Sage

23

Harry.

"Wait, wait," I shake my head and lean over Gale, my finger pressing down on the red button. The woman in the booth clamps her mouth shut and raises her thin brows at me to give me her full attention.

"We're gonna reverse the track, and soften the instrumentals so we can use a double mic, alright?" I call through the speaker and she nods.

"Sounds good!"

Gale fidgets with the buttons and dials before starting the track over and holding a thumbs up to Alicia, who nods and begins to sing again. Her voice is too scratchy, and I'm immediately shaking my head once more, sucking air through my teeth. This is the fourth vocalist we'd brought in for this and it's going on two weeks since I've started this project. Nobody can get it fuckin' right.

Gale still doesn't know what exactly I need backup vocals for and I don't plan on telling him. I used to treat this as a "pastime" but I don't even know if I could consider that anymore seeing as I've been in the booth for nights on end, humming and tapping my guitar before strumming vague chords, scribbling down notes and melodies that floated and disappeared in my head like clouds.

 But I couldn't, so far right now all I had was an instrumental that I knew was missing something. I thought it could use softer background vocals but that doesn't seem to be doing the trick.

I'd become fully submerged in this project about a week ago, conveniently the day after Ellie left my condo. The efforts I took to convince myself it was purely coincidental were extreme, to say the least.

I hadn't seen her since then and it wasn't because I was avoiding her, it was the other way around and I didn't know how to feel about that. It honestly pissed me off that I felt anything at all, that my chest had actually deflated the morning I grasped the cold sheets she'd once lay in.

When I found my phone downstairs, I saw that she'd sent me a short text message, reminding me not to be dumb and take the aspirin she'd left on the counter. She never said why she left or who took her home, though I knew she had Lance's personal cell per my request.

Being the dumb ass I am, I dialed her number and waited for her to pick up, only for it to be sent to voicemail on the third ring, so I texted her to thank her for last night. Because that was the right thing to do, right?

Eliana: Don't mention it. Seriously.

What the fuck did that even mean?

I spent the next couple of hours trying to break down and analyze the short message like my life depended on it. Each time, I huffed and tossed my phone somewhere, distracting myself with mindless activities, I ended up grabbing it back again and racking my brain further.

Eventually, I settled on just asking how she was doing. I was getting annoyed with trying to figure out what she meant that it never crossed my mind to figure out how she felt when she wrote the message. 

Me: You okay?

Two hours it took her to text me back, and the entire time, I sat on the gaming console with Gale. I'd invited him over to give my mind a break from the thought of her. After only thirty minutes of being over, I think he figured something was up from the way I constantly paused the game and grabbed my phone, checking for notifications only to toss it back down when I see that it was blank.

How long did it take her to tell me if she was okay or not? I know she quit her job, she isn't working. Maybe she's out with her friends, it is a Saturday.

When my phone rings on the couch, I immediately pause the game and Gale groans loudly.

"Are you fuckin' kidding me!"