Eddie Munson and Olivia Wilson would rather peel their own skin off before spending time together after a line is drawn in the sand in high school. Years later Olivia is brought on to manage the now wildly popular band, Corroded Coffin, and forced t...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
There is something so totally and completely freeing about accepting someone just the way they are.
It's also absolutely terrifying.
Allowing yourself to appreciate the depth and complexity of another person only opens yourself up for them to walk down that same unspoken bond between the two of you and see everything you keep hidden inside your soul. It's through that bond you're able to feel the remorse and regret that seeps into their hearts for the things they've done. That's how you're able to forgive them. To accept them. To love them.
But there are some things you can't forget, even after the person that willed them into existence has laid themselves open for you. Doesn't mean that person shouldn't try to remedy what they've done though. That's why for months I continued to wonder if Eddie would ever say anything about taking credit for the music I helped him create. But after a while, it started to fade further and further back into the recesses of my mind.
*****
It was a typical Friday night in the city. The only thing different this time was that the band was playing a secret show at a bar in the city that fit maybe five hundred people at a max. Dustin and Robin had a blast coming up with ways to sneak everyone in the back without being noticed. They landed on shoving the guys in shipping crates and wheeling them inside from the back of the van. I said it was a bit of overkill but the band was pretty enthused with the theatrics.
After the sound check was completed the band got ready backstage. None had been allowed on stage for the sound check and various crew members had been tasked with making sure everything sounded right.
"Promise me you'll watch the whole show?" Eddie asked as he headed towards the stage as the lights went off.
"I always do," I assured him before planting a quick kiss on his cheek.
The songs flew by as I watched from the side of the stage. I sang along to every line and every lyric, not missing a single one.
Probably because I wrote a good portion of them.
Just as the set was wrapping up Eddie slowed everything down to a solid stop, though none of the members of the band seemed phased at all. In fact, Jeff was grinning in my direction like an idiot.
"There's someone very important I'd like you all to meet," Eddie announced proudly from the stage.
Oh no. No no no no no no no.
Before I could collect the rest of my thoughts Eddie had my wrist in his hand as he drug me towards the center of the stage.
"This is Olivia Wilson. As most of you all know, she's my beautiful and talented girlfriend," Eddie's smile could have been seen from space. Meanwhile I'm just trying not to throw up all over my shoes. The lights on us were so bright I think I started to sweat, which I'm sure looked really adorable.
"Eddie what are you doing?!" I hissed out of the side of my mouth. He just looked over at me with that wide grin on his face that I love so much.
"For our last song I'm playing my favorite song off the album we won way too many awards for," Eddie said, gripping the mic between his hands, his guitar flung over his shoulder. "I know Liv here loves this song." Eddie turned and looked at me with a little glimmer of something I couldn't quite decipher in his eyes. "At least she better. She wrote it."
My jaw dropped.
"This woman right here is the driving force behind the words to the songs so many of you have come to love. She's the puppet master behind some of my favorite bridges the band has ever put together. She's a real wordsmith. She's the love of my life. It's about time she knew all of that. Thank you Olivia. From all of us," Eddie said as he looked around at the band and then back at me. My face was so hot I'm pretty sure my cheeks were burning read.
"I am going to do this at every show until you get the point Olivia. I should have been doing this from the beginning. We would have nothing without your incredible mind, and I'd have nothing without you." Eddie pulled his guitar back in front of himself and started to play a slower, noticeably gentler song off the album. I remember writing it with him vividly.
We sat on the floor of his apartment and he had his guitar in his lap. I chewed on the end of my pen while glancing over the words in my notebook. Every so often Eddie would look up at me and smile and I'd do the same right back at him. I talked through the words and what I wanted to express with each line and he understood without any difficulty. It was as if I was painting a picture with my ideas and words but Eddie could see the finished work of art before it was even done.
I might have given him the words. But he brought them to life.
He brought me to life.
As he stood on that stage and sang to me, it felt like every string that had attached me to the earth had been cut with a dull pair of scissors. I felt completely weightless and yet somehow so amazingly grounded. Eddie made me feel like I could fly and like I could dig my feet into the cold earth below our feet and ride out any storm. He cut me open but he stitched me right back up. He made me stronger. He made me breathe.
I stood with my hands over my mouth and tears in my eyes as I watched him earn the forgiveness I'd wanted to give him for so long, but never knew how to start. I never in my life expected him to heal that wound so fully. My eyes stayed wide as he sang out words he'd spent so long working on with melodies I'd watch him pluck straight from his remarkable mind. I closed my eyes and let the music take me away. The cloud I was on was so peaceful and —
"Olivia?"
My eyes sprung up and I looked around for Eddie and didn't see him.
"Please don't just leave me hanging," Eddie said with a nervous laugh. The crowd had gone silent.
Oh holy shit. He's on one knee.
I kept my eyes on him as he brushed some of his dark hair out of his face, his big brown eyes beaming up at me with so much hope and so much anticipation.
"Whatcha say Olivia Wilson? Will you marry me or do I have to ask a third time?" Eddie never stopped smiling.
I stood silent. Stunned. Speechless. My mouth hung open as I just continued to stare at Eddie, who I'm sure by now was screaming internally.
"Oh my god yes. Yes! Of course!" I gasped as the words left my mouth. Now it was Eddie's turn to stare back at me.
"Wait, wait wait wait. Really?" He asked as he stood back up and took my hand.
"Yes really dumbass!" I was already crying when he slid the ring on my finger.
"I can't promise I'll never hurt you again Olivia. But I can promise that if I do, it won't be on purpose, and I'll spend every second of every day trying to make sure that doesn't happen," Eddie whispered as he pulled me into his chest. I was crying so hard I couldn't even formulate proper words. I just nodded. I didn't have to tell Eddie that those were the words I'd been dying to hear from him for so long.
