Free Our Song by Jody Morse, Jayme Morse Page A

I’d secretly written about Jake. I was sure he already thought I was pathetic enough as it was.
    Grabbing a pen from my desk, I handed them both to Colton.
    “Do you write lyrics or melodies first?” he asked, opening the book to a blank page.
    “It all depends. Whichever comes first,” I replied with a shrug. Like I said, I had a writing process that was entirely my own. It was nearly impossible to explain it to anyone else.
    “Well, it’s easier for me to write a melody first. It’s just how I work,” he explained. “Once I have that down, the words usually come on their own.”
    “Okay,” I agreed with a shrug. Picking up my guitar, I began to strum the chords for a few moments. From across the room, he did the same, our melodies so out of sync they got lost in one another.  
    We continued to goof off for a while until another idea hit me.
    “Why don’t we begin it like this?” I asked.
    Colton stopped playing as I played a few notes for him. I repeated them so he could hear them again.
    He nodded. “Yeah, let’s go with that. I like that.” His fingers moved over his own guitar strings as he taught himself the melody. Then, he added a few notes of his own. He glanced up at me. “What do you think?”
    “Sounds good,” I agreed.
    And so we fell into a pattern; he would come up with a few notes and then I would add a few of my own.
    Surprisingly, working with him so far wasn’t too bad. The melody came effortlessly and I was pretty sure Jimmy would be happy with what we had done with it so far. It was pretty upbeat and with the right lyrics, I was positive it would be one of those catchy songs you just can’t seem to get enough of.
    After we had the melody completed, Colton glanced up at the time on the wall. “We just spent two and a half hours working on this.”
    “Wow.” Time apparently flew when you were having… fun. Wow, I’d just admitted to myself that I’d had fun with Colton King—and it was the type of fun two people had when they were both fully clothed. Who would’ve thought that could ever happen?
    We both put our guitars back in their cases and then stepped out into the hallway. As we headed for the front door, Skylar was just stepping out of the bathroom. Her hair was wet and she had a towel wrapped around her body.
    “Oh, em, gee,” she squealed when Colton came to a stop a few feet away from her. “You’re Colton King!”
    “It’s nice to meet you.” He bit his bottom lip, obviously trying to suppress a laugh. Then, his eyes darted over at me as he added, “Viola didn’t mention she had a roommate.”
    “Well, I do,” I replied with a shrug. I knew I was probably overreacting, but his comment sort of annoyed me. He made it sound like he knew everything there was to know about me, when really that wasn’t the case at all . He didn’t know the first thing about me.
    “Yes, she does and her roommate thinks you’re amazing,” Skylar blurted. “I love all of your songs—especially ‘Fly Away With Me’.”
    “Thanks. I’m glad you like it.” He smiled at her. “I really need to get going, though. It was nice meeting you.”
    “Not as nice as it was to meet you ,” Skylar cooed, batting her eyelashes at him flirtatiously, before she headed into her bedroom.
    I narrowed my eyes at her back in annoyance. Did she not realize she was flirting—or whatever it was she was doing—with the guy I’d slept with? She couldn’t go there with him if she wanted us to stay BFF’s. It was just basic Girl Code to never go after a guy your best friend was involved with first.
    At least, I assumed that rule applied to one night stands, too. I’d never really been in a situation like this, partly because I didn’t have many girlfriends but also because I’d never had a one night stand. All I knew was if Skylar was the one who’d had the one night stand first, I wouldn’t have gone there.  
    At the same time, I knew I couldn’t really blame her for the way she’d