REMUS BENNET
It took him two more days to look up all he could, and in the end, he finally gave up.
His initial observation had been right, and apart from Lewis, the songs from his playlist were simply non-existent.
He had other playlists as well, but from what he could gather, the effects were limited only to the last playlist he had made.
Those were some sixty songs, and he had spent the next day writing, jotting down all the names and lyrics he could remember.
A part of him felt like a thief, but this was a boon, and he would be a fool to kick it in the face.
Both him from before, and Remus longed to be singers.
They had given years to their craft in one way or another only to be robbed of their dreams by tragedy, and now he had the opportunity of fulfilling both their dreams.
He could not remember everything, but he was certain that he could use this to remake them.
All of this took him three days, and in that time he wrapped up repairing the two phones.
It was Saturday, and Elliot had long run out of patience.
The two of them had been texting each other, in boredom, and Elliot was begging him to come to his House so that they could jam together.
He had been putting it off until he finally gave in on Saturday.
He had a shower, which was easier said than done, for he had to wrap bubble wrap around his leg.
It was a daunting task, but he managed and walked out of his room to hear the bell ring downstairs.
Leslie was out of the House because of work, and Gia was alone.
“I will take it,” she shouted from the other room, while he put on his shoes.
“It’s Elliot,” he answered back, and soon enough his best friend was in his room ready to take him away.
“You cleaned up.” Elliot raised a brow, teasing him at his behavior.
“You should have told me that this was a date, then I would have worn something nice as well, dear,” and he picked up his pillow and threw it at the bastard.
“Fuck you, you bastard,” and Elliot was rather loose in his preferences and would often joke around about this with him.
“There is no need to be defensive about this,” and Remus was not much fond of his humor.
“Say one more word, and I am not going,” and that finally shut him up, as he pushed himself up as Elliot handed him the crutches and helped him into his car.
“I have already told Mom, but are you sure that you are going to be fine?” he asked Gia one last time, who rolled her eyes in annoyance.
“I am not a child. I can take care of myself for a few hours,” she countered, and he was not so certain, but he had no choice but to trust her.
Elliot twisted the keys, and the two of them raced away on his very old Honda Civic.
“Keep your phone on,” he screamed at Gia.
“Don’t act like mom,” and then they took the turn, and she was gone.
It took them half an hour to reach Elliot’s home, and soon enough he found himself in his room, and the place was a mess as it always had been.
There were posters on the wall, and there was a pile of clothes in one corner of the room.
The bedsheet was a mess as well, while the boy in question hopped into his chair and asked excitedly.
“So, what’s the plan?” Elliot asked, and he settled down on the bed.
“If it were me, I would consider tidying up,” and the boy in question threw a pencil at him, as Remus chuckled.
“Shut up,” and he did, for he was rather used to it.
Perhaps it was their contrasting natures that made them such good friends.
“I don’t know, man. We could just go with the usual stuff,” and usually, they would simply huddle together and try to make tunes or melodies or simply try on some old songs for fun.
“We could do that, or we could continue where we last stopped,” Elliot added enigmatically, looking at him deliberately.
“Come on, man. It’s time to spill the beans,” he added, and despite expecting this very thing, he was a bit taken aback.
“Let’s work on that song of yours,” Elliot suggested, and much to his surprise, he nodded.
“Sure,” Remus agreed, and Elliot took a second to get back.
“Really?” and Remus nodded.
“Yeah,” and he picked up the pencil he had thrown at him and picked up some paper.
“I think I have the lyrics down,” so we can start working on it.
“You have the lyrics down,” and he nodded and handed him the paper.
Elliot’s skimmed over them, and for a few seconds he did not say anything, though he did not miss how his feet were tapping and how he was bobbing his head to the beat.
“Damn,” he suddenly gasped and puffed his cheek as he drew in a deep breath.
“That’s some heavy shit, man,” he added, and Remus shrugged.
“Honestly, I always respected your vocals, but I never knew that you could write something like this,” and he could not, but he did not tell him that.
“Perhaps it was the accident,” he lied, and Elliot nodded.
“Maybe,” and so he turned on his computer, and a few seconds later he found himself sitting in front of a Shure mic with a pop filter while Elliot held his guitar.
“Let’s go,” and he clicked record, and so he began to sing.
‘I fell by the wayside, like everyone else.
I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.
But I was just kidding myself’
Elliot played the guitar, and the beat began slowly, and it took nearly all of his might to do justice to the high notes and use Capaldi’s vibrato.
Thankfully, their vocal profile was not that different, and all his years of training in his past life paid dividends as he found himself singing for hours. Read this novel at novelping . com for the best experience.
Sometimes he would mess up, and sometimes Elliot would suggest a change.
But they both did not shift their focus, for they both knew that they were doing something special.
In the end, he did not even notice the sunset, nor did Elliot, for that matter, who clicked play, and they heard the final version.
It was almost perfect.
Both of them listened in silence until he sang the final lyrics.
‘Was there something I could’ve said
To make it all stop hurting?
It kills me how your mind can make you feel so worthless.
So, before you go’
The recording ended as Elliot turned to him with a strange expression.
“You bastard,” he cursed.
“What?” he said, rubbing his eyes.
“You sing something like this, and then you say you don’t want to be a singer,” he roared as he jumped at him and began to beat him up.
“Hey! HEY!” he stopped him, as suddenly the door to the room was pushed open, much to their surprise.
“Oh!” and they both turned towards the stranger at first, and it was a girl he easily recognized.
The two of them had met through Rue, and Lexie and Rue had been friends since kindergarten, and somehow that friendship extended to him as well, as the two of them found themselves spending time together as well.
Lexie was smart and hard-working.
She was also far more responsible than the other girls around her, and that was why their friendship survived despite him being a year older than her.
They kept in touch even after Rue and her lost touch with each other, but then the breakup with Cassie came, and things turned sour.
Lexie knew that her sister had been at fault, but things became awkward, and so they had not talked much in the last two years.
“Lexie,” he called out, and he did not think that she would be coming here.
“What are you doing here, Howard?” Elliot questioned, while the girl’s face flushed.
Remus looked at Elliot, and what it may look like to her, and pushed Elliot off of him.
“Get away from me, you bastard,” and Elliot hit the floor as he pushed himself up.
“Shit,” Elliot grunted as he rubbed his back, and Lexie apologized awkwardly.
“I am sorry. I should have knocked,” she began, and Elliot nodded.
“Yes, you should have. We could have been going at it…” and he kicked the bastard once more, before he could finish those words.
“Hey!” Elliot cursed as he rubbed and shielded his face with his hands.
“You need to come to terms with your sexuality,” and Elliot knew well what his sexuality was, but the bastard took great joy in tormenting him.
“You do know there is already a rumor that you like batting for the other side,” and Remus picked up the pillow and threw it at his retreating form.
“You are the one who started that shit, you bastard,” and it was Lexie’s chuckle that broke them both out of their trance.
“Hahhaa,” and he turned towards her.
“I am sorry for him. He was dropped as a kid,” Remus added, glancing towards his best friend and adding.
“Many times,” and he made a face.
“Still, what are you doing here, Howard?” Elliot questioned as he pushed himself off the ground and sat down in the chair.
“Oh, I had your assignments,” and suddenly it all made sense.
“You should have texted me. I could have picked them up myself,” he suggested, reaching for his phone.
“I did,” Lexie added awkwardly.
“I even went to your House, but Gia told me that you were at Elliot’s, so I came here,” and suddenly she passed him a tote bag that contained most of his work from school.
“I tried calling you, but you weren’t answering,” and indeed he saw some two dozen texts from her, and made a face.
“I am sorry,” that was all he could say.
“We simply lost ourselves in our work,” and she shrugged.
“It’s fine,” she added, with a stiff smile.
“So, how have you been?” she asked, and he pointed towards his leg.
“Better,” he answered.
“How is Rue?” and now the answer was not so easy to give.
“Hopefully, better,” that was all he could hope for.
“What about you? How’s school?” and she shrugged.
“Same old. I am planning on testing out of a few courses early, so I am trying to work on that,” and Lexie was smart.
“That is good,” and Elliot had had enough.
“Boring,” he added from the side.
“Come on, Howard. Let me show you something nice,” and before he could stop the bastard, he clicked play on the laptop, and speakers began vibrating as a soft, slow melody filled the room. Get faster updates on g.com.
“What is this?” Lexie questioned.
“Come on, man. Shut it down,” and the bastard pushed away his crutches.
“That’s our dear superstar friend,” and he could only hang his head down in shame as he began singing.
He saw Lexie’s eyes widen at the words, as she tilted her head towards him.
He glared daggers at Elliot, who had a rather proud smile on his face, as he played her the entire song, and what came afterward was a sob.
He turned towards Lexie and saw tears slipping down her eyes.
“You wrote that?” she asked, and he nodded slowly.
“That was the best thing I have ever heard,” she added, and Elliot jumped out of the chair.
“That is what I said,” he added.
“That was something else,” and he could only nod awkwardly.
“Thank you,” and what else was he to say?
“You should upload this. It’s going to be a hit,” and it was Elliot who shook his head.
“Not yet,” and Lexie frowned.
“Why?” she asked.
“My setup is good enough for jamming, but we need a proper place to record the song. We will need to rent out a studio to do the recording. I can edit it at home, but for the recording we will need a studio,” and he was of the same opinion.
“I know a few places, but renting a studio in LA is not cheap,” and suddenly he remembered.
“I have five grand,” he added, and Elliot’s eyes widened.
“Where did you get that kind of money?” Elliot asked, and he shrugged.
“It was from the parents of the kid I saved. The one who caused this damn accident,” he said, pointing towards his leg.
“We can get a pretty good place with that. I will need to make a few calls,” and it was Lexie who added.
“You could do a video as well,” and Lexie’s aim was to be a director.
She was obsessed with films and movies, though few ever believed in her.
“We could record the whole thing, she added. One of the singers did it some time ago, I think. He made a video of himself creating a song and then uploaded it to YouTube. It created quite a bit of buzz,” and now both of them turned towards him, and he was conflicted.
On one side, the idea had merit, but he was not sure that he wanted this much exposure.
YouTube was excellent, and he knew well that the era of YouTube creators was just beginning.
“We can make the video, and we will decide later if we want to publish it or not,” and Elliot nodded.
“Sure, why not?” Lexie wiped away her tears.
“We can do it on our phone, but a camera would be much better,” and Elliot was quick to cut in.
“Don’t you have one?” Lexie shook her head.
“I did, but Cassie accidentally broke it,” and the room grew still at the mention of her sister, as both of them looked at him awkwardly.
“What?” he asked angrily.
“Nothing,” Elliot said.
“We will do something about that later, but I am starving. Why don’t we head out?” he suggested.
“We can eat out, and then I will drop you both off at your houses,” and that was a good plan.
So, they spent the next few hours making plans.
Lexie wanted to direct the video, and Elliot was already making plans for an album.
They ate at a nearby Pizza place before Elliot’s car came to a stop outside Lexie’s home.
But sadly, it was not the only one, for another car was already parked there.
A dark Ford truck.
One, all three of them recognized it easily.
It was McKay’s car.
Lexie’s face shifted at the sight of the car.
“Thank you for dropping me off,” she added as Elliot gave her a thumbs up, and she quickly walked into her House, as Elliot wiggled his brows at him.
“She likes you,” he added, and he made a face.
“No. Never,” he denied the allegations.
“Believe me, she does, and she seems a way better person than her cheating bitch of a sister,” and Elliot had little love for Cassie because of what she had done to him.
“Even if she does, nothing will come out of it,” and Elliot slapped his arm.
“Why the hell not?” he asked.
“She is Rue’s best friend,” Remus countered, as Elliot began to drive down the street once more.
“So,” and Remus made an obvious expression.
“You don’t date your little sister’s best friend,” and Elliot chuckled.
“I have never heard of such a rule,” and Remus shrugged.
“Because you don’t have a sister…”
0000
Have a fantastic day!