Page 96 of Hittin' the Right Note
This, though, was something different. There was a rawness to the vocal intonation Luke had never heard from him before. Mikey was actually singing from the soul. His pure tenor seemed to float on the air, transporting Luke right back to those days when they’d first fallen in love.
And it wasn’t just the sound of music that held Luke like he was in a spell. It was also the lyrics.
Summer night stage lights shining on the two of us
Wondrin' what the future holds, hoping we can get enough
Of this moment together
Lost in time to the beat your tapping out and into space
Filling every sense I have and sending me into the place
Where we spend forever
And I know nothing lasts nothin’s meant to stay
But couldn't we just sayyyyyy
Anything. Anything goes. When you're young and in love and it's warm and you see that he
knows.
Everything. Everything is brighter now and no one can tell you to stop on the path that you chose.
Anything goes....
Time has passed and looking back I know we can't reclaim what's gone
Nothing I can do or say can take away the things I've done
To cause pain to you
But all the rest of what I've got is yours if you decide to stay
Today tomorrow all our lives and on and on I'll always pray
To see it through
And though nothing lasts nothins' meant to stay
We should just sayyyyyy
Is he singing about…me?Luke wondered, and then almost laughed at himself. There might have been something of their relationship in the song, but he got the feeling it was about something bigger than just the two of them. Mikey was reallyexploring his psyche, trying to figure out just what it was he felt and why. And he was using music to do it, using the way music wasn’t just about the words but also about the more intangible elements, the things that couldn’t be defined.
If Luke Carter hadn’t already been hopelessly in love with Mikey already, this would’ve sealed the deal. He also knew if he looked at Mikey right then, if he actually saw his face while he was singing those things, if he saw the vulnerability in his eyes, he’d never be able to recover from it; he’d lose all control. And, when it came down to it, that was just a step he couldn’t take. He could forgive Mikey, he might even want to try to pursue something with him in the future, but if he saw him right then, he’d lose something he wasn’t willing to give up, not yet.
And so Luke, not for the first or the last time, ran away from something he didn’t want to confront, even as he hated himself for doing it.
He didn’t stopto think until he was back in the cabin, and once he was there and safely in his house, he thought briefly about calling Bryce and Katrina and telling them this was a five-alarm fire and they needed to get out here as soon as possible to help him deal with it.
The next minute, however, he realized he was going to have to figure out his feelings himself.
He sat down on the couch, and Duke immediately jumped into his lap. As he massaged his dog’s ears just the way he liked, he found his thoughts going back to Mikey sitting here on his couch, petting his dog (though not as good as Luke could, obviously), and then he started thinking about the way Mikey’s voice had sounded today, the way his voice had hit every right note, seeming to come from some place deep inside him. Hethought, too, about how Mikey’s song spoke to both their bond and to something greater than both of them.
He couldn’t get the damn song out of his head!
The universe is clearly telling me something,he thought.But what?
