Free The Fall of Sky (Part Three) by alexia purdy

apologizing for thinking of everyone else but yourself. Selfless and yet, so talented.”
    “Wow…um…thanks. I’m just not great with compliments.” I peered down at our hands as he caressed mine with his fingers. “Random…I.”
    “Look, Audrey…” We both spoke in tandem, but stopped and laughed.
    “Sorry, go ahead,” I said, clearing my throat. I didn’t pull away, like I should’ve. My head was screaming about Saul, and my guilt was creeping in, but I had to hear what Random had to say. We’d spent tons of hours in here, mixing songs and tweaking arrangements, and he’d become a really good friend. I couldn’t ruin that. I had so few friends in this life.
    “Um…sorry about that. Look…I know you’re with Saul, and I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but…” He ran a hand through his locks, looking more nervous than I’d ever seen him.  “But I have feelings for you, and it kills me to keep them to myself any longer.”
    I swallowed down the sudden dry desert forming in my mouth. I knew he had feelings for me, something had told me this ages ago, but my heart was Saul’s. His gentle voice and face careened into my mind, and I felt a sheen of sweat build on my forehead.
    “It’s really awesome working with you…” I managed to say. How stupid I felt, all tongue tied and unable to respond in any logical way when he was looking at me like that. Why did he have to do that with those eyes?
    “I know it might be impossible, and it’s not right that I even ask you this but…if you have feelings for me too, I have to know, Audrey.” His hand was on my cheek as he pulled closer. I sucked in a breath at his proximity, feeling his warmth radiate across my skin. “Tell me you feel the same way.”
    His lips were so near, so soft looking, and beckoned in a way I couldn’t even deny. As his eyes drew me in, I couldn’t move. Suddenly, he was kissing me with sweet, longing kisses that made me sigh in utter release. It was enough that my head cleared the fog that’d been confusing me the moments prior.
    I pulled back, afraid of what came next or what I wanted to happen next.
    “I—I can’t do this.” I shot to my feet, the chair careening back before slamming into the wall and teetering to the side to finally crash down to the floor.
    We both stared down at the toppled chair, frozen in our shoes.
    My fingers touched my lips where his had been a moment before. They were warm and craved his touch again. Why? How could I do this to Saul? I stepped back, my insides churning with confusion.
    “Audrey, wait…please...” Random stepped toward me, holding out his hands and looking afraid to touch me again. “Don’t go. I don’t want to ruin our friendship. Please…let me explain.”
    I shook my head as I continued to touch my lips. They tingled and it reminded me to look at Random closely. I’d never really looked at him before, not in this light, not so detailed and full of wanting.
    Why this need? Saul was enough for me. But I was a rock star, and there’d been so many men who’d thrown themselves at me. It was easy to push them off with security surrounding me and Saul by my side. But no one was here, no one but Random and myself. Was this how I’d respond elsewhere with any other? No…that wasn’t me. This was Random we were talking about, someone I’d spent nights with working kinks out of the one thing I loved more than life…my music. He understood it better than even Liv or Saul. He knew every note, every syllable, and every lyric. Saul would tell me he liked doing percussion, but it wasn’t his lifelong dream. He wanted to teach at a school for blind children, to teach them it was okay to be blind and how to live like any other person even with their disability.
    Random’s entire life was music. This was all he wanted to do, forever; know the notes, know the music, hear the beats, hear the words we sang for all it was and could truly be.
    Shit.
    With one kiss, Random had