Your Voice | Luke Hemmings

Chapter 4 "Strangers"

Luke

"You are seating at my spot" a girl said from my back.

I immediately looked down so that she wouldn't recognize me.

"What?"

"No one usually goes here aside from me. You're a first."

The girl sat beside me which caused me to flinch a little bit.

"I just want to have some time alone," I admitted.

She looked at me intently like she was reading me.

"Well to be honest I'm not really good in conversations but you intrigued me. I wonders why a guy like you would came to a silent secluded place like this, your type usually goes to clubs and have hangouts."

This girl is starting to judge me. So typical.

"You should not be here too at this hour. I think you are still a student. You should be at school," I replied.

She raised her eyebrow at me, "so are you. You don't look that much old."

Wow. It amazes me. This girl really don't recognize me. She's a first. Normally when we are on tour we sometimes escapes from our hotels and just wander in the city. We tries our best to hide and disguise as normal people but no matter what we do, fans just keep on recognizing us.

"You really don't have an idea who I am, don't you?" I asked.

"Do I have to? I'm sorry if I don't," she stopped for a moment then focused her attention to the push and pull of the waves, "I'm new to this place."

"Oh," the only word that came out of my mouth. I looked at her for real this time. She's wearing a gray sweatshirt with black ripped jeans and a black converse. She probably aged around 16 or 17. Her hair, loosely hanging by her shoulder. It sways when touched by the wind. The way she looks at the ocean, she have the same kind of expression that I have whenever I face the mirror. Her gray eyes looked so melancholy. She seemed lost. Just like me.

"I'm Luke by the way." I offered my hand.

"I'm Rine," she said as she took my hand. "So, what are you exactly doing here?"

"I don't actually live here. I just passed by and stopped to admire the view. You?"

"I usually go here whenever I feel sad. The surrounding comforts me, I think."

"You are here, so are you sad right now?"

"I don't know," she took a shell that was resting on the sand and threw it towards the water, "I actually don't know what to feel."

She sadly looked at me and forced a short laugh, "you think I'm crazy."

"No," I quickly replied. "I think you're just someone who is just lost."

"Since we moved here, my life changed. My best friend betrayed me. I also found out that my new friend had lied to me. He embarrassed and made fun of me. The ones that i trusted the most just I don't know what to feel already. I am angry and sad and hurt," she paused for a while then wiped a tear from her cheek, " I feel so alone."

Somehow i felt her pain. The way she constructed her sentences made me easily understood her emotions. It felt like her words served as a transparent glass where you can clearly see what's on the inside.

A crazy thought suddenly jumped into my mind.

"Can I ask help from you?"

She seemed shocked at the sudden approach but she asked, "what kind of help?"

"Well writing is one of my hobbies and I am actually working on a song right now. But the words seemed to have abandoned me. Can you help me write it?"

"Well to write a song I need to first understand the song itself. Tell me your story and let's see what I can do."

***

Well, of course I started at the very beginning. I told Rine about how i met her on New York. All the happy good memories. Then, I also told her how we got together. Our vacations in Brazil. The hang outs with my friends. Of course I left those parts that needs to mention my band. I am currently enjoying having a casual talk to someone without the need to pretend and I don't want to ruin it.

Then I finally got to the part where our relationship was torn. I asked myself, am I ready to talk about it? I took a deep breath. It's now or never.

"But at a music festival in California in 2017," I continued, "I found out that she was cheating on me. She's been cheating on me since the first day of our relationship and I was so dumb not to notice it!" I let out all the anger in me. "I loved her! And I still don't have any idea what the heck was my fault for her to hurt me like this."

"We're just the same then," she looked at me sympathetically, "we're both been betrayed by our love ones."

There was a long silence between us. We just looked into each other's eyes for a while. She broke the eye contact by getting the notebook and pencil on my side and then she started writing.

I just sat there for a half an hour waiting for her. She looked so serious like she really thinks hard on picking the best word she could think of. Her eyes never left the paper. I tried to take a look on what she's writing but i can't understand her handwriting, I only caught one word, "lie".

She closed the notebook and put it in my hands. "Don't read it not until I'm gone."

I looked at the notebook in my hand tempted to open it and read whatever she wrote inside.
But I decide to side away the curiosity first, "okay, but i said we have to co-wrote it. That means  also have to help and put my own words and ideas there."

"Oh you still have to." She stood now beside me. "I think I have to go now. Thanks for the chat Luke. I hope I helped you in something."

"Oh, that depends after i read what you wrote. But for now I guess talking with you helped me a lot to express myself. To be honest you are the first person ever to hear my side of the story."

It was true. I don't talk to my friends about my break up with her. Even with Ashton.

"Well that's something." She stood beside me and brushed off the sand in her jeans. "I think I should go now. Thanks for the talk anyway. I hope you get better though. You'll never forget her but eventually you'll learn to accept it." She smiled and turned her back on me then started walking away.

"Rine!" I called out. She turned around and asked, "what?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you today with your problem. But try to listen to Invisible by 5 Seconds of Summer. I think that song will help you a lot." I advised.

"It's okay. You also can't do anything about it. It is only me who could help myself." She smiled at me one last time and then never looked back again.