The Hush Society Presents... by Izzy Matias (best desktop ebook reader .txt) 📕

opportunity to rise above. Get over that fear. You jumped off that pier without hesitation. I would have hesitated. You didn’t. You’re braver than you think."

Amber laughs nervously.

"Come on, I’ll help you get over the fear," I say getting up from the mattress on the floor. "Do I just tap at any key?" I joke, sitting down beside her. But Amber doesn’t move. She stares at the piano.

"Play for you," I say. "Don’t think about your dad, or about who you were. Let who you are now take over."

I tap at random notes—the sound is horrible, but it gets Amber laughing.

"When I used to work at URadio, we’d have this segment where we’d ask our listeners to vote between two dares," I say. "The winning dare is then recorded for the world to see."

"So your embarrassing moments have been immortalised?" Amber asks, amused.

"Yeah," I say. "One of my favourites was when we did binocular soccer. Nobody won, but it was a hilarious seeing my mate trying to kick the ball and missing it by a couple of metres."

Amber bursts out laughing.

"The most ridiculous one I had to do was bath in Nutella. I felt sticky for days after that!"

"I bet you smelled delicious," Amber says, and snorts as she laughs.

"You bet." I laugh.

"You have to sign me up," Amber says in between laughs. "It sounds like so much fun." She tinkers around with the piano keys, creating random melodies and sounds.

I continue to talk, hoping that my chatter is what she needs at this moment.

"Come to think of it, you’d be perfect for those kinds of dares. You’re fearless."

"Only because of Cassie," Amber says and gives me a cheeky smile. "She has this effect on people, if you haven’t already noticed."

I nod. "Is it true that she doesn’t date musicians?" If I can’t ask Cassie out right, I need to hear it from someone close to her.

"Unfortunately," Amber says. "It’s not my story to tell, but the lad was a massive prick."

I want more than anything to uncover the story behind this no-musician rule, to find out about the prat who hurt Cassie, but Amber is right: I need to hear it from Cassie.

"Hang in there, mate." Amber gives me a sly smile. "You may have a chance."

"Thanks." It’s a mystery for another day. "I’ll wait."

When Amber plays with more confidence, I grab my guitar and complement her melody with my choice of chords. She smiles.

"See, we don’t sound half as bad, do we?" I say.

We build a momentum. We twist, turn and blend notes, chords, and keys. It reminds me of that jam session with Eric and Benji the day they agreed to be in the band. I don’t feel so terrified of debuting as The Fortunate Only if it means we are beacons of hope. We risk our moments of vulnerability in the hopes of being the strength that other people need in their moments of doubt and loneliness.

"Thank you, Cameron," Amber says when we finish our spontaneous session.

"Maybe you’ll be composing songs on this thing one day," I say.

"Maybe." She says it with certainty.

An idea crosses my mind. "If you're willing to step out of your comfort zone sooner than you think, I have a proposition," I say and give her the details.

I like this person I’m becoming. I never thought that stepping out of the shadow of being in other bands—bands that didn’t work out—and committing to music full time would lead to a different, more positive way of thinking. To other people, moments like these might seem insignificant or small, but to me, it’s progress.

#

Once Benji and Eric return, we head to the seashore. I prefer the smell of trees to the salty breeze, but can’t deny it’s a beautiful place to write music—albeit the gloomy skies. As soon as I told them I had a song brewing, Eric grabbed our gear.

We find a flat surface and collapse on one of Lily’s borrowed mats. This is the best makeshift studio we can do with our steel-stringed acoustic guitars and Eric’s Cajon.

Benji uses his iPhone to record whatever is the product of this impromptu recording session until we find a proper studio when we get back to Beverley.

I can’t believe we’re actually attempting to record outdoor whilst on tour.

When the music summons, there’s no way I can refuse its call.

I explain to them the melody in my head: it starts out with our acoustic guitars and builds up as we approach a cliff, and then once the drop happens, we switch to the clean mode on electric guitar.

"I’ve been thinking loads about what happened last night," I say as I take out Benji’s black notebook. There's the bare bones of a new song in there. "How music helped Lily. We normally write songs for ourselves, but what if we do something for her?"

"You mean write her a love song?" Eric bats his eyelashes at me.

"Sod off, Eric. I'm being serious." I hand them the black notebook.

Benji takes the notebook and reads. His eyes light up. "It's a great idea!"

Eric laughs and leans closer to Benji to take a look at what I wrote. After initial feedback and a bit of tweaking, we decide to play the song in its entirety.

Benji nods then taps his guitar, counting down.

We combine simple chords and from there dissect them into complex note-plucking. Eric gives suggestions that mould the melody into a better one and give it an indie rock feel, but something is still missing as I sing the outro.

"We’ve only stuck to guitars and percussion, but what if…" I begin, thinking about the missing instrument.

"What?" Eric looks at me expectant and I explain my idea for the second time today. They take it with enthusiasm and I ring Amber on her mobile asking her to join us at the beach.

"You know that movie Begin Again?" Benji asks as we wait for Amber. "Well, we can take inspiration from that. Record one original song live at each gig and then