The Carousel

Six

"Yeah, so Ames liked the chicken cordon bleu she had for dinner so much, we went grocery shopping to buy the ingredients she needed. You should've seen how adorable she was. She was excited to use her mallet for the first time; stress reliever she had said, so she went to town pounding down the chicken breasts," Ben said with a chortle. The gang was over at his sister Lizzie's house for dinner. "Anyway, she wanted to make her chicken fancier so she used prosciutto instead of ham and gruyere cheese instead of Swiss. Aiden, you're sister is quite the cook!" he recounted happily.

"That bad, huh?" Jared interrupted with a sarcastic remark.

"No, dude, that good!"

"Yeah, she'd always been comfortable in the kitchen," Aiden confirmed. "She always like to recreate things she liked eating at a restaurant at home."

"Anyway, she's an incredible pianist. She really plays from the heart, you can feel her pour her soul into whatever piece she played. I was so glad I had the opportunity to see her in action," Ben continued.

"How many cups of coffee did you drink beforehand so you didn't fall asleep?" Jared asked flatly. He didn't like all of Ben's stories, it sounded like he had gotten way too close to Ondine already.

"I didn't need it, dude. She was mesmerizing. You'd have to be dumb as rocks to fall asleep on her."

Jared continued to poke at his food, the steak he was eating no longer appetizing. He wanted chicken cordon bleu all of a sudden. How ironic that Clarisse thought it was his favorite and tried to make it for him when it was Ondine who ended up making the dish, someone who was indifferent to him. He was sure he was scowling because he saw his sister throw him warning glances all throughout dinner.

"Jare, dude, I let her listen to the song I'm writing for the band. She was quick, she already finished composing it with me. I want to have her play the piano on this track. We spent a good half a day writing, rehearsing, and recording this song. I have a very low quality recording on my phone if you want to listen to it. I've been stuck on this for months and she took one listen and got the job done," Ben announced proudly to Jared.

"Wait a sec. Hold up. You want the woman who called our band's music 'noise' to play on a track for our upcoming album? You have got to be kidding me! Was she high when she agreed to it?" Jared raised his voice. "No offense, Aiden."

Aiden just raised his hands up in an 'I'm not getting in the middle of this' manner.

"She wasn't high," Ben said in a controlled voice. "In fact, she seemed so excited about the prospect. But if you don't want her to play piano, we can get someone else, but I just think the track works with the piano."

"It's not up to me. Talk to the rest of the guys about it. Also send me the file of your recording; I'd like to hear this song of yours."

"Sure, dude."

Jared tried to keep his smile to himself. If Ondine recorded the song with them, it meant that she would be in town. He hadn't heard from her for six weeks, much less seen her, aside from the other photos Ben shared on his photo sharing account. He listened to the demo that Ben sent him, and he had to admit, it was already very good, even with just the the piano and Ben's guitar as accompaniment. Their voices also meshed well together, another point for Ben, Jared thought sadly; he couldn't sing to save his life!

Luckily for him, Tommy, Jackson, and Lucas all approved of the collaboration, and now here she was, Ondine, in the flesh, in the studio, rehearsing the song. She sat on the piano bench reading the sheet music, with Ben sitting next to her, his bass in hand. They were whispering to each other and laughing, and Jared couldn't help but think the two were already more than just friends, a thought that made him angry and green with envy. They ran through the song twice, Jared purposely speeding up the rate of which he beat the drum whenever he saw Ben and Ondine getting too close as they remained sitting on the bench.