When We Almost Made It (Discontinued)

10 | Tell Me That You Love Me Even If It's Fake

*We interrupt this story to go back to Grim and Unknown POV*

"Wait a minute," Grim says. "Can we *take a break? I just want to know were you're parents really that strict about your grades?

"Yeah they were. It caused me a lot of self-esteem issues. I was constantly trying to live up to their expectations."

"Yeah well aren't we all trying to live up to someone's expectations. Anyway when do we get to the part where you almost made it?"

"I'm getting there," I say rolling my eyes.

"Hurry up then!"

"Shut up so I can!"

*We will now return to your regularly schedule story*

Alec's POV:
Zaire asked me if I would like to help her with working on a song. Of course I said yes. I probably should have said no considering I had to convince my parents that we had to work on a project together, because I have about a week until report cards come out.

Thankfully I have a 98 in Cal-kill-us, so I'll get my electronics back. And another wonderful thing is my parents actually listened to me and they didn't get rid of my instruments.

I also had to tell them that we weren't doing them at her house because it involved being outdoors. Apparently unbeknownst to me she was stuck in the same boat I was.

And us working on a song together involves us working in a close space together. And with my social awkward self plus my inability to get over my feelings for her this entire thing is seriously a recipe for disaster.

But the funny thing is the song she's doing just happens to be my favorite one. Well it's too late now. I'm at the pier where Zaire said we should meet up.

"Hey Alec. Glad you could make it," Zaire says waving.

"Glad to be here."

"Hey what's with the sad face smile will you."

"Oh ha ha," I say in a sarcastic tone. "Trying to make puns already aren't you."

"Whatever works," she says a smile on her face. "I made a promise didn't I. To give you true happiness."

"Well just maybe you're fulfilling it," I say. Then she gives me a huge smile.

It's nice to see her smile like that. You know a true smile. Although she could have gotten better at faking it. I doubt it. I'm actually really good at reading people. Oh well, I guess I should smile that's what we're meeting up about anyway.

"So what exactly do you need help with in Smile."

"Well one thing is I want to slow it down.

"Ok let me hear what you have so far."

She begins to sing, and I am already blown away. Her voice is pure perfection. It flows over the lyrics beautifully, and she sings with such emotion and passion. She really knew what she was doing when she decided to become a musician.

"So what do you think?"

"Um I think you really should not be asking for my help and do the whole thing acapella."

"Pfft. Yeah right! This is not a song to be doing acapella. I asked you to help me not compliment me."

"Well one might say that complimenting is helping."

"Well I'm not that one. Compliments are nothing but pretty lies"

"Not always but moving on. Personally I do not think you need to slow the tempo down. You should just play it in a deeper pitch. Like this..."

Zaire's POV: *flashback*

"Zaire," my older sister says.

"Yes Zara"

"What are you doing messing around with my piano?"

"I just wanted to practice my piano playing. You never practice with me anymore, because you're so busy with school."

"I'm sorry about school Zaire, but that doesn't give you permission to play with my piano. You should at least ask first."

"Ok Zara. Can I play with your piano?"

"Yes Zaire. Thank you for asking. And I promise I'll make time to practice with you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah. You always say that. Please stop telling me pretty lies."

"Little sister. When you get older you'll wish some would. Fine I'll show you how to play this song. It's called Smile."

*flashback over*

'Thank you Zara for this song,' I think while we finally finish our remix. I mean my remix. Well I mean we both worked on it. So technically it is ours.  And you know what it turned out better than I thought it would. The only downside is it's night time and we just finished.

And I know I shouldn't have lied to Alec about not knowing the song. It just reminded me of Zara and I didn't want to dampen the mood.

"Well there you go," Alec says. "Our I mean your song is done."

"Hey if it weren't for your help I wouldn't have know what to do. It's yours as much as it's mine."

"Well it was your song in the first place. I don't want to take ownership of something that's not mine."

"Well. We'll have to agree to disagree."

"Yeah I guess so."

"Yeah," I say in a sad tone. It was nice to take a break from home for a little bit. Or rather it was nice to take a break from life. It's always nice to focus on music.

Music like I said is my escape from my problems. I will always love music, and I will always be indebted to it.

"Hey, Zaire"

"Yes."

"How about we take a walk through the city?"

"Don't you have to go home? It's pretty late."

"Nah. I have plenty of time."

Alec's POV:
I lied. I actually should have been home hours ago. I couldn't leave her to work on the rest of her song alone even if she would have been able to figure it out herself.

I just can't seem to stop wanting to hang out with her. At first I thought it was just platonic feelings, but now I know that it's something more.

Something about Zaire makes me want to take a chance on her. To think that maybe, just maybe I'm worthy of something as fickle as love is. I sound like a complete idiot.

I gotta stop doing things like this. Once you put other people first you teach them you teach them you come second. That's my flaw. Another one is caring too much about what other people think.

The thing is I've been this way for so long I don't know how to stop.

"Hey look at that," Zaire says pointing at some street art. "It's a song lyric from idfc by blackbear."

"Huh? I have never heard it."

"Seriously? It's a great song. Really comforting when I'm feeling sad."

"Could you sing it for me?"

"Well okay. It goes like this."

"Tell me pretty lies. Look me in the face.
Tell Me That You Love Me Even If It's Fake."

"That's so relatable," I say

"Tell me about it," she says laughing

*This is a reference to a Hamilton song.

Hey guys another author's note. I'm sorry to say so but I'm going to be going on hiatus for a little bit. Lots of things have been going. On and I have a lot of work to do. My work load has started to make this book seem more like something that's mandatory rather than something for enjoyment. Again I am deeply sorry, but I think this is the best course of action for me.