SugarCOAT

19. What Dreams are Made of 🌎

After telling Zack that his brother was back, he walked me to the stairs. He asked me not to mention our "music affair" to Zeke. Interesting choice of words, because having an affair is not at all on my agenda. I gladly left his presence and skipped down the stairs to the hall where my room was located. 

"Where are you coming from?"

I turned around to see Zeke behind me. I could ask him the same thing.

"Umm, exploring... trying not to get lost around here." 

Zeke chuckled, "My fault. I should've taken you on a tour before I left."

"Don't worry about it. I know every major hall and room, now." I skipped to my bedroom door and opened it. Zeke followed me inside. "And how was your trip across America?" I asked him.

Zeke walked over to my chair in the corner and took a seat. "Trip across America?"

"It felt like you were traveling across the country without me," I admitted.

"After we release your music, that's how it'll be for you, but my business trips were all successful. My new talent show has a name. It's called The Power House."

"HA-" It slipped. I covered my mouth.

Zeke said, "Laugh all you want. Almost 100,000 people have auditioned to be on the show. That includes you." He pointed at me.

I walked over to Zeke and took off his sunglasses. "Do you ever not wear these?" I tried them on. Then, I ran over to the full length mirror near the closet to see how they looked on me.

"Honestly, I forgot I was wearing them. It's out of habit," he admitted. "Let's talk about you, though. It's been three days. I'm sure you have some questions for me."

I arched my brow. He either had cameras in my room or in my brain. "I do." I leaped onto my bed. "Why do y'all have a fake secret garden? Then, there's this animal figure in the center of the maze. I don't get it."

Zeke rubbed his hands together. "I meant questions about music, Jamie."

I took off his sunglasses and handed them back to him. "Well, I'm ready to record. I've written seven songs so far."

Zeke hung his sunglasses on the collar of his shirt. "What are they about?"

I took a deep breath. "That's my problem. I've been writing since I got here, but I'm not too happy with them, because they all sound the same. It's love song after love song after love song. It's like listening to Sade sing "Your Love is King" 10 times in a row."

"That's not a bad thing," Zeke continued, "We can work on the melodies and the pacing, but I won't touch your lyrics. That's your part."

"Zeke, I'm not a professional. I thought you were going to help me."

Zeke smiled, "I never said I was a songwriter."

I agreed, "That's right. You write movies and stuff." 

Zeke licked his lips. "Sing one of your songs."

I took a deep breath and the song that came to my mind was "Mystery." I closed my eyes before singing the words.

Song: "Mystery" Verse: I'll tell you a little something about this mystery man / he's always there for me, and does the best that he can / and yeah, he may not be a mystery to me / but no one else knows he's everything I need

I opened my eyes. "That's the first verse."

Zeke shook his head, "Who is the mystery man?"

"A guy that she cares about."