Chapter Five

The next couple of days, Jason seemed dead set on giving Leah a real family holiday experience, as if trying to make up for the little time they’d have together later on. They had a snowball fight with Frankie, watched old black and white movies with Jason's grandmother, and stayed up late talking on the porch swing. It was really nice, and Leah wished she could just stop time during these moments together.

But all things had to come to an end eventually, so she just put a smile on her face when it was time for Jason to make an appearance over at, “Echo Psychos” the CD store located in the nearest mall. Security guards stood everywhere, keeping the long line of what seemed like thousands of people in order, but Jason was completely unfazed. He just smiled and waved from his stool in the center of the store where the girls surrounding him sighed and called out things to grab his attention. Flashes went off everywhere, and then finally Janice, the personal assistant in the highest stilettos Leah had ever seen, grabbed the microphone and announced ‘Mr. Jason Crenshaw’. The crowd went wild as he said in his smooth, sexy voice, “Hey; I’m Jason, and today I’m gonna play you a few songs off my newest album.”

“Can you believe this?” a voice beside Leah muttered darkly, and she turned to give Ryan an exasperated look. He’d been acting like such a cry baby ever since they’d gotten here, not even bothering to care that the rest of them had heard his complaints and wished he’d just shut up and enjoy everything. If anything, he seemed oblivious to the suffering of others, only focusing on himself.

Leah didn’t know why he’d decided to come in the first place. This morning over breakfast, Mrs. Crenshaw just suggested he and Jason ‘bond’ while they were in town together, obviously trying to get him out of the house since she’d be at work all day and Frankie was going to a birthday party at the skating rink. Ryan hadn’t seemed so unhappy about it at first, but as soon as the three of them had jumped in the car, he hadn’t shut up with his opinions.

“So why’d you bother to come?” Leah mumbled, hating to be near him every second. Instead of focusing on this though, she suddenly placed all of her attention on Jason, who began singing his latest song that had topped the charts for a good month. Her heart grew about twenty sizes in her chest as his voice filled her ears. “Mmm,” she hummed quietly. Beside her, she was sure she saw Ryan roll his eyes and turn away.

“And this next song, I actually came up with when I was in my hotel room in Florida,” Jason stated as he finished his song and played a few chords to the next one. The crowd was completely mesmerized, swaying as the notes played like a lullaby. “My angel, you are so dear/ I miss you, even as you lay right here beside me…ooh, yeah.”

“I suppose he wrote this about you?” Ryan asked, leaning back against the poster-covered wall, a smirk on his face. “Couldn’t he come up with anything better than, ‘I miss you even as you lay beside me’?” He snorted.

Leah rolled her eyes. “I think the lyrics are wonderful; and what would you know about good music anyway?”

“A lot more than you’d think,” he replied, his dark eyes set right to her own. “And I know this? Yeah, this music is cheap lyrics and notes that have been played over and over again, just with a new pretty boy face.” He turned around and pointed to the exit of the store. “You want good music? Follow me.” He was challenging her, testing to see if she could handle walking away from her boyfriend instead of acting like a devoted puppy.

Leah glanced over her shoulder at Jason, who was utterly focused on his crowd. Near by, Janice stood watch like a mother cheetah, and the security guards seemed alert enough; Jason would be okay left alone for a little bit, wouldn’t he?

She crossed her arms over her chest and followed Ryan out of the store. He seemed somewhat surprised she was coming, but then a tiny smile emerged out of the corner of his lips and he said, “Welcome to Real-Music Experience; I’ll be your guide for the day.”

“Yeah, yeah, just ‘prove me wrong’ while you have the chance.” Leah was so not giving him any satisfaction out of this little trip through the stores.

“Well, the first rule of good music is you can find it anywhere. It can’t be created with artificial words, and sounds that have been toyed with by some record company; it’s crystal clear vibrations from pure feeling alone.” He pulled her inside the nearest beauty department, and off to the side where there was a stack of perfume bottles. Checking over his shoulder for signs of authority, he then tapped his fingernail against a bottle.

A light chime resounded, and then he tapped another bottle, and another, and another, creating a beat of different tones that Leah had never heard before. He smiled, encouraged by her wide eyes, and continued tapping, moving faster, changing the melody from gentle angelic to fierce. He would have kept going, but a guard approached quickly, eyes bulging, looking like a shark ready to attack a guppy, and Leah dragged him away before they got arrested for ‘disturbance with perfume’ or something.

“That was actually pretty cool,” she muttered, despite her dignity; she didn’t like Ryan; actually, she couldn’t really stand his snarky attitude at all. But she did have to admit, what he did was unlike anything she’d ever heard before.

“There’s more where that came from,” Ryan grinned, catching Leah’s hand and yanking her towards another store. “I told you, real music isn’t just what other people sing; it’s like a way of life.” He pulled her into several different places, proving his theory over and over again, using everything from gentlemen’s shoes, to the spines of books, to throwing coins into a fountain. He knew exactly what he was doing, creating rhythms and sounds that were unheard of, yet seemed so familiar and spellbinding and utterly…real.

How does he know how to do it? Leah wondered as she followed after him on another quest for a strange sound. The more time she spent with Ryan, it seemed like the more curious she got about him.