Across the Music (Across the Ocean Book 2) (22 page)

Loki begins to play his guitar, finally satisfied with the tuning. His fingers strum heavily, playing several chords in quick succession. In between every couple swipes of his hand over the strings, he hits the palm of his hand on the guitar, below the strings. The resulting beat is awesome, as he plays a badass quick little diddy that causes my foot to start tapping, and a melody to form in my mind.

After a minute or two, Gunnar picks up a secondary bass beat with his mixer; setting it to carry the groove and pace for us. Loki doesn't stop his beat, but they compliment each other. Gunnar turns to his keyboard and begins to play a succession of high, sweet notes to accompany the guitar string's sweet singing under Loki's fingers. The room fills with the music, and my head swims and languors in it; allowing it to take me into it in the best type of drowning. Along with the high notes Gunnar is playing, he adds deep notes in there to fill out the song. The only thing missing now is me.

Glancing up, Loki and I meet eyes. He raises a brow in question, and I nod, bringing the microphone to my mouth in preparation to jump in when the time is right. My foot taps the rhythm and my mind counts the bars as my eyes close; I immerse and lose who I am in favor of becoming the music.

We are who we are

We can be nothing more

Dare to jump in and live

Life is an open door

Take a risk in life

Swim in the sea of the unknown

Regret nothing and be free

You only have now to start

Lasso your dreams

This is your only time

Make it count

Make it last

An hour and a half later, the vibe in the room is comfortable and happy. As we went through a few different songs that the guys had made, I attempted to make some lyrics for most of them. On occasions, I just sang a wordless melody, allowing the music to carry me far away without the pressure of coming up with something so quickly.

Sometimes it was easy for me to fit words to their music, but I was just using lyrics or poems I had written a few years ago when the words came to me easily, and they fit with what I was hearing. The guys both look pleased when we finally decided to take a break and relax.

I helped both of them put their equipment away before all three of us headed into the living room to watch a documentary about the cosmos on the enormous projector screen that covered the doorway between the rooms.

I'm sitting cross-legged on the middle section of the couch while Loki is lying lazily down the left side of the L shape with his arms tucked behind his head and his legs straight out to the arm of the couch, and Gunnar comes in from the kitchen with three beers gripped precariously in both of his hands. Giving one to both Loki and me, Gunnar makes himself comfortable on the tongue piece of the couch to my right, and we all sip on our beer while learning about the wonders of the universe.

"We're really small and insignificant, aren't we?" Loki asks after the documentary gives us a breathtaking visual of panning back further and further from the earth until our solar system is but a speck in the greatness of the cosmos.

"Just specks in the grand scheme of everything," I murmur softly, humbled by the idea of how small we really are. "How is it that we came to be so self-aware? We take it for granted, going about living our lives recklessly and carelessly. How many people actually follow their dreams and live fufilling lives?" Documentaries like this always make me philosophical and deeply thoughtful.

"Probably not a huge amount. Think of all the countries that live in poverty and hunger," Gunnar joins in "Can you live a happy and satisfying life in those conditions?"

"If you've never had anything different, why not?" Loki asks. "You can't miss something you've never had or experienced."

"No," I say "but you can dream of a better life. You can want more for your family and your children." I toss glances at both of them, and they appear to be pondering our discussion.

"I think one does what one can, and that's just the way it is." Loki is good at stating things simply.

"You're right. We all do what we can to get by." I sigh deeply, my eyes burning with my tiredness and an enormous yawn escapes my open mouth.

All three of us fall quiet, our attention caught back in the documentary as we learn about black holes and stars. I stuff a pillow under my cheek while I bring my attention to learning all about the galaxy. My soul is peaceful and comfortable, and free of worries or troubles while I sit here with Loki and Gunnar, and I don't want to be anywhere else than here.

Sophie appears to have fallen asleep. She's absolutely adorable with her head limp on the cushion under her head, her mouth open slightly as a soft and peaceful snore occasionally escapes her sweet lips. I can't help but smile at how peaceful she looks, and how happy it makes me to have her here in my home. The evening went so well; she fits in so well with us. Her voice suits our music perfectly, and she is good company to keep. I decide to finish the documentary before disturbing her, and I exchange looks with Loki who is wearing a smirk.

"What are you going to do with her? Wake her up?" He asks, looking at her with a softer expression I hardly ever see on his face. I shrug, not completely certain.

"I considered just letting her sleep in the spare room. I could carry her in there without disturbing her too much, I think. Then she doesn't have to worry about getting a taxi, and we don't have to drive." Loki nods in agreement, sitting up from his lounging position and dropping his feet down onto the floor.

As the credits begin to play on the screen, I stand up and go to Sophie, trying to find a good way to slide an arm under her with both her legs crossed beneath her. With careful movements, I manage to get one arm behind her neck and shoulders, and the other under her knees. Lifting carefully, I allow her head to roll onto my shoulder, and walk slowly towards the spare bedroom down the hallway with Loki trailing behind me.

Her head lolls back, allowing me to see her face more clearly. Her face is smooth and beautiful; small freckles sprinkled across her cheeks. No wrinkles of worry, just peace rests in her face, and holding her soft and warm weight in my arms feels wonderful.

It's a short trip down the hall to the spare room on the left, and I nudge the door open with my knee and slide into the room carefully in order not to knock her head or legs on the doorframe. After successfully managing to pull the duvet down from the top of the bed, I lay her slack-limbed body down onto the bed and look down at her peaceful form. I'm unsure if I should remove some of her clothing or not, what with her request to stay just friends.

I lean down and brush stray hairs that have fallen into her face behind her ear softly, not wishing to disturb her. She sighs with content, turns on her side, and snuggles deeper into her pillow. Pulling the duvet up to her shoulders, I stare down at her, the low sun causing bands of golden light to create a warm ambiance in the room through the blinds. Bands of sunlight cascade over her and for a moment, I am speechless and frozen in place, unable to look anywhere other than at how beautiful she is to me.

Loki clears his throat at the doorway, and I look up as the spell within me is broken and I'm brought back down to reality. All I know is that I like having her in my home where I can watch over her and keep her feeling safe. Giving Loki a wry smile, we leave the room and close the door carefully and quietly behind us; allowing her to sleep. I stop in the hallway and look at Loki, unsure what to do next.

"I like her a lot," I say simply. Loki's eyebrows raise in surprise at the direction I decided to take.

"I know you do. Have you told her?" Shaking my head, I stare down and the black socks on my feet, uncertain about the whole thing.

"She said she wants to be friends. Isn't it tacky to tell a girl you want more, a few days after she tells you she doesn't want more?"

"Not if you consider the reasoning she gave us." My head lifts quickly to look at Loki once more, and my mind scrambles to remember the details of the conversation I had with her. Didn't she say she wanted to be friends because she wanted to keep any drama at bay. She didn't want to come between Loki and I, or risk the chances of a fallout with all of us with our music.

"I'll give her some time. It wouldn't hurt to get to know her better. She was incredible tonight," Loki nods in agreement "I think she's the perfect person to sing for us." Loki nods again, a soft smile on his face as he obviously thinks back to Sophie's singing earlier.

"I'm going to bed, I'll see you in the morning."

"Night." He turns from me, walking into his bedroom and closing the door. I make one final glance at the door that Sophie is sleeping behind, heave a heavy sigh, and head to bed.

I wake up the next morning with a start, uncertain of my surroundings, and a feeling of things being out of place. Studying the simplicity of the room around me, I rub the sleep out of my eyes and stretch out the kinks in my muscles from sleeping too long. I must be in Gunnar's spare room, since the last thing I remember is watching the documentary with the guys. The sun is muted due to dark clouds outside, and I can hear the pitter patter of water droplets falling heavily outside.

Sitting up in the bed, the duvet falls around my waist, and I realize I'm still wearing all my clothes from last night. They must not have been sure if they were allowed to take my clothes off, and I think it's a sweet gesture that one of the carried me to bed and tucked me in.

There's a side table to my left, and a white sticky note with a masculine scribble that says simply 'Will be back for lunch, don't leave if you don't have to. – Gunnar'

I can't help the smile that creeps over my face, and I lie back on the bed in contentment with not a care in the world.

I wake up again some time later to a knock on the door to the room, and I jerk up to a sitting position in startlement.

"Come in!" I say loudly, the adrenaline rushing through my veins at the sudden shock of conciousness. The door creaks open and Gunnar pops his head in, a bright and warm smile on his lips.

"I've brought you breakfast." Pushing the door open further, he reveals a large tray in his hands that has a spread of food that makes my stomach gurgle loudly in hunger at the sight. We both laugh while Gunnar comes forward to perch himself on the end of the bed, placing the tray between us.

"You've got to be the sweetest bloke I've ever met," I murmur, eyeing the food. The tray is loaded with delicious looking bread rolls, cheese slices, butter, white honeydew melon, and two juice boxes. There's enough for both of us, including a double set of napkins and small paper plates. I look up at him, thoroughly touched that he went through this effort for me.

"Ah, well. I had a lunch break and I thought you might be hungry. It's not a busy day in the studio. Help yourself." He pulls a knife out from under the rolls and cuts two of them in half, handing one to me before grabbing the butter and slathering the inside of the roll. I follow suit, smearing an excessive amount of butter onto mine when he's finished with the knife before putting a slice of cheese in between and taking an enormous bite.

We sit in comfortable silence, chewing our food and eyeing each other with smiles on our bread crumb covered lips. After swallowing his bite, he sets his roll on the tray, grabbing one of the juice boxes; unwrapping the straw before spearing it through the small foil covered hole. He takes a long drink while I pop a square of melon into my mouth.

"This is excellent melon," I saw with my mouth still full. "I love melon." I stuff another piece into my craw.

"I wasn't sure what you liked, so I'm glad I seem to have nailed it. This is a pretty basic meal, of course. Just something I would normally eat for lunch." Gunnar lifts his hand towards my face, brushing away crumbs from the corner of my mouth with his thumb. My pulse immediately picks up it's pace at his touch, but I try to keep my composure.

"Gunnar, how are you still single? You're an extremely handsome bloke, have a great job from what it seems, are thoughtful and generous. What's the deep dark secret you're keeping from me? There has to be something keeping all the ladies from climbing you like a tree."

His laughter rings throughout the room like sweet music to my ears as his head tips back with the force of it. I can't help but chuckle in response, and we enjoy a moment between the two of us. When we finally calm down, he wipes his eyes and coughs to clear his throat.

"Fair enough question, I suppose," he begins once his composure is regained. "Living in such a small country, I find that I meet and know a lot of the same women. We have great people who live in Iceland, sure, but I just haven't found someone who made me feel something...
more
." Our eyes meet, and I get the feeling that he's talking about me somehow.

"Without sounding full of myself, there are women who show interest in me often enough, but I'm not terribly interested in casual hookups. I've found them to be pointless. Dating in this country is perhaps different than what you are used to. If you sleep with someone more than once, generally it's expected that you are just dating. I don't want to give any women the wrong impression. I only sleep with people who are unique and special." The pointed look he gives me makes the butterflies in my stomach take flight.