The Duet(91)

I frowned, running through the scenarios in my head. Had I cut our duet off short? Was I messing up part of the choreography? Then I listened to the chords he was playing and I knew that I hadn’t messed up. I’d never heard the song before.

I took a tentative step toward him, unsure of how to inconspicuously ask him what he was doing without everyone realizing that I was clueless. He smiled and turned so that he and his guitar were facing me, only me. He continued to strum the opening chords of his song, a light melody filling the air around us. It was beautiful guitar work, soft and gentle like a lullaby, but with the aid of the amps it spread across the stadium, silencing the crowd.

I could feel them enamored right along with me, but when Jason began to sing, the entire audience melted away. Without thinking, my hands shot to my mouth and I stood there, completely taken aback by the surprise ending he’d been planning along.

He wrote me a song.



You crawled beneath my skin

I pushed you away,

But still you clawed back in



Before you, I could be alone

Now I can’t stand the thought of you out there

Out there on your own



Before you, my world was black and white,

So simple, oh so simple

But now I’m missing my guiding light



So come back Brooklyn, come back to me

I’m not good without you by my side

And this life’s stuck in neutral

If you’re not along for the ride



Before you I thought I had a favorite borough

Staten Island, Queens

Seems I wasn’t quite so thorough



Those are far too plain

Nothing near as good lookin’

No, nothing near as good lookin’

As you, my dear Brooklyn



So come back Brooklyn, come back to me

I’m not good without you by my side

And this life’s stuck in neutral

If you’re not along for the ride



Maybe I could go on without you

I could leave this town and start anew



But that’d be a lonely walk

With your smile weighing on me like a cinder block



So come back Brooklyn, come back to me

I’m not good without you by my side

And this life’s stuck in neutral

If you’re not along for the ride



So won’t you come back to me,

My dear Brooklyn

Come back to me





His fingers slowed, his voice quieted and I was left standing there with his lyrics playing back through my mind. They wound around my heart until I was left with the realization that Jason had just thrust his soul out onto the stage for the whole world to see.

Unlike when we’d finished the first song, the crowd didn’t stand up and cheer. The stadium was absolutely silent save for whispers that grew as I stood with my hand covering my mouth and tears streaming down my cheeks.

“I can’t believe you,” I said, though no one could hear me. The words were a whisper against my palm.

Each second stretched into eternity as I watched him swing his guitar around so it could rest against his back. It took him two steps to reach me and then I was in his arms, gripping onto his shirt and crying even more. I’m sure the Grammy producers were attempting to pull us off stage, but they’d just have to hold their horses because I was not letting him go anytime soon.

“I’m so sorry for everything,” he whispered into my ear, as if he still had a single thing to apologize for. Hello, the man had just serenaded me in front of a live audience and he’d sung about Brooklyn being his favorite borough. I mean, c’mon.

“I love you,” I promised him, pulling my head back and realizing that the entire audience of the Staple Center was on their feet. They’d loved Jason’s song as much as I had.

Just before the heavy black curtain fell, we held our hands up between us and bent forward for a dramatic bow. I swore I could see Cammie whooping it up next to Jay-Z.

When we walked off stage, I didn’t let Jason leave my side. We had post-performance interviews and the rest of the show to get through, but I didn’t care.

“I cannot believe you did that!” I exclaimed once I’d gotten him alone back in my dressing room.

He smiled and shook his head. “I’m surprised you didn’t catch on earlier. They always made me stay later than you at rehearsals.”

I laughed. “I always just thought you needed extra practice!”

He scooped me into his arms. “Me? Extra practice? Never.”

So that meant that for at least a week, he could have let me know that he wanted to be something more than friends. He could have saved me the misery of last night and the nights before that as well.

“So what does this mean?” I asked, letting him hold me as the show’s producers started knocking on my door, no doubt trying to get us back in position for the award show. The categories we’d been nominated for would be coming up soon.