Martha made red beans and rice with sausage for dinner. She also made some cornbread biscuits to go with it. They took a break from band practice to eat. Thomas loved it! His family never cooked like this! His mom was usually tired after work and would make a simple meal like spaghetti or they would get fast food.
Jasmine appreciated that the meal was non-dairy. It was a little bit too spicy, but she wasn't going to complain. She just ate the cornbread to help the spice go down and drank water.
Allen was used to his mom's cooking and didn't mind the spice. He had two bowls. Even though he was skinny he had a big appetite. He had a part-time job at a convenience store and would usually get 3 honey buns when they were on sale for $1. He had a philosophy of getting the most calories for his money.
After dinner, Jasmine offered to help clean up, but Martha declined her offer. She told them to finish practicing their music. Jasmine and Allen got along well. Alden even started to ask questions about Alice. Thomas was happy to see his best friend and his girlfriend getting along well.
They practiced for another hour until Thomas had to take Jasmine home. He didn't want to make her mom mad by bringing her home late the first time they were allowed to hang out alone.
Jasmine said goodbye to Martha and promised Allen that she would talk to Alice tomorrow after school. She thanked Martha for the food. Thomas packed up his guitar and helped her carry things to the truck.
The drive home was pleasant. Jasmine sat closer to Thomas so she could hold his hand that wasn't driving.
There was a romantic country song on the radio. Jasmine turned it up and sang along. She sang the words to Thomas from her heart. 'Cowboy Take Me Away' by The Dixie Chicks was playing.
"Cowboy take me away,
Fly this girl as high as you can into the wild blue,
Set me free, oh I pray,
Closer to heaven above and closer to you,
Closer to you!"
They stopped at a stop light and Jasmine hugged Thomas. She squished her cheek to his. They hadn't kissed yet, but she was missing the intimacy they had in her past life.
He used to always hug and kiss her. This life she decided to wait until they were both adults until they were intimate.
She would let him kiss her on her 16th birthday like in her past life. She still remembered the fireworks they both saw the first time they kissed. She wanted to recreate that special moment.
In her past life, she had her 16th birthday party at her family's café. Her best friend took her and Thomas home. They sat in the back seat and kissed at a red light.
Her best friend was jealous that Jasmine had her first kiss in her car. She hadn't even been kissed in her car!
Her best friend Malinda was single and jealous of Jasmine and Thomas. Melinda had a crush on one of the football players who was friends with Thomas. His friend didn't like Malinda and he had a girlfriend.
Jasmine and Malinda eventually drifted apart in her previous life. Malinda married an engineer and became a nurse. They got married in Hawaii and didn't even invite Jasmine.
Once in her previous life, Jasmine tried to reconnect with Malinda when she was visiting the city she moved to after she got married and had kids.
Jasmine babysat her youngest nephew for her brother while he was getting his commercial truck driver's license. Jasmine sent a Facebook message to Malinda to ask if she wanted the kids to get together for a play date. They were about the same age.
Malinda was excited about the play date at first but kept pushing it back with excuses.
Jasmine ended up taking her nephew to a park by herself. They still had fun. They were able to play with the other kids and the hotel sent a shuttle to pick them up. She didn't talk to Melinda again. They just stayed as distant Facebook friends.
In this life, she would spend more time with her friends who tried to stay in touch with her. She wanted to keep the good people close to her and not waste too much time on people who didn't care about her.
They made it to Jasmine's house a few minutes before her curfew. Jasmine stayed in the car with Thomas until the song finished. He walked her to the front door, and she hugged him.
Thomas watched as Jasmine headed inside. They would see each other tomorrow at school but he would still miss her.
He got in his truck and drove home thinking about seeing her again in the morning.
Jasmine went inside and greeted her mom and siblings. They were sitting on the couch watching a movie together.
Delilah asked, "How was band practice?" Jasmine responded, "It was really good. We practiced a few songs and Allen's mom made us red beans and rice with sausage and cornbread for dinner."
Christopher got hungry hearing about food even though they had already eaten dinner. His eyes widened as he asked, "Ooh Mom, can we go to Popeye's and get some red beans and rice and chicken?"
Delilah just laughed at him and replied, "We already ate dinner, but if you are still hungry you can make a sandwich or have some fruit. We can have Popeye's Chicken tomorrow for dinner."
He was disappointed at first but perked up when she said they could eat it tomorrow. He went into the kitchen and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
He was a growing boy and had a huge appetite. Delilah went into the kitchen and sliced an apple for a snack. She shared it with her kids.
Jasmine had a few slices. It was delicious and juicy. The green apple was sweet and a little tart. It was a good nighttime snack. Sometimes her mom would sprinkle the apple with cinnamon. It tasted like an apple pie without the crust. That also made it a lot healthier.
Amber just came out of the room. Jasmine looked at her sister and asked, "What were you doing?"
Amber replied, "I was just getting ready for bed." She went to the bathroom to brush her teeth before Jasmine could ask her any more questions.
Jasmine just shrugged and went to change into her nightgown. She had already brushed her teeth and washed her face to get ready for bed.
She climbed into the large water bed and started to write some song lyrics in a notebook.
They had a few good songs now. She was trying to remember any more songs she could use.
Jasmine's taste in music was eclectic and she knew a lot of songs. The trouble was thinking of some that had guitars or keyboards. That led her to more rock or country songs.
She loved bands like Flyleaf, Paramore, and Avril Lavigne to name a few. There were even some rock bands that used the Cello like Apocalyptica.
She was trying to decide what their songs should sound like. She didn't want to be too eclectic and not have a fan base.
Dua Lipa was a favorite artist of Jasmine's in the past life. She loved how familiar her songs were.
The songs sampled older songs and added a club beat with different lyrics. Jasmine thought about using the same style for her songs.
Sampling music has been around since the beginning of music. Artists always inspire other artists.
She didn't remember all of the lyrics anyway, so it would be a different song. It's not stealing that way.
'Love Again' by Dua Lipa was inspired by 'Your Woman' by White Town. 'Your Woman' was inspired by a classic song named 'My Woman' by Al Bowlly with Lew Stone & the Monseigneur band.
Since Jasmine was a singer and not an instrumentalist it would be easier to explain the music if she used music samples.
Jasmine and Amber fell asleep thinking about different things. The next morning, Jasmine woke up and Amber was already out of bed. That was unusual but Jasmine was too tired to care.
She rolled out of bed and shuffled over to the alarm clock. She went to get ready for school. She was excited to share her new songs with her bandmates. Jasmine could see their band getting famous.
She started to plan out their college experiences. She knew that Thomas always wanted to go to MIT, so she was planning to apply to Berklee. The campuses were only 7 minutes away by car or 30 minutes by walking.
She was excited to share her plans with Thomas and ask if he had any ideas for the band's name. He was good at coming up with names.