Short Stories: Charleigh Finney

Second Meet with Marco

There was a loud knock on my door, and I jumped at the sudden interruption to my practice. I snapped my head at the door. When I saw Marco's forehead and glasses through the cracks in the door, I breathed a sigh of relief and annoyance. He was my partner for the upcoming recital.

"Hi," I said, my voice a little harsher than I meant it to be. "Do you need something?"

"We have to practice together for the recital," he said, his tone calm and relaxed.

I opened the door wider but didn't move from my spot. "I'm busy right now."

"That's fine," he replied, his expression unchanged. "Do you want to practice later?"

After thinking for a moment, I nodded. "I can do that in an hour."

He smiled, and I couldn't help but feel a little nervous around him. We had been partners for a while now, but I still didn't know him very well. I quickly closed the door, feeling a little embarrassed by my earlier tone.

Returning to the piano, I tried to focus on the music, but my mind kept wandering to Marco. I wondered what he was like outside of practice, what he did for fun, and what he thought of me. I shook my head, frustrated with myself for being so distracted.

An hour later, I met Marco in his practice room. We went through our pieces together, and I found that I worked better with him than I did on my own. He had a way of making the music come alive, and I felt myself getting lost in the melody.

As we finished up, he looked at me with a smile. "You sounded great," he said.

I felt my face flush with pleasure. "Thanks, so did you."

We packed up our music and headed out of the practice room together. I realized that I was starting to enjoy spending time with Marco, and I wondered if we could be friends outside of our music partnership.

"Hey, do you want to grab a snack or something?" I asked.

He nodded, and we headed to the snack area together, chatting and laughing along the way. As we sat down with our snacks, I felt a sense of comfort around him that I hadn't felt before. Maybe being partners in music was the start of a great friendship.