Jo woke in Sebastian’s beach house the morning after they slept together, noting the gray, windy calm of Hurricane Darcy’s outer bands. Listening to Sebastian’s heartbeat at ninety-five beats per minute, Jo realized the correct tempo for their song and rushed to the living room piano, dragging the bedsheet and pulling Sebastian along.

At the upright piano, Jo found the melody and chords while Sebastian confirmed he could hear the same music. They recorded ideas on Jo’s phone, used her notebook, and iterated lines and rhymes. They shaped the song into a tender ballad about being understood, shared songs, and long conversations. They refined structure—verses, a pre-chorus with countermelody, and a melodic peak at the end of the main line—while workshopping words around memory, morning, song, light, heartbeat, and motion.

They tested lyrics aloud, embracing a slightly corny but earnest tone. Sebastian asked how Jo found the right tempo, and Jo told him she matched his heartbeat, which moved him. He admitted he had forgotten how to enjoy creating and credited Jo for reigniting that joy. Their collaboration flowed easily as they alternated between coffee, instrumentation ideas, and lyric drafting, feeling that this was the right song with the right lyrics.

As the day progressed, both noticed their telepathic connection softening; the constant presence of each other’s thoughts and even the song’s mental melody grew faint, as if the song being “right” was diminishing the link.

Prompted by a comment that his mother would have loved the song, Jo asked Sebastian about her. He described a radiant, romantic woman who pursued music in LA, moved often, and was his best friend. He recounted her death in a head-on crash caused by a drunk driver while she was en route to an audition, and how his own wreck later became a wake-up call. Jo comforted him, emphasizing that she sees the real Sebastian beyond his public persona.

Jo proposed introducing Sebastian to her mother, thinking their moms might have crossed paths in the Boulevard. Sebastian, emotional but pleased, agreed. He joked about meeting Jo’s parents wearing his pink flamingo shirt, and Jo ultimately relented. When they kissed again, Jo realized she could barely feel his thoughts, and the song’s mental echo had nearly vanished, leaving her to wonder who they would be without their telepathic bond.