Free (Sequel to Through The Dark) Complete

Chapter 16

The next afternoon, Julie walked out of to the living room when she heard Niall playing his guitar. Amanda was attending a medical conference and would be gone until the evening. Julie loved when Niall sat and strummed on his guitar. She found it calming and motivating. She stood and listened for a while clutching her newest notebook in her arms. She smiled when he looked up. "Hey, sorry to interrupt." She said as she walked towards him and sat down on the couch closest to the chair he was in.

"No, you're not an interruption." He looked at her holding her notebook. "How are you?" He thought he'd ask about the notebook, but he wanted to feel her out first. Amanda had told him that Julie had opened up to her a bit last night, and he was hoping that didn't make her pull back further.

"I'm ok." She shook her head at him. "How are you?" She set the notebook down on her lap.

"I'm good." He laughed. "Are we going to ask about the weather next?"

"Yeah, sorry. I just, I heard you playing, and I was wondering. I mean, you don't have to, but I was just wondering if maybe you would help me with something?" Julie asked nervously. She had no idea why she was so nervous. It was Niall for crying out loud. Niall, who was her strongest supporter. This should be easy, but yet somehow it wasn't.

"Sure, what's up?" Niall put his guitar down on the floor and watched her rub her hands slowly over the top of the notebook. He was hoping she was going to open up that notebook for him. He was almost salivating to see what Julie had written in there. He never took his eyes from her hands.

"I've been writing these lyrics. I've got a lot of it, but I think if I had a bit more of a melody than the one running around in my head, it might help. I thought maybe you could help? With melody, and maybe helping finish the story." She could feel her cheeks turning red. Wow, she was something else. She had no idea why she was still so shy and protective when it came to this. People already knew. They 'd already heard some of her songs, but she still felt this struggle to share this part of her.

Niall smiled and watched JJ. The blush crept into her cheeks, and she kept her eyes on her hands which were still on top of the notebook, resting on her knees. "I would love to help. In fact, it would be an honor."

Julie giggled nervously. "Ok, you don't have to act like it's that big of a deal."

"But it is. I've been waiting for this. For you to come to me." Niall said.

"Yeah, sorry. Apparently, my decision-making hasn't been on point lately." She sighed and stood up. "Maybe this isn't a good idea."

"Sit down, JJ." Niall said laughing. "It's me, remember? You know I support your choices, even if I don't always agree with them. Come on, what you got?"

Julie sat back down and took a deep breath. "I don't know why this is so hard. These lyrics, well, I imagine you know what they are about. Oh, geez, here." She said opening the notebook and thrust it toward Niall. "Wait, do you want to hear how I've sort of heard it in my head? Is that how I should do things?"

"Calm down." Niall laughed. "Ok, if you have an idea, let's hear it. Then we can work with it. It will come, and when it's right, you'll know."

Julie took a deep breath. "Ok, but remember, I'm no singer." She looked at her notebook and gathered the rough melody she had running through her brain, and then started to sing the first part of her newly written lyrics:

Another shot of whiskey please bartender
Keep it coming til I don't remember at all (no, no, no, no)
How bad it hurts when you're gone
Turn the music up a little bit louder
Gotta get past the midnight hour uh huh
Maybe tomorrow it won't be this hard