Behind Broken Bars

Back to Strangers

(2551 words)

I hear someone playing the piano, and as I walk past the window I see Simon sitting there. It sounds horrible. I push the door open. We havent spoken since what happened last night, so I dont know if this will be awkward or not.
"Need some help?" I can see he is confused.
"Yeah, actually." He continues to stare at the music sheet in front of him.
"I thought you were some kind of music wizard, arent you meant to be really good with the piano?" I sit down next to him.
"I am, but only when listening, not reading music." He pushes the wrong key, again. I slap his hand out of the way and begin playing while reading the music. I even surprise myself with how long since I have played piano and it sounding this good—not to beep my own horn or anything. Simon is taken aback.
"Since when do you play piano?" He tries to read the music again.
I shrug, "I learn here and there."

As he tries for the hundredth time after me trying to show him how to do it, he stops and stares down at the keys.
"About last night," he begins, but I cut him off.
"We can forget about that." I stare down at the keys too, disappointed in myself but I know its the right thing to doI think. He slumps a little, and I try to reassure him.
"I still want to be friends though." I go to hug him but realise that would be weird, and then a girl walks into the room. She asks if she can use the piano, so I get up immediately without saying goodbye to Simon and rush out the door.

۞۞۞۞۞

I fell out of the rowing boat today. Of course it was me who fell out. Im drenched, and as Im changing into a new shirt, I look over to see Simon pull his shirt off too. I gulp and quickly snap my head back to pretend I was staring at the wall. I look back over again when I have my shirt off and we make eye contact. His eyes wander from my face down to my body, but he shakes his head and walks out of the room. I want to talk to him, but I know hes pissed at me.

Throughout the whole day, I keep wanting to talk to him. I dont like not talking to him. In every class I try and sit as close as I can to him as possible, which is usually one or two tables away. I keep glancing over to him, hoping he would be smiling back at my like usual, but he isnt. He caught me looking at him a couple of times, but each time he would quickly return to what he was concentrating on.

۞۞۞۞۞

I toss and turn under my covers, and eventually kick them off. I stare up at my ceiling and reach for my phone. I enter Instagram and return to Simons account. His short, brown curls and brown eyes are so perfect. I switch my phone off before I can get further. I regret telling him to forget everything. I cant forget it. The harder I try to get his lips pressing against mine out of my head, the more I remember. Its like a nightmare. The more you try to forget it, the more you remember it. Can that be the same for dreams, too?

۞۞۞۞۞

I enter the gym and see that everyone else is there. Not that Im looking for everyone else, only him. I scan the room and my eyes land on the back of a red and white striped shirt, and the back of someones head of brown curls. There he is. Maybe I should pretend I dont care for a little while, then talk to him? I make my way over to the sit up station because its vacant. I dont feel like human interaction today, only Simon interaction. I begin doing sit ups and make sure I keep my eye on him. He walks over to the pull up bar and steadies himself before raising his arms. As he pulls himself up, the bottom of his shirt lifts a little. To make it look less like Im perving, I pretend to tie my shoelace while still watching him. He bites his lip when he gets onto his 6th pull up. Oh god. I pretend I didnt see anything and continue to do sit ups.

I wouldnt say Simon is weak, but he hasnt got huge muscles. That meaning that there is absolutely no muscle definition on his arms or legs. He does have a good stomach though, slight outline of abs forming there.