Among The Stars

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

When I get home, everyone except my mom is asleep. She's sitting silently on the living room couch, reading some book I had never heard of. It was probably something her prayer group suggested.

"So, how was your day?" she asks.

"Actually, pretty good," I say honestly.

"That's good." she says, nodding and looking back down at her book. We weren't really a talkative family.

I sigh and head upstairs to my room with the last of my french fries.

I instantly slip into bed, snacking on my fries and listening to my mixed tape. I bet Adam knew every song on the tape.

That would actually be pretty helpful because I could never find any of the songs I liked on iTunes from the mixed tape. Most of them had really weird titles.

At the thought of him, I call Adam. He answers after the first ring.

"Hey," he says, "What's up."

"Well, I'm siting here, listening to this mixed tape and I can't quite figure out the titles of these songs and I figured you'd know," I say nonchalantly.

He laughs from the other end. "Well, if it's country music, I can't help."

I laugh and shake my head. "No. It's not."

"Okay. Try me."

I nod and put the phone on speaker, placing it by my tape player. Anxiously, I start to play the first song.

It takes him a while, but he figures it out.

"Easy. It's called Meet Me In the Morning. I can make you a CD with it on it so you can download it onto your computer," he offers.

I laugh and shake my head. "Thanks but no thanks. I'll just download it."

Quickly, I open up my iTunes app and search for the song.

"Okay, number two." I warn, clicking play again.

This one takes him an even shorter time and he quickly recites, "Alabama, Arkansas."

I laugh and nod. "I would've never guessed that."

"Yeah. I heard it on the radio one day and literally searched for it lyric by lyric," he says, "It didn't take that long because the first lyrics she sing are also the title of the song."

"Yeah," I laugh, amazed at how dedicated this guy was to music.

We spend about an hour listening to the mixed tape, him reciting every single song. It's not until we get to the last song that he falters.

"So what is it?" I ask.

"I really don't know," he replies hopelessly, "I mean, whoever made you the CD might have made the song. It isn't very complex. I could easily make a song like this with a good recording system and any talent I don't have."

I laugh and think about Justin writing and recording a song just for me. "Uh, thanks. It really means a lot."

"Yeah. Any time. It's really late. I'm gonna' crash. Night."

I sigh and nod, looking over at my clock. "Oh yeah. Night."

Slowly, I shut down my phone and set it on the charger, not taking my eyes off my tape player. That night, I fall asleep to the last song, the soothing idea of Justin singing it never leaving my mind.