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In the darkness, way below It's my heart she'll keep
The final note lingered, then slowly drifted away into nothingness. In the ensuing silence, the foursome turned to appraise their captivated audience.
Her father clapped first; the booming sound of hands meeting replaced the earlier melody filling the room. "Very impressive, gents," he applauded in his rough accent.
Alex was too busy worrying her lip between her teeth to join in, though, biting back a spinning array of emotions, wondering which one her mind would eventually land on. She realized she hadn't given them enough credit before, which was wholly unfortunate. Everyone made hacky comments about Greta Van Fleet being a Led Zeppelin knock-off because the similarities were undeniable. However, this had been something else entirely.
And, dammit, Dad was right, of course. It was very fucking impressive.
But, she still hadn't expressed anything of the sort outwardly, and five sets of eyes were on her, waiting. A compulsory, caustic comment jumped to the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed it back before it could roll past her lips. Sincerity stung her like a bee when permitted, but there were occasions for its necessity. This was one such occasion. "It's brilliant," she confessed, watching as they gleamed at the compliment. "Annoyingly so, almost," she added because it killed her to give praise without a backhanded footnote. "Why haven't you released it already?"
Josh gave one of his rolling laughs that rose to twinkle at the end, displaying each of his pearly white teeth. "Jake insisted it didn't belong on the earlier albums. He's very stubborn. I don't know if you've noticed, Alex," he teased, playfully kicking at his brother's leg.
"And I was right," Jake argued, extending an arm to push his twin back, like children pretending to practice karate.
Alex shook her head at their endless antics. "Well, it'll be a hit when you do," she guaranteed, coming to stand beside Jake. The proximity immediately dulled her judgment, enough to whisper, "come on, we've got an hour."
Without further prompting, he unshouldered the guitar and placed it delicately back on its rack. "What does that mean?" His face read a mixture of confusion and eagerness.
She watched the others watching them, but only Danny looked mystified by their secretive murmuring. This was going to be painful, no doubt about it. Alex kept her voice low to avoid being overheard, but the effort seemed entirely in vain now. "It means he knows," she disclosed ominously.
Alex was kicking herself for being so pliable and impractical. Making out in the hallway, what had she been thinking? Nothing, that was the problem. Jake made her uncharacteristically stupid.
She was so distracted with berating herself that she didn't notice her father's presence until he spoke. "So, it's the long-haired one, is it?"
Her heart might have ceased all beating as the insinuation reached her stammering brain. "They all have long hair," she reasoned, hoping the conversation would swerve into another lane, literally any other lane than the one it was presently traveling down.
