Ethan is narrowing his eyes in suspicion.Yeah, smart.
I turn back to face Joel, because running doesn’t feel like an option at this point.My mother would kill me.
The first chords ring out, clear and full, vibrating straight through me like they can rearrange my DNA.
I know this song.
I knew it when it was just an idea.I knew it when we sat in my living room, working through the chords together.
But now?
Now, it feels whole—like it’s found its voice.
The arrangement is fuller, the music layered, and for a split second, I don’t breathe.
Because something is different.
The weight in the air shifts, pressing against my ribs, heavy and unrelenting.
The room has gone completely still.
People aren’t just watching.
They’rewaiting.
I can feel my mother’s excitement radiating from across the room, my father’s quiet curiosity, and Ethan?—
Ethan leans forward slightly, a subtle suspicion creeping onto his face.
Yeah.Smart.
Joel’s voice breaks through the quiet, steady and sure, weaving through the space between us.
The lyrics hit like a slow, unfolding realization.
I feel them before I understand them.
Every single note, every word, feels like a confession.
Not just a song.Notjustmusic.Isn’t that what he said last night?
This is something else.
And suddenly, it’s happening.
That awful, twisting tightness in my throat.
The sting behind my eyes.
I blink hard, once, twice, like I can push it back down—like I can stop whatever this is before it starts.
This is not the place.
But Ican’t.
The words keep coming, and my chest cracks open, too wide, too much, all at once.
I need to leave.