Break My Heart
“We need one more song. One with a hook.” Janice whined as she looked through the stack of lyrics again.
“They all have hooks.” Lydia raised a drumstick defensively.
“Not the right size hook for the fish we want to buy our album.” Janice rejoined.
“I think that…” I started but Artie’s ringtone broke my focus.
Janice rolled her eyes. “Go ahead. Answer the call of your one true love.” She grabbed her guitar and headed toward the door with a beckoning gesture to Lydia.
Lydia pointed her drumstick at me encouragingly and reluctantly followed. As they closed the door behind them, I could hear Janice strumming her guitar to a rhythm Lydia banged out on the doorframe. I swiped the screen and raised my phone to my ear.
“Hey, Artie.” I felt my stance change, relaxing. My hand strayed to my hair, twirling it slowly as his voice filled my ear.
“Kim, I need to see you.”
“I want to see you, too.”
“Good. Buck’s coffee shop? In a half hour?”
“Well, that’s soon…” My heart skipped a beat to know he couldn’t wait to see me.
“I know you and the girls are practicing, but…” He failed to find a reason, so he switched gears and begged. “Please, Kim.”
“Alright. See you in a half hour.” I agreed.
We rushed our goodbyes and hung up. I glanced in the distorted mirror leaning against one wall. I adjusted my shirt and wondered if a half hour was enough time to freshen up. With travel time, I’d end up late, and I never wanted to make Artie wait.
“Is Artie on fire?”
“Are you going to blow him out?”
I ignored my friends’ jibes as I hurried to my car, but called over my shoulder. “I’ll be back soon. Hopefully, with big news.”
I waved off their hoots of encouragement as if they didn’t matter, but their reassurance warmed me as I turned on the car and headed into town. I arrived at the coffee shop ten minutes early. Peeking through the large glass window, I saw Artie seated at a table in the back. As I raised my hand to wave a cheerful hello, I realized he already had a companion. My eyebrows furrowed.
Long blond hair swung back from narrow shoulders as she tossed her head and laughed. Artie leaned in to whisper in her ear, caressing her cheek with his lips as he pulled away. The warmth in my heart faded, leaving an intense cold before giving way to fires of rage.
Without conscious thought, heavy footfalls carried me to the door. I pulled the door open and released a volley of words before I realized I had decided what to say. “Artie, how could you?”
“Kim, I was going to explain…”
“So you brought my replacement to help?”
“It’s not like that…”
“I don’t care how it is. How dare you…”
He tried to explain, but the rage burning through me plugged my ears. I shook my head and turned away. As I crossed the threshold of the coffee shop, I turned toward my car and quickened my pace. Hoping he wasn’t following me, I balled my hands into fists and raced to my car. Hopping behind the wheel, I checked for anything in my path and pulled out of the space.
As I drove, a song hummed through my mind. By the time I reached my house, lyrics began to take form. I fumbled in my console for a pen and a takeout menu with some blank space around the edges. I scrawled words as they entered my head.
“Sing my song, break my heart
And tear my whole world apart.
With just one kiss from your lips
I lost all control. My mind slips
When your eyes fall on me,
But I’m not the only one you see.
Sing my song, break my heart
And tear my whole world apart.
I love you still. You loved for a moment.
All the words of love you sent
Melted into a cloud I cannot reach
This is the heartache only love can teach.
Sing my song, break my heart
And tear my whole world apart.
You sing my words of love to someone new
And I find myself lost to all I once knew,
So sing my song, break my heart
And tear my whole world apart.”
I know I should be posting a mushy love story for this week, but this might be more of interest to those celebrating Singles' Awareness Day.
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