Hearts Parade of a Lyrical Life

Evading Ensembles Caused Terrible Tension

We continued to work on the same piece we had played before, the classes were monotonous and if it weren't for his incessant yelling I likely would've fallen asleep then and there. I played the worst I had done since we started, my fingers fumbled to find the right keys, I made sloppy mistakes and missed my timings. Dallon was unsurprisingly furious.

"I know you can't practice outside of our sessions but fuck I really thought you couldn't get any worse." Dallon scootched me aside and sat down next to me at the keyboard. He played what I was supposed to again, letting me watch, his hands moved eloquently, and he tapped ever so gently at times but only at certain times to get just the right feeling. I was starting to conceptualise what he meant by portraying feeling through sound though I wasn't at the point where I could do the same myself.

He ushered for me to try and I did, once again it was sloppy, poorly timed, and in no way eloquent. I removed my hands that shook slightly. I looked away from Dallon shyly, not wanting to face his repulsion head-on, though I still held onto the giddy feeling from before with Ryan. I guessed that he was what was making my playing worse.

Dallon picked up my hand to place it back on the keyboard to play again, when he noticed how unsteady they were. "Y/N are you okay?" Dallon asked, he didn't shout, didn't belittle, just asked.

I looked over at him in surprise and accidentally tripped on my words, "Y–yeah I'm okay."

"Your hands are trembling, no wonder you can't play." He held his hands out in front of them to demonstrate steady hands, then I copied as mine wobbled in place, "That doesn't just happen with no cause, I'll ask again, what  happened?" He sounded serious but no longer mean or demanding.

I hesitated to answer, "It's excitement." I hoped that would be enough information but Dallon leaned in more wanting to know what for, "You aren't gonna like it, I spent some time with Ryan, that's all."

Dallon leaned away and stood up now pacing around the room. "Again." He ordered.

"What?" I was taken aback by his change in tone.

"Seeing a 'cute guy' is not just cause to let your hands shake like that. No more excuses, I want you to play again and play well." Dallon went back to his usual tone of barking orders and I huffed before rearranging my hands back on the keys to play.

After another session of being berated by Dallon, I walked back to the dorms and took a shower. I hopped onto my bed for some downtime and saw a text from Ryan.

Ryan: "Come to my room after your 'thing', I'd like to see you"

I held my phone to my chest and squealed. I dried off my hair and got into a comfortable but still pretty outfit, I headed downstairs and knocked on the door to Ryan's dorm.

————

Spencer opened the door. "Y/N! What are you doing here?" He hugged me, I spotted Ryan messing around on his guitar in bed over Spencer's shoulder. Ryan jumped up and laid his guitar on the ground before approaching the door.

He patted an arm on Spencer's shoulder to get him to release his grip, "Hey Y/N." Ryan smiled secretively. Spencer let go and turned to look at Ryan's expression, he let me in and spoke as soon as the door shut behind him.

"Are you two?" Spencer pointed back and forth to the two of us and raised an eyebrow, Ryan looked at me as if for permission.

"If he'll have me." I smiled. Ryan beamed and pulled me in by my waist and planted a kiss on my cheek. My face shot red. I gazed at him and saw he was blushing too.

Ryan snapped himself out of his daze and pulled me by both hands to sit next to him on the bed, Spencer went back to playing on his switch, in between checking his phone. I sat next to Ryan and he squeezed my left hand, "We have a gig for next weekend, at an actual small venue!" Ryan announced proudly. I squealed in excitement and pulled him in for a hug, "We're gonna play our original songs, I was hoping you could be my plus one?"