The Song

Part Twenty-Seven

FLASHBACK CONT…

“I can’t believe you did this,” I said, sitting at the piano. My favorite piano. “I thought it was gone forever.”

“I wouldn’t let that happen to you, I know how much you love that piano.”

“Not as much as I love you,” I grinned, turning to Aston. He sat down next to me and watched as I put my fingers on the keys. “Are you ok keeping it in your house?” I asked, “I know it’s weird but I haven’t got room.”

“About that…” Aston said slowly, “I was sort of hoping now that the piano is here, you’d be here too.”

“What?” I asked, drawing my fingers back from the keys.

“Will you move in with me Jess?” he asked, his eyes big as the question was posed, “I know you’re lease is almost up at your current place and you aren’t really a fan of Brenda… so come live here?”

“You mean that?”

“Of course!” Aston said, grabbing my hand in his own, “I love you.”

“Ok,” I said, nodding my head energetically, “I’ll move in with you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah!” I grinned, leaning forward and catching Aston’s lips in a quick kiss.

My heart was pounding pretty hard, I’d been hoping for this for some time and it was finally happening. I don’t know what it was about Aston, because I’d made it clear from the beginning that he was not my type, but I was head over heels in love with him.

“I cooked you a celebratory dinner,” Aston grinned as he slid off the piano bench.

“You what?” I giggled, my fingers running across the keys of the piano one last time as I stood up. I was so touched by how cute he was being.

“It’s our anniversary after all!” he said.

“One whole year.”

“Best year yet!” Aston replied, taking my hand in his and dragging me to the kitchen, “I’ve got to finish a few things up, do you mind pouring the drinks?”

“On it!”

I found a bottle of white wine in the fridge and I poured out two generous servings, carrying the glasses out to the dinning room. Aston had put dishes out already and a bouquet of flowers was in the middle of the table.

“This is really pretty,” I told him as he carried in a bowl with salad in it.

“Thanks.”

I sat down and watched as Aston finished things up, dishing out two plates full of food.

We sat and ate in a companionable silence. I loved that we could sit and enjoy each other’s company without even having to talk. It was soothing.

“When do you wanna move in?” Aston asked when we were about half done eating.
“I don’t know… My lease isn’t up for another month.”

“So?”

“I don’t really want to pay for two places.”

“You won’t really have to pay to live here,” Aston shrugged, “Like you can help me with the bills if you want but there is no rent or anything.”

“I want to help,” I said.

“I knew you would.”

“So just so I’m clear, you’re saying I should pay for the last month of my place but just move here?” I asked.

“I mean, if you’re ok with that? We can sort a deal so you don’t have to help with bills while you’re paying for the other place or something. I know that now the store is closed you aren’t making as much money as before.”

“You sure?”

“Jess… I’m not worried about money. What’s mine is yours.”

I smiled at him, taking a sip of my wine. “Ok,” I replied, “How about Saturday? Is that too soon?”

“How much stuff do you have?”

“Well… mostly my clothes and stuff. The furniture is Brenda’s for the most part. I’d love to keep my bed though.”

“It’s a bit small,” Aston frowned.

“We could keep it in one of the spare rooms?” I said, “I know it’s a bit weird but I really love that bed. It makes me happy.”

“We can keep it in a spare room,” Aston nodded, “You done eating?”

“Yeah,” I said, standing up with my plate, “Let me clear things up.”

“I’ll help.”

Aston and I stood side by side in the kitchen, cleaning dishes and clearing things up. It was so adult and domestic to be doing this with him. I loved it.

When we were done I went to go sit out on the sofa with a fresh glass of wine, my anniversary gift for Aston in my hands.

“What’s this?” he asked, sitting down next to me and putting an arm tight around my shoulders.

“Gift!”

“You didn’t need to get me anything,” Aston said.

“Don’t even… You got me a piano. And I know how much that piano cost because I was the one that was meant to sell it.”

“Ok, fine,” Aston said, “What is it?”

“Open it.”

I passed him the gift, his fingers expertly pulling off the wrapping paper. “A book?” he asked.

“Look,” I said, leaning over him and opening the front cover.

“Music? I can’t read music… My piano teacher never taught me how,” he teased.

“No silly, I wrote you a song.”

“Oh!” he laughed, releasing his grip on me. “Good thing my girlfriend has a piano.”

“Isn’t it just?” I replied, allowing him to pull me up from the sofa and drag me to the piano that was set up on the other end of the room.

“Have a seat,” he grinned, sitting next to me.

I took the songbook from him and propped it up on the stand on the piano. “It’s sort of part two to the piece I played at my school recital,” I explained, “I think I want to write it to have five parts. But I’ve only got two so far. And the other is still just in my head.”

“Let’s hear it then,” Aston said.

Carefully I played through the song, putting my heart into it. As cheesy as it was, it was sort of inspired by what love felt like, particularly my relationship with Aston. The first part of the song was very bright and happy, and this new installment was a bit slower and more flowery, how my heart felt now that I was more settled down in this relationship.

“I love it,” Aston whispered when I finished up, my hands falling to my lap. Carefully he pushed my hair to the side and kissed my neck, and then my jaw, and then twisted my head so he could press a kiss against my lips.

Instead of responding, I wrapped my hand around his neck and pulled him in for another kiss, a smile playing on my lips as I pushed him off the piano bench and we started to stumble up to his room. Soon to be our room.