Delicate

Chapter 43

But before I can dwell on that for too long, Tom calls to tell me he's outside. I leave my things as they are and jog down the stairs to let him into the driveway, unlocking my front door to wait for him. He gives me a half smile as he rakes his fingers through his bleached hair.

"How's it going?" He hugs me casually with one arm.

"Alright, how are you?" I close and lock the door behind him. "Thanks for coming."

"Yeah, I'm happy you reached out," he sighs as he sits on the sectional across from me. "I wasn't sure we'd work together again after the first album."

"You helped me push through in writing Sweet Creature and Carolina so I knew I'd want to work with you again," I offer. "I just wasn't sure I'd be ready to write the album so soon."

"How's it coming along? How many songs do you have so far?"

"Good actually," I nod somewhat enthusiastically as I pick my phone up from the couch. "I can play the songs that I have rough studio demos of so you can hear the sort of, like...vibe."

"Yeah, great," he crosses his arms over his chest and waits while I connect my phone to the surround sound Bluetooth speakers in my living room.

There's no real order for the songs to be in without the album being finished, so I start with Adore You when I feel like that one does a pretty good job of encapsulating what I mostly would like the album to sound like. It's guitar-driven, but there's still a major pop element in the drums and that's the direction I wanted to go in this time. Less mainstream rock and roll, more psychedelic.

"This is good," he laughs, nodding along to Mitch's guitar solo. "It's way different than your last record, but not in a drastically shocking way. I mean, it's not like you're rapping or some shit."

"Imagine," I chuckle. "No, I wanted it to feel like me but more fresh."

"For sure," he agrees as Watermelon Sugar starts next.

From there, we listen to Golden, Lights Up, and Treat People With Kindness. Most of them are complete but need major tweaking in production, and Tom already has great ideas for each of them that he's writing down in his phone. I make a joke and tell him that this means he's going to have to come to LA after Christmas and get in the studio with me, and he doesn't hesitate to agree.

"There are two that I've been trying to write for a couple of weeks now, but to be honest, it's just depressing as fuck," I rest my head on the back of the couch and slouch against the cushions to be more comfortable.

"Are they breakup songs, or?"

I swallow and nod. "One of them is the title track, Fine Line, and the other is Falling."

"What happened? If you don't mind me asking."

I know Tom well enough that I don't think he'll judge me any harsher than Jeff or the band did, but it's just still something I don't like to admit out loud. I hate the way it sounds and I hate that awkward pause when I say it, and the other person doesn't know what else to say besides it was a shitty fucking thing to do.

"I kissed my ex while I was in a relationship," I bluntly explain anyway. "I guess if I'm getting down to it, she kissed me while we were both drunk at a party, but I let it happen and I put myself in a position to let it happen. I was fucking wasted and so was she, and it just wasn't how the night was supposed to go."

As if he's physically in pain, he presses his lips together with furrowed brows, sort of wincing a bit. "That's not good."

"No, it's not," I scoff lightly. "To make matters worse, it was the ex that my girlfriend was already anxious about because we've been friends for a long time and we've never rekindled anything since we broke up. It's always been strictly platonic, which was why it annoyed me that my girlfriend was so against us being friends. But she was my girlfriend, I should have listened to her and heard her out."