Page 78 of Gabriel's Album

I shake my head at him, and we reach the conference room at the same time as a staff member pushing a cart with bottles of water on it. I thank them profusely as I grab one of the bottles and take a drink.

“You guys took your time,” Hayden comments.

“Sebastian wanted to pick up a chick,” I tell him.

“She had thebestass,” he announces.

“I’m sure she did,” Hayden says in a dry tone. “Are we going to play music or not?”

We play another couple of songs offCards Have Been Dealtbefore Hayden needs a break for water. Sebastian starts to play some chords I’ve never heard before, and I play a melody randomly. He catches my gaze, and his eyes widen.

We repeat the same few bars of music over, and I call out, “Someone grab a pen and paper.”

Harrison finds some in the corner of the room, and Sebastian gives him the chords while I repeat the melody, because I’m terrible at writing music and I don’t want to forget this. Harrison comes over and writes it down.

I stop playing and take the pen and paper off him. I have lyrics in my head, and I begin writing a few down about how I feel right now—the excitement of succeeding at something I love, and the joy of performing. Hayden takes over from me on the keyboard, continuing the melody. He’s a lot better than me at writing music, so it’s like finding gold when I come up with something good like that.

Harrison gets another piece of paper so I can write the music out better and keep the lyrics separate. We haven’t written a song since I wrote the one for Ariana a few months ago, and it feels good to write music again.

By the time the food arrives, forty-five minutes later, we have a chorus and a second verse down. The second verse includes a low-key tribute to Heather and Ariana for being on the tour with us, to tell them how much they mean to us. It’s not obvious, but I know that both of them will get the reference when they hear the song.

I grab a sandwich off the second trolley and sit back on the piano stool to eat it.

“I did not expect to write a song today,” Hayden says.

“Feeling less nervous now?” Sebastian asks him as he picks out a sandwich as well.

“Well, I was. Thanks for bringing it up, bro.”

“You’re welcome,” Sebastian laughs.

It doesn’t take us long to demolish the food they brought us. The sandwiches are delicious, and I wash them down with another bottle of water.

Harrison is on his phone while we eat, and he has a smile on his face that makes me ask, “What does Heather have to say for herself?”

He looks up at me in surprise before grinning at me. “She and Ariana are about to have their hair and makeup done for tonight.”

“Cool.” I smile back at him.

“It’s nice to see Heather with a friend, you know. Sometimes I worry about her not having anyone but us,” he says, a frown crossing his face.

I know what he means, of course. Heather’s been our friend for a long time, but as soon as we started getting famous, our fans began trying to use her as a way of getting to us. So, she doesn’t really try to make friends with women anymore.

“I feel guilty about that,” I admit.

“If you feel bad, imagine how I feel,” he laughs.

“I don’t feel bad. Heather’s lucky to have me as a friend, and she knows it,” Sebastian jokes.

“Should I tell her you said that?” I ask, raising my eyebrow at him.

“Nah, probably not,” he says with a grin on his face. “As I said, she already knows it, so you probably don’t need to tell her I ever said anything like that.”

We all laugh and move back to our instruments after we’ve finished eating. We play the new song again before Sebastian gets us to play “November Rain,” which leads into us playing a few other Guns N’ Roses songs, followed by Queen, and then AC/DC.

By the time we finish, we’re hot and sweaty. I drink one of the last bottles of water on the way up to our rooms, thinking how this was the perfect distraction today. I can’t think of a better way I could’ve spent today…well, maybe one way. I smile to myself and say goodbye to my friends as I enter my room.

It’s quiet and dark, so I guess Ariana is still with Heather. We don’t actually have long before we need to leave, so I head straight to the shower, and it’s a big relief to wash the sweat off. I wash my hair, hoping it’ll dry quickly, before getting out and using one of the nearby towels to dry off.

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