Star Crossed

Chapter 16: It's a Date

Jayden

"How did you become a musician?" I ask, sitting down on the living room couch beside Hawk. We had made out for like twenty minutes, and now we're just kind of chatting.

He looks over to me. "Well I sent in an original song to a recording studio, and they really liked it. They flew me into LA, got a band together, and BAM! I'm making money, flying worldwide, and seriously wishing for a second to breathe," he laughs. I smile at him, raising the bottle of Coke in my hand to my lips.

"Oh, that reminds me," he says standing up, "Come on, I wanna show you something." He stretches his hand out in front of me. I take it with slight hesitance, but follow after him anyway. He leads me up the stairs and to the furthest room on the left. We stop in front of the door, and he smirks at me. He opens it to reveal a large room with a bunch of guitars hanging on the walls, posters of bands all over, some microphones, a desk, and a multi-coloured polka dot rug in the centre.

"This," he begins, "Is where the magic happens." I look to him, confusion expressed on my face.

"This is where I like to write my songs and practice. The walls are sound proof so when I have insomnia and feel like shredding on my guitar my parents won't be completely and utterly mad." I nod, peering around the room. There's six guitars on one wall. They're all electric, though I believe two of them are actually bass guitars. There's a lime green one (the one from the party), a light blue one, a magenta one, two black ones (one's a bass), and a maroon one.

"Do you play?" He asks, seeing me looking at the different instruments.

"I used to, but then I sold my guitar, so I can't really play anymore," I say, walking away from the wall. Hawk goes over to it, picking up the light blue guitar and holding it out in front of me.

"Play it."

"What? No way! Compared to you I suck and I don't need you to mock me 'cause of it." I cross my arms over my chest, turning my head to look away from the guitar.

"I promise I won't. Please?" He begs, pouting slightly.

"Alright, but one snicker and I'm out," I state, grabbing the guitar from his hand. I put the strap over my head. Hawk hands me a cord to plug into it, which is connected to an amp in the corner of the room.

"I don't even know if I remember any of the chords."

"Just put your fingers on the strings, I'm sure you'll figure it out." I roll my eyes, but do what he says anyway. And, sure enough, as soon as my fingers hit the strings I feel this almost electric pulse flow through me as I hit a chord.

"Not bad," he says, mildly impressed, "But I'm sure you can do better."

I slam the pick against the guitar, hearing the sweet sound of the vibrations from the chord. I forgot what it feels like to play, and how it feels to just have a guitar in my hands.

After a few more minutes of me attempting to play, I give up and give the guitar back to Hawk.

He's currently showing me some of the album covers he's designed for his band. All of them are so cool, some of them are even just rough sketches for future albums.

"You really made all these?" I ask for what feels like the millionth time.

"Yeah, it's kind of like my second passion. I have some better stuff if you wanna see it." I nod. He walks out of the room, leading me into his basement.

"Close your eyes," he says suddenly. I give him a weird look, but oblige. He takes my hands in his, guiding me to whatever he's about to show me. We stop after a bit.

"Can I open?"

"Yes, open!"

I open my eyes to see a giant mural on the entire back wall of the space. There's so much going on. There's curvy lines, some galaxy designs, characters, and so much more. I stare in awe, the image being indescribable.

"This is- it's just- wow," I finally say. I see a small blush go over Hawk's cheeks.

"Thanks. I made it when I was thirteen. God I thought I was such a good artist. Looking at it now there's so many things I would change. Like this," he points to the solar system, "I would have made that much larger and the planets much better scaled."

I laugh. He turns to look at me, although it may be more of a glare.

"I think you're too hard on yourself. This is amazing, and you were only thirteen when you made it, and yet it still is incredible!" I exclaim, putting my arm around his shoulders.

"You really think so?" He asks, looking me in the eyes.

"One thousand percent."

He leans forward a bit, catching my lips in his. I close my eyes, savouring the sweet kiss. We pull away after a few moments.

"I think I should go, my Mom'll be home from work soon," I explain. He nods, and leads me back upstairs to the doorway to grab my coat and boots.

I throw my jacket on, not bothering to zip it up, then slide my feet into my boots.

"Are you doing anything next Saturday night?" I ask him once I've finished dressing.

"Yeah, I believe so. Why?"

"Would you like to go to dinner?" He smiles at this, walking towards me, putting his arms around my neck, and staring into my eyes.

"It's a date." I lean down to his lips, kissing him gently before leaving.