Shades of Redemption

21

I glanced at the guitar and felt a pang in my chest. It had been a long time since I'd touched it. Gavin had given it to me—back when we still believed in forever. The memories hit me with surprising force, but I pushed them down, unwilling to let them ruin this moment.

It wasn't a lie. I used to play quite a bit. But since the breakup, music had felt too personal, too close to everything I wanted to forget. What I didn't tell Elijah was that the guitar was a gift from Gavin. It was a reminder of a different time, one I wasn't ready to explain.

Elijah, oblivious to the emotional weight of the instrument, walked over and picked it up carefully. He ran his fingers over the strings, checking the tuning, then glanced at me with an excited look in his eyes.

"How about a little duet?" he suggested, his voice light and playful.

I hesitated. Singing in front of someone—especially after all this time—felt daunting. But something about Elijah's enthusiasm was contagious. It was as if the walls I'd built around myself weren't as solid as I thought.

Elijah pulled out his phone, found a place to set it up across from us, and hit record. "Just for fun," he said, noticing my slight nervousness. "No pressure."

I gave in, sitting down beside him on one of the stools, close enough that I could feel the warmth radiating off his shoulder. He adjusted the guitar and began to strum a familiar tune. As soon as I recognized the opening chords of Everything Has Changed by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran, a smile tugged at my lips.

"You know this one, right?" Elijah asked, grinning.

I nodded, feeling a little more at ease. "Yeah, I know it."

He started playing, his fingers moving effortlessly over the strings. As the melody filled the room, something shifted inside me—an old, familiar feeling. I wasn't thinking about Gavin anymore. I wasn't thinking about the past or the hurt. I was just... here, in this moment, with Elijah.

When it was my turn to sing, I took a deep breath and let the words flow, softly at first. I sang Taylor's part, my voice a little shaky at the start but gaining strength with each note. Elijah sang Ed's part, his voice smooth and steady, harmonizing perfectly with mine. We exchanged glances as we sang, the lyrics weaving a story between us that felt both nostalgic and new at the same time.

The song carried us, and for those few minutes, everything else faded away. It was just the music, our voices, and the connection that came with sharing something so personal.When we finished the last note, the room felt lighter, almost like we'd created a small bubble of peace in the chaos of the world outside. I hadn't sung in so long, and I'd forgotten how freeing it could feel—like letting go of everything that had been weighing me down.

Elijah smiled at me, his eyes bright with excitement. "Sophie, that was amazing. You've got a great voice."

I blushed, feeling a little shy. "Thanks. It's been a while since I've sung."

"Well, you should do it more often," he said, standing up and stopping the recording on his phone. "You've got too much talent to keep it to yourself."