The Music to His Lyrics [13] Soaked

“Why so many jobs, though?” Jared questioned, a grin spreading across his face.

Harry, well hidden by the groups of people rushing by, was close enough to hear the conversation Emma was having with the other members of the band. So he listened on, wondering when he would have the opportunity to talk to her himself.

“Saving up for college,” Emma said with a sigh. “It’ll pay off eventually.”

“Your parents aren’t willing to help you out?” Jared asked, slightly confused.

Emma went silent for a moment. She looked down at the black boots she was wearing, and avoiding eye contact with Jared, responded, “I’m an orphan. My step dad died almost ten years ago.”

Harry’s face went stoic. He couldn’t believe Jared could have been so stupid as to have asked such a question when he barely knew her. He had no idea what Emma had been through. Harry shook his head sadly. Poor girl. And yet she still managed to smile both times he had seen her, as if she had not a worry upon her soul, no stress to plague her and eat away at her happiness.

The twins stopped chewing their forkfuls of the appetizer they had served themselves, and the sound of silverware clanking against the ceramic plates abruptly came to a halt. Jared’s facial expression fell, and he didn’t say a word. He looked ashamed to have even asked the question.

“I’m doing all right, though,” Emma continued, “I live with my stepmother and her daughters, but it’s really my stepbrother, Travis, and two of my closest friends, who are usually there for me most of the time. They’re pretty much all I’ve got.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that,” Jared said, pushing his wine glass away from him on the table.

“It’s okay,” Emma said, trying to think of a way to avoid discussing the subject. “I’m really sorry we couldn’t talk more, but I’ve really got to get back to work.”

Emma turned around with the serving tray in hand and began striding towards the kitchen, taking care not to bump into any other member of the wait staff busy carrying serving trays teeming with freshly prepared meals towards their assigned tables.

Jared rose from his seat, and called after her, “Hang on a minute,”

Harry watched with a pang of jealousy as Jared smoothly walked over towards Emma, grabbed her arm, and set his other hand palm flat on the wall she was leaning back against, right beside her cheek. His face was inches away from hers. What Jared told her that moment was unintelligible to Harry. From where he stood, he was unable to hear a single whisper amongst the noise made by the large groups of people.

Jared gazed into Emma’s eyes with a look of concern. “Look, I was wondering if maybe you’d want to hang out tomorrow before the concert. Maybe grab a cup of coffee or something,”

Emma smiled, and replied, “I’d really like that.”

Jared beamed. “Cool. So, we’ll see how things work out. I know you‘re a pretty busy girl.”

Emma nodded, and quietly replied, “Okay.”

Jared laughed a bit, and placed his hand underneath her chin, raising her eyes to meet his. He smiled, saying, “Keep your chin up, Parker. I’ll see you later.”

Harry watched as Emma, with a soft smile on her face, went back to hurrying through the crowd with the serving tray in hand and began walking towards the kitchen doors. Now was his chance. He had just begun to follow after her when Jared spotted him weaving his way through the crowd.

“Harry!” Jared called after him, placing a hand on Harry’s shoulder.

Harry reluctantly turned around to face Jared, who had just ruined his attempt to follow after Emma for the second time.

“I know you’ve been busy socializing, but you might want to stick with us for a little bit,” Jared laughed. “They’re about to announce the winner of the awards for best hit single, best musical group, and best album. I’m sure we’ll walk up for at least one, and if not, more.”

“And, the winner of this year’s ‘best hit single’ award goes to,” the male announcer began as he opened an envelope containing the name of the winner, “’Good Girls Go Bad’ by Cobra Starship!”

The members of the band had a spotlight shown upon them as they made their way up to the stage, one after the other. One of them grabbed the award in hand, thanked the announcer, and approached the podium to say a few words while the others shook hands with the announcer as well.

As Jared and Harry sat down in the booth where the twins were seated, Ted shook his head, and said, “That could’ve been ours,”

“We were so close to kicking their hit off the charts when Harry wrote that new song back in April. That would have been insane,” Cole agreed.

“Don’t make yourselves too comfortable yet, guys. We’ll be getting up in just a minute,” Jared said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning his back against the booth.

“All right, folks. These next two awards for best musical group and best album both go to the same artist tonight at Music Madness,” the announcer began, “A four man band, they’ve been burning up the charts all year and have captured the hearts of thousands of screaming fans with their upbeat melodies and poetic lyrics. Congratulations, Downhill Mystery!”

Jared had stood from his seat moments before their name had been announced, and proceeded to heading towards the stage, with the spotlight trailing after him, and Harry, along with the twins, following close behind.

The four of them walked onstage, and shook hands with the announcer, who handed one of the two sparkling crystal awards with their names engraved upon them to Harry, and the other to Jared. Both stood before the podium, the awards in hand, with the twins beaming beside them. Jared leaned into the microphone, and laughed when he couldn’t get a word through because of the cheering crowd.

When the applause came to a stop, he began, “We couldn’t thank you all enough. Without you guys, we wouldn’t be up here on stage right now.”

Jared stepped back a bit, and the twins took the mike. Ted began, “We’d also like to thank our families, who’ve always supported us in all we’ve ever set our minds to.”

“And our crew, which makes all of our onstage performances possible,” Cole chimed in, and then took a step back to give Harry some room to say a few words as well.

Harry took a step forward, and leaning towards the mike, “I’d also like to thank our manager, Steve, who we’ve really enjoyed working with as we’ve gradually put together and released our last two albums. Again, thank all of you for your support.”

Suddenly, Harry’s eyes caught sight of Emma in the crowd, setting a few cup holders on an empty table and smoothing out the table cloth. He smiled. Jared’s eyes followed his gaze.

Jared grabbed the mike, turning it in his direction, and added, “We’re currently working on a new song, so listen up for it. It’ll be out soon. Thanks again, and have a great night everyone!”

A grand applause sounded through the room. Harry handed the award he had been holding to Ted, and hurried down the stage, with the band rest of the band following behind him.

When they reached the area where their table was, Jared called after him, “Harry! Where are you going, man?”

“I have to take care of something. I’ll be right back,” Harry answered.

“If you’re going to take long,” Cole shouted after him, “We’ll probably be outside with Steve waiting for the limo to come pick us up.”

Harry made his way through the crowd of celebrities who stood about laughing, talking, and drinking champagne, and walked into the hallway where the wait staff emerged through the kitchen doors with trays of food in hand. A busboy passing by him into the kitchen dropped a wet cloth he was carrying in the pocket of his waist apron. It plopped onto the ground, dripping a puddle of water onto the tile floor.

Harry bent down and picked it up, handing it to him with a smile. The busboy apologized, and rushed back into the kitchen, taking care not to waste too much time. It seemed as though everyone working at Ma Chèrie was busy that night.

Then, as though she had read his mind, Emma emerged through the kitchen’s doors in front of where Harry was standing, carrying a tray filled with three plastic water pitchers, each with a lemon wedge. Her arm shook a bit, and the load she carried nearly blocked her vision. In other words, Emma didn’t see Harry at first.

However Harry saw her, plain as day, slide into the puddle of water the busboy’s rag had left. She let out a short yelp in surprise as the serving tray flew out of her arms and crashed onto the floor. The pitchers spilled over, pouring water onto both Emma and Harry as they collided with one another head-on the moment Emma slipped. Despite his attempt to catch her, Emma fell face forward on top of Harry, the two sopping wet.

Emma lifted her head from where it had fallen upon Harry’s chest, and their eyes met. “Thanks, Harry.” she said breathlessly.

“No problem,“ Harry murmured, entranced by her gaze.

Emma rose, and stood on her feet. Harry did the same. A soaked Emma looked upon the large trailing puddle of water that she had yet to mop, and groaned, “Oh, look at this mess!”

She bent down and began placing the empty plastic pitchers onto the serving tray.

“Here, let me help you,” Harry offered, picking up thelast plastic pitcher and placing it on the tray.

“Oh, no. Please, it’s all right. I’m fine,” Emma protested, but Harry proceeded to pick up the lemon wedges scattered on the floor as well. After tossing them into the small trash bin near the edge of the closed hallway in front of the kitchen’s doors, Harry grabbed a yellow sign labeled, ‘Caution: wet floor’, and placed it right where the puddle began in front of the kitchen doors.

“You really didn’t have to do any of that,” Emma sighed, and crossed her arms, “It is my job, you know.”

Harry shrugged his shoulders, and replied, “I wanted to.” Placing his hands in his pockets, he continued, “Look, Emma. I know this might not be the best time for you, but I was wondering if I could talk to you about something.”

Emma shook her head, and replied, “Thanks, but I’ve got to get back to work.”

As she turned to head towards the kitchen’s doors, Harry’s hand lightly rested upon her shoulder. She glanced over her shoulder, and frowned.

“Please,” Harry pleaded, his glimmering blue eyes seeming far more inviting than the mop and bucket that awaited Emma when the time came for her to clean up the water that had spilled across the floor. “It’ll only be a minute,”

Emma turned away from Harry’s gaze and his face fell, until he realized that she was simply placing the serving tray on the wooden stool beside the mop and bucket. He couldn’t help but grin when she placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow, saying, “I hope you’ll hold up to your word. I can’t waste more than a minute or two when we’re this busy tonight.”

“It’s a deal. Follow me,” Harry said as he walked towards the back door of the restaurant, leading Emma into a narrow hallway with a stairwell that rose up to another door with chipping paint.

Emma furrowed her eyebrows as she rose the staircase, following behind him. “Where in the world are you taking me?”

“You’ll see,” Harry smiled.

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