Somewhere in the Middle

Bated Breath

Evie stared at him, right into those uncertain eyes as she listened. She knew he'd done remixes of Crossing Astor's songs, and she'd heard the few he'd released. They were little treats for the fans for being so wonderful about the wait for the new album, and each song had received a phenomenal response.

But this... this was his own creation. Entirely Luke, from the instrumentation to the production. And the sound seemed to surround her the way he did when she was in his presence. The steady rhythm of the bass, the guiding beat of the drums, and the surprising addition of the synth laying over all of it—a melody and harmony strung together by the man sitting beside her. The man who never allowed anyone to listen to his music.

Until now.

And she could hear him in every nuance of the song.

Evie bopped her head along to the beat, wondering how he'd done this, how he'd created such a complete and full sound with just his computer and that little beat-pad he was always messing around with, how he'd never had enough confidence to let his bandmates hear it.

Because it was good. So good, it deserved to be heard.

She waited for the song to end, waited for the full effect of it to sink in, and when all went silent through the headphones, and all stayed silent in the back lounge, she took them off, still looking into his worried eyes.

"Was it awful?" he asked, his voice soft, more timid than she'd ever heard it.

"Awful?" she asked, the surprise and outrage coloring her voice. "That was fantastic, Luke."

Luke exhaled quickly. "Really?"

"Really," she said firmly, smiling as she reached over to grab his arm. "I mean, it was amazing! It was like... like listening to your mind, somehow. Like, like I could feel you in every part of it."

Now, Luke was smiling, too. "Yeah? You liked it that much?"

"I loved it!"

He eyed her for a moment. "You're not just saying that, right?"

Evie's smile faltered momentarily, as she looked into his eyes and saw the doubt still swimming around in them, waiting for the catch.

"Wha- why would I just say something like that?" she asked with a bit of a laugh, surprised that she was enjoying this side of him—the unsure side. It was absolutely adorable.

"Because you're my girlfriend and you love me and you don't want to hurt my feelings?" he suggested, still more worried than she wanted him to be.

Evie leaned over, kissed him quickly, and kept her lips close to his when she said, "All true. But that doesn't mean I'd lie about this. If it was shit, I'd tell you."

His hands came around her waist as Luke stared into her eyes, and he was smiling again. "No, you wouldn't. You'd sugarcoat it somehow. You'd say that I'm an awesome bassist, and that I should keep my focus on that, or... or that I look really good while playing an actual instrument, or... try to seduce me so that you wouldn't have to say anything at all!"

Evie breathed a laugh, gave his lips a quick swipe with her tongue. "Is it working?"

"Too well," he said, smirking now as one of his hands ventured north beneath her shirt. "I don't care what you really think at this point."

He followed his words up with the soft press of his lips to hers, and Evie felt her heart speed up as he pulled her closer, as his warm hand spread out on the skin of her back.

"But," she pulled away before things could go too far, before her breathing could become any more staggered, "I didn't actually say any of that, so... I must really, truly like what I heard. Imagine that."