It had been a week since the debut of Orion's love song on the radio, and its popularity was not wavering. The first thing Cypress did when he arrived for his shift at the radio station was check the request tracker. He saw the song listed more times than he could count twice over on both his hands. He was torn now because he was thrilled that Orion’s song was liked among the listeners but then there was that kind of blank, soul-crushing look he noticed more and more in his best friends’ eyes as they went about their daily routines and couldn’t help feeling that he was the cause of it.

What was worse, was the creeping silence that settled between them. Orion had come back the same day and apologized for blowing up at Cypress, which at first, put Cypress at ease but then he began to notice that their usual topic of conversation–music–wasn't brought up anymore. Cypress knew Orion wasn’t keen on sports so that topic was out. They couldn’t discuss their love lives because Cypress disliked Orion’s main squeeze, and Cypress didn’t have one to speak of. He knew if he brought up the subject of Tranquilicis again that Orion would shut down completely. Their interactions had devolved to simple greetings, remarks on weather, and what was for dinner.

It was emotionally concerning to Cypress, to know that something had changed for the worse between them enough to make Orion feel as if they couldn’t talk anymore, or keep his best friend at arms’ length.



He sighed as he scrolled through the updated music library, picking out songs to fill the time with. Of course, if anyone called in with a request, he could push the queue back to accommodate it. He didn’t get many calls, because it was Wednesday night. People just had better things to do.

He jumped slightly as the station’s line lit up with a shrill ringing tone that permeated the quiet studio. He slipped his headphones off and answered, “This is KRLM, eighty-six-point-five, the Llama, how can I help you?”

“Yeah hi, I was wondering if you could play the Jackass Love song?” a female voice asked, and Cypress winced because he really had given a decent song a horrible moniker. He was just feeling agitated at the moment because Orion had written and sung a love song for someone who wasn’t worthy of one. No wonder Orion was so pissed off–Cypress could understand now, putting the whole picture together. To pour your heart into something to have it taken and released without permission, even with the best intentions, and for it to be known by a title created out of spur-of-the-moment pettiness.

Maybe, he thought, I deserve the silence.

“Sure, I can play that,” he was loathed to agree. The caller thanked him and he added it to the queue. He could have refused, but then the station director would for sure be angry if she found out he was causing more red spots on her song-tracking software.

He rubbed his eyes but didn’t replace the headphones; his mouth felt dry at his recent realization and he stood to make a quick break for a vending machine downstairs so he could remedy it.

As he stepped out of the studio he was struck with a surprise. Gabriella’s office door was cracked and there was light from inside. What the heck was she still doing there? He decided, since her office was closer than the vending machine, to check out what was up.


As he entered her office, he saw that Gabriella was hunched over in front of her computer with an intense stare of contemplation. He knew she had workaholic tendencies but she didn’t usually stay this late at the station. He cleared his throat, which broke her concentration briefly–and seeing him made her realize just what time it was.

“Shit, it’s past eight isn’t it?”

“It’s almost nine-thirty,” he replied.

“Shit,” she repeated, seeming to have just confirmed the time on the computer screen.

“What’s wrong? Why are you here so late?”


“My Friday DJ quit this afternoon due to ‘academic struggles’ so I’m trying to shift around schedules last minute to find someone to fill in. We have our second-highest traffic of listeners in that afternoon time spot–we can’t just leave it unattended–” she gave an explanation but then stopped in the middle of it abruptly and eyed Cypress as if evaluating him, “Say, you have any plans Friday?”

He couldn’t remember; he usually didn’t have anything important going on Friday except go to class which he could skip since he hated lectures so much. He took a seat in one of the office chairs and thought about it. Maybe he could use her desperation to his advantage.


“I can fill in,” Cypress said with an idea forming in his head but before Gabriella could smile and thank him for being flexible, he added, “On one condition.”

Her smile was stillborn, retreating into a line of concern. She made a slight nod that he should continue with his terms.

“That song I recorded last week. I want to pull it from the station’s music library.”

Her hand landed on the surface of her desk with the nails splayed in a subtle threat, while she frowned with a slight hiss of refusal in her tone. “It’s on a trend right now, how can you possibly suggest–”

“It wasn’t right to add it. The singer didn’t know I recorded it in the first place and that makes it a liability. However, it’s not outside the realm of possibility he could agree to re-record it in the future and let us play it. But for now, it needs to be pulled.”

Gabriella’s eyes widened in shock before narrowing in a displeased glower, and he could tell he was on thin ice with her. She had no choice if she wanted him to cover the Friday shift, and especially had no choice with the possibility of Orion taking legal action against the station. Cypress knew Orion wouldn’t, but he didn’t tell that to the Director.

He saw her work out the dilemma in her head while frowning before she asked, “What do we tell people who request it, then?”

“To pick another song,” he replied simply.

Her frown remained but she gave a chilly smile of acquiescence, “Fine. Pull the song. But I better see you in here Friday, and no more missteps. I’ve let you break too many rules, too many times, Cypress.”

He jumped up from his seat with a smile, release of relieved breath, and a salute of respect to her, “I promise to be a good boy from now on, and since you don’t need to worry anymore about finding someone to cover Friday–you should go home and get some rest.”


“It’s not even ten yet,” she scoffed, gathering up her purse and shutting down her computer–“What do you think I am? Eighty years old?. I’m gonna go get a drink at Endless Blue.”

“Ah, of course. I didn’t mean it like that–”

“Care to join me after your shift?” she stuffed a cigarette between her lips but didn’t light it. She would as soon as she got outside the building.

She’d never asked him to join her for drinks before, and while she was a cool boss and he would have agreed any other time to hang with her, he had something more important to do after work.

Apologize.


When Cypress made it back to the house, Nick was gone. Typical. He never seemed to be around at night–then again, his cousin was highly social and had a million friends to keep up with it seemed. What he really hoped, was that Orion was home and not with Cain.

He took in a breath and made a small knock on Orion’s bedroom door, while simultaneously turning the handle, “Hey, Orion?”

“Yeah?” Orion asked, not looking up from his phone which he was staring at while lounging on his bed. Cypress thought at first, Orion was playing some mobile game but the lack of music or sounds proved that wasn’t what had his attention. He must have been texting or scrolling through the internet.

“I uh...I need to tell you something.”

“What’s that?” Orion still refused to give him his attention and it crushed his resolve a bit. He couldn’t let it though, he was righting a wrong and managed to put on a small smile to reassure himself and Orion it would all be okay between them.

“I had your song taken off the station's music library.”


Orion’s thumb, which had been tapping out some kind of text on his phone screen, stopped in mid-air and he slowly turned his gaze over to Cypress, “Why? I thought you liked it? I thought you said I deserved to be recognized for my talents? Am I not talented enough anymore?”

The amount of scathing sarcasm in Orion’s tone took Cypress aback and he shook his head, “No, you’re crazy talented and always have been but It's clear to me now that I was wrong to record it, least of all play it and keep playing it. I betrayed your trust and I’m...I’m really sorry, man.”

The guarded look in Orion’s eyes vanished into something vulnerable–thankfulness, relief, and surprise all at once. Cypress was a bit startled at Orion’s sudden movement that resulted in being embraced tightly. Orion had always been a ‘hugger’ ever since they were kids. It shouldn’t have surprised him but it did, that Orion forgave him so easily. He supposed that was a perk of being a best friend.

“I take it this means you forgive me?” Cypress smiled and crushed Orion even tighter as payback for the hug.


Orion pulled away and faced Cypress, nodding, seeming to blink back even more emotions evident in his wavery voice, “Yeah, I forgive you.”

Cypress gave his friend a warm smile, thankful that this awful silence would now pass–he couldn’t wait to get back into the swing of their normal routine of talking music, playing songs together, and joke-guessing Nick’s whereabouts late at night. Cypress felt the phone in his pocket vibrate and he gave an apologetic look to Orion as he made his way across the hallway to his own room, “Sorry, Cedar is calling. I’ll be right back.”

Orion watched his best friend shut his bedroom door to take the call and his whole body seemed to release a great deal of tension he’d been holding in since the weekend. He appreciated Cypress’s apology more than he could put into words but there was another reason he had been avoiding Cypress–and that issue still persisted. He slumped down into his desk chair and pulled out his last bottle of Tranquilicis from one of the drawers. He’d been trying not to take the pills as frequently since he didn’t know if he could face Cain and get more but found his anxiety heightened beyond normal after realizing Cain was dealing drugs and whatever other shady things he mentioned in that alleyway. For the first time in their history, Orion was the one who was ghosting Cain–too afraid to face him and confront him with these questions. He couldn’t talk to Cypress about it either. He felt...alone and anxious but knew he was running out of time before he’d be at the mercy of his nerves again.


“Hey bro, what’s up?” Cypress asked, putting his phone to his ear.

“So, like I was thinking of what to bring to hang out at your classes. I’ll probably take some notes but that will get boring really fast. Are you allowed to play video games during class in college if you are quiet?”

“Hold on, hold up...wait–what are you talking about?” Cypress shook his head and cracked a laugh at his brother’s nonsensical words.

“Friday! You said I could tag along with you to your classes for my writing assignment. Don’t tell me you got amnesia all of a sudden!” Cedar sounded so offended his voice cracked.

“This Friday?!”

“Yeah of course, I wouldn’t call a week in advance asking about this–you know I’m not that good at being prepared.”

Apparently, Cypress wasn’t either. There was no way he could take back his offer to work the Friday radio shift. There was no way he could take back a promise to his brother either.