Autumn heard a knock at the door. It was Nick. Erica had to work the late shift at the
grocery store that she worked at so she wouldn't be home til at least midnight. She had the room
to herself. She walked to the door and slowly opened it and peeked around it. "Hey Nick!"
"Hey, I brought these for you. I was hungry for cookies so I made some and thought you
might like some too."
"Aw, thanks. Please come in." He walked in and closed the door while she put the ziploc
bag of cookies on the small endtable by her loft. "It's small but its home."
"I like it."
"I hate it. I mean, I like Erica, but I hate this small space, no room for my keyboard."
"Yeah, how do you work on your music here anyway?"
"Well, theres 2 small closets, we each get one. Mine contains a keyboard, stand and my
guitar in its case. Thats why I have the loft so I can have the plastic crates under it for my
clothes. Needless to say, I don't get much playing time in here though."
"Well, should we get started right away?"
"Yeah." She opened her closet door and took out the keyboard. She plugged it in and
sat it on Erica's bed. "I'm too lazy to get the stand out," she said answering Nick's unasked
question. "It's an old Deana Carter song. I hope we can get permission to remake it. It sounds
so awesome." She sat on the floor so the keyboard was the right distance away. She pushed
some buttons and keys until she got the sound she wanted. "It's called 'Before We Ever Heard
Goodbye.' It goes like this:
First I sing:" she started playing and singing,
"I remember that new pair of blue jeans.
And man your shoes sure did shine.
You had on my favorite cologne.
I knew what was on your mind.
You picked me up in that Mustang.
You were right on time.
Had the radio on, it was playin our song.
We were leaving the world behind.
Then we both sing the chorus which goes like this:
I wanna remember that loving feeling,
When we were young and our hopes were high.
A heart was something you could believe in.
Love was more than just a word
Before we ever heard goodbye.
Then you sing: That summer night down at the levee,
You gave me your ring on a chain.
There would never be another for me.
Tell me why does everything always have to change?
Then we both sing the chorus, then there's some instrumental, then we sing the chorus again. At
least thats how it is on the original, we can always change it. I messed with the instruments to
make it more pop, more up to date. I also made a key change at the end and some other stuff.
What do you think?"
"I love it."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it doesn't sound country at all."
"Good, that's what I was going for."
"Then why did you use a country song?"
"Cause it's an awesome CD. It's the only country CD I can listen to. Maybe I'll burn it for
ya, you can see for yourself, rock boy. You gotta listen to 'Did I Shave My Legs For This.' It'll
teach ya how not to treat a lady."
"I'll take your word for it," he laughed.
"Listen, I'm not really in the mood for making music tonight, how bout we head off to
dinner a little sooner?"
"Sure." She grabbed her coat off the coatrack screwed into her footboard on her bed.
Nick opened the door for her.
''Thanks."
"No problem."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So Autumn, I've known you for like 2 months and I barely know anything about you.
Why don't you tell me some stuff about your past?" Nick and Autumn went to a quiet little Italian
restaurant on the edge of downtown. They had a booth next to the window facing the street. It
was a historic part of town, very pretty.
"Well, this will be a long story."
"I dont care, we have all the time in the world."
"Well, in that case, I was born in Chicago, but in a pretty good part of the town. My mom
and dad divorced when I was 8. My dad moved to California and I lived with my mom in
Chicago. Well, of course, she started dating again, and she dated this dude from Portugal. She
was totally in love with him, but he had to go back to Portugal because his father was sick with
cancer. So she decided she wanted to go with him, so she moved over there when I was 15, and
I moved in with my dad. My dad had also been dating. He was engaged to this bitch-psycho
woman named Paulina. They had been engaged for 2 years and weren't in a hurry to get
married, until I got there. She was all over him, all the time, so he never had time for me. They
got married and decided that, well, she decided, that she wanted to move back to Alaska, where
she was from. I told my dad there was no way in hell I was moving to Alaska, so I lived with my
Aunt Mary in Miami from age 16 until I was 18 and could live on my own. I decided to go to
college and Mary was about my only family within like 500 thousand miles so I stayed in Florida.
And well, I think you know the rest."
"Well, that is an interesting story. Oh look, food's here."
They began eating. "So Nick, tell me something I dont know about you."
"I don't think I have any story not hidden from the public."
"Oh come on, everyone's got secrets. That's what my song 'Untruthful' is about. So don't
be tellin me you don't have any secrets."
"I don't. Read any teeny-bopper magazine and you'll find out anything you want to know
about me. Sometimes I think they know more about me than I do."
"Well, okay, forget secrets, how about something that really gets on your nerves."
"Um, the constant bashing we get as a group drives me nuts sometimes, but you learn to
ignore it. It's not as bad as it used to be anyway."
"Forget the group, you yourself, a pet peeve."
"Um, fingernails on a chalkboard is the only thing I can think of right now."
"You're no fun."
"I know, I sorry," he said kiddishly.
"How about like, what do fans do that you can't stand anymore."
"Well, stalking is bad. But you know how when we first started out I said my favorite
color was green?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, I have so many green beanine babies, teddy bears, shirts, blankets, anything you
can think of given to me, I'm thinking about changing it to the ugliest color I can think of, like
brown or that baby-poop green, just to see if I start getting stuff that color."
Autumn laughed. They sat there talking about stupid stuff. Two teenage girls walked up
to their table.
"Oh my goodness, Nick, can we have you autograph?!!!" the blonde one said.
"Um, sure." He took the pen and paper out of her hands and wrote his name on it.
"One more question," she said. Nick nodded unwillingly. "Is that your girlfriend?" she
said, pointing to Autumn, as if she were a display at the zoo. Nick didn't know what to say. He
wanted her to be his girlfriend, but it was only the first date.
"No, not really. Just a friend." He said. Autumn smiled. That was the answer she
figured hed say. She wanted him to say yes, just to piss off the girls. But she figured he did it
so he didn't scare Autumn away by moving too fast.
"Oh okay, anyway, it was so awesome to meet you....and you, um, um..."
"Autumn. Nice to meet you too."
"Yes, Autumn. I'll see you at your next concert in Orlando, Nick!"
"I'll try to look for ya."
"Really?" He nodded. She looked at her friend. They screached like giddy-school girls
do when they're happy. They went back to their table.
"Okay, I figured out my pet peeve," Nick said. Autumn laughed.
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