Chapter Nine
BLISS
The tinkle of the bell on Liz’s shop’s door sounds as I push the door open, letting it swing shut behind me.
I’m instantly lured into a sense of calm at the earthy musk of incense burning and the relaxing meditation music being played.
Dericia glances up at me from the front counter, a grin coming to her face quickly.
“To what do I owe this pleasure? Twice in one week?” Reese asks, as she comes around the counter and hugs me. She holds me extra tight and I relish in the comforting feel.
“Liz said she restocked the Hair B Gone, so I stopped by to grab some.”
Reese laughs, eyeing my hair that’s braided into two plaits, both with white ribbons at the end. “Not for your scalp, correct?”
I match her laugh. “I’m not feeling quite that adventurous right now. Can I get the one with the built-in color guard?”
Dericia rummages through the shelves behind the counter, grabbing a pink lotion bottle and handing it to me. It’s a spelled lotion that once applied, starts working to remove unwanted hair. It’s super quick and the hair takes a while to grow back, so it’s better than waxing, shaving, or laser.
Liz had been making this lotion for years before she ever opened her shop. I may have been the reason she’s added a bright orange color guard. It’s now super obvious where it’s been applied, and if washed off quickly enough, it won’t take any hair with it.
“Anything else?” Reese asks in an over-the-top sweet customer service voice.
I laugh and take the bag Reese hands me with the lotion in it.
“I also wanted to see if you were gonna be closing up shop soon?” I ask tentatively.
After our night out, I really realized just how much I hated not seeing her and Amelia regularly, but since I’m still pissed at Amelia, I think a one-on-one hangout with my best friend is just what I need.
Not to mention I very much need to take my mind off the wraith’s offer and my abnormal bond.
Of course I’m not going to go through with the deal.
Even if I can’t stop thinking about what it would be like to have what the wraith is offering.
“I was just about to,” Reese replies. “But then I’m gonna walk up the block to that craft store. I want to bedazzle my bass. Come with?”
“Sure.” I nod, grinning as I imagine Reese holding her black bass covered in pink and purple rhinestones. I quirk my brows at her. “That doesn’t sound like it’d be your taste, though.”
“Black rhinestones,” Reese says, as if reading my mind. “I just want a bit of glitter and glitz, ya know?”
I nod. “Okay, that I can see.”
Dericia grabs her bag and turns over the open sign to closed, locking the door.
We head up the block to the craft store, grabbing her a magical bedazzler that is also apparently enchanted to be skin safe, the glue lasting up to a week.
We promise to try that out later and then wind up walking around until we’re hungry enough to dive into a cute little restaurant for drinks and dinner.
Afterwards, I walk her back to my aunt’s house, where Dericia is only a couple minutes late to band practice.
“Come inside with me,” she says, holding out her hand as she pauses at the side door of the garage.
I can already hear Tubbs warming up on his drum kit. “That’s okay,” I say, taking a step towards the house. “I should probably…” I trail off, my traitorous brain not coming up with any plausible excuse. I don’t have to be at The Wild Mare today, and it’s not like I have any other social events.
Dericia grins almost wolfishly at me. “Get inside, Bliss.”
It’s not that I don’t like my sister’s bandmates. I love every single one of them.
But the distance that’s grown between us all is too much for me.
And Taser just fucked me in my shower two days ago and lied about breaking up with his girlfriend.
I don’t really want to see him.
And I still don’t really want to see Amelia.
I’d suggest you get back on speaking terms, then.
The wraith’s deal hangs before me. If I was going to take him up on it—which I’m not—I’d need to get Amelia to agree to bring me back as band manager. And that would require hanging out with everyone again.
But more importantly, I miss Dericia. The past couple of days have been odd in that I’ve actually seen her multiple times. Even though she’s my best friend, our paths just haven’t been crossing lately. Or maybe it’s that I made sure they didn’t cross. Because this isn’t my world anymore.
It doesn’t have to be like that, Amelia’s voice sounds in my head.
And there it is, clear as day.
Two paths and a choice that is mine alone.
Dericia, Taser, Amelia—they weren’t the ones that had pulled away. That’s all on me.
I could walk back the way we came and head back home alone to my apartment.
Or I could go with Dericia into the garage and maybe reconnect with my friends.
Stars, I could even fight with Taser and Amelia, and maybe that would be better than just sitting around waiting. My conversation with Liz floats back into my mind as well.
With so many people’s voices in my head, I’m starting to wonder what I even want.
But one thing stands out very clearly to me. My best friend, standing in front of me, holding the door open like an olive branch.
I can tell she’s about to give up on me and head in, so I take a deep breath, step towards her, and put my hand in hers. She beams at me, pulling me into a tight hug, and ushers me inside the garage.
“Reese, you’re late!” Amelia says from where she’s putting her microphone back on its stand and adjusting the height.
“Yeah, but it was totally worth it! Tada!” Dericia spreads her hands out towards me like she’s unveiling something exciting as I step through the door.
“Bliss!” My sister abandons the mic stand and rushes forward, hugging me like she hasn’t seen me in months.
I remain a bit stiff in her embrace because I’m still mad at her, but I wrap my arms around her anyways.
“To what do we owe this honor?” Tubbs asks, seated at his drum kit.
“I literally had nothing better to do,” I respond with a shrug and grin.
“That’s her same reasoning for sleeping with Tay,” Blake says, his grin matching mine, only much more wicked as he looks over at Taser.
“Ouch.” Taser holds his hand over his heart. “What did I do to deserve all this hate?”
Well, you lied about something huge, for starters, I think, but I don’t voice it out loud. He smiles at me, but I drop my eyes from him and flop down on one of the couches that’s been pushed up to the wall facing the band’s setup.
I look around the garage. I’m pretty sure the last time I was here, I was dating Jordan.
I don’t think I’ve stepped back into this space since.
Too many memories. I run my hands up and down the couch cushion, feeling the slight scratchy fabric, my fingers finding a loose thread on one of the seams. I pick at it as memories flood to me.
Jordan and I making out on this couch for the first time.
The way I had butterflies and overthought every single thing I did.
The way I thought he was a gentlemen when he started to push for more and I told him I wasn’t ready, and he said it was cool, we could just keep making out.
The bar was so low back then.
I think our first ever fight was right over there, where Blake’s guitar rack now stands. It should have been our last fight as well, but only hindsight is twenty-twenty.
I push the thoughts from my mind, feeling the couch dip as Amelia sits next to me. “I’m so glad you’re here. I want to play a new song for you and you have to give me your totally honest thoughts on it, okay?”
“What’s it called?” I ask, a smile lifting my lips despite my anger at her.
My sister has always been a bit self-conscious about her music writing.
She’s a perfectionist in that way. Earlier, while Dericia and I were shopping, Reese mentioned she’s been having trouble writing lately.
I’m glad to hear Amelia has finally broken through her writer’s block.
“Ribbons,” she says sheepishly. She reaches over and gives my ribbon a tug. “Um, I actually wrote it for you.”
“For me?” My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline.
Amelia nods. “It’s kinda about, like, how much I love you and yeah…” She trails off.
I mimic gagging, but despite myself I laugh and throw my arms around my sister, my anger dwindling a bit. I pull out of her embrace and motion at her to get up. “Get on with it already and play it for me.”
Amelia has written many songs about many things. Old flings. Grief over losing both our parents. Sex. What it’s like to be a woman.
She has never written a song about me. I’m both nervous and touched. And weirdly, a little mad. I don’t need anyone writing songs about me. I want actions over empty words. But Amelia isn’t always the best at direct communication.
So I scoot forward in my seat, ready to listen.
Amelia nods at Tubbs and he counts down before starting a slow cymbal swell.
The sound crests into soft snare drum hits.
Amelia’s voice joins in, starting out soft and husky.
“Maybe I’m over protective, but sometimes ribbons fray, sometimes they float away. ”
I smile widely at the lyrics despite myself.
“Please don’t cut me off, please don’t untie these bonds, am I not enough, to keep things all together?”
Even the guitar and bass seem to mix a grungy feel with something graceful, flowing easily from verse to chorus. Lyrically, it feels like an apology, from her to me. Sonically, it feels like a representation of how I wish I was, how I wish I could see myself.
The song finishes and Amelia looks at me hesitantly. “Do you like it?”
I get up and cross the room over to her, hugging her tightly. “I love it. It’s perfect.”
“Are you sure? Anything you’d change?”
I shake my head. “Nothing. The lyrics are beautiful.” I look over at Tubbs. “I also love the softer drums.”
“That was Tay Tay’s idea,” Dericia cuts in.