Yellowed

Chapter 12; Blind Strings

I can never be wrong about the smell of my cigarette. I have smoked this brand since I was in high school, and as I watch the sun go down, with a cigarette in between my fingers, I can't prevent myself from looking in the direction of Flavus' dorm. And there he was. Shirtless, the wind carried the smoke of the cigarette I gave him and greeted me, making me want to call him. 

I don't think he knew that I was watching him because he seemed to be thinking about something. He was focused on smoking steadily, the smoke going into the thick blue air. The more I saw that, the more I wanted to call him and ask him to smoke with me. I suddenly feel so lonely. The next thing I knew, I was trying to dial his phone number without thinking about how strange of a situation this was. I saw him enter his room, and seconds later, I heard his voice over my phone. 

"Mr. Gray? What's up? Why did you call?" he said casually as he went back and looked at me from his terrace. Maybe it took me almost five seconds before I could respond with the most pathetic excuse I could imagine. "Hey, nothing in particular. It's just I smelled my cigarette a while ago, making me light one as well. It's you, right?" the embarrassment makes me cringe so much that all I can do is hit a huge puff of smoke, causing me to cough a little. Good thing the sun has set, and I'm sure he can't see the bitterness on my face right now. 

"Oh, yeah. I think that was me," he said.

"By the way, how's your practice?"

"What do you mean Sir,? What practice?" 

"The harp, for the talent's night, what else could it be?" this is me trying to open up a conversation with him. I don't know why but that's what I did. 

"Oh, about that. I don't think I can join Sir," there was a feeling of disappointment when I heard it. 

"Huh.? Why? I asked.

"The harp, it hasn't been used in a long time, and when I played a while ago --," then there was this tooting sound. I looked at Flavus' terrace, and there he was, as confused as I am. So I hit one last puff of smoke and decided to went to his unit so that we could discuss what happened with the harp.

I knocked on his door, and in a split second, it flung open, making me think that he was about to went outside as well. He stands there, still shirtless, with his feet bare, one hand holding onto the door to his unit and the other one holding up his phone. He looks at me, and then he looks at the phone. And then, he looks at me again, then at the phone again.

"What happened?"

"Oh! I'm sorry my phone died Sir," he replied.

"No I mean with the harp," it seems like he was being awkward and silly. 

"Ah, one of the strings got broken and I can't find any store that sells harp strings so I guess it's the universe's way of telling me not to join," he reasoned out, which I know is his way of avoiding joining the talent's night. 

"Can I see it?" I offered. I thought he would refuse, but he immediately brought the harp. It was massive, almost more than a meter tall. Even if I don't have any knowledge of musical instruments, I can still see that Flavus isn't lying. There were indeed broken strings.

"Mr. Gonzo of the music club may know someone who sells this kind of strings. If we fix the harp, will you promise me that you'll join?" I offered. It looks like he was hesitating at first, but he did agree. 

"O... okay,"

I called Mr. Gonzo, the director of the music club, to ask about shops or stalls that may happen to sell harp strings, and I'm lucky that he did know one shop, but it is about two towns far and almost more than an hour's drive.