She Has No Idea - Book 1

Chapter 10~The Aftermath and Other Things

When I woke up, my mind was a complete fog.  I don’t remember how I fell asleep.  The bright California sun flooded through the windows, practically blinding me.  I buried my face in my pillow, except, my pillow didn’t feel like my pillow.  It was hard, it was lumpy, and it was…moving.  My head shot up, only to see that my pillow was actually James’ chest.  We were both on the carpet, and I had rested my head on him without even realizing it.

James yawned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.  It took him a moment to notice me sitting in front of him breathing heavily and looking devastated.  I didn’t speak; I just began backing up towards the door.  He leaned forward and grabbed my wrist.  I yanked from his grasp, but he held on tightly.

“I’m sorry, I just-Delilah, you…” he trailed off, trying to find the right words to regurgitate, “Just please stay.”

“It’s morning.  I have to go to work, James,” I said evenly.

“I have to go to work to.  I’ll drive you,” he tried to swing me.  It wasn’t working.

I finally ripped my hand from his grasp, heading towards the front door and dragging Lillian along with me.  She was perplexed and had no clue what was going on as I quickly threw on some decent clothes, brushed my hair, and opened my own front door to leave almost without a trace. 

“What is wrong with you?” Lillian interrogated before I left.

“Nothing, I need to get to work,” I replied and closed the door behind me.  That was true, but it wasn’t the entire truth.  I actually wanted to leave before I have another run-in with James again. 

I made a quick stop at Starbucks before I went to Colossal Records and got my favorite, an iced coffee with one sugar, except this time, I didn’t spill it all over me.

~*~*~*~

Tanner’s energetic personality definitely brought my spirits up and helped me forget about… last night.  He was constantly reminding me about how psyched he was about my first album, which is expected to be finished just two months after Christmas.  That was definitely a nail-biter.  February is only a little more than three months away and I only have one song recorded.   It’ll all work out, I reminded myself, everything is already scheduled thanks to Tanner.

The song we are working on today is called, “Leave Me Alone”.  It was an acoustic guitar song, all of which is still played by Tanner, not me.  Believe me when I say that this song describes my ‘relationship’ with James perfectly.

I gripped the expensive microphone in my hands and sang just the chorus first:

Leave me alone

Because I don’t want to deal with you no more

Hang up the phone

Because I’m not gonna answer like before

“Stop, stop,” Tanner didn’t continue to strum his guitar to the beat.

“What’s wrong?” I looked at him, perturbed.

“You know this album is coming out in February, right?”

“Yes,” I answered hesitantly.

“It seems like your songs…express the wrong mood,” he struggled to find an appropriate way to say it.

“What do you mean?” I asked.  I shouldn’t have asked that; I already know what he means.  I let him explain anyways.

“The songs we’ve been working on are all about how much you hate someone, particularly a boy.  February is a time when the question, ‘Will you be my Valentine?’ is constantly being asked.  Your songs should support that.”