Even Heroes Have Scars

[40] Surprise

Ansley's P.O.V.

As I strummed the guitar that was balanced on my right knee while my left hand danced over the frets and strings on the neck, I couldn't seem to focus. Perhaps it was the pulse in my fingers that felt like they were bleeding from playing for eight hours straight on top of three hours last night, but maybe it was because I couldn't stop thinking about Demi. Her face was all I saw when I closed my eyes, carried away in the music, and I imagined her singing instead of Chelsea. After all, we were playing "Stay" by Rihanna, which Demi did a cover of.

"Okay, let's take five," Chelsea stated at the end of the song, which we had been practicing over and over again for thirty minutes. "Ansley, what's going on? That time around, you were behind by half a beat the entire time."

"Nothing," I adjusted myself on the stool, my left hand resting on my left thigh while my right hand held the guitar to my body. "My fingers just hurt, I guess."

"You need to get calluses so that they don't hurt as much when we perform," she explained, twisting the microphone in her hand. "'Stay' was recorded with just Rihanna and a piano, plus Mikky Ekko, so our twist with the guitar will make it amazing, just as long as you are on beat."

"I know," I sighed, sniffing, as my cold had not yet completely passed. "I'm sorry."

"Chels, don't get on her case for it," Cody stood from his stool with his drumsticks in his hand. "We're all exhausted."

"This performance has to be perfect!" Chelsea insisted.

"We're trying to make it perfect, but if we lose all of our energy in the practices, it can't be as good as you want it to be," Cody stepped closer.

"Whatever," Chelsea rolled her eyes. "I still think Ansley needs to sing a song. You're too good to sit behind a guitar and a low volumed microphone all the time. You need the spotlight for just, like, at least one song."

"Oh, God no," I shook my head.

"Guys I have an idea," Mark rose from his stool and everyone turned to him. "What if Cody and Ansley sang a duet?"

"Cody sings?" Bailey and I asked at the same time.

"Every day in the shower," Mark chuckled.

"Only in the shower, Mark. That's the only place I'm X Factor quality," Cody corrected him.

"We don't need to hear about what you two do in the shower," I made a disgusted face, scrunching up my nose and sticking my tongue out.

"I'm just saying that he can sing. He does it every day. He's good, too. It was just a suggestion," Mark shrugged.

"I suggest Ed Sheeran. That way it varies our musical genre and we hit other notes instead of just the basics. There's a ton of songs on his new album that would be amazing for either one of you. Thinking Out Loud, Photograph, Afire Love, Bloodstream, so many really good ones. I'm just thinking out loud here," Bailey explained, scrolling on her phone, probably on her Music app.

"I see what you did there," Cody chuckled.

"What do you think, Ansley?"

"If you guys are so hung up on me performing with Cody, what if we sang Everything Has Changed?" I asked.

"That could work. Do you know that song? Like the chords and everything?" Cody seemed interested.

"Yeah. I've played it several times before."

"Have you sung it in front of an audience? I mean, I know you sing outside of that bar sometimes, but have you sung that song in front of an audience?" Chelsea asked. Maybe she wasn't against it either.