Free Echoes of Us by Teegan Loy Page A

when something I hadn’t felt in a long time sparked inside my head. At first, I was afraid to move, because it could be a false alarm, but after several more seconds, I gave up and jumped out of bed. I held my breath as I snagged a notebook and a pen, doing a belly flop back on my bed.
    The blank page nearly blinded me, but slowly I started scribbling words. The words turned into sentences, and they didn’t stop until I was looking at the lyrics to an entire song filling the once blank page. It had been two months since I’d written anything, and now words were flowing like someone had turned the water faucet on full blast.
    Three songs later, I heard the front door open.
    “I don’t smell any food,” Maggie yelled.
    “Oh shit,” I groaned and rolled off my bed. Maggie was already standing in my doorway with her arms crossed. “I’m sorry.”
    “Were you writing?” she asked.
    “Yeah, I lost track of the time,” I said, holding my notebook open so she could see there were actual words and not only doodles on the pages. She snagged it out of my hands and flipped the pages as she read.
    “Holy shit, Rylan. These are awesome,” she said. She tackled me on the bed, pressing her body into mine and pinning my arms over my head. “I’m so happy for you.”
    The door banged open. “Oh, sorry,” Jade said and quickly shut the door.
    Maggie burst out laughing and shouted, “Jade, get back here!”
    A red-faced Jade opened the door a crack. “I didn’t mean to… well, you said we were having dinner, and I heard you laughing, and, oh shit, I’m going to leave you two alone.”
    Maggie rolled off me and laughed. “I’m not sleeping with Rylan.”
    The door opened wider. “Sleep wasn’t what I was thinking,” Jade muttered.
    This time I laughed and smacked Maggie on the ass. “She’s not my type.” I wanted to add that no girl was my type, but Maggie shouted that she was hungry and all of us raced to the kitchen.
    She pretended to complain and feigned dying of hunger, but she quickly forgave me when I whipped up omelets for everyone. She even let us eat in the living room in front of the TV. I was acutely aware of Jade sitting next to me, because for some reason, his knee rested against mine the entire time we were eating.
    We played rock, paper, scissors to see who had to do the dishes. Maggie lost, so she took our plates and disappeared into the kitchen, grumbling loudly. Of course, when Jade turned his head, she winked at me, so I think she lost on purpose. The girl was clearly nuts.
    Jade leaned back and patted his stomach. “That was great. You’re good at that cooking thing.”
    “Thanks,” I said. “And thanks for doing my laundry. You’re good at that folding stuff.”
    Jade snorted. “Oh, I forgot to give this to you yesterday. There’s no book for your class, but Maggie picked up some notebooks and these pens she said you liked.”
    Jade picked up a bag sitting by his feet and pulled out a pack of my favorite pens. I moaned when he handed me the package.
    “Do you have a pen fetish or something?”
    I laughed. “No… well, maybe. These are the best in the world.”
    “Are you a writer? I heard you telling Maggie you’d been writing this afternoon.”
    For some reason, my face flushed. I didn’t think I’d ever said the words out loud before. “Um, I suppose I am a writer. I mess around with song lyrics. Sometimes, I try to write short stories. That’s why I’m taking summer school. It’s a creative writing class where I’ll be forced to write different things.”
    “You write lyrics,” Jade said, sitting up. “I mess around with music, but the words I write always sound so lame. Could I see some of your songs? I mean, only if you want to show me. No pressure.”
    “Only if you promise not to laugh,” I said.
    “I’ll be right back,” Jade said. He jumped off the couch and ran down the hall. I was trying not to bounce off the couch with excitement because I might get to