Fame

Chapter Five

Five years ago:

"Lissy, get off of me!"

"No! Not until you give it back!"

"Would you rather choke on your own misery than swallow your own pride?"

"Give me back my songbook, dammit!"

"These songs are actually really good, Felicity. You should be in my band! You could play the keyboard; you know you're a piano prodigy."

"You'd really want me in your band?"

Sawyer's smile almost melted me right there.

"Of course, you're my best friend."

Best friend. Why did it cut me like a knife when I realized that I wanted it to be more than that?

"My dad has a friend that can cut an album for us when we get seven songs put together, but they need to be good quality songs like the ones you have. Can we use some of them? We can sing them together if you want."

I fidgeted with the hem of my sweater and bit my lip—a nervous habit but I knew Sawyer loved it when I did it because he'd always tease me about it.

"Yeah, that sounds amazing actually."

Singing with Sawyer was my absolute favorite part about our time together. It was like I could let all of my emotions out about how I felt about him in the song and he never even had to know.

Deep brown, almost black hair, gorgeous crystalline blue eyes and a rugged jawline peppered with the signs of growing facial hair, Sawyer was the definition of every girl's fantasy...how could I not feel so strongly about him?

"Awesome. So how about we start working on that cover?"

And there we sat for hours figuring out timing and vocal runs, all while I was trying not to spill to him the fact that I was secretly in love with him.

***

Present Day:

He didn't follow me out of Amy's dorm and for that I was thankful, the tears practically blinding me so I was sure I looked like a lunatic sprinting down the hallway swerving around girls on their way to class.

"I swear! Sawyer Reeves is here, I saw him with my own two eyes! Hey, watch it!"

Okay, I might've run into that girl on purpose, but the friends she'd been gossiping with didn't spare me another glance as I stumbled my way down two flights of stairs to reach my floor and soon I was in the embrace of my familiar bed.

Never had I been happier to see Blair's pale pink decor and sparkling accent wall in my life.

I let the tears flow freely for a solid hour, allowing myself to feel the pain and let it out before my well finally dried up. If I didn't cry and feel the pain, then I would bottle everything up and my emotions would choose the worst possible moment to explode—a fact I knew all too well.

As I was rinsing my face after finishing my hygiene routine for the morning, Blair returned to her dorm room...but she wasn't alone.

Elliott, Matt, and Brake, the guys I'd met before at the diner, came strolling into our dorm room while I was still stationed at our small sink off to the side.

Trailing behind them was Sienna, the girl claiming to be Sawyer's sister, and two other girls, and it didn't bother me one bit that I didn't remember their names.

Sienna was blonde and blue eyed like me, but she knew how to play to her strengths and wore complimentary makeup whereas I only wore the bare minimum, mainly because I was usually too lazy to put any effort into my daily looks.