Can Kara achieve her dream? Can Richie help?

Monday, July 20, 2009

Chapter 6

Kara let them into her apartment and, after hanging up their coats, headed into the kitchen to make coffee. She invited Richie to make himself at home and he wandered into the living room, stopping to peruse the photographs on the mantle. There was one of Kara with a man and, taking a closer look, he realized that they shared the same eye color and the features were similar enough, this had to be her brother.

He moved to the CD collection on the bookshelf next to the fireplace. He scanned it quickly, realizing that she truly was not a fan; she didn’t have one of their CDs. He noted that her tastes ran to the lighter side, Billy Joel, Elton John, the Eagles and a bit of the blues, B.B. King, Eric Clapton. He came across one that was just lying on the shelf, KD hand written on the CD itself. Picking it up he called out to her, “do you mind if I put some music on?” He had a feeling this was a CD of her singing and he wanted to hear it.

“Go ahead” she called back as she finished pouring coffee.

Kara came into the room in time to hear her own voice coming from the stereo speakers. Horrified, she looked over at Richie “where did you find that?” He put his finger over his mouth in a shushing gesture. Kara sighed, set the tray down and waited. There were only four songs on the CD and she smiled slightly when the last one queued up. It was a song she had always loved and as it played she found herself singing along.

Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance,
for a break that would make it okay.

There's always some reason
to feel not good enough,
and it's hard, at the end of the day.

I need some distraction,
Oh, beautiful release.
Memories seep from my veins.

Let me be empty,
Oh, and weightless,
And maybe I'll find some peace tonight.

In the arms of the angel,
fly away from here,
from this dark, cold hotel room,
and the endlessness that you feel.

You are pulled from the wreckage,
Of your silent reverie.
You're in the arms of the angel,
may you find some comfort here.

So tired of the straight line,
and everywhere you turn,
there's vultures and thieves at your back.

The storm keeps on twisting.
Keep on building the lies
that you make up for all that you lack.

Don't make no difference,
escape one last time.
It's easier to believe in this sweet madness,
Oh, this glorious sadness,
that brings me to my knees.

You're in the arms of the angel,
may you find some comfort here

When the music stopped Kara’s eyes were closed and Richie was watching her. “You have a beautiful voice darlin’. Why don’t you do anything with it?”

Her eyes flew open, “I do do something with it.”

He looked puzzled. “What do you do with it?”

She smiled, “I teach music at the elementary school.”

He chuckled as he came to sit next to her, “You got me there, but that’s not what I meant.”

Kara reached for her coffee, “I know its not. Once upon a time I wanted to, but now,” she shrugged her shoulders, “it’s just not in the cards for me.”

Richie added sugar to his coffee and took a sip, “why not, what happened?”

Kara got up and moved to the stereo, switching it from the CD to the radio. She found a soft jazzy station and kept the volume low. Turning back she found a pair of intense brown eyes watching her, waiting for her to speak.

“I was going to be the next big thing” she said with a sad smile. “At least that’s what Greg, my ex, used to tell me. You’re going to be a star he’d say.” She shook her head disgustedly, “and I believed him.” Kara walked back to the couch and sat down. “He had me convinced that I would be famous, and that he could make it happen.”

As she spoke Richie found himself getting angry at this Greg person. How could you take someone’s dream and just destroy it like that?

He watched Kara’s expression and reached to hold her hand as she continued. “He worked for a record company in the City, or so he said. By the time I realized what he was I was out almost my entire savings and all I had to show for it was that CD you just listened to. I couldn’t even bring charges against him because no one could find him. He packed up and took off. No so long, good bye, fuck you very much, nothing. That’s not even the worst part, the worst part was that I loved him and I thought he loved me. I kept asking myself over and over, ‘how could he do that to me?’ I guess I’ll never know.”

Kara took a deep breath, “so now I work at the elementary school teaching the kindergartners through fifth graders.” She drained her coffee cup. “I also swore to myself that I would never again get involved with someone in ‘the business’.”

Richie blanched at that statement, “then why did you go out with me tonight?”

Kara turned sad blue eyes on him, “honestly, when you helped me up in the parking lot and I looked into your eyes, I felt something that I hadn’t felt in a long time Richie; so I decided to give it a chance.”

Richie, with her hand still in his, gave a slight tug and pulled her close. He lowered his head and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “I’m glad you did darlin’.”

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