Rising Star: Book 3 of The Orion Series

Impulsive Kiss

My body is a pit

A pyre for your soul

It catches fire from the embers

Of your demons

My mind is a safe

I've long since lost the key

You're the only one who knows

The combination to

My heart, is a anchor

It keeps me in place

While you walked away

I was trapped in

My dreams

Are where you are

And I wonder if maybe

Someday I can catch you

So here I go--

"What song is that?"

Orion nearly topples off his chair. It's after school, the day before Battle. I had gone to the music classroom to practice. Orion evidently had the same idea and had beat me to it.

"Fuck, dude," he says, bright red, "you scared me."

I laugh, walking over. I grab a chair and sit next to him. "So what was that? I've never heard that song. I dig it. What band is it?"

Orion turns deep red now. He shuffles away, starting to pack up his guitar. I watch him, confused.

"Uhhhh, hello? Orion? Earth to Orion."

"It's not a band," he mumbles, still not looking at me.

"Oh, so who's the artist?"

"Me."

"What did you say?"

He turns around, still bright red. "I said, me. I wrote it."

I rush to him. "Dude that's awesome! I didn't know you write music!"

"You weren't supposed to hear that," he tells me before rushing away. I go after him, gently grabbing him by the arm.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," I say, gently swinging him around so he can't leave. "You're doing it again."

He moans.

"You're doing that thing you do, where you're good at something and try to deny it."

"Ben can write fucking circles around me," he tells me, and I can tell he actually believes that.

I cross my arms stubbornly. "What else ya got?"

He covers his face and whines. "Please don't..."

"Look, if it's shit I'll just laugh at you and I'll never bring it up again."

Orion peeks out between his fingers. "And if it's good?"

I grin. He presses his fingers back together.

"You're cute when you're embarrassed, you know that?"

That got his attention. I hadn't even meant to say that. Oops. So I roll my eyes. "Come on. Do you have any other songs?"

Orion bites his bottom lip. After a moment he goes to his backpack and digs out a spiral notebook I've never seen before. It's old, overflowing with papers that are poking out every which way. Covering his eyes with one hand, he holds out the notebook to me and I take it, sitting down.