Muse
Cassie has trouble finishing a song. Luke tries to help and surprises her instead.
Cassie's keyboard and guitar was usually set up in the closed balcony attached to her bedroom. But ever since it became their bedroom, she had moved the instruments to the living room instead. She practiced during ungodly hours of the night—inspiration never sleeps, Cassie had once said—and didn't want Luke to be bothered. Except, tonight, inspiration was nowhere to be found.
Cassie couldn't sleep, and once she was sure Luke's breathing was steady and slow, she carefully moved his arms off her and climbed out of bed. She slowly made her way to the living room, making sure to shut the bedroom door behind her.
She sat at her keyboard and opened up her notebook to set it on the stand. New lyrics were on the page, woven together from pages of her journal. She cracked her knuckles and took a deep breath. Her record label needed a new song, like yesterday. She had the words, but could not figure out the melody. It was the first time in a very long time that she felt a creative block.
Cassie played around with the keys, making sure to keep the volume at an appropriate level. She hummed to herself as she played, trying to find the right melody for her always heartfelt lyrics. She found a couple of melodies for her words, but none of them felt right. So, she kept going.
After several more attempts, she sighed deeply, defeated. She smashed the keys and threw her head back, annoyed. She dug her elbows into the keys, ignoring the unpleasant reverberating, and groaned loudly into her hands.
"What are you doing up so early?" A husky voice that only belonged to Luke in the morning had said. Cassie turned around to find him standing by the bedroom doorway, dressed in a ribbed tank top and gray sweatpants. Now that Luke's leg was completely healed, he did his daily runs again around five a.m. He would return by six and crawl back into bed with Cassie, holding her close, breathing in the scent of her cucumber shampoo, and wondering how he had gotten so lucky, considering everything that had happened to him in the past couple years.
"Huh? Oh, um…" Cassie ran her hands through her hair.
"You never slept," Luke realized. Her aloofness and the dark circles under her eyes gave her away.
"No," Cassie confirmed. "I couldn't sleep. I need to finish this song."
"How's that going for you?" Luke asked, plopping himself down on the couch in front of Cassie and her keyboard. He rested his feet up on the coffee table.
"Not well," Cassie groaned. She ran her fingers down the ivory keys lightly, almost inaudible. "Did I wake you?"
"No," Luke replied. He raises his phone to show her the time, on top of his background of a photo of Cassie sleeping. "It's five a.m., my love."
"Five a.m.," Cassie repeated. She sighed. She didn't realize she had been up for that long. Last time she checked, it was only two a.m. "Going out for a run?"
Luke nodded and offered, "Would you like to join me? Considering you're already up and everything."
"Ha," Cassie said with a straight face. "You're funny, Commando."
"Hey," Luke shrugged. "It might help clear your head. Get you inspired."
"You're my inspiration," Cassie pouted. "Muse."
"Sure." Luke rolled his eyes and smirked, getting up to place a kiss on his wife's forehead. He scrunched his face, "You're disgustingly cute, Salazar."
"Be careful, okay?" Cassie said as she watched Luke slip on his running shoes. Although Luke's leg had healed, Cassie still worried that he would be overdoing it. God forbid something happen to him without her nearby.
"Always," Luke replied, and then he was out the door, leaving Cassie to finish her song.
An hour and a half passed, Cassie still mentally kicking herself for not being able to finish this damn song. Oceanside had quietly begun to liven, with the sunrise shining into the apartment, seagulls squawking and the sound of cars buzzing by. She's hunched over her keyboard when she heard the door.
Luke had returned from his run, struggling to open the door as he balanced a drink tray with two iced coffees, and a brown paper bag. Cassie smiled when she noticed the logo on the bag. "Breakfast tacos, how did you know?"
"Thought you could use a break," Luke held up the bag and kicked his shoes off.
Cassie grabbed the drink tray and led Luke to the balcony, where they normally had breakfast. It was one of the things they both loved about living in California, the nice, constant weather.
"I was wondering why you were taking so long," Cassie said, stuffing her mouth with a taco. "I was getting worried."
"Babe," Luke said, reaching his hand across the table. "My leg is fine now, I swear."
"I know, I know," Cassie said, mouth full, putting her hand over his. "But you can't blame me for worrying about you."
"I get it. But I'm better now, thanks to you," Luke assured her. It was his turn to shove a taco in his mouth, then downed it with a sip of his iced coffee. "How's the song?"
"Still no melody," Cassie replied, the morning breeze brushing through her hair. "I can't figure out what I want the vibe to be, you know?"
"Well, what do you have so far?"
Cassie sang one of the melodies she had been playing around with earlier. As she sang, Luke stared at her with such intrigue, a close-lipped smile on his face. He always looked at her that way when she sang, a proud husband.
"That was really good, I don't know what you're talking about," Luke said, clapping a taco in praise.
"You always think it's good," Cassie rolled her eyes with a smile, throwing a hot sauce packet at him before chugging her iced coffee.
"Because it is," Luke replied, eating another taco. He wiped his hands clean with a napkin. "Look, maybe I can help."
Cassie tilted her head and furrowed her brows as she watched Luke march into the living room. He peeled the guitar off its stand then sat on the couch, resting the instrument on his knee and positioning his fingers on the fretboard.
"I want to show you something," Luke said, inviting Cassie back inside.
"What are you doing?" Cassie sat on the coffee table facing him.
Luke began to pluck the strings and sang with his eyes closed, "You're the cup of coffee that I need in the morning, you're my sunshine in the rain when it's pouring. Won't you give yourself to me? Give it all, oh."
Cassie's mouth opened as soon as he sang the first note. She had no idea that this man had the voice of an angel. She's heard him sing in the shower, they'd sing along to the radio in the car, but she's never quite heard him sing like this.
"I just wanna see… I just wanna see how beautiful you are. You know that I see it, I know you're a star. Where you go I'll follow, no matter how far. If life is a movie, know you're the best part." Luke opened his eyes as he finished, Cassie's mouth on the floor. He asked sheepishly, "What?"
"What? What do you mean, what?" Cassie said, slapping his knee.
"Impressed?" Luke set the guitar on the floor, leaning against the couch.
"Um, a little," Cassie smirked. She shook her head. "Okay, a lot. Why did you never tell me?"
"I had to sell my guitar for extra cash to help pay off my debt," Luke shrugged, hiding his hands between his legs. "And then after that things got a little crazy… between me getting off the drugs and enlisting… I just never had much thought of it."
"It's been a year, Commando," Cassie said, still trying to wrap her head around Luke's impromptu performance. "You've lived with me and this guitar for a year and you didn't think to mention to me—your wife—that you know how to play?"
"I figured that music was your thing," Luke shrugged. "I didn't want to upstage you."
"Upstage me, huh?" Cassie raised a brow.
"Like I said, I've never given much thought about it. Honestly, this could have gone very poorly," Luke admitted.
"Maybe we can start our own band, a side project," Cassie mused with a wide smile. "Waitress and the Marine. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
"Yeah, yeah," Luke took her hand and kissed her wedding finger. "Don't you have a song to finish?"
Cassie shook her head.
"No?"
"No. That can wait," Cassie shook her head again. She grabbed the guitar and handed it to him, placing a kiss on his lips. "Play me another song?"