We decide to take turns in the shower and let the melody grow in the silence, hoping that maybe some light will shine on it. I rush to my room and grab a change of clothes from my bag while A.J. is in the shower, and I can’t help but think: maybe he thinks this song is about love… because he wants to save me.
Me, the loneliest girl in the city.
I return to the room, wanting to punch him. Because this doesn’t exist, he can’t save me. But then A.J. steps out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel in a somewhat awkward way, with a huge smile on his face.
“Do you like it?” he asks, handing me his phone, all wet, with a single verse written in Portuguese.
One day I’ll be able to look back.
On that day, the past won’t burn my skin.
Life will make space, and courage will return
Maybe then I’ll go back to where it all started and maybe
Just maybe, I’ll recognize you
By your touch, your smell, your gaze.
We were never discrepant, we were just broken in different places
One day I’ll be able to look back.
On that day, the past won’t burn my skin.
And on that day, we’ll be Unbroken,
Bigger than the world that lived on our shoulders.
I don’t say anything, I can’t say anything. I just nod, remembering when we were at my house, and A.J. told me he wanted to write in Portuguese with me. That Alexandra could never have imagined seeing the expectation in his eyes, much less such a beautiful, deep text that described her so well.
But here, I feel grateful. Not for Disney, not for the music or anything else, but for him, for someone like him to believe in me and insist so much.
Standing on tiptoe, I press my dry body against his and kiss him. And maybe that’s it.
Maybe being the girl of the band guy isn’t the worst thing in the world if he admires you and loves your art.
Chapter Thirty-Eight – A.J.
I can’t write one song that’s not about you
Can’t drink without thinking about you
Is it too late to tell you that
Everything means nothing if I can’t have you?
If I Can’t Have You - Shawn Mendes
The only downside of taking a commercial flight with Alexandra was not being able to kiss her on the way back. But anyone with eyes on us would have known.
The funny thing is, when I boarded the plane, taking this girl to see Disney, I never imagined I’d come back and show up at rehearsal with my hand on her waist, in a way that was a little more intimate than what friends do.
“Do you think they’ll notice?” Alexandra asks, her sunglasses hiding her eyes as we leave the parking lot.
“Is it a problem if they do?” I ask, because we haven’t really talked about what comesafter, other than the fact that she doesn’t want people to know.
Before saying anything, Alexandra stops between the cars and lowers her head, breathing deeply before looking at me.