Polaroids & Memories

Song Writing ~ 14

( Louis POV )

"Oh gosh...I didn't know I could cook that well." I take my last bite of mashed potatoes and eat it.

"Yeah it was really good Louis. Glad you liked it." He smiles at me before taking one last bite of his mash too.

His mom and sister ate dinner with us too. His friend left with Mr Payne earlier.

His mom takes our plates and goes to the kitchen to bring us dessert. Strawberry cake, my favorite. I wonder if Harry remembered it was my favorite.

Harry and me head to the living room. We sit on the leather couch and talk about my song writing.

"These are all my ideas. Please read it after I go home, okay?" I hand him a couple of papers from my diary.

"What?" He takes the papers from me and tries not to look at them. Only taking quick glances at them.

"I don't want someone reading what I wrote right in front of me. That would be embarrassing." I look away from him and stare at the tv in front of me. I dislike people judging something of me.

"I see. Okay, I'll hang on to this." He shakes the papers in front of me before folding them twice and slipping it in his back pocket. He folds his hands together and places them on top of his lap and looks at me. "So, what's your biggest challenge when it comes to writing?"

"What do you mean "challenge"?" I continue to stare at the television.

"Umm... I don't know. I thought I could support you by recalling or confirming what you can't." He sights. "You know, kind of like an editor."

Support me? I smile at the thought of it. Nobody has ever supported me for anything. Mr Payne doesn't allow me to do anything. He has certain rules on things. "I suppose..." I look at him and shake my head. "The real challenge would be that I'll never be able to finish writing something in one day."

"So it's time constraints." He says and his mom comes in and hands each of us a plate of strawberry cake. We say thank you to her and she leaves the room.

"As time passes, I start forgetting the details... of the lyrics, melody, and chords. They all start changing in my mind. I always start on something, but I get stuck. I have to start all over." I let out a huge sigh. I fumble with my fork, moving around the strawberries on the plate, before I continue because well it's embarrassing to me what I'm about to say next. "According to my diary, I've made 31 attempts in four years." I look at Harry and he looks surprised. His eyebrows are up and his mouth open.

He clears his throat and says "Thirty-one attempts, huh? So my job would be to help keep the continuity in your song."

"Oh, I guess if you don't mind, I'd like that." I give him a quick smile.

"Okay." He smiles back at me and takes a quick bite of his cake. "Anything else that you think I should know?"

"Umm..." I stare at my leftover cake on my plate. There is something I want to tell him but I'm not sure if he'll understand.

He looks up at me. "Hmm?"

I shake my head. "Never mind." I stand up and head for the kitchen and sit at the kitchen table. Harry follows behind me. "What is it Louis? If you want this to work, you need to tell me everything that comes to mind." He sits next to me and grabs my hand.

"Okay. Well, we had a problem in our math class one time." I free my hand from his and I open up my diary and draw a circle and an "X" in the middle. "If you drive a stick into the ground and tie a sheep to it, what is the area of the circle in which the sheep can graze?"

"The length of the rope squared times the circumference of the circle?" He makes little notes on his hand with his finger.

"The sheep not only eats the grass but also the roots." I note.

"What?" He says confused. I guess he doesn't know much about animals.

"The sheep also eats the roots. So the grass doesn't grow back and the grassy plain turns into a desert. Whenever I hear this problem, I think of the poor sheep slowly starving to death. It makes me sad. So then, writing this song..." I let out a sigh. "No, forget it--it's nothing." I shut my diary close and look at him. "It was just a misunderstanding, I shouldn't have said anything."

"Yeah, but..." He looks at me with a concerned look.

"Please forget about it, Harry."

"Really? Okay, I won't write about it in my diary then." He stands up and walks off.

"I can't believe it! Do you keep a diary like me?" I yell at him and he stops and turns around. He grins and says "No, not at all." And walks off.

"Hey!" I grab a strawberry from my plate and throw it at him. Hitting him on his lower back. That wasn't nice to say.

***

"Thank you for having me." I say to Harry's mom. We stand outside the bakery, saying good bye to each other.

"You're welcome anytime." She says before giving me one last hug. I like her hugs. So warm and motherly. I never had a mom to hug.

"Thank you." I smile at her and she hands me a bag with a box of my cupcakes, me and Harry decorated earlier. She gives me a kiss goodbye and goes inside. Leaving me with Harry.

"'Night, Louis." He gives me a hug too. but its different from his mothers. Its very tender and lovingly. "See you tomorrow." He lets go and gives me a thumbs up.

I give him a thumbs up. "Yeah, see you tomorrow!" He smiles and waves goodbye and goes inside.

Harry's friend shows up. I don't quite remember when I met him but I felt like I met him before today. "Umm..."

"What is it?" He says.

"This may sound like a strange question, but have we met before?" I say embarrassed at myself for asking that question.

"Yeah, a few times. Mr Payne and I go back a long time, so I've known you for quite a while, Louis."

"Yeah, I thought you might. I'm sorry." I shake my head. I knew I known him from somewhere.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head." He gives me a pat on my head. "Oh hey, I know a pretty good poem. Would you like to hear it?"

"A poem?"

"How many mountains and rivers must I forever cross to reach the place where my loneliness ends? Again today, I travel." He says.

"Well, what does it mean?" I look at him confused by his poem.

"Well, the poet is asking how far does he have to travel in order to find a place where loneliness no longer exists for him. He knows in his heart of hearts there'll never be such a place. And yet he continues to search for it. Do you understand?" He stares at me and I stare back at him. Trying to understand what he said.

I finally say something. "He talks about loneliness, but it's not a sad poem."

"Mr Payne told me this poem. I'm not sure why, but he must have memorized it for someone a long time ago." He gives me a smile and says goodbye to me.

I walk alone home. Carrying my cupcakes and my diary. I hope Harry has read my songs. Hopefully he doesn't think they're crap. I know it's not much but it's something at least. I really want to write a song. If I can do that. Then I'll have accomplished something in life. And it'll make my sister and Mr Payne happy.

"I'm home!" I close the door behind me. Mr Payne is in the living room reading a book.

"Welcome back." He sets his book down and looks at me. "Did you have a good time?"

I smile. "Yes!" I truly did have a good time at Harry's. He's done so much for me today.

~~~

Sorry for the long wait!

I will continue to write this story. Ill try my best to at least try.

I hope you guys enjoyed. Thanks