Disconnected

Chapter Two-What's Wrong Luke?

A week later, Luke was back in LA getting ready for an appointment when he heard the song again. The song was a curse to him. It wasn't like any other song they sang, no this one was different because he only ever got little snippets of the song. Sometimes there'd be a little riff on a guitar or a bit of a chorus. He thought he was losing his mind. Why isn't the song coming through clearly? Actually that was the reason he was in LA. Luke had made an appointment to see a specialist about his soulmate connection. He knew that the closer he got to his soulmate, the stronger the connection would be. He also knew that some people just have weaker or stronger connections than others, but he'd never heard of the connections just dropping off and picking up out of nowhere.

"So Mr. Hemmings what seems to be the problem?" Dr Browning smiled questioningly.

Luke was sitting uncomfortably in the too small, plastic chair in the pale green office two doors down from the receptionist. He was slightly regretting not bringing one of the boys with him. The young rock star felt so awkward being there by himself. Ashton would probably have said yes to coming if I'd asked him. Luke thought. Come on Luke, man up! You're not a baby. You don't need somebody to hold your hand at the doctors anymore. He sighed before speaking.

"Uh it's my soulmate connection." He mumbled not making eye contact with the doctor.

"Well then you've come to the right place, but could you elaborate for me exactly what seems to be wrong. You have the song connection correct?" Doctor Browning asked.

"Uh yeah, but it keeps cutting out."

Doctor Browning frowned at Luke's statement. "What do you mean?"

Luke took a deep breath before he started to explain. "Sometimes I can hear songs in my head but I don't hear them all the way through. They don't sound like normal songs. I'm only catching pieces of them, like a bit of guitar or piano and sometimes a bit of a chorus."

The doctor jotted down the information into a keyboard attached to a desktop before he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair to look back at Luke.

"Does this happen often?" he questioned.

"More now than it used to."

"Do you hear their voice yet or just the recorded version?"

"No I've never heard their voice before, only the person who has recorded the songs."

"What about covers and acoustics?"

"No I can hear those too." Luke said remembering the first time that he'd heard John Mayer's voice singing Free Falling in his head instead of Tom Petty. He was never overly fond of Tom Petty so he was glad that his soulmate preferred John Mayer.

"Well besides the cutting out part, you sound like you have one of the stronger connections. Not everyone can hear covers."

"Really?"

The Doctor chucked to himself and nodded to Luke before starting in on a short story.

"When I was studying back in my time, we were taught about a couple who had been married for many years before the wife finally told her husband that she hated the Leonard Cohen song he would play every day. He said to her 'Why dear I thought you loved this song. You used to sing it all the time before we met.' Well it turns out that she was singing the Johnny Cash cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Bird On A Wire' but the husband never knew because their connection was on the weaker side." Doctor Browning explained earning a chuckle from Luke who was suddenly grateful that he didn't have to listen to Tom Petty as often as John Mayer.