the art of falling for you (bxb)

fifteen - being true to yourself

the art of being true to yourself

- - -

It'd been ages since I'd seen Sacha's band. As the three of them walked into the house, I watched them all visibly relax in the atmosphere. Sacha and I had been up all night writing lyrics again and he was excited to show them.

"I've missed coming here." Bodhi whispered to Isaiah, who moved to sit near Sacha's guitar stand. They'd spent ages trying to perfect their 'band logo', which stood out against the black paint. Sacha stood behind them both, sending both Kareem and I a smile before picking up his bass.

I noticed Isaiah's unusual quietness, studying him as he sat on the drum stool and relaxed instantly.

"Everything okay, Isa?"

"Just savouring the quiet."

Sacha sent me a look, which I translated as one of worry. Even Kareem looked concerned for the boy he'd never really met before.

"Talk to us, Francis." Bodhi nudged him, sitting on the floor in front of him.

"It's just the usual." He muttered. We knew what that meant. Isaiah's family life was quite difficult. His mother was always fighting with her boyfriend, keeping Isaiah and his younger siblings awake until the early hours. I remember when Sacha first met him, and the first thing I noticed about the soft boy was the deep, black circles under his eyes. I ensured that Sacha kept him out of home as much as possible, either making him bring them home or to Dexter's. It was easier that way, and his younger siblings could relax when Hendrix was around to tease them.

Both Bodhi and Isaiah helped out at the Bakery too, which gave Isaiah some time away for himself and a chance to help his Mom with the bills.

"We're going to get a proper gig soon." Sacha mused, confident as usual. They had some small bars lined up, trying to get the word around. "Bodhi's channel has been blowing up, right? We're going to get a record deal and tour the world, man. I promise you, it won't be like this forever."

Isaiah just let out a small smile but Bodhi huffed. "We need another guitarist, Cley. How are we supposed to perform properly without a solid guitar solo?"

Sacha scowled at his friend, making both Kareem and I laugh at his mock angry expression. "How about you just get better at playing guitar? Then maybe we won't need anot-"

"I can do it."

Sacha cut himself off, head whipping to face us. I didn't even register that Kareem had spoken until all the boys were staring at us, mouth open.

"What?"

"You're too old. As if you could play the guitar."

"Dude, that's my brother's boyfriend so watch your mouth." Sacha demanded, not leaving any room for protest. "Anyway, he wouldn't be able to play guitar that well given his age. We know this."

"You want to play guitar for them?" The last one was me as I stared at Kaz with wide eyes. He shuffled nervously under all our stares until he shrugged. I remembered that he learnt to play guitar when he was younger but his actual capability wasn't known to me.

"Yeah, I..." Kareem trailed off, hand rubbing along the back of his neck as he shuffled nervously under everyone's stare. "I started learning at the start of fifth grade."

"Go on then." Sacha challenged, gesturing towards the electric guitar that Bodhi couldn't play very well, which was why he tended to stick with singing.

To my utmost surprise, Kareem just stood up and went towards it. He fiddled with the weird sticks at the end before testing out a few notes.

Plucking the strings, I watched as he reached down and grabbed a pick. Sacha just watched him with a raised eyebrow. It was blatantly obvious that my brother had next to little confidence in Kareem's potential ability but was giving him the opportunity to show them all himself, instead of just brushing him off.