come back, be here ( EDDIE ROUNDTREE )

TRACK 04 / STARLIGHT.

"You want embarrassing Eddie stories?" Warren asked, causing Odette to turn around to face him. He hit Graham in the chest. "Do you remember that one time with Linda─"

Eddie was quick to cover Odette's ears. "We promised to never talk about that."

Odette pushed him off. "No, let him speak."

"How about this instead, we'll let you be the first person who will listen to the album," Eddie suggested.

If Odette was being perfectly honest, it didn't sound like a fair trade. No matter how many times she had sat next to Camila in McNasty's, she couldn't find it in herself to actually like their music, well, it wasn't the sound, but rather the lyrics that she didn't like. It had been a topic of discussion that her and Eddie had talked about for hours; Eddie openly complaining about the lack of freedom he and the others had when it came to their music, that it was Billy's show and everyone else was just backup, even going as far as to reject a song Graham had written, one that he had sold to another band and managed to become a hit. Odette rather focused on Billy's lyrics, "you know, if every song is about Camila, it makes you wonder if he's trying to prove he loves her or if he's compensating for something."

And Eddie knew this, and when she turned to look at him, she knew that the offer was intentional. That there was an underlying invitation hidden beneath it all, she had learned how to understand Eddie that she could see it.

She held up her pinkie, and when he intertwined his own with hers, it was a silent promise between the two of them and one that they did often whether it was over something important or useless, it had become their thing.

( EDDIE: I promised her that she'd be one of the first people to hear the album before it officially released. I thought I was going to have to secretly do it, but Teddy managed to help me. During that time, we were recording, she was always there, not as much as Camila but like clockwork she'd come in around lunch with food for us. Sometimes she'd stay and sit in the booth and you'd always seeing her talking to Teddy. When I told him it was for Odette, that was apparently enough to let him agree. I think it helped that you couldn't not love her when you get to know her.

INTERVIEWER: And did he keep his promise?

ODETTE: [ Smiles softly ] yeah. . . Eddie. . . He was good at keeping them.

INTERVIEWER: And what did you think of it? When it was finally released, did it change your mind about their music? )

It was often that Odette found herself in the presence of Eddie's company as she painted, it had reached the point where she had gone out a bought of couch so she wouldn't have to drag a chair from another room of the house for him to sit on and it had become his place. But this was different from all the other times, they had barely spoken a word to each other since Eddie had shown up with The Six's debut album, all Odette had done was grab it from him and disappear into her studio. Thankfully, Eddie had grown used to her antics to know to follow her without question. It was an easy routine they had fitted themselves into, Odette sitting in front of her easel, painting as she listened to their album.

Even when it had finished, silence washed over them.

"That is saying a lot," Eddie commented, ultimately breaking it.

She frowned. "I'm surprised you guys didn't make anything new."

"That's what a second album is for."

Odette hummed in response.

"Seriously, princess, your silence is becoming stressful."

She huffed, placing her paint pallet and brush on the table. "Do you really want to know?" She asked as she turned around to face him.