“Wait, what if we try this,” Julian told me. “Shove over, let me show you.”

I shuffled over on the piano bench and let him take a seat next to me. He put his fingers to the keys and began playing while singing the lyrics we’d come up with — with a few important changes.

Julian’s voice wasn’t as strong as it might have been if he’d been trained to sing, but it was pure and sweet — and heartfelt.

“See what I’m doing here?” he said in between verses. “What if we did it this way instead?”

After that night when we’d made up, when Julian had confessed his feelings for me, he’d immediately gone back to our song, insisting on re-working it.

He had played around with some of the verses, re-written a couple lines of the chorus. It didn’t seem to be a big change at first, but as I heard him sing it, I realized exactly what he’d done.

“Good?” He stilled his hands as he finished played.

“It’s fantastic,” I told him, my heart swelling in my chest. “It’s exactly what I imagined it could be.”

Julian made a few notes in pencil on the music sheets.

“Okay, so we do it this way,” he said. “Now we try playing it again from the start. I’ll play, you sing.”

He straightened his back, flexed his fingers and bowed over the keys to start playing.

I waited for the right note then launched into the song. As I sang, my breath was almost taken away. Just those few little changes, changing up a few words, made such a difference.

As I sang and Julian played, his fingers lightly stroking the keys, I was filled with a sort of wistfulness. The song evoked a sense of longing, a feeling of regret. It made tears fill my eyes.

But as we continued making music together, it changed. He pressed the keys harder, with more force, the sounds thrumming through my chest, fierce and full of a passionate fervor. The tears dried up as my heart soared, my veins buzzing with a vibrant energy that made me want to move my body, made me want to thrash and bounce and cheer. He played the last chorus and I couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across my face as I belted out the last note.

This was it. I knew. This was our song.

His hands crashed down on the keys and came to a stop. He turned to me with his own wide grin. I laughed and jumped into his arms. He caught me and pulled me into his lap on the bench. He planted a sloppy, wet kiss on my cheek, making me giggle.

“So this is it?” I asked.

“This has to be it,” Julian said. “I can’t think of a single thing we could do to make this song better.”

“What if we played it on the oboe? Or extended it to a fifteen minute long opus? Or what if we—”

Julian silenced me with another kiss, this time on my lips. I felt the curve of his smile.

“I really couldn’t have done this without you,” he said. “You’re so amazing. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I replied, wondering at how easily the words came to him now.

The door to the music room flung open.

“What was that?” Cerise demanded from the doorway.

We pulled back from each other with a start.

“That song,” she said bluntly, ignoring the compromising position she’d found us in. “What was it? It sounded like yours, but it was different.”

“We decided to keep on working on it,” Julian said as I scrambled off his lap, trying not to flush.

Seth and Nathan peeped over Cerise’s shoulder in the doorway.

“What are you guys up to?” Seth asked. “We were working and then Cerise’s ears perked up like a cat hearing the rustle of the treat bag.”

“We think we managed to make the song better,” I said. “Julian came to a sort of…” I looked to him with a fond look. “An epiphany, you might say. It inspired him to change the song.”

“Play it again,” Cerise said. “From the beginning.”

“We’ve only played it completely through the once,” I told her. “It’s still going to be rough.”

Julian put his hands to keys again and we began the song. Those same feelings of longing followed by frenetic energy filled my soul, and I knew we had something special.

The song came to a close. We looked to Cerise with eager eyes.

“This song…” she said.

“Yes?” Julian prompted warily, trying not to sound impatient.

“This sounds exactly like Where Angels Burn,” she said.

Seth and Julian twitched, looking surprised. I felt my heart sink. I’d been supposed to write a Julian Woods song. Had I failed?

But Cerise’s eyes were lighting up with excitement.

“I’m loving it,” Cerise said. “You’ve always had such a great sound. And you’ve clearly got a great chemistry. I know I wanted one of Julian’s songs for our album, but…”

Cerise looked at us with something almost like glee.

“Have you ever thought about starting up the old band?” she asked.

My heart leaped in my chest. Julian’s eyes went wide.

“Hells yeah, I have!” Seth grinned.

“Nathan’s been working on his own acoustic solo thing.” Cerise put a finger to her lip and tapped. “And Cherry Lips can’t be touring constantly. We’ve got to have some down time. We’ve all been thinking about our own side projects.”

Cerise met each of our eyes. “What if you re-formed Where Angels Burn?”

“I think it’s a fucking rad idea,” Seth said enthusiastically.

Julian was silent, but I could see the interest beginning to fill his eyes.

“You could release a couple new singles, do a couple local shows,” Cerise continued. “It doesn’t have to be a full-time thing. But you’ve clearly still got the talent. All you need is the drive and passion.”

“Come on, you guys,” Seth said, a beaming smile on his face. “We could totally do this.” He practically vibrated on the spot. “We could re-start the old band! Julian, my man, what do you say? Just for fun, for old time’s sake?”

Julian’s usual placid dark gaze was shining with excitement.

“I think that would be amazing,” he replied. “We’d have to do a lot of practicing, though. We haven’t played together in years. It’ll be a while before we’re good enough for live shows. But… “ He turned to me, his own grin spreading across his face. “What do you say, Ev? Want to change the world with our music?”

“I—”

Terror cut through me.

I loved the idea.

I’d thought about the old band almost every day for the last few years. I’d be working at Frank’s part-time for the foreseeable future, so why not have a side project?

But there was one thing standing in the way.

“I can’t,” I said quietly, averting my gaze and looking down at my feet. “I can’t.”

“Why not?” Seth asked, sounding scandalized. “Don’t you want to?”

“I want it more than anything else.” Tears pricked the back of my eyes.

Julian, looking concerned, took me by the shoulders.

“Ev, what's wrong?” he asked.

“It’s Keith,” I blurted out. “He’s the reason I left the music industry. He ruined my reputation. No one would work with me after I walked out on him. I’m scared of what he might do to the two of you if we go ahead with this.”

“He did what?” Julian’s expression turned murderous.

“That fucking asshole!” Seth cried out. “So that’s why you disappeared all of a sudden?”

“I decided I had to reinvent myself,” I explained. “I came back as Everly Davis and hoped no one associated me with Ever Darling.”

“I can’t believe that bastard fucked with you like that,” Julian growled.

He and Seth seethed, rage on their faces.

Cerise barked out a laugh. We turned to her, surprised.

“Are you talking about Keith Fielding, the producer?” She continued chuckling. “That guy is a washed-up has-been.” She lifted her chin smugly. “You’re forgetting, I’m Cerise Moreau.”

She said it as if she were the Queen of England, as if her notoriety was an indisputable fact. Which, considering, it probably was.

“You really want this?” she asked me.

I thought about all the things Keith had said to me. Had said about me. Thought about all the million ways I’d doubted myself. All the ways I’d stifled myself, trying to be someone I wasn’t.

I clenched my fist, fingernails digging into my palm.

Maybe I couldn’t exactly be Ever Darling anymore. Too much had happened to me, too much had changed. That proud, overconfident girl was gone.

But I didn’t need to be Everly Davis anymore, either. I didn’t need to be that girl full of self-doubt, that girl who couldn’t speak her own wants and needs.

I looked over to Julian.

After all these years, after everything I’d gone through, I finally realized…

It didn’t matter how I thought I had to dress, or who I thought I had to depend on, or what I thought I had to call myself.

I could take control of my own life and be the person I was meant to be.

I turned to Cerise and gave her a determined look.

“I want this,” I told her. “I want to be back on stage.”

Without another word, Cerise pulled out her phone and put it to her ear.

“Kell, hey,” she said briskly. “You know how you were looking for someone for that new project? Yeah, I’ve got someone I think you’ll love. Everly Davis. Used to be known as Ever Darling. Yes, that Ever. Well, I don’t know about that, but she’s been a wonder to work with. Yeah, she’s brilliant. Okay, cool. I’ll text you her info. Awesome, thanks, Kell. Talk later.”

She hung up the phone, that smug expression still on her face.

“Problem solved,” she said, matter-of-factly. “Kell Pierce from Feral Silence will be your producer and backer.”

I put a hand to my mouth, stifling a loud gasping laugh of disbelief.

“Are you serious?” I asked.

“Completely,” she said with an easy shrug. She went to put her phone back in her pocket.

“Wait,” I asked her. “Who else’s contact info do you have?”

A look of understanding crossed her face. She scrolled through her contacts and handed me her phone.

I looked at the screen. She had pulled up Keith’s number. I didn’t know how or why she had it, but I was grateful she did.

I tapped the call button and put it to my ear. It rang once. Twice.

Keith picked up.

“Hello?” he asked, sounding confused. “Is this Cerise Moreau?”

My fingers gripped the phone tight.

“Keith,” I said shortly. “It’s me.”

He let out an amused hum.

“Ever,” he drawled. “I thought I’d hear from you soon. How’s Julian?”

“We’re amazing, actually,” I said. “I’m just calling to tell you two things.”

“Oh?” I could hear his raised eyebrow. “And what is that?”

“First of all, fuck you.” I didn’t spit the words or growl. They were said simply and firmly.

His shocked silence spoke volumes.

“I don’t care what threats you make or what lies you tell,” I continued. “You may have tried to break me and ruin me, but I’m not going to let you get away with that anymore. I don’t need you. I never needed you.”

“You’ve grown quite the backbone,” he said archly.

“I’ve had one all along,” I told him. “I just learned how to use it again. So that’s the second thing I called to tell you. I’m starting up Where Angels Burn again and you’re not going to stop me.”

“You want to test me, girl?” he sneered. “Don’t forget, all it takes it a few words in the right ear.”

“And don’t you forget,” I shot back, “I’m not alone anymore. I’ve got people on my side this time. People who care about me. So go ahead,” I challenged. “You just try and stop me. I’m going to love watching you fail.”

And with that, I hung up on him. I handed the phone back to Cerise. She put it back into her pocket, looking impressed.

“That’s it, then,” I said.

Julian and Seth looked to each other. They looked to me. Slowly, the rage and apprehension on their face smoothed out, replaced by anticipation.

“We’re starting up the band,” I said with a grin.

“Fuck yeah!” Seth hooted, pumping a fist in the air.

Julian swung me in his arms as I whooped out loud.

It may have taken years, and there many have been dozens of bumps in the road along the way, but somehow Julian and I had found our way back together again. And I couldn’t have been happier.

“All right, enough playing around,” I said, tapping on Julian’s shoulder for him to put me down.

I wiped the giddy tears from my eyes.

“It looks like we’ve got some work to do.”