Life Can Be Beautiful

Edge of Great

October 4, 1997

Veronica's POV

"Are you serious?" I sit up. "Yep. I'd call Sam and tell him if I were you." JD says. I do just that. "Hey Sam? It happened." I say over the phone as I get ready for work. "It did? The band is really back." I can hear the excitement in his voice. "Yeah. How soon can you get back here?" I ask. "I can be there in a week. I'll just have my family ship my stuff there after." He says. "Okay. I look forward to seeing you." I hang up. I can't believe this is really happening. We're really back. Edge of Great is back.

When I get to work, I walk straight past my desk and into Zachary's office. "Veronica! What can I do for you?" He smiles. "Hey. I'm here to tell you that I quit." I say. "Huh?" He blinks. "The band is back and I hated this job anyways. Bye!" I walk out and drive to Owen and Will's. I'm walking up the stairs and JD is about to knock on their door. "Hey! Funny seeing you here." I laugh and cross my arms. "I was coming to tell them the good news. What are you doing here? The same?" He turns around to face me. "Well that and that I just quit my job and I don't know how to tell Alyssa." She's not gonna kill me but she's gonna be mad I didn't at least put in a two week notice. "Oh. Wow." His eyes are wide. "Told you I hated it. I was waiting for you to give me a reason to leave." I shrug.

Owen opens the door, "JD, Veronica. What brings you guys here?" He leans against the door frame. "There's some big news I guess we both wanted to share." I say. "What is it?" Owen asks. "If you'll have me, I'd like to rejoin the band." JD tells him. "Oh my God. Thank you! Took you long enough." Owen playfully hits JD's shoulder. "Hey! At least it happened eventually." JD laughs. "Yeah. I guess better late than never." Owen says. "I already called Sam. He's gonna be here next week." I can't help but smile.

We hang out for a few hours. Will joins us once he gets off of work. "Hey guys." He sits next to Owen on the couch. "Hey babe. How was work?" Owen kisses his cheek. "Typical customer service bullshit." Will leans over and pours himself a glass of the wine he had brought from the kitchen. "It's a little early for wine." JD laughs. "Not after eight hours of getting shouted at." He takes a sip from the glass. "Fair enough." JD shrugs. "Well the band is back." Owen smirks. "What? Finally!" Will smiles.

That afternoon, I come home and Alyssa is putting away the groceries. She always goes to the store on Saturdays even though it's always busy. "Hey babe." I start helping her put the groceries away. "Oh hey. You're home early." Alyssa hugs me. "Yeah. I am." How do I tell her this? "Why is that? You never come home early." She's right. I'm often home late but never early. "Don't get mad," I start, "I might have quit my job today." I blurt out. "You what?" Her tone is surprisingly calm. "I'm sorry. JD called and wanted to get the band back together and then when I called Sam, he said he was quitting his job so I did the same. Plus you know I hate it there." I say, barely taking time to breathe. "Slow down. While I wish you hadn't quit so abruptly, I support your decision to leave." She puts her hands on my shoulders. "Oh. Okay." I sigh.

We don't really talk about it for the rest of the day. Alyssa takes a bubble bath and I sit next to the tub. "I'm happy for you and JD. I'm glad you two could become close again." Alyssa turns to me. "Yeah I'm happy too. I've missed my best friend." These past two years have been painful. I kiss her forehead, "I'm going to bed." I get up. "Sweet dreams. I love you." She smiles. "Thanks," I smile back at her.

October 10, 1997

JD, Owen, and I stand in the airport, waiting for Sam to come. We see him emerge from the crowd and I can see him smile at us. We all hug. "JD, how have you been?" Sam asks. I forgot they also haven't seen each other in two years. "I've been okay. You?" JD pats his shoulder. "Good. Great now that I'm here." Sam says. We're all in my car when Owen starts rifling through my center console. He finds the cd of our debut album. "Look what I found." He puts it into the cd player. My voice fills the car as Edge of Great starts playing. "God I haven't listened to the song in forever." JD laughs. "Yeah, me neither." I say. "Look at this cover. It's such good art." Owen flips the case around.

We listen to the album until we get back to Owen's. We help Sam with his luggage. He is staying on Owen's couch until he finds a place. Will is there, but he's in his room lying down. Apparently he had to leave work early because of a major migraine. He's been getting them for a while now. He hadn't had one in a while. Owen went in and offered him some medicine. Owen is honestly a pretty good contender for boyfriend of the year. Not just because he offered Will medicine, he's just always done so much for him.

October 11, 1997

JD comes over and we sit at the piano. "So have you written any songs?" He asks. "Yeah. I've had some song ideas. I wrote a few about you." I say. "Can I hear one?" He asks. "Sure. This one is called 'Midnight Rain.'" I play it for him, trying not to look at him while I sing. "I like it." He tells me when I stop. He sees another song sticking out of my folder. "What's that one?" He motions to it. "Oh it's nothing. It's a more personal song." I take it and put it in my lap. "Okay. Didn't mean to pry." JD takes a sip from his water bottle.

October 24, 1997

I get out of the car and walk into the building. "Hey Veronica." Miles says as I pass his office. I stop and peek in. "Hi." I smile. "Everyone is already here. They're in the studio." He tells me. I nod and head into the studio. "Hey guys." I walk in. "Hey. Any new songs for us?" Sam asks. "Yes. In fact, I spent all week making sheet music for you guys. Miles helped." I hand out the sheet music. "'Midnight Rain.' I like it." Owen smirks. "Thanks." I sit at the piano.

We experiment with it and then play it all the way through. "I love it. What else do you have?" Sam asks me. "Well I have one song. It's called 'Lavender Haze.'" I pull out the music for it and play it. "Wow. You've written some good songs while we weren't all together." Owen gets up from his chair. "Well thank you." I start putting away my music.

Everyone starts leaving so I go back to my apartment. I sit at my keyboard and pull out the song called "Would've, Could've, Should've." I play it, trying and failing not to cry. "Hey." Alyssa walks into the room. I stop, "I thought you were staying at the school for that fundraiser." I wipe my eyes. "I wasn't feeling well. Megan said she'd cover me." She sits next to me on the piano bench, "You're playing this song again?" I nod, "I thought I could do it without crying. I failed." I say. "Fuck Aaron." Alyssa sighs. "Yeah. Fuck him." I let out a laugh that's also a sob. She kisses me and gets up.