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Chapter Twenty-Three: The Hallelujah Chorus


Kelsey walked about a quarter mile and then called a cab. Her blood boiling, she barked the name of the hotel and sat stewing in the backseat and the driver weaved through afternoon traffic to the South-East Nashville neighborhood that she and Desi had been staying in since they'd arrived to Music City. When they got to the hotel, Kesley went upstairs, pulled the keycard to the room out of her wallet, and walked right into the room, a force to reckoned with.

Desi had been laying across the bed still, half buried under his own crumpled notebook paper, his hat over his face, muttering words that rhymed with wavering. He sat up the moment she burst into the room as the door hit the little spring thingy that protected the wall, making a metallic humming echo through the room. "Kelsey," he said in surprise, "What're you --"

"What the fuck were you thinking?" she shouted.

Desmond blinked, "What?"

Kelsey looked around, "Where's your contract with Nick?" she demanded. Desmond waved at the dresser and Kelsey walked over and picked up the paper, her eyes scanning the terms that Desmond had signed to. "You didn't even read this did you?" she asked.

"Of course I read it," he said, though even as the words came out of his mouth he realized he couldn't remember if he had or not. He squinted, "I think."

"Desmond, you signed over all of your rights to the song to him," she shouted, "You gave up royalties and credit and everything. Everything."

"What?" Desi looked confused, "But --"

She waved the contract in his direction. "Right there," she said, running a finger over the line. "Look, right there. Initialed by you." She stared at him, "Desi, what the hell were you thinking?"

He took the contract out of her hands and stared down at it. She was right. Right there in plain ol' black and white, spelled out so clearly there wasn't any denying what it said. He twitched.

"He's stealing your song, Desi," Kelsey said sharply. "Whatever he says, he tried to steal your fucking song."

Desmond shook his head, "No.. no, he paid me for it. That's why I was able to walk out of McDonalds." He looked up, "I have five thousand already and he's gonna give me another twenty-grand..."

"And the going rate on a song without any rights transferred over even is over four times that!" Kelsey shouted. "Don't you see what he did? He screwed you over."

Desmond stared at the contract and suddenly he felt extremely stupid. He'd been duped by his excitement. He sat on the bed, dumbfounded.

"How could you be so stupid to sign something like that?" she demanded.

"I was drunk," he stammered.

Kelsey sucked in a gasp of breath and turned around.

"Wait," he said, "Don't go."

"I gotta get back," she said, "I just... I thought you should know what's going on, what he's doing to you."

"I already knew he was stealing from me," Desi said, "He's stealing you from me, too."

Kelsey stood by the door, her hand on the knob, and pressed her forehead against the frame. "He isn't...stealing me."

"Yes he is," Desi said. "Kelsey..." he threw the contract onto the bed, "Kels, more than anything else - more than the songwriting career, more than the change, more than getting you out of New England - more than any of that the one thing I wanted when we got here to Nashville was to be able to get the balls to tell you that I loved you and -- I still was too much of a wuss to tell you until the other day, and..." he was standing just inches away from her, staring at her back, his hands shaking from nerves, "And I finally told you... and you ran away... to him..."

She turned slowly around and faced Desi, their eyes locked. "I just... want a chance..." he said slowly, "To show you that I love you... and that the way I love you, it's deeper than anyone else could ever because I know you. I know you like nobody else knows you and I love you for everything I know."

Kelsey stared up into Desi's eyes. She felt her throat constrict, "How could you?"

"Love you?" he asked, "It's easy. It comes naturally. I just look at you and it happens."

She felt her heart racing. "Desi..."

"You doubt it?" he asked.

"I just --"

"Here," he said, "Let me prove it." And he took three steps forward, pressing her to the door, his mouth meeting hers, and their lips forming against each other like they were puzzle pieces. His hands held hers up, pressed to the door over her head, her body pressing into him. She was rigid with surprise at first, then slowly melted into him, her mouth moving hungrily against his, their eyes closed.

When he backed away after several long moments, let her hands slip from his, she lowered, wobbly, to the carpet and hugged her knees, staring up at him, her finger tips touching her lips softly. "Oh my God," she mumbled.

Desi was breathless.

"Oh my God," Kelsey whispered again. Tears were filling her eyes. It was like that kiss had aligned the planets and the stars and made everything make sense -- everything made perfect sense. All the years of being Desi's friend, all the times he'd been there for her, all the mistakes she'd made that he'd never judged her for, all the things that he'd done for her. Everything. Every little thing made completely sense.

"And I'd do it again," he whispered, like he knew her mind, like he could see her soul through her eyes.

He lowered to his knees in front of her. "Please," he whispered.

Kelsey stared at him, a feeling like she'd never had before taking over every particle of her body.

"I love you," Desi said thickly.

"I... I love you, too," she whispered.

Desi wanted to crow with excitement, to fist-pump the air and do a jig. He wanted to run laps around the hotel, screaming to the tune of the Rocky Theme Song. He expected fireworks and asteroids and rainbows and confetti to shoot from every angle of the sky. Expected the Hallelujah chorus.

Instead he just fell forward into her arms.

Everything that came next was a mirage of blurry color. The white cotton sheets, the green of her t-shirt, the grey of his sweatpants, beige of her bra, the denim of her jeans, the maroon of his briefs... There was sounds, too. She gasped, he groaned. They moaned together. The blankets shuffled against their skin, her hair whispered across the pillow case, his breath became ragged... And the world was blurry. The curtains ruffling in the air conditioner, the crumbled balls of papers moving like snow from the bed as they moved... They tumbled together and tangled their limbs and the whole of it was burned into Desi's brain like an abstract painting, like one of those works of art that you stand at the museum and wonder what the fuck the artist was smoking when they painted that. Desi understood now. The artist wasn't smoking anything, the artist was just trying to express the inexpressible, to depict something that was so deeply within that they couldn't put words or image to it, only feelings, sounds, emotions, blurs of color... the way he'd remember this night for the rest of his life was how a painter captured the world through abstract art.

"Holy shit," Desmond whispered afterwards, in the stillness.

"Your heart is racing," Kelsey whispered.

Desi nodded. "Yeah."

She stared up at him.

"Every dream I've had since I was like old enough to dream about this stuff just came true," Desmond said.

Kelsey laughed, "Oh stop that."

"No I'm serious," he said solemnly. "You've been the star in every fantasy I've ever had. You're the only woman I've ever wanted."

"I seem to recall you having a crush on Britney Spears back in 1998."

"That was different."

"And Halle Berry."

"Shut up."

Kelsey laughed, her eyes sparkling. Then she crawled closer to him and stared right into his eyes. "You really have loved me all that time haven't you?" she asked, amazement in her voice.

"I have," Desi answered. "Always."

Kelsey smiled. Then her smile faded just a little and her eyes filled with concern. "Nick," she said.

Desi felt some kind of jealous little flicker in side of him. "What about him?"

"He's gonna wonder where I am."

"Let him wonder."

Kelsey got up and she started collecting her clothes up from the floor. "I at least owe him an explanation, don't you think?" she said.

"He stole my song."

"He's gonna make it right," Kelsey said. "He is. He's not a bad guy, I think he's just... misguided. He's just confused. And you gotta give him a chance, you know? Just let him make it right."

Desi watched as she got dressed. "Are you going to tell him... about this, I mean?"

Kelsey nodded. "I owe him that, too."

Desi picked at a loose string on the bedspread. "And what exactly... was... this?" he asked. Kesley chewed her lip. "I mean... what now? With us?"

Kelsey took a deep breath, "I guess now we have that talk you wanted to have earlier."

"Now?"

"After I tell Nick," Kelsey replied. "I don't wanna start... this... with you until everything's over with him." She smiled, "I don't want what we are to start... wrong."

Desi nodded.

She finished getting dressed and pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail. She smiled and crossed the room and knelt on the edge of the bed beside him. "Desi," she said thickly, "Thank you."

"For what?" he asked.

"Everything," she answered. "I don't think I've said it enough over the years." She kissed his forehead.

"You're welcome," he answered.

She got up and picked her purse up off the floor where she'd dropped it at some point and pulled out her cell phone, "I'm gonna call a cab and --"

"Just take my car," he offered and he reached to the nightstand and took the keys and tossed them to her.

"Take your baby?" Kelsey laughed, "Really?"

Desmond laughed, "Yeah. It ain't like I'm gonna go anywhere while you're gone. In fact..." he stretched out on the bed in a sexy position. "I'll wait just right here for you."

Kelsey laughed, "Okay," she said. She inched to the door. "You do know that's making me wanna stay, don't you?"

"I wouldn't fight you off."

Kelsey rolled her eyes as she ducked out the door. "I'll be right back, Des."