Playing Autumn (Breathe Rockstar Romance Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

into his pocket. “So, Haley Reese, huh? Thank you for helping me back there.”
    They were now walking toward their ride, but he still kept looking at her name on that board, wondering what about it seemed familiar. And then he snapped his fingers.
    “Hot Piano Girl!” he exclaimed. “I know who you are! You're Hot Piano Girl!”
    The pink on her cheekbones spread to the rest of her face, which she quickly covered with her hands. “Oh my God. ”
    Of all the people.
    The past three years were not going into the highlight reel of his life, he knew that for sure. But in the same period, there appeared Hot Piano Girl.
    In the middle of writing his last album, feeling like he had a gun to his head (“We think the world has moved on from your sound”), he went online to supposedly check out the “new sound” that he should start becoming but had sunk time on covers of his own songs instead. This went on for a day or two, and having to endure singers blaring out pitch problem after pitch problem, he was ready to admit that he was overrated. His punishment was an inane talent show inflicted on the world, and he wanted to call the whole thing off. (Because why would a good song sound like that unless it actually sucked balls?)
    But then, the next day, he found ReesePeace8, doing a cover of his song Your Life .
    First of all, interesting choice. It had not been released as a single. He barely even performed it on the road, because it was “depressing,” “not hooky,” and “impossible to sing along to.”
    The video started with Haley at the piano, explaining how she sat, her distance from the keys, her preferred shoulder angle. He then realized that it was a lesson, possibly directed to an audience of young people, and it wasn't so much about the song as how to play it.
    She let her fingers slide gently over the keys before starting, and he was surprised by the first few notes of her arrangement. And when she started singing, he felt the smile in her voice, and it was like his song took on a different face. It seemed brighter, and yet sadder, because the words were the same, and it was still about letting go, but she seemed like she was stronger at it than he ever was.
    He watched all her videos that night.
    They were all lessons. They didn't conform to his own training, when he studied music theory and piano, so she must have developed them herself. They were practical, accessible. Of the eleven videos, two featured his songs. And her style was optimistic, sweet but not annoyingly so, almost uplifting.
    “I wrote that,” he said aloud to the laptop. “That beautiful thing coming out of her mouth.”
    “Hot Piano Girl” was what the commenters called her. The earliest video was a year old when he first saw it, and she didn’t upload any new ones beyond that set. He watched those several times though, Your Life more often than he cared to admit.
    You know, as a confidence booster.
    Because she was good, and he was a fan of her version.
    “I don't know what you're talking about,” Haley said now, except she actually did, and he knew it. “I never called myself that.”
    “Oh, you didn't call yourself that, but everyone else did.” It was the hair that threw him off. How could he not have recognized her? “Oh dear god. You're awesome, you know that? How many views did that get, three hundred thousand?”
    “A lot. I can't believe you actually saw it. Did you see everything?”
    “I saw Your Life and Not This Time . And yes, everything.”
    “Oh god. I'm really, really sorry.”
    “Why are you sorry? It’s not cool to like my music anymore?”
    “God, no.” Her adorable flustered look returned, but it was like she was shifting gears. “That’s not it at all. I’m embarrassed you had to see that. I don’t…I’m not as good a musician as you are.”
    Oliver was touched by her modesty and the fact that it seemed genuine. At least it was her turn to cringe. “So you actually teach music?”
    “Piano.