To answer one of the reviews I just read, I'm updating the story every two or three days, or at least I try to. It depends of the time I have to write a new chapter or of the inspiration I have or don't have. Anyway, here is chapter 13. I hope you'll like it and don't forget to let me know what you think of it, reviews really make me happy.

When she entered the rehearsal room, Julia went directly to sit next to Tom. She had managed to get there on time, even if she was a little breathless.
Tom grinned. "I can see your date ran late. I thought it was supposed to be a first date."
"It was."
"So you're one of those who have sex on their first date."
She knew he was teasing her but she blushed anyway. "How can you always tell ?"
"It's a gift, honey."

They would have pursued their unrelated to work discussion if Derek hadn't interrupted them.
"Where did you get with the new song ?"
"Derek, you can't expect us to-"
But Tom didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as Julia was removing from her purse the complete music sheet with all the lyrics on it. "It's all here, Derek." She gave him a big smile and he took the paper without giving them any more attention.
"What about thanks, moron ?" Tom mumbled when Derek was already far away. Then he turned to Julia. "I thought you wouldn't have the time to finish it since you were on a date last night."
"Michael helped me."
"He did ?"
"Yes, what's so surprising about that ? After all he is the one who is going to sing it."
"Of course..."
"What's going on Tom ?"
"It's just... Don't let him replace me. With Frank I was safe, but Michael... He is as good a piano player as I am."
"Don't be stupid. Nobody can replace you. You're just being paranoïd. And Frank was also a good piano player, however he never replaced you !"
"But he had like zero creativity."
She couldn't really contradict that and she didn't get the chance anyway. Her phone was ringing.

She went out and came back after a few minutes.
"It was Leo, he is coming for dinner at my place tonight. He was asking for the directions."
"Really ? Can I come ? I haven't seen him lately."
"Of course you can, he will be glad to see you. You're family."
"And... Can I bring Sam ?"
"Sure." She was staring at him, not saying anything.
"What ?"
"I'm proud of you, you know." He frowned, clearly not understanding what she meant by that. "You're not messing things up with Sam. You're not looking for excuses to run away like you always did with your past boyfriends."
"Yeah... I think we're serious. It's a little bit scary but in a good way."
"I'm happy for you, Tom."
"I'm happy for you too, Honey. At one point I thought you had made the biggest mistake of your life but now I'm sure you haven't."
"You are ? Because sometimes I still think I have made a big mistake. I don't even know why I did it."
"I know that I'm not really the king of relationships so my word doesn't mean much, but when you came in the room we would all have had to be blind not to notice that you were happy. And I can tell you that it's been a long time since the last time I looked at you and thought you were truly happy. Frank wasn't enough anymore, we both know it."
She nodded, maybe Tom was right. In the end Frank had become a friend, and she wasn't ready to give up on love yet. She still had half her life ahead of her. But she would have liked for them to stay friends, she couldn't stand him hating her.

Derek interrupted once again, he was decided to make the best of the five weeks they had and would have wished for everyone to share his decision. He was sick of personal life getting in the way. They were here to work.

Leo arrived a little bit late, his practice had been running long. He apologized and went to greet everyone. They all seemed very happy and he quickly understood why when he saw the empty bottles next to the sofa. He had probably missed the best part of the evening but it didn't matter because his mother wouldn't have let him drink anyway. It was like the weed, he had recently found out that she used to smoke some after rehearsals but she didn't want him to even try it. Of course one could argue that he was still way too young, however he couldn't help but find it unfair. If she wanted him not to do any of these things maybe she shouldn't either, wasn't she supposed to set the example ? He loved his mother but recently she had been anything but an example for him. He could get over the drinking and smoking pot part since it was only occasional and it wasn't really something he was disapproving, but he still couldn't get over the cheating and leaving part. And it would probably take him a lot of time before forgiving her for that.

They all sat around the table and talked about the show while eating the salad she had just made. Everything was going fine. But then she came with the chicken. Tom's eyes widened while she was serving it and, when they started eating, he was surprised of finding out it was really good.
"Oh my god Julia, you've really outdone yourself with this one ! I can't believe you did that on your own !"
"I'm not the one who did it, you can relax, the gift of cooking didn't suddenly come to me out of nowhere." She laughed.
"Then who did it ? Oh I'm stupid, it's Michael of course."
Leo suddenly raised his head and stopped eating. She still hadn't told him that she had started dating Michael and it wasn't the way she wanted him to find out. She gestured at Tom, trying to make him stop but he didn't understand, probably because of all the alcohol in his system. He had been drinking way more than her and Sam because Sam had just asked to meet his parents and he wasn't thrilled about the idea.
"He cooks for you, he helps you with the lyrics of the songs you have to write, he makes you glow... Tell us, Julia, what does he not do ?" He suddenly noticed the three pairs of eyes on him and, even with the alcohol clouding his judgement, he could see he had made a mistake. "Sorry."

But Julia wasn't looking at him anymore, she would have all the time in the world to yell at him later. She was looking at Leo who was staring at his plate, pushing the pieces of chicken around with his fork. There was a complete silence. He finally raised his head to look at her, his eyes were wet. "You're dating him ?"
"Yes."
He was staring at his plate. After another long pause he raised his eyes again. "Are you in love with him ?"
She nodded. She didn't even have to think about it, now she just knew, but the words still wouldn't come out.

He didn't add anything, he just resumed eating. They all did the same in the most complete silence. Eventually the conversation started again but it wasn't filled with enthusiasm like it had been before the chicken. But at least now Leo knew and a huge weight had been lifted from Julia's shoulders, she knew that eventually he would be ok with it. Now was all about telling Frank. She had to tell him if she wanted the guilt she had felt the day before to disappear. And anyway he would find out one day or another. It would probably be better if she was the one telling him.