and slightly ruin my mood. Normally hearing from my mother would be enough to make me happy for the whole week, but when she texts me telling me that the school called and I shouldn't go home for the weekend is enough to ruin any person's week. After the incident with Camila and Principal Sullivan telling me she'd call my parents I knew my dad would explode, but I didn't think it would go to the point of my mom warning me of him. Most of the time she was too afraid to defend me and if she risked calling me that meant she was really scared he'd do something bad besides, well, existing.

I told her I wouldn't be able to go home either way because of the concert, and that I probably wouldn't have gone with Camila because we weren't talking. I expected that she asked me more, but by nine she stopped responding and I had a feeling it had to do with my dad coming home from work.

I fell asleep both sad and happy. It seemed like every time something good happened a bad thing came to balance it out. I found my place, finally the girl I like likes me and then my best friend ignores me and my dad probably wants to kill me.

I checked my phone with one little piece of hope that Camila had texted me, that she needed my help to fall asleep that night. But even though she didn't need me, my hope was not lost. If she didn't text me that meant she slept fine, and I hoped that it was indirectly because of me.

I knew deep inside me that my feelings for her had not disappeared; they were just hidden under my new found feelings for Taylor. I also knew that as soon as we started talking again things would go back to normal. I decided to give Taylor a shot, but my heart would always keep going behind things it could never catch.

I wasn't the smartest person on the planet, but if there was one thing I knew is that no matter what I would always keep chasing smoke because that's just who I am. I go after the impossible and have dreams so big they could fit inside my school. What I was doing was wrong, but there was no one there to stop me. So I did it anyway and if there's one piece of advice I can give anyone it's this: If you know what you're doing is wrong, don't do it. Or else you'll end up hurting more people than necessary in the process. 

Guess which idiot was one point from failing physics because was so distracted writing this book? This idiot right here. But I didn't so it doesn't matter anymore.

But since I'm finally done with exams and my teachers can no longer change my grades that means I can do nothing school related which means WRITING!!!

So yeah. There's that. And if anyone wants to give me boy advice it would be accepted with open arms because I am currently dying.

Thanks for reading❤