I sat there with a blank expression, staring at the wall while mindlessly picking strings, the sweet melody ringing out. Sitting at the foot of my bed on the floor, P.O. tapped his pencil against his chin, trying to concentrate on his school work. I didn't think I was being a distraction, but then he slammed the pencil down and closed his workbook.

   "Sam," He turned and put his chin on the mattress.

   My fingers froze on the fret board and my other palm pressed lightly on the strings to mute the sound. "Yes?" My gaze slowly glazed over to meet his dark eyes.

   "Shouldn't you be doing your school work too?" He asked.

   "Yes." I repeated myself. "But I don't want to."

   "Well neither do I but I'm still doing it."

   "Well, obviously you do because you are doing it."

   "I don't see your logic-"

  I started playing again in an upbeat tempo. "Sam is riiiiight~ because Sam is always riiiiight~ Sam is smart, and pretty, and talented, and has shiny hair, and is riiiiight~" I sang off the top of my head and fell onto my side. We both started laughing right when the door creaked open. My laugh faded and I rolled up to sitting again.           

Taeil walked in with a smile. "What's so funny?" He asked.   I smiled back. "I'm funny." I confessed. "What's up?"  

He took another step in and shoved his hands awkwardly into his pockets. "I talked to Cho PD-nim and asked about maybe getting you some recording time. Even get a demo out."  

I beamed and started bouncing up and down. "Are you serious?!"  

P.O. went back to his studies, clearly uninterested right when Taeil walked in. 

 "Turns out your mom has been bragging about you around the office and he's heard it. He really wants to hear you. So, you have weekends for three hours of recording time." 

 I couldn't have been more ecstatic! "Omo, are you serious?!" Is all I could say it seemed like.    Taeil nodded. "He said he wish he could give you more time, but we kinda need it..."  

 I waved my hand in dismissal. "Oh that's nothing. Just having this time is like a dream come true. Thank you for doing this for me, Taeil!" I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed him into a hug.  

 His hands pressed into my lower back. "It was nothing. I just want to see you achieve everything you want." 

 "Hey, none of that! Hands off my Sammy, hyung!" I turned to see P.O.'s peeved face.  

  "Sorry." Taeil apologized.

   I stuck my tongue out at my boyfriend. "Did you hear what he just said? I got recording time!" I gasped in realization. "I need to write a new song..." I snatched up my guitar and grabbed my notebook and pen. "Everybody get out! I need it to be empty of people in here so the creativity can flow without disruption."   

With a deep sigh, P.O. packed up his stuff into his arms. "Good luck with that." He gave Taeil a look, then leaned down and planted a lingering kiss on my temple. Taeil rolled his eyes, as did I, and left out with P.O. following behind.

I stared into the empty recording booth. The glass reflected my excited face. My mouth curled up into a smile, my eyes squinted as though they were smiling too. My hands gripped my songbook, filled with my own lyrics, chords, and emotions. The weight of my guitar strapped onto my back was like an anchor keeping me on the ground, because with all of my excitement I felt like I could just float away.

Suddenly my phone buzzed in my back pocket. I bit my bottom lip and quickly reached for it. The caller ID showed “Unknown”. I hit the end button, but I didn’t slip it back into my pocket. Instead, I found myself dialing my mom’s phone number.

“Annyeonghaseo, Archer Andy imnida.” She answered in Korean, which was unlike her when she knew it was me.

“Mom, it’s me.” I replied back in English.

“Oh, Sam! I’m sorry, I didn’t check before I answered. What’s up? Something wrong?”

I turned away from the glass and sat in the seat behind the mixing boards. “Nothing wrong. I just…wanted to tell you something exciting.”

“Exciting? Like what?” Now I really got her attention.

“Guess where I am right now.” I whispered while spinning myself around in the chair.

“Um…the North Pole? Tell Santa I say hi! What am I saying, he probably already knows, since, you know, Santa knows everything.”

I rolled my eyes. “No, ma.” I’m in a recording studio! At Stardom Entertainment. I got recording time, I’m going to make a demo-”

After that, all I could hear was her squealing with excitement. “Omo, that’s great, Samantha! You deserve this so much.”

I was smiling so hard my cheeks were starting to twitch. “Thanks, mom. I really want this to be good. I want to make you proud. Just this demo alone will have five songs. Can you believe it? A CD with five of my songs!”

“You have no idea how proud I am of you. Sweetie, I have to go now, a few others and I are going to Songdo on business and I plan on sleeping most of the way. My bed in my stupid company dorm is as hard as a rock and I barely get any sleep. Good luck, do well, I’m so proud of you!” I could hear other people talking in Korean, and then my mom reply back to them.

“Have fun with that. I wish you got more sleep. I also wish we could see each other more. I miss you and love you.”

“Love you, miss you too! Let’s hang out next Wednesday. We’ll go see a movie, I promise.”

My smile had already faded into a sad one. “Alright, see you then, bye.” She said her goodbye and we hung up. I sighed, placing my phone back into my pocket.

Suddenly the door opened and a young man stepped in. “Sam, you ready?” He asked.

I stood quickly and nodded. “Mhmm. Ready as I’ll ever be.” I stepped into the booth. It was silent, peaceful. Then I knew I could do it. My nerves melted into confidence and want for this.

I sat in front of the microphone, my guitar resting on my thigh.

“Ready?” He said over the intercom.

I brushed my fingers across the strings. Slowly, I held up my thumb and nodded. The red light came on, and I knew exactly what to sing.

I stepped out of the booth and stretched my arms up.

“Good job.” I turned to see Junhyung give me thumbs up and a smile.

“Thanks.” I replied back, taking a bottle of water out of the mini fridge. I took a seat on the burgundy suede couch and whipped out my phone while taking a swig of my water. I had two new voice messages. I pressed my phone to my ear and listened.

You have two new messages. New message:

“Hey Sam,” I smiled at P.O.’s deep voice seeping into my ear. “I guess you’re still in recording. Call me when you’re done and we’ll go eat lunch. Saranghaeyooooo!” Beep.

I hit the end button, not bothering to listen to the other message. I’d listen to it and delete it later. “So are we good here?” I asked, already starting to pack up my guitar.

“Yeah,” Junhyung turned to look back at me. “Your demo should be ready in a couple of days. I’ll call you to come get it.”

I nodded and started for the door. “Thanks man, see ya!”

I stepped out of the building, my phone to my ear pressed by my shoulder. “Jihoonie! Come on, let’s go eat. I’m starving!”

He chuckled on the other line. “I’m coming, you fatty! I’ll be out in a second.”

I gasped. “Did you just call me fat? Just for that I will eat all of your food!”

   At the restaurant, Jihoon pulled out my chair for me and I graciously accepted. Unfortunately, I met U-Kwon’s smile right across from me. Was it silly for me to think it was just going to be P.O. and me on this date? Of course, we had not come out publically yet, and if someone were to catch us, we’d be torn apart. So, this is the closest I’d get for now.

 We all ordered and now just sat around conversing with each other. I turned in my seat to face my neighbor on my right, B-Bomb. I got really close to him, pressing my nose into his cheek. I could tell he was getting a little creeped out by his lack of response.

“Sam, what are you doing to Minhyuk hyung?” Zico asked from across the table.

“I’m trying to soak in his sweet dance skills. I want to know how to drop it, yo.” I said in a serious voice, my nose still into his cheek.

“Hey, look at the TV.” Kyung pointed out and we all turned to look.

It was set to a local news station, a good looking middle aged man sat in front of the camera with a dejected look on his face. “A car accident has been blocking the highway going to Songdo. The driver of an eighteen-wheeler ran a red light, crashing into the oncoming car dead center from the side of the car. Unfortunately, only two of the passengers were only injured out of the six, while the other four…were killed on impact. The driver of the eighteen-wheeler was taken away, but he died soon after on the way to the hospital.”

The man was soon replaced with the scene of the horrific incident presently. A black SUV lie on its roof, completely bashed in everywhere but even more on its side; the truck, which was lying a few yards away, was flipped onto its side, the front of it smashed and the windshield cracked and broken, a hole made in it where the driver must’ve flew out of.

“Holy…” was all anyone of us could say at the table. I couldn’t even process who it was that said it. My heart raced, a lump formed in my throat and kept growing and growing. Before I knew it my own voice felt trapped inside of me, a deafening ringing in my ears took over my whole being and all I could feel was numbness.

The black SUV…the same town she was headed to…the timing…. I quickly fumbled with my phone, my hands shaking violently, my fingers pressing wrong buttons. I was unaware of the eyes on me and the others calling my name. All I could do was listen:

You have one new message.

Nothing but some shuffling noises, some voices softly chit chatting in the background, more shuffling. She must’ve dialed me… I thought. But soon my thoughts were interrupted by a loud scream. “LOOK OUT!” More screams pierced the air, then suddenly a loud crashing, glass shattering, more screams, some dying out. Then…static…and gone.

Beep. You have no more messages.

My mouth sat agape, my fingers loosened around my phone and it went tumbling to the floor. My eyes were the size of grapefruit, my brows knit together in distraught. I think I had forgotten to breathe, because my throat and chest grew tight and felt like they were about to burst. I gripped P.O.’s shoulder next to me, digging my fingers into his shirt. I finally took a sharp breath in, burning my nose and making my eyes water.

“SAM!”

My world shattered around me, my vision going blurred.

“Sam!”

The ringing in my ears grew louder and became the soundtrack.

“Sam…”

My throat burned. Was I screaming?

“Sa…”

Voices became muffled.

“Let’s hang out this Wednesday. We’ll go see a movie, I promise”

“S…”

“LOOK OUT!”

Ringing…

I absolutely hate how busy I am! I have like no time for updates :[

But never fear! I will not leave this story without a propper ending, and that won't be for awhile ;]

YOU CAN'T GET RID OF ME THAT EASILY!