My Life In Pieces (Book #1)

Chapter 20

"I know, my mom keeps telling me if I am going to straighten it and not have a Jew-fro like Jake then I have to cut it."

"I like that you call her Mom."

"Well she has been my mom since I was a kid."

I nodded. I understood that feeling.

"You're birth mom doesn't come around much either does she?"

We hadn't had the whole my mom left conversation completely, but from what I could tell Ari was in the same boat as me when it came to having an absent bio-mom.

Ari kissed my nose. "She can't. She passed away three years ago."

What? Why hadn't he mentioned that? Why hadn't Elle mentioned that? Or Dylan?

"Oh, I didn't realize. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Do you like talking about your bio-mom?"

I shook my head no. He was telling me to drop it and I was happy to change the subject.

"Can we get a picture?"

"I knew you would get as hooked as I am." He grabbed his camera and we posed. Soon though we headed downstairs. There seemed to be a lot happening in the living room.

"What's going on?"

"Brenna's band is playing soon."

I looked at Ari for a minute surprised. "Is Tyler still in the band?"

Ari shrugged, "I think so. He and Brenna talked things out about a week ago. They're civil at the moment at least as far as the band is concerned."

This surprised me even more. Not that I cared much, but I didn't like being out of the loop. Ari took a seat on the couch and I sat on his lap. I made eye contact with Tyler for the first time that night. He gawked for a moment then went on talking and listening to Brenna like what she was saying was the most interesting words ever uttered from human lips.

I ignored him and went back to talking to Ari. Elle came in with Aaron and sat next to us. About twenty minutes later Running With Scissors was playing their first song in a makeshift stage area. I had heard it the first time I had seen them play so I mouthed the words I remembered. After half an hour they started winding down for the night.

Tyler grabbed a chair and Brenna got set up behind a keyboard. He tapped the microphone and got everyone's attention.

"Hey guys, how do you like us so far?"

There was some cheering. Then it got quiet again. I strained forward anticipating what would happen next. Tyler cleared his throat and spoke again.

"So normally we get to hear Bren on the mic but this one I've been working on for a while and Bren was nice enough to help me put some music to it. Now bear with me because you guys know I don't sing lead often but Bren says I have to sing it if I want her to play it. But anyway I hope this doesn't totally suck because I told this girl I'd write a song for her and I don't want to sound like shit when I finally play it for her. This one is called Falling."

He sat down and grabbed an acoustic guitar and strummed a few notes to check the tune. There were loud groans from the guys and awwwww from the girls. I knew that song title. He had been writing it the first day of English class after he told me he would write me a song. Shit.

Tyler began to play then Brenna came in. It was this sweet melodic tune that had me hooked instantly. After a moment he began to sing.

"I see you there.