Frequencies [UNDER HEAVY EDITING]

Epilogue - July 2nd

The fire burned bright, with the tasty sound of crackling, sizzling sausages filling the air. I watched over the glow of the flames as my friends talked to each other and laughed, feet buried in the sand. The atmosphere was light and easy, Paul cracking jokes as Dylan was folding dough with his bare hands, wrapping it around sticks for people to bake little buns above the flames. Luke was standing next to them, talking animatedly to Mya and James, using loads of expressions and hand motions.

Something fell down in the sand beside me and I turned to find Ace smiling at me with a twinkle in his eyes. "Hello there."

"Hello," I smiled back at him, pulling up my bare knees to my chest. I was incredibly happy that the side effect of my medicines that always made me feel cold had worn off and that I could actually enjoy this moment on the beach properly, in shorts and a tanktop instead of jeans and a coat. "You do know you've got a bit of mayonnaise, you know," I pointed to the corner of my mouth.

Ace winked and pulled some over-acted sexy face, "It's supposed to add to the charm," He threw his head back, looking positively ridiculous. "Isn't it working?"

I rose an eyebrow. "Why don't you ask Mya that, huh?" I looked over to the little group on the other side of the fire, smiling as Luke caught my gaze and grinned.

Apparently, Ace caught the exchange and smirked. "Remember that there was a time when even the implication of you and Luke being a couple made you throw tables and spit insults."

I laughed. "How times have changed, huh?" Looking around the campfire, I shook my head. "I don't know, it's not like we're any different than we were at the start of this all. We're still wild, uncontrollable. And maybe that's what made the difference, the realisation that we didn't have to change in order to get happiness."

Ace nodded. "But you have changed a little, both of you. Maybe not in your essence, because trust me, I know you're still a badass bitch who will scoop my eyeballs out if I do you wrong," I snorted a little. "but when I first met you, it looked a bit like you were kicking against everything around because it was all wrong and nothing seemed right. Now, you're still kicking stuff, but only because it's you and you've found your place in this world."

We were silent for a second before I smacked his arm. "That was way too deep for what is supposed to be a fun evening at the beach."

"True," Ace laughed. "But I'm just saying, I'm glad Luke has you."

I narrowed my eyes, trying to hide how pleased that made me. "And I'm not glad that your still a coward and haven't asked my best friend out."

"She doesn't like me that way!" I raised an eyebrow and simply looked at him, making him retaliate and stumble over his words, "Okay, but, like, maybe she does, it's just, all the stuff that happened and such, it-"

I cut him off. "You think Mya cares about that? What matters to her is honesty. And kindness. Come on Ace, you graduated, go live a little. I've experienced on my own account that it's to short to have regrets."

"Fine," He sighed, dusting the sand of his swimshorts, "But only because you and your baby hair asked me."

"Fuck you!" I glared at him as he walked away, running a hand over the soft short hairs that had started to grow back on my head. It wasn't like my long hair that I once had, not even close, but it was better than being bald. Surprisingly, it hadn't been blond, but brown when it returned and maybe that was actually the best metaphor of my like right now; not blonde, not black, but brown.

A waving stick with dough on it appeared in my vision, handed to me by Luke. He was holding one of his own in his left hand and two mugs in his right. "Hey, you good?"

"Perfect," I smiled, taking the mugs with hot chocolate from his hands so he could sit down.

I hung my stick over the fire, smiling as Dylan tried to eat raw dough. Luke took a sip of his drink. "You know, I still can't believe you said no."

I laughed. "It was the right thing to do." I still remembered when they'd come up to me after our show in the club, a couple of minutes after I finished my piano song. They looked completely out of place in the buzzing crowd and so had their proposal been, absurd in the motion of everything. The only right answer had been no.

"Miss Rebecca Fray?"

I turned around, drink in my hand. "That depends on who's asking."

The man's face didn't move, all professional poker face and all. "My name is Richard Andrews and this is my partner Sally Cooper." He pointed to the stoic woman next to him. "We're here on behalf of the record label we work for."

They stood out from the background like a sore thumb, all stiff and professional in their suits against the barely dressed crowd that all seemed to be moving together in extasy. I raised an eyebrow. "Okay... what can I help you with?"

"We got a tip," the woman said, "that you might be something for the label. And at first, we thought that you might be a bit too much stuck on the same genre, but your rendition of Hallelujah changed our mind. We want to offer you the chance to work with us towards a possible record deal."

I nearly spit out my drink. "You want to give me and the band a deal? I mean that's great, but we haven't even decided on a name, yet."

The woman shook her head. "Not the whole band, Miss Fray, just you."

Just me.

Wasn't this what I'd wanted for a long time? To break through, to be recognised for my music, to live the life? But in the back of my mind, I knew that was a fantasy. The music industry was a hard place, and that, combined with all the alcohol and drugs and plastic people, wasn't that everything that I'd just tried to get away from. I loved music, but was it worth it, especially without the band?

The answer was no.

I slowly shook my head. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can help you."

I smiled, thinking back to it, and placed my hand on Luke's. "I love music, sure, but do I want it to be all me life? No, not at all. I'm right where I belong here and I'll find something that I will love to do as a job, but being famous? It isn't it for me."

"Alright," He pressed a soft kiss to my knuckles. "If you say so. I love you any way."

I smirked. "I do say so. And I love you too." Soft, bumbling guitar accords came from the other side of the fire and I laughed as Ace tried to play the instrument in every wrong way. "Oi, you idiot, you're doing it all wrong. Give me that."

The guitar was passed through the circle until it reached me and I softly placed it on my lap, stroking the strings to get a good feel of its sound. "I think I might know a song that fits with everything that has happened lately." I said, playing the first accords. "Mya, I learnt it from you, so don't you dare back out of singing with me."

She smiled back at me, Ace's arm slung around her shoulders. "Alright Bec." I grinned and started to sing.

"Skies are crying, I am watching,
Catching teardrops in my hands.
Only silence, has an ending,
Like we never had a chance.

Do you have to, make me feel like,
There is nothing left of me?"

To my surprise, nearly everyone started to sing along with the chorus and I sung with a smile, knowing that everyone I cared about was with me.

"You can take everything I have,
You can break everything I am,
Like I'm made of glass,
Like I'm made of paper.

So go on and try to tear me down,
I will be rising from the ground,
Like a skyscraper.

Like a skyscraper."