Play The Game

Nine

Two days passed with nothing exciting to report. Vincent decided he was going to ignore Bella for as long as she decided to give Chris her time. Though she tried to talk to her brother when she wasn't at the diner, he'd always make excuses to not be at home.

He'd even taken to staying the night at one of his band mates' houses. They'd even moved practice from their living room to another house.

Bella plopped herself down onto the couch. She hadn't even been able to see Chris since the night at the club. Catarina had called though, eager to know more about her without the influence of alcohol to influence her answers.

Anna had been busy with studying for final exams and hadn't been able to hang out though she insisted the moment she finished her exams; she was coming over for movie night with a garbage bag full of popcorn.

She didn't have anything to do today. A day off was normally something that brought her joy, but now she only felt sad that she couldn't be with anyone for it. Being alone in the house was not what she considered a fun day.

Chris was busy with band practice as they'd been trying harder to come up with new music to impress any record company that came ringing their doorbell. The new songs they'd pulled out the other night were good, she

didn't understand how they didn't have an album already? They were insanely good. Though Chris had managed to record some of their songs onto a cassette tape which he'd given her just as he got off the stage.

He'd handed it to her as soon as he moved his sister from her side. "These are songs no one else has heard yet. Wanted you to be the first."

"Why me?" she'd asked, ignoring the way Catarina moved herself so she could hear every word of their conversation. "Don't you think I'll be a little biased?"

Chris shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe. But you also know good music. I mean, you live for Queen, Prince, Bowie, Kiss and Twisted Sister. I think you can handle judging whether you like the songs or not."

Bella blushed. "Okay. If I like the songs though, I'm sending them to a record label and forcing them to sign you guys."

Chris laughed as he put an arm around her. "If you get a record label to sign us before the year is up, I'll marry you, Bella."

"Big talk for a guy who's barely known me a couple days."

Another shrug. "All the more reason to do it. What's wrong with being crazy? It's fun as hell, and if I get to do it with you, all the better."

"I could be a psycho." She waggled her eyebrows for emphasis. Even Catarina had laughed at her. "You never know."

He gave her a squeeze. "A risk I'm willing to take."

And that had led to now. The cassette player sat on the table next to the couch. The cassette inside had been played on both sides, multiple times. She just couldn't get enough of the music. Some songs were hard, and others were soft, but they came together to form a perfectly balanced album.

One of the songs called out to her more than the others. It was a song called It's True. A soft slow song that brought tears to her eyes. She didn't know which one of them had written it, but whoever had, they clearly knew how to speak to a woman's heart.

The lyrics were something out of a symphony.

It's true that my heart belongs to you, only you

You're the sunshine in my rain, and it's crazy I know.

I know it's crazy that I can't stop thinking about you.

But its true, more than true that I can't get you out of my head.