was difficult with Tristan sitting there so close to me. All I could see were his hands on the bed, inches from my leg, his eyes intense and anticipating, studying my face for a hint of emotion.
The music cut out and then it was just a simple drumbeat, single keyboard chords, and Tristan’s voice.
Oh holy cannoli, it was sexy.
Deep and throaty with just the right amount of angst.
“She.
She laughs in riddles I can’t understand.
She.
She talks in music I can’t live without.”
Only one word flitted through my head.
Wow.
I don’t know if it was the lyrics, the edgy guitar riffs that played between stanzas, or the way Tristan bowed his head and looked up at me from under the veil of his lashes as I listened, but it was the most amazing song I’d ever heard.
His lips started to move. I couldn’t hear what he was saying because the music was turned up too loud. I reached for the headphones, pulling them off my head, but he stopped me. His hands landed atop mine, the warmth of his soft skin sinking in.
“Don’t take them off.”
He gingerly guided my hands until the headphones were securely back in place.
He glanced around and then suddenly he was scrambling over to his desk and grabbing a notebook and a pen. He scribbled something on a blank page and then sat down next to me and held it up.
Do you like it?
I nodded vigorously. “It’s incredible!” I yelled over the music, before realizing I didn’t have to shout. “Sorry,” I whispered.
He bent his head over the notebook and began scribbling again.
Keep listening.
I closed my eyes, letting the song pour into me. Tristan was right. It wasn’t noise. It was beautiful. Soulful and gritty. Hard and soft at the same time. The music started to ramp up. I felt every instrument in every part of my body. I held my breath in anticipation of Tristan’s voice again.
“Tell me where to go.
To know the things you know.
Kiss me in the street.
Where everyone can see.”
When I opened my eyes, Tristan had scrawled another message on a blank page of the notebook and was holding it in front of his chest.
You look adorable in my headphones.
“Adorable?” I asked, pretending to be offended. I had to fight off the silly grin that threatened to blow my cover.
Tristan flipped the notebook back over, his hand moving furiously. A moment later, he revealed his amendment to the message.
You look adorable sexy in my headphones.
I broke out in laughter. Tristan held a finger to his lips and pointed to his phone.
I schooled my expression into one of quiet contemplation. A serious record executive listening to a serious song.
No one had ever called me sexy before. No one had ever called me anything before.
He flipped to a blank page and scrawled out another question.
Are you a fan yet?
A fan? I was already brainstorming the Instagram handle for my fan club.
The chorus started and I attempted to focus back on the lyrics of the song, but Tristan’s body next to me was so distracting. It felt like he was inching closer with every drumbeat, even though I knew he hadn’t moved.
“Inside the mind of the girl,
Is the reason we lose sleep.
A map through the best dreams.
The secret to everything.
Inside the mind of the girl,
Time passes in light-years
Ships sink in the atmosphere
But someday I’ll get there.
Someday I’ll get there.”
The chorus eased to an end and the second verse started. Tristan lowered his head to write something. I leaned forward to try to read it, but he tilted the notebook toward his chest. So I focused on the lyrics of the second verse instead, my stomach knotting tighter and tighter the closer I got to that mind-numbing chorus again.
Inside my headphones, Tristan sang,
“Tell me where to go,”
Across from me, Tristan turned his notebook around.
Tell me where to go …
Inside my headphones, Tristan sang,
“To know the things you know.”
Across from me, Tristan turned the page.
To know the things you know.
My heart exploded, fire shooting through my veins and taking me over. Tristan started scribbling again. The music picked up. A big, powerful ramp-up to the second chorus.
A ramp-up I already knew the words to.
Lyrics I already knew by heart.
“Kiss me in the street.”
Tristan turned his notebook around in slow motion.
Kiss me in the street.
I looked up. His gaze was hot. Focused. Intense.
“We’re not in the street,” I told him.
It was the worst thing to say. It was the best thing to say.
He turned the notebook around, his hand moving fast