Melodious Endgame
V.
"Baby, let them count the daaa-aayys—Just like wine we only get better—three, two, one, zero grav-ityyy…"
After the paperwork was signed, Andre moved to the sound booth where his keyboard was and started playing the tune that he only heard in his head a few minutes prior, gracing the room with his voice. Everyone gathered around to see the music happen; Deon even picked the guitar back up to strum a chord here and there to add to Andre's tune. Siobhan loaned her voice, repeating a word here and contributing a "whooaa" or "mmm" there. Even just doing this, her voice sounded mature beyond her years.
Tori was the opposite—her voice kept its youth. But that was part of why she was going to work with VT Records: figure out how to change her sound, her voice, her look, whatever came with the territory.
"'Cause baby we're timeless, timelesssss. Like stars that never fade, we're timeless. Tiiimeelesss. Every moment that we've made. The world keeps spinning but we stay…"
Tori's breath caught in her throat and her heart felt like it started pounding to the rhythm of the song. He was making a song out of what he called her when he first saw her? She had been so caught up in the compliment that she didn't even consider turning it into more.
But that was why Andre was who he was. He could make art out of anything. Tori couldn't even put into words how happy she was that she could be the muse for the song Andre was singing now. And it was a love song at that. It could have been a sad or angry song, but no.
She was gifted with this.
"They say nothing lasts, baby, but they don't—know—us. Girl, they don't…know…usss…"
It was not a complete song, but the fact that Andre was able to create so much of it out of thin air, and have it sound so good on the first go, the word impressive didn't even cover it. There was a long silence that lingered in the air, and it seemed like everyone else in the room felt the same way.
"Daaayy-ummm," Siobhan finally said, breaking the spell that they all could've stayed in all evening. "You got all that just from seeing Tori Vega again?" Siobhan leaned back with her hand up, "Good job, girl."
Without thinking, Tori high-fived her. It was only after she did, did she realize what she was essentially agreeing with. She blushed instantly and glanced over at Andre, but he was busy writing notes down in his notepad. Maybe he was still so into his thoughts that he didn't even notice what Siobhan said.
But he did, he just had to act like he didn't. He was going to have to have a talk with Siobhan about just saying stuff like that, because working through this initial awkward stage was going to be much harder if she just said whatever silly thing popped into her head.
Though, he couldn't deny that Tori still appeared to act as a muse for his song writing. He wrote so many songs in high school with her in mind, granting him easy A's in all his songwriting classes. And when he first left for Florida, he wrote song after heartbreaking song in such a short amount of time that it allowed him to get his first record deal and album in a short amount of time. Seven months was unheard of. But he did that. Because of Tori. Even if it was because she tore his heart out and lit it on fire. It was always because of her.
Tori asked Emily to grab her notebook that was stuffed in her bag, then gingerly grabbed the chair that was next to Andre and began writing down some lyrics as well. It'd been a while since she sat down and cowrote songs with someone; she worked with a couple songwriters on her last album a few years back, but most of them were all her or all someone else on her team. Despite that, she always felt like a lot of her lyrics lacked the sort of depth that she really wanted to showcase. They were fine—they got her to where she was now—but she couldn't help but feel like there could be more.
After a few minutes of writing, Deon spoke up and handed the guitar to her, "Let's hear what ya got."
"Oh…okay," Tori almost stuttered. She was so nervous because Andre still hadn't spoken to her since she first arrived. Of course, the few words he did say to her, he managed to turn into a song, but she still needed someone to break this ice. She grabbed the guitar and pick, strumming a few strings to get the feel of it. She could feel Andre's eyes glancing up at her behind his sunglasses.
It brought her back to the moments he started teaching her how to play the guitar. They had been about six months into officially dating, and she just sang "Tell Me That You Love Me" to him and he confessed that he was in love with her. Back then, as a sixteen-year-old, she couldn't grasp the gravity of that declaration. He was still her best friend but the floating feeling he gave her, she didn't quite understand. It was a freefall, but she felt grounded. It was a calmness amidst chaos. It was safety in a world full of dangerous risks.
It was not at all how the movies depicted love.
It took her many years to realize that it was real.
"Never thought I'd find…someone to rewind. All my broken clocks back to life. Hours turn to seconds when you're near…minutes feel like lifetimes when you're not heerree…"
Tori only strummed a few chords on the guitar as she sang; she wanted to match the rhythm that Andre had going, but she was mostly focused on the tune of the lyrics. She looked up from her notebook and was surprised to see Andre leaning back in his chair with his full attention on her.
"First day and look at us," Siobhan said as she stood in between their chairs grinning at them, "Already a big family."
Andre snapped his fingers and told Siobhan, "Rap something."
Siobhan waved her hands and broke out into freestyle, "More than just a face, more than what they see. Your heart holds a beauty that sets my soul free. Years roll by like waves on the sand, but you're still here, still holdin' my hand. Some things just get better with time. And your love, it's always—mine!"
Andre sang, "Like a painting that makes the whole world stop—!"
"And stare!" Both Tori and Andre sang loudly in unison, and they remembered how amazing their voices sounded together. Tori was so overjoyed at their collaboration that she started laughing, and Andre tossed his notepad at Siobhan, "Write down everything you just said."
"Yesssiirrr," Siobhan did as he suggested before she forgot. She had a habit of singing or rapping some great lyrics and thinking that she would remember them later. Very rarely did that work out in her favor.
The four of them—Tori, Andre, Siobhan, and Deon—worked the rest of the evening on this one song. More lyrics and instruments were added as they went, but as soon as there was a lull, Tori could feel how heavy her eyelids were and how dizzy she felt. She remembered that she'd only got about five hours of sleep total in the last two days.
"You almost ready to check into the hotel, Tori?" Emily asked, immediately recognizing Tori's energy drain and how late it was getting.
"Oh…yeah, I guess so," Tori checked her phone for the first time since they arrived and saw that it was almost 10:00pm.
"Aww, already?" Siobhan whined. She was young and ready to do this all night. She probably also got decent sleep in the past few nights.
"We'll pick it up tomorrow," Tori told her, standing up and stretching.
Andre watched her as she did, then noticed that she hardly glanced his way when she said goodbye to the group. She left the room with Emily, and it was only then that Siobhan smacked him on the back of the head. "What is up with you? You haven't seen her in over a decade, and you have to be all cold to her?"
Andre felt his heart drop, "Huh?"
Deon chimed in, "Yeah, man, you weren't as welcoming as you usually are. Everything good?"
Andre had been so caught up in being nervous about how he thought he should act around Tori that he must have missed exactly how he was being. In his head, he thought he had a good balance of professionalism and interpersonal, especially when they sang some lines together, but once he thought about it, he realized they were right. He kept himself guarded.
"Hopefully she does come back tomorrow," Siobhan added, though they all did just sign contracts, so of course she would come back the next day. But that was besides the point.
Andre quickly stood up and left the studio. He went to the elevator, but they must have just gotten into it a few seconds prior. He went to the stairs and ran down all seven flights. About time he came out of the stairwell, he saw Tori and Emily walking out the front door to the parking lot. He followed suit, pushing the door open and yelling, "Tori!"
Tori, who was exhausted from lack of sleep, motivated by how the day went with the song, but also disappointed that Andre appeared to not want to say much to her, turned around in shock. Emily also stopped when she heard Andre yell, but when she saw that it looked like Andre ran all the way down there to catch them, she continued walking through the parking lot, "I'll meet you at the car."
"Kay…" Tori acknowledged, then turned her full attention to Andre.
He took off his sunglasses and placed them in his pocket, and he walked toward her until he reached her, "Glad I caught you…"
"What's up?" she asked, pushing strands of hair behind her ear. She still had that same habit, Andre thought. And she could finally see him without his sunglasses, but it was so dark in the parking lot, it was like his eyes were still hidden.
"Um, it was brought to my attention that I was a little…off today, so I wanted to apologize." He grabbed his hands in front of him, and Tori remembered that habit of his as well. "Guess it's just…guess I just gotta get used to…" he stumbled over his words.
Tori smiled and waved her hand, "I get it. We don't see or talk to each other in years and then we try to just…get back into it…"
"I mean, we did just write a badass song the moment you arrived," Andre grinned then crossed his arms, "but…you're right. And I should have warned you that Deon and Siobhan were going to be there too. They were just so excited to meet you."
She waved her hand again and became very aware that she had no idea what to do with her hands at that moment, "No, it was great. I didn't get to talk to Deon much, but I love Siobhan."
"Yeah, she's a great kid," Andre agreed. Their conversation took a pause here and just like how he felt when she first arrived, he was scared that if he started saying one thing, he'd say everything. And in the middle of a parking lot at 10pm was not the place nor time for it. "Anyway, I know you want to go get checked in, but I didn't want you to leave here thinking that I'm…not happy you're here."
Tori laid a hand over her heart and breathed out, "That's such a relief. I know you said the other night on the phone that you liked the idea but—."
"Yeah, ha, I was actually a little drunk that night," he saw Tori's smile faulter at this confession, so he continued quickly, "Not that that had anything to do with my answer. Sober me still would have been down. But drunk me just had an easier time…with words."
"Noted," Tori laughed breathily.
Andre studied her standing there and saw that she wasn't quite sure if she should believe him or not. His heart pounded in his ears as he stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her before he could think too hard on it. "I really am glad you're here, Tor."
Her breath hitched and her face felt warm against his shoulder. She willed herself to move her arms around him too, and she was almost hesitant to place her hands on his back. But she did, ever so lightly, like he would break if she held too tight. But she suddenly felt that feeling—that solidity within a fragile world.
"Thank you for doing this…" Tori mumbled against his shoulder.
Andre wasn't sure if she meant working together or coming down to apologize how he acted today. It was sometimes hard to be the bigger person and admit when he was having a hard time, but he learned through his years of successful and failed relationships that communicating often and sincerely was the best course of action. The last thing he wanted was to turn back into that teenager that just wanted to shut down and run away the moment things got messy.
"See you tomorrow?" He said as he started to pull away from her, and it didn't go unnoticed that her grip tightened just enough as if she wasn't ready to let go. But she caught herself too quickly for it to be a for sure thing and she stepped back.
"I can't wait," she replied, and she was glad the parking lot was dark enough so he could see her smile but not the tears in her eyes.
He started walking backward toward the building, "Text me if you need anything."
"Will do!" her voice felt and sounded tight as she kept from crying. The emotions coursing through her were catching her off guard. They did one last wave goodbye before he turned and disappeared into the building. Tori let out a shaky breath and managed to blink away the tears. Her mind was going a million miles a second and that sort of thing was never good when running on fumes. She needed a bed and fast.
Andre calmly took the elevator back up to his studio and was not at all surprised when Deon, Siobhan, and Eva were standing there waiting for him.
"Was that one of those running through the airport romance scenes?" Siobhan asked.
"Speaking of," Eva joined in, "Wasn't it Tori Vega that called your name in that airport six or seven years ago that almost made us miss our flight?"
"Wait!" Siobhan grabbed Eva's arm, "Tell me everything."
"Well…that's all there is to tell," Eva laughed when Siobhan's face plummeted.
"All y'all seriously need to behave yourselves," Andre warned as he went to grab his bag. He was about ready to call it a night too and just wanted to go home, "I think it was because of you guys I was so freaked out today."
Deon chuckled, "Don't blame us, man. But you are gonna have to tell us the history there so we can behave accordingly."
Andre threw some items in his bag as he thought about this request. He didn't want to go into their full history. The only person he ever talked to about all of that was his last girlfriend and even that was difficult. He settled with a simple yet effective, "We dated for two years in high school."
"Shut up!" Siobhan exclaimed, running up to him, "Why did you decide to leave out that information?"
"Because it was years ago and it's inconsequential now," Andre deadpanned.
Siobhan studied him for a moment before asking, "Was it a bad breakup?"
Andre zipped up his bag, "I don't want to get into it tonight, Shiv. I didn't get much sleep last night and I'm beat."
"But—," Siobhan wanted to get more details, but stopped when Deon grabbed her arm and shook his head. She frowned and watched Andre leave, only waving his hand over his head as a goodbye.
Eva spoke up, "I wouldn't push him. When he saw her in that airport before, he was off his game for about a week after that. I don't know what happened between them, but it's something that clearly still affects them both."
Siobhan felt a little sad, "But Andre was with Amara for three years and he didn't seem that down when they broke up."
"All relationships are different," Eva told her, and Siobhan suddenly felt very young. Andre and Tori had dated for two years in high school, and she had yet to have one boyfriend. Granted, her life up to this point didn't allow her such luxuries, but…
"Wanna go to the club?" Siobhan asked Deon. "I need to dance."
"Let's go."