Page 10 of Musical Games
‘Jamie!’ said Morag, jerking her head towards Liam. ‘The baby! I’ll never live it down if that’s his first word.’
‘It’s Fi’s fault.’
His sister put down her cutlery and opened her palms wide. ‘Did I just throw my voice and take it down an octave?’
‘Yes, you did,’ came a deep voice from Sam in a perfect copy of Jamie’s. Everyone’s heads swivelled in her direction. Her eyes were wide and innocent. ‘You’re always landing me in it,’ Sam continued with a closed mouth, throwing her voice and imitating Jamie. ‘It’s so unfair. Muuuuuum. Muuuuuum. Make Fiona go sit on the naughty step.’ There was a brief silence, then she collapsed into giggles.
Duncan clapped and Morag, Fiona and Zoe laughed until they cried. Jamie stared at Sam and couldn’t help his smile growing to match hers. She winked at him and his tummy flipped.
‘Oh my god,’ Morag wheezed. ‘You’re a genius.’ She turned to Duncan and Jamie. ‘You know, boys, she can even do Aberdeen.’
‘Not possible,’ replied Duncan. ‘It’s easier to speak Klingon.’
‘Heghlu’meH QaQ jajvam!’ replied Sam in a perfect Aberdeen accent. ‘Today is a good day to die!’
Duncan reached across the table to high-five her. ‘TlhIngan maH!’ he roared. ‘We are Klingon!’
Jamie laughed as Fiona sunk her head into her hands.
‘Not another fucking Trekkie,’ she groaned.
‘Fiona! The baby!’ replied Sam, sounding exactly like Morag.
After nearly twohours of eating and laughing, Morag pushed everyone through into the living room. Jamie waited until Sam and Zoe sat together on one of the sofas before sitting on a chair next to his sister. He’d drunk more alcohol than usual in an attempt to temper his annoyance at having Sam in the house, but it had given him the biggest beer goggles he’d ever worn. By the end of the meal, he couldn’t look at her without feeling a powerful tug of attraction that made little sense to his logical mind. The only solution was to close his eyes and let the white noise of female chatter send him to sleep.
His attempt at a nap was broken by his sister kicking him on the shin and brandishing his guitar like an offensive weapon.
He shook his head. ‘Not tonight, Fi.’
‘Ah, come on now, son,’ chided Morag. ‘You have to. Sam’s come all this way. It’s the very least you could do.’
‘Please, Jamie,’ said Zoe. ‘You haven’t made me cry in ages.’
He looked at her, seeing Sam in his peripheral vision. Familiar dread and panic rose at the thought of playing in front of anyone new, but it was mixed with a strange thrill. He realised he wanted to play. He wanted to impress her. Before he could question himself, he started tuning the strings.What am I doing?Liam was asleep in Duncan’s arms and the room was completely silent.
Sam sat forward on the sofa, hands clasped on her lap.
Jamie closed his eyes, dropping his head. As long as he imagined he was alone, he could do this. He tried to remember the song Zoe had filmed last year and put on her Instagram. Had Sam seen it? He decided to start with a simple love song, one of the first he’d ever written. Plucking out the intro, he sang the first verse as almost a whisper. After the first chorus he began the second verse with more confidence, but a couple of words in, a gentle humming started. He glanced up in shock to see Sam smiling at him, adding her own harmony to his song. It was only the fact he knew the song almost as well as his own name that enabled him to continue on autopilot as the front of his brain froze and the rest of his body caught light.
In a breath, there was no one there except the two of them. He held her gaze as he sang the last verse. It was like they’d suddenly entered another world where all communication was non-verbal. He’d never experienced anything like it and didn’t want it to stop.
At the end of the song he continued straight into another, giving Sam a tiny nod, willing her to join him. Her smile was tentative, but it sent a surge of joy through him. Whatever was happening, she could feel it too. He sang the first chorus twice and by the second time she had the words as well as the tune. Her voice was so pure it thrilled him. Woven with threads of light, it lifted his music to a place he never thought possible.Hadshe heard him play before?At the end of the second song he took a gamble and played the one Zoe had filmed. From the first word he had his answer. Sam knew every word, every tiny change to the phrasing, every intonation. She knew how the song should be sung. Howhewanted it to be sung.
His heart stuck in his throat, stopping his voice as his fingers played on. It was like she knew the secret part of him. He swallowed to push down the lump in his throat as her voice soared. He blinked, his eyes hot and stinging. She leaned forward even further, smiling in a way that bolstered his confidence. He took a deep breath and joined his voice to hers, holding back as she rose above him, then rising in volume to meet her on the way down. It was his first ever transcendental experience. Something so blissful and otherworldly he never wanted it to end. They sang the final chorus three times and when the last notes echoed away he felt as if his soul had left his body to dance with hers in the silence.
Then it crash-landed into a world of noise. His mother, sister and friend couldn’t decide whether they were crying or screaming, and even Duncan gave a whoop before rushing Liam out of the room to stop him waking. Jamie held Sam’s gaze for as long as he could, trying to hold onto the magic before his mother grabbed the two of them and crushed them to her, blubbering hot tears onto their foreheads.
‘Oh my, that was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard!’
Jamie looked across his mother’s heaving chest at Sam. Her eyes swam into focus just a few centimetres away. She smiled at him and he felt his heart would burst.
‘Please can I film it, please?!’ cried Zoe.
‘Yes! Film it!’ yelled his sister.
Morag released them from her embrace and grabbed a handful of tissues from a box. ‘You must film it, Zoe love, we might never get to hear that again.’
Jamie glanced over at Sam, suddenly shy again. He raised an eyebrow and she nodded.
