The Song of my Heart

Author’s Note: Song titles, band names and lyrics belong only to the creator. I'm just using them for the sake of the story.

I looked into her deep golden brown eyes. I was sinking and I didn’t even care. Her hand was warm and comforting in my own. Her indescribably beautiful silky golden hair brushed against my face. My heart slowly began to pound as I watched her for longer and longer. 

I could tell she was nervous. Her eyes kept darting around and her cheeks looked flushed. I wanted to comfort her but I knew she wouldn’t want that. Afterall I had feelings for her but she didn’t have feelings for me. We were just supposed to do the audition and then go our separate ways. Easy. 

Only… It wasn’t easy. Not for me. Because I had fallen in love with her the moment I had laid eyes on her. The moment the director had pointed at her, gave us the sheet music and shooed us away. I was in love with her before I even knew her name. 

But I knew that we couldn’t be together. The music contest had brought us together but we lived on completely different sides of the country. I didn’t need to have her in my life after this was over. I was in love with her but I told myself that I would get over it. I would probably never see her again after this anyway. 

“Don’t be nervous,” I told June. 

“I’m not nervous, Daniel,” she replied stubbornly. 

“If you say so.” 

She gave me an annoyed look and then turned to look at the stage. The red curtains draped down from the ceiling. The light sparkled around us. I was filled with the familiar sensation of adrenaline and excitement that I always got when I was performing. 

The duet finished and the audience clapped politely. They hadn’t been the most memorable performance. 

I was nervous. We were good, I knew that much, but I’d seen a lot of talent so far and I feared we wouldn’t be in sync. 

June watched them. I could practically see her brain whizzing. She was no doubt judging the performance and the audience’s reaction and figuring out if we had a chance at winning. 

June was an incredibly smart person. She was top of her class and participated in almost everything her small high school had to offer. But the extraordinary thing about her was her creativity. She could turn art into magic with just her voice and her two hands. 

I admired her ambition. I had never been very good in school. I always tried as hard as I could but I just didn’t have a knack for that sort of thing. My real passion was in the performing arts. To me nothing in the whole world could compare to the feeling of being on stage. 

June and I had both been selected by our states to participate in a country-wide music competition. I had been the only one chosen from my school, which didn’t have a very good arts program. My chorus director had traveled with me to Boston to help me as I participated in the competition. 

One of the organizers of the event had listened to me sing. He said he thought I had “real talent” but could use a higher voice to compliment my tone.  I had been moved to the duet section of the event and paired up with June whose voice didn’t sound as sweet by itself. 

We’d performed a few times as they cut some people from the competition. It was hard to watch so many people go home in disappointment but I was more worried I would be next. I think part of the reason June and I were able to do so well and get so far was because we were both so afraid of letting the other down. 

So far we have sung four different songs. Today we are singing “Sad Song” by We the Kings. This is the last performance. After this they will announce the winners for the solos, duets, barbershops and choirs and everyone will go home. 

June I have been singing together for two months. We spent our whole summer vacation at the competition. We practice every single day except for Sunday and when we’re not practicing together we’re taking voice lessons. 

We’ve gotten to know each other really well and we became fast friends. The organizers here have a knack for pairing people up. 

I had always been in love with June but I hadn’t wanted to think about it or admit it. But now as we stood here side by side I realized that no matter what happens tonight in a few days she will be gone from my life. I can’t let her leave my life. 

“June listen,” I said and my voice was urgent. “I need to tell you something—” 

“June Fare and Daniel Carthak!” the announcer called. 

June shrugged as if to say, sorry, duty calls. 

We walked out onto stage. The MC handed us our microphones and walked off stage. I looked at the judges, the audience and then June. We both gave the thumbs-up for them to start the music. 

Just as it was about to start I leaned over and whispered into her ear. “This song is what I wanted to tell you.” 

June looked startled but then the music started and I took a step away from her and started singing. 

I directed my words towards her and my voice was raw and open as I sang from the very bottom of my heart. June slowly became aware of what I had meant and what I was trying to say. Her expression morphed into one of tenderness. 

I sang the first verse and the chorus by myself and then June stepped forward and started singing the second verse. His voice and her serious expression went straight to my heart. 

I took over for the chorus again and then we both began singing together. I looked at her and our eyes connected. Usually we tried not to look at each other when we sang because we would laugh, but this time neither one of us was laughing. 

We had sung this song together countless times. We’d danced and laughed and made mistakes. This time was something else. This time the song meant something. To both of us. This time the song wasn’t coming from our heads. It wasn’t music that we had memorized. It was our hearts and souls finally putting our feelings into words. 

And it was beautiful. 

“You're the perfect melody, the only harmony…” 

I grabbed her hand and we began to slowly dance together. I spun her around and then the music reached its crescendo and we faced each other and leaned closer. 

“I’m just a sad song…” we sang together. The music slowly drifted to an end. The last note was played on the piano. 

There was one small moment of silence and then the crowd was in an uproar. They were on their feet cheering and clapping. 

I looked at June and saw that she was laughing and crying. She waved shyly towards the audience. She turned towards me and I took a step closer to her. I ran my hand through her hair and then leaned forward and kissed her. 

The crowd around us went wild. They cheered and yelled, “awwwww” and clapped. 

I pulled away and saw that June was blushing like crazy. We bowed and walked off stage. 

Two more acts later all the duets were called on stage. I walked on still holding June’s hand. 

For this year’s annual Festival of Musical Magic, we award the duet win to… June Fare and Daniel Carthak!” 

I yelled and spun June around in the air. We both cheered along with the crowd. They handed us the trophy and we hefted it in the air. I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. 

The distance didn’t seem like a problem anymore. When I wanted to be with June I could just listen to our song.