Inside the lines, [CAYDEN]

[Alec Grant Hartley]

Alec shuffled over to make room for Cayden to sit next to him, as he plucked at a couple of strings in the tune of the song he was writing. The song was surprisingly upbeat, a contrast to the usual lyrics and songs that he wrote. He shrugged as his fingers eventually stopped co-operating, and sighed in frustration. He had already nailed down the tune of the song, and most of the lyrics were complete, but he needed to go over them properly.

"I need to work on the lyrics" he said, flipping the page of his leather-bound lyric book that was resting open in his crossed legs. "I really don't know if this line works"

He pointed a finger to the line in question. It read:

I've got my feet on the ground, but I know where my heart is,
Writing some songs doesn't make me an artist,
I'll try to get somewhere, and i'll try my hardest,
i'll get somewhere now, I haven't even started yet

Alec scratched the back of his head. Something about the line just didn't seem right, for some reason. It sounded good in his head, but when he had tried singing it out before Cayden had arrived, it didn't roll off of his tongue the way that he wanted it to.

[Cayden Thomas Murphy]

Cayden sat down on the edge of the bench, listening to Alec play. The guy wasn't too bad. He'd heard some people play that made him want to take the guitar away from them and beat them over the head with it. Well, he would if it wouldn't hurt the guitar. Alec, though, wasn't half bad. He was tapping his foot along with the beat when he started hearing burrs.

Cayden leaned down and inspected the lyrics in question when Alec pointed them out. It's the 'yet.' If you want the entire stanza to rhyme, then you need to take that out. Or, you could use it as a lead into the next part." He shrugged, knowing lyrics weren't his strong suit. He did much better just playing the guitar and letting someone else write the poetry.

[Alec Grant Hartley]

Alec nodded, scratching through the 'yet' with a pen that he pulled from behind his ear. "Let's try this bad boy out" He grinned, pulling his guitar up and playing the beginning chords of the song. Soon enough, Alec began singing, albeit quietly; he had never sung in front of anyone before, not even Rufus, and felt incredibly shy about it. As much as he believed he was a bad singer, he was actually pretty darn amazing, his voice husky yet bright:

"I've got my feet on the ground, but I know where my heart is,
writing a song doesn't make me an artist,
Try to get somewhere, i'll try my hardest,
I'll get somewhere now, I haven't even started.

Now i've got so much to do,
but i'm too tired to put on my shoes,
and walk to the bus stop in jeans and a vest top,
take last nights pizza that i'll eat the rest of.

He was a friend of a friend that I met and I hated,
Unfortunately, he just thought he was amazing,
You and me, minus your V.I.P,
Means you've got a fatter wallet, but you'll never reach me.

I admit, yes, I could be fitter,
I may get jealous but i'm never a quitter,
My friend stumbles on her heels as I do up my shoe lace,
She might be a bitch, but she'll never be two faced

I'll say what I want, and do what I do,
I have my best friend and she hates him too,
because you have to give respect to get respect,
Now we'll leave you alone for you to reflect"

Alec stopped playing, and turned to smile slightly at Cayden. "That's all I have got for now" he said quietly, offering the guitar to the other boy. "I heard you play." He handed it over, and pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it up and taking a drag.

[Cayden Thomas Murphy]

Cayden stayed quiet as Alec started to play. When the guy started singing, though, he couldn't help but be impressed. Alec had one of "those" voices. The kind of voice that other people envied. The only way he could think to describe it was honey and whiskey. It wasn't smooth, but it was clear and just a bit rough around the edges. It was a good voice for singing, that was for sure. Cayden listened to the lyrics which were a whole lot better than anything he could have come up with. The tune wasn't bad either. All in all, it was a pretty damn good song.

When the song ended, Alec smiled and Cayden smiled back. "It's definitely a good start. Better than what I could do." When he handed the guitar over, however, Cayden was a little taken aback. Touching someone else's instrument was like sleeping with another man's wife. It was something that took a fair bit of trust and openmindedness to do, so he was oddly touched by the gesture. Without a word, he took it and strummed a couple chords. After biting his lip for a moment, he launched into one of his favorites. He hadn't written it, but it was a song that spoke to him. His voice didn't have the same quality that Alec's did. It was raw, untrained. If he tried to really crank it out, he sounded like crap. So he kept his voice soft but full of feeling while he sang, his fingers sure on the strings.

[Alec Grant Hartley]

Alec listened to Cayden sing in silence... Echo was one of the songs he had learnt a couple of years back, and he smiled as Cayden sang; the boy had a decent voice. Alec had to restrain himself from singing along and harmonising; especially during the chorus of the song, so he simply hummed along quietly, watching Cayden's fingers play over his beloved guitar. The song itself brought Alec back to his darker teen years, when he was going through severe depression. He consistently had panic attacks, almost every day for months and months, and this song had acted like an anchor. Although they were dark times, Alec smiled to himself and looked down at the bench, realizing how far he had come since then. To say he was proud of himself would be an understatement, and although his life still wasn't amazing, it was getting better... much better. Especially with the arrival of Rufus in to his every day life; that kid had shown him more love than he had ever felt in his life, and he didn't want that to go.

He grinned when Cayden finished, applauding with a quiet clap. "You didn't tell me you were that good" Alec chuckled, bringing his hands together in a clasp. All of a sudden, an idea popped in to his head, and he brought up a hand to scratch it subconsciously. "Hey, we should totally write a song together!" He grinned broadly

[Cayden Thomas Murphy]

For awhile, Cayden lost himself in the music. He didn't really have to think about what his fingers did or what he sounded like. He just played and sang, almost forgetting that Alec was there until the other guy started to hum along. A little grin tugged on the corners of his lips as he thought about them singing together. All too soon, the song ended and Cayden set the guitar in his lap, careful not to bump it too much. He looked over to see a grinning and clapping Alec and he grinned back. "I was supposed to warn you?" He gave a soft laugh and shook his head. "After mom died, I didn't have much else to do but play and play more." Now, he didn't have to think about what he was doing. He just played what sounded good. "Hey, we should totally write a song together!" Cayden's eyes lit up a little, but in a total non-wolfy way. "We totally should. But you get lyrics and vocals." Cayden wasn't touching lyrics with a ten foot pole.