MASTERMIND - H.S

DELETED SCENE: "WRITING"

[SCENE]

*• April 2013 •*
- Los Angeles, USA -

The following scene is canon within this AU, however, due to the nature of its contents, did not fit into any of the previous chapters.

"Fucking hell," Louis cursed, slamming his pen down onto the table.

Addie looked up from her spot on the couch, knees curled to her chest as she used the arm as a backrest. "What's it this time, Lou?"

Louis sighed, running a hand over his face. "I can't get this line. I need to finish this verse by tomorrow."

Liam glanced at Louis, "What's the verse?"

"I'm the first to admit that I'm reckless," Louis said, going along with the rhythm as he half-sang half-spoke the lyrics, "I get lost and... that's where I get stuck."

Addie slid her pen into the coil of her notebook. She swung her legs over the edge of the couch, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. "Can I see?"

Louis handed the notebook to Addie. She hummed the lyrics, mind racing to finish it off.

"I get lost in your beauty, and I can't see, anything in front of me," Addie sang, scribbling it down in the corner of the page. "Anything? That doesn't sound right..." she muttered mostly to herself. Looking at the ceiling, she sang, "I can't see, two feet in front of me." Addie handed Louis his notebook. "What do you think?"

Louis gave her an incredulous look. "Seriously? I've been stuck on that line all day, and it takes you five seconds to figure it out?"

Addie shrugged. "Maybe that's the problem. You focus on it so hard, you lose perspective. All you needed was a new point of view, that's all."

Writing came naturally to her, and it was easy to finish someone else's line, since it already had a structure and melody attached. It was like drawing by connecting the dots. Sure, you did it, but everything was already laid out for you.

Louis shook his head, bewildered.

Liam stared at Addie, lips parted in awe. He said, "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Write so much, so easily!" Liam exclaimed, gesturing with his hands. "It takes you twenty minutes to write a song that takes anyone else two weeks to finish. And you write constantly. I mean, shouldn't you be out of ideas?"

Addie laughed, flattered by the compliment, even if it was presented a little passive aggressively. "It just kind of comes naturally, and the more I write, the more I write. And I have a lot of practice with writing, I'm so used to turning little things about my life, it's just a habit I have."

"Doesn't it get exhausting?" Liam inquired. "I mean, there isn't a day where you don't come up with an idea for a song or write something."

Addie shrugged. "Not really. It's more... cathartic. By putting my life into poems and songs, and writing it down, I can analyze the situation, understand better how I feel. It's my way of processing my emotions and really understanding what I feel."

Louis shook his head, pointing an accusatory finger at Addie. "You're bloody mental, honestly, lad. Didn't you write like a hundred songs for your album?"

"I wrote maybe seventy-ish songs for Red? But a lot of those were scrapped halfway or are incomplete."

"Shit," Liam muttered under his breath, staring at Addie. She shifted in her seat, uncomfortable in the spotlight. "I mean, Lou's written like fifteen songs maybe and I've written like thirteen? And that's for 3 albums."

Addie pursed her lips. "Yeah, but you haven't even released the third album. You aren't done yet."

"You wrote a hundred songs for your first album!" Louis exclaimed, waving his hand at Addie.

Addie knew she had an insane work ethic. She knew a lot of artists wouldn't put in half the effort that she did into their own songs, a lot would write half a line just for the credit. She knew other artists didn't focus on songwriting, but she wasn't like them.

Addie snapped at them, "Yeah, okay, I get it, I've written a lot." Liam and Louis looked shocked at her sharp tone. "But that's out of necessity. I never could've gotten this far in my career with my voice alone, I need my songwriting to be successful. I know it and you know it. You guys can get away with someone else writing your songs, someone else taking the wheel and being the main writer." Louis opened his mouth to argue, but Addie cut him off, "But I can't. I need my songwriting, because without it, I'm just some other girl with a half-decent voice. That's the difference. That's why I spend night and day writing and writing, because I need to."

Addie finished her sentence and leaned back against the couch, arms crossed in defiance. She raised her eyebrows at them, daring them to challenge her.

"We didn't mean to offend you," Liam cautiously spoke, watching Addie's face for every micro-expression. "

Addie sighed, shaking her head. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "No- I- I'm just in a bit of a bad mood. Sorry. I shouldn't have snapped."

"It's fine," Louis shrugged. "We're all a bit of a mess to deal with in a bad mood."

Addie laughed. "Thanks."

They fell back into their comfortable silence, each one of them working on their respective songs.

a/n: hi there, it's been a little while.

for anyone who's messages i haven't replied to, i'm really sorry but they're glitchy af, and basically unusable right now.

hope you enjoyed this little thing. remember to vote and comment because i crave validation. love ya <3