Stuck on the puzzle

Talking the same sh-

Alex's perspective

" The mirror's image...! Talking the same sh-" I sing Why'd you only call me when you're high, one of Phoebe's favorite AM tunes. I trail off at the upcoming word, making her burst into a muffled giggle. She made me laugh, too. I was standing beside the hospital bed, imagining myself play the electric guitar's drizzling notes, almost hearing Matt's flawless drumming, almost feeling Nick and Jamie walk slowly next to me, backing me up with their guitars as I put my hands round an imaginary microphone. I usually close my eyes when I sing, so only when I opened my eyes to laugh with her did I see that she has almost packed everything. She's going home today. We are.

"Ya know, you shall start covering other people's songs more often." She says out of nowhere, long after I finished singing some other tune by Amy Winehouse. One we both loved, You know I'm no good.

"Well, we had it happen the other way around, ye know... Miley Cyrus covered Why'd you only call me when you're high at BBC Radio Live Lounge, remember? I recall you saying she was making a porn version of my masterpiece." I say, chuckling. I can still remember that rainy day when she was reading John Cooper Clarke and Miles, Matt, Jamie and Nick called me, saying that Miley would be covering us at BBC. Phoebe left the book and cuddled next to me. She started laughing from 'The mirror's image'. We weren't into the cover, what can I say.

"Well, she was! Like, you sing in this raspy manly voice while she's kinda making a very I dunno... A very too rhythmic version of it. You are so natural when you sing and it seems that if it weren't for Matt's drums to stop you, you'd sing the words endlessly, letting them flow out, forgetting about rhythm and all. Don't get me wrong, I know that Miley can't have such a raspy voice because I dunno if she smokes and she is a woman, after all. And I know it's a cover of the song and covers are supposed to be your own, unique interpretation of the song, but she sings it as if she got its whole message wrong. She sings it as if she's deeply waiting for someone to come and bang her. She sings as if she's mocking the situation. And it really isn't like that! You are so sincere and so aware of the fact that you're totally losing yourself in alcohol's 'spells' and you are absolutely concious that the lover is pissed off at you for only calling her when you feel like it, but you are unable to do anything. It's a sad song, in fact. It's about how hopeless you feel when you're drunk and you have nobody around. It's just the way you sing it that makes it different. If you sing it the way you do, in this raspy manly voice as I said, one will understand that you don't really care what the lover says about your calling her when you're high, that you're just too high to feel guilty. If you sing it normally, emotionlessly, someone might grasp the fact that you do know you're mistaken and unable to control yourself. Which is, in my opinion, a deep thing to write about. Whatsoever, Miley sings it like it's just an event, not taking it as something that builds you up as a human being and that 'teaches you a lesson', let's say. Not that your interpretation reveals it from the first audition of the song either, 'cause you're a hell of a liar when you sing, Turner."

Wow. This girl reads me like an open book.

"Holly God, I love you." I say, 'dropping' my imaginary guitar, reaching for her.

"I thought we were gonna debate it." She chuckles, hugging me back.

"There's nothing else to debate. You said it all."

"Oh, so my presumptions are right?" She looks at me, lifting an eyebrow.

"Yes, they're very right. I don't give my emotions entirely to the world." I say, giving her a long kiss.

"I feel so privileged sometimes." She says, smirking.

"Put your cannula back in, the doc will go mental." I say, handing her the thin transparent plastic tube which she removed earlier in order to test the capability of her lungs. The docs said they increased their functionality to 50%. The right one is the lazy fellow. If she takes her pills, she should be fine. However, now she is supposed to take about 5 a day. A number I find pretty disturbing for an almost 17 year-old.