Rising Stars

VIII - Honesty

"I thought you hated me."

- Yeng Seraphine

November 20, 2019

Seraphine let out a deep breath as she pushed open the door to the recording room. "So, we've got this reserved until next month?" She asked, already moving to take off her backpack.

"Yeah. Until the fifteenth."

"I'll start moving our stuff back in then?"

I gave her a thumbs-up. "Sounds good."

We dropped our backpacks and other belongings in the room before locking the door and heading back towards Seraphine's car. As with any kind of move, it was a slow process, especially because we were carrying everything basically across campus. But thanks to our frequent visits to the gym, we both could lift more than we could the last time we had the rooms reserved, and that saved us more than enough time.

On the third trip, we finally finished moving everything back into the recording room. The blankets, the mini-fridge, the pillows, and our drinks and snacks returned, and Seraphine seemed immensely satisfied.

She popped open a pack of shrimp chips and a bottle of strawberry milk. "So," she said after chewing through a mouthful of chips. "How should we start this?"

"We already have the concept, so we don't have to worry about that." I checked it off mentally. "I... I suppose we can start with writing some songs?"

"But we did that last time," Sera protested. "I want to try starting with something new."

"Okay. What did you want to try?"

She hummed. "How about you start?"

"What do you mean?"

"Last time, I started the EP," explained Seraphine. "This time you start it how you want."

"Oh." I pursed my lips. "Okay."

She stood up from the chair in front of the computer and motioned for me to sit in it.

I adjusted the seat's height. I pulled out the MIDI keyboard, loading up a piano onto the computer.

My fingers traced the surface of the keys. As I slowly began to play, Seraphine perked up at the melodies I pulled from the piano.

I played a descending melody, closing my eyes and letting my fingers, my thoughts, my feelings guide me.

There was no process, no theory, no sense of direction.

It was just me and the music.

And the words came to me naturally.

"Neck to neck the waters rise, we swim good we drown sometimes." I glanced at Seraphine as my hands found the right chords. "Lift you up you catch your breath, help me up we take a step, oh."

Seraphine swayed to the slow, steady tempo.

"Take the time to figure out. Let's not fight or fool around, no. Love is not a losing game. But surely we can find a way, yeah." I momentarily lifted my hands from the piano. Then I let them run free across the piano like birds through a cloudless sky.

After another minute of playing, I finished the song with a few final notes. My gaze drifted from the keyboard to Seraphine.

"Wow," she breathed, her hand over her mouth. "That... that was amazing."

"I..." I trailed off. I wasn't entirely sure what to say. "I just let the music take control, I guess. I don't really have a better way of putting it." I turned my attention back to the computer monitor, only to realize that I hadn't begun the recording. I sighed. "And of course it wasn't recorded."