Hiding Behind False Eyes (A Ben Bruce Love Story.... Kind of.)

Chapter Eleven- We Can't Live This Way Forever

Rain’s P.O.V.

As we stepped onto the bus outside of Lyss’ house, I realized there was no going back now. The driver had already started off toward Dallas, I had left my best friend and my home and this was all actually happening. The boys headed straight to the living area, where they sat themselves down on the couch and started fighting over the Xbox controllers. Suddenly overwhelmed, I took a long swig from a bottle of whiskey; though I knew I shouldn’t get into the habit of drinking because of stress, I couldn’t bring myself to stop right then. Either way, I took another mouthful.

I felt someone hug me from behind. It was Ben. He took the bottle from my hands, putting it on the counter. He grabbed my hand and led me to the back lounge/recording studio.

He closed the door behind us. I saw my songbook on a side table. “What’s this doing here?” I asked.

Ben didn’t directly answer my question. “These songs are good. Which one’s your favorite?”

I blushed, embarrassed that he had read them. “I don’t know…”

“Then we’ll write one together,” he said, sitting down at the table and pulling out a pen.

I sat down beside him, unsure of where this was going. “Ben…?”

He started fiddling around with words on the page. “Come on, then, help me out. You’re the songwriting genius here. I’m just the humble guitar player.”

I laughed, knowing full well he wrote loads of the band’s songs.

“Okay, okay.”

We sat there a while, writing away. It took us half an hour to come up with a full song, and to be honest it was fun. It was nice spending time with him, with us both doing something that we loved. Did I ever mention his gorgeous accent? Damn, was it ever adorable.

We called the song “Someone Somewhere.” I came up with most of the song, but Ben helped with the editing. It was influenced a lot by leaving Lyss, meeting Ben and, admittedly, taking off on my mother in the hope that maybe she would care that I'd left. Ben said that maybe with a bit of tweaking, someday the band might record it. I smiled at that. Not only did my favorite band know I existed, I was now influencing their music.

I yawned. “It’s getting late, Ben.”

“Wait, you can’t go to bed yet! We’ve got to record it.”

My eyes widened. “We have to what?!”

Ben grinned and took out his guitar. Within a few minutes he had figured out chords and a rhythm for the song. I sat by him and watched as he wrote them all down, and then turned on the mics.

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this,” I said. I was so excited I thought I would burst. I was recording my first song, and even though we weren’t going to release it or anything, my heart skipped a beat. I forgot my fatigue as he ran through the vocals of the song, telling me where we would be harmonizing and where he would be cutting it so he could edit it. He started by recording the guitar chords, which took him next to no time because he managed to do it all in one take with the help of a metronome.

“You’re a genius,” I said.

“We came out with our first album really fast,” he said. “I’ve had practice with writing songs in a rush. Now step up to the mic.”

I did, and he stepped up to the one beside me. He played the recording of the guitar, and I began to sing.

Even though I’m on my own

I know I’m not alone

‘Cause I know there’s someone somewhere

Prayin’ that I make it home