I pressed play again. Just once more! One more time and then I would start my research paper. The song started slowly at first before breaking into a crescendo of loud guitars and pounding drums. Then, lightly like an angel and barely audible over the din, his sweet voice lifted the music to an entirely new level and I felt my heart absolutely melt. My head bobbed rhythmically with the chords and major scales. My body swayed in time with his crooning voice. I could feel the pulse of the music driving through my veins and pumping my blood faster. I was afraid to breathe for fear of missing one millimeter of a second. I was beyond the point of actually listening to the lyrics. All I heard was his gorgeous voice, the most delicious candy to my ears.

“Mom says turn it down or turn it off!” A high pitched shout bombarded my fantasy world and I whipped around to find my twelve year old brother glaring at me from my bedroom doorway.

I sighed and placed my finger lightly on the ancient CD player but didn’t make a move to turn off my music. Joey, the little menace smirking at me, stuck his tongue out impishly and fled back down the hallway to the kitchen. I rolled my eyes and spun the volume dial down a few notches. I needed to get to work anyway.

I pulled my report on the Industrial Revolution out of my desk drawer and simply stared at it. the twelve-point Times New Roman font glared at me as if to notify me that it wasn’t all too happy to have me as its incompetent author. I straightened and re-straightened the title page several times before attempting to make some sense out of the words. Industry was growing…blah blah blah. It was so hard to concentrate on the growth of cotton production in the 1800’s when all I could hear was his angelic voice. And man was it amazing. La la la la. No. Must focus on paper. I forced my eyes to scan the paper, searching for mistakes and wrong information. Absolutely amazing! A voice in my head sung in a mocking manner. Go away voice! Its homework time! I was pretty sure arguing with yourself was one of the first symptoms of some mental disorder but I couldn’t think about that now. I checked my watch. 3 hours till I had to go to sleep or else I wouldn’t be able to function tomorrow.

Think think think! Omg why can’t I concentrate?! It was starting to get ridiculous how off track I was. I took one last long look at my paper and decided I wasn’t going to be able to finish this tonight. So I did what every good intelligent responsible teenager does: push it to the side and do it tomorrow. I would just set my alarm clock extra early and do it before I had to catch the bus. Yes that was the perfect idea! And with all that stress gone, I felt like I was finally able to relax. My pointer finger found its way easily to the volume knob and I cranked it up swiftly, waiting for his heavenly voice to pour into my soul. But…nothing. I sat up and took the entire device into my hand and tried the dial again. Once more, nothing happened. I started to panic as I realized no sound was wafting from the metal speakers. So, I scrambled to grab my computer from beneath my bed and logged onto my iTunes account as quickly as the computer would allow me to. I clicked on the song once, twice, three times just to make sure it was working. The familiar melody drifted out of my computer speakers and my entire body slumped in relief. He was here. He would always be here. And even though I could never have his love, I would always have his voice.