Imagine A World (Luke Hemmings a.u.) [in editing]

10 Writing

Madeline's POV

I pull on my high tops quickly, my legs already shaking even though I'm sitting down. I've tried writing songs before. It hasn't gone well.

I try to stall, but I hear Luke calling from the other side of my door, so I pull myself together and exit my room. I can't disappoint him. I feel like I'm honor bound to go, and that I have to please him. He offered to teach me guitar, after all.

He smiles at me as we go out the front door with Calum. We're walking to the session, which I don't really mind. I need to get exercise one way or another.

"Any ideas?" Calum asks when we're about halfway there, startling me out of my worried thoughts.

I shake my head slowly, but Luke says, "Yeah, a few," and smirks at me. I blush and look down at the cracks on the sidewalk, gripping his hand a little tighter.

We reach an apartment complex, and Luke rings one of the buzzers. An unfamiliar, staticky voice crackles through the intercom, and I assume that it had said something about letting us in, because there's a beeping noise and a click as the front door unlocks.

Luke leads us to the elevator and presses the button for the 8th floor, and the doors glide shut. I glance around the small metal room nervously, and Luke seems to notice my attitude.

"Are you alright?" he asks.

I look over at Calum out of the corner of my eye, and when I see that he's pressed all the buttons leading up to the 8th floor, I shake my head.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not very good at writing songs. Or coming up with ideas for them," I tell him, cracking a knuckle, as I always do when I'm nervous or anxious.

"Don't worry about it. If you don't want to write, you can at least help by singing what we've got so far," he promises gently. "We'll need you to at some point anyway, to figure out when to add you in when you're singing. Don't get stressed over a little thing like that."

I give a soft smile as the doors finally open to the correct floor. Before getting out, Luke glares over at Calum, who shrugs sheepishly.

Calum leads the way to the right room and knocks on the door, which swings open to reveal a man.

"Hey, Tony!" Luke says, throwing his arms around the man. "Nice to see you again. This is our friend, Madeline. She's going to try to help us with writing today."

"That's great!" the man, Tony, says in return. He has a hardy look about him, but his voice is surprisingly light. "Come on in."

As I pass by, I get a better look at the man. He has a receding brown hairline and twinkling hazel eyes. He isn't thin, but he isn't large, either; sort of in the middle. He's slightly shorter than Luke and Calum, but still far taller than me.

There are instruments strewn about the apartment, but they're very carefully placed. Several guitars, acoustic and electric, sit propped against one of the couches in the lounge area. I spot a bass on top of the island in the kitchen area. Percussion instruments are set in random places all over.

Luke and Calum sit on one of the couches, and I follow their example, sitting gingerly. It's strange to be in another person's apartment, especially someone that I don't know very well.

"Alright, then, boys," Tony says, plopping down on the opposite couch, then adding, "and lady. Who's got some ideas?"

Luke raises his hand high in the air like a second grader, wiggling it excitedly. I raise an eyebrow at this, but Calum and Tony look unphased.

"Okay, notes or lyrics?"

In response, Luke goes over to the row of guitars and picks up an acoustic one. Then he sits back down next to me and starts playing a riff that he must have come up with a while ago. It's impressive that his fingers can move so quickly from string to string, note to note, chord to chord.

We build on this riff, and by 2:00 (we started at about 12:30), we have a chorus and first verse set. I sing it back to the boys and Tony.

"🎶Why did I listen to you?

You would talk, you didn't prove

How much you really knew

About how much I loved you

The smell of dust after rain

I'm not the one to blame

You used person after person,

Such a shame

Picking up the pieces from your wake

I remember the lunchtime fantasies

Peanut butter jelly and all that make believe

I could never quite put my finger on the answer

Now that you have gone, though

My head is finally clear

And I can see that the magic mirror lied

You threw our dreams into the wishing well!🎶"

Tony looks impressed, and Calum and Luke clap politely. I blush a little.

"You guys wrote it, all I did was sing," I grumble, with a tone of embarrassment in my voice.

*******

"That was great, guys. See you next week. Keep coming up with ideas for the song, alright?" Tony says after another half hour. We've tried to continue to the second verse, but we've gotten a bit stuck. Or, at least, they have. I sit quietly in the corner, just smiling and nodding.

The two boys give Tony bear hugs, then he comes over to me and, surprisingly, gives me a hug as well.

"What was that for?" I ask him quietly once he's let go. "I didn't do anything."

"You sang it. That can be hard for some people. And you're good, too. Don't forget that, but don't get cocky about it either. Remember that, kid. See you next week?"

I nod, smiling. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Luke's POV

Madeline is near-silent the whole session, until we ask her to sing what we have so far. She performs it spot on, making it sound far better than I think it really is.

We attempt to add on, but nothing seems to click, so after another half an hour, we pack up and head back home.

"You were good, you know, Mad," I whisper to her as we walk down the street.

"Thanks," she replies, her face flushing. "It was your song, though. Your lyrics. I didn't do anything."

"You were there," I tell her. "That's what's important."

*********************************

Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is kind of short. I'm writing this song on my own (yes, it's an original) because no one has offered to help yet :( I think it's decent. Still not very good, though. I jotted it down in about 6 minutes.

In other news, I have over 100 reads! YAY!!! Ily guys, I want you all to know that. I know that 100 reads isn't really a lot, but it's still special to me.

Please vote, comment, and follow!