Legacy Mutation (Book Eight)

Chapter 32: Mozart Makes All Things Better

Asher takes a deep breath, adjusting his grip on his violin case. He pushes the door to the music room open slowly, listening. Sure enough, the beautiful notes of one of Mozart's classics reaches his ears, and he can't help but smile.

"Ruby?" he calls, shutting the door behind him. "It's Asher."

Ruby appears, her pale green eyes sparking with excitement. "Hey! How are you?"

He grins, his heart fluttering a little. "I'm good. I got my violin, so you can teach me now."

Her eyes light up and she puts her hands over her mouth. "Can I see it? Please?"

He nods. "Of course."

They move into the main area together, and he sits down on the floor and clicks the case open, revealing a shiny new violin. Ruby looks at it in awe, her short blonde hair falling in her face as she leans over it.

"This is a really good model...how did you afford it?" she asks, looking up into his mismatched eyes.

"My mom's a scientist, plus I had some scholarship money from those silly awards in grade nine and ten. I made an investment," he explains softly.

She smiles. "Wow...your parents must love you."

"They do. My entire family loves each other a lot."

She sits up, tilting her head a tiny bit as she looks at him. She reaches up and fixes the bow in her half-do ponytail.

"Is it overstepping my boundaries if I ask you about your family?" she wonders.

He shakes his head. "Not at all."

"Good. I didn't want to be creepy." She breathes a sigh of relief. "I mean, we've texted...but that's it."

He shrugs. "I don't mind. I love talking about my family."

She rests her head on her hand. "Enlighten me, Asher. We can practice later."

He crosses his legs, running a hand through his shaggy brown hair. "You've met my sister and my cousins briefly, or at least you know about them."

"Dean the future football star, Copeland the rockstar to be, Dakota the other half of your scientific dynamic duo, Mitch the guy who's awesome at end of year pranks and total class clown...and Venus, the little girl in grade...something?"

"Three."

"Oh...she sounds adorable."

"She is." He laughs. "But with the others, you got it spot on!"

She claps. "Yay! Now...what about your parents?"

He scratches the back of his neck. "I'm the most like my dad. He's tall, smart, but kind of awkward around girls at times. He's also got a tooth gap, like me."

Ruby giggles. "I like your gap."

"My dad always tells me not to worry about it. Apparently, 'the gap gets all the ladies'."

She shrugs. "Maybe it does...maybe it doesn't."

He blushes a little, but clears his throat. "My mom and Dakota are a lot alike. She's got long, naturally white hair and ice blue eyes. She's really confident and smart too." He leans closer to her. "Sometimes, I think she's more intelligent than my dad. It's like she's part computer."

"That'd be so crazy!" She laughs. "But insanely cool. She'd be like...Jarvis while your dad is Tony Stark."

Asher almost hugs her. He had purposely added in the thing about the computer to test her. If she thinks it's cool for his mom to be like that, maybe one day she'll accept him for his true form.

"I'll have to tell her that."

Ruby smiles. "I don't need to know everything yet...but can I ask one more thing?"

"Of course."

"How'd they meet? I'm a sucker for a cute romance thing." 

He smiles. "My mom and dad met when they were both sixteen. My mom was...having a sort of crisis. My dad helped her through it, and they fell in love along the way."

"Aw! That's adorable! Young love, blossomed into something more. It's like a book."

He laughs. "I guess it is."

She composes herself. "Sorry...I'm so weird sometimes."

"Normal is boring."

After a moment, she nods. "I concur."

"What about you?"

She shrugs. "Nothing special. Parents met at Bible College, married, had four kids, and the rest is history."

"Four kids?" His eyes widen.

"Yup! Two brothers and one sister for me. Sam, Daria, me, and Terry from oldest to youngest."

He smiles. "Out of my cousins, I'm the youngest aside from Venus. Dakota is technically older since she was born first."

"What's the order for you? Oldest to youngest."

"Dean, Copeland, Mitch, Dakota, me, Venus."

"Cool. You and I are both one kid away from being the baby."

He laughs. "I make up for it by being the tallest." He looks to his instrument. "Either way, how about those violin lessons? I'm ready and raring to go!"

She scoots to his case again, lifting the instrument from it and examining it. She frowns, noticing a small dent in part of the outer frame.

"What happened?" she asks.

He sighs heavily. "Um...my cousin's girlfriend kicked it across the floor."

Her eyes widen. "Was that when Copeland punched that cheerleader, Katie, in the face?"

Asher arches an eyebrow. "How do you know so much about this?"

She looks down and blushes. "I'm kind of a wallflower, I guess. I see and listen, but no one notices me."

"I noticed you," he says immediately. He clamps his mouth shut and calms the heat rising in his cheeks.

Way to go, you nerd.

She smiles. "Yeah, you did." Her expression falls and she sighs. "It's a shame. Katie used to be really nice, but I guess certain people just change."

"I get that. Dean is finally getting some sense knocked into his head. He's giving her a deadline to smarten up, or he's breaking up with her."

"He's going to break up with her? Holy cow, can you believe the drama that'll come out of that?"

He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I already hate it."

She pats his shoulder lightly. "You'll survive. Whenever I'm fed up with drama, I play the angriest Bach piece I can find."

"Those exist?"

She winks. "You'd be surprised." She stands up and hands him his violin. "Now, come on. Time to make a musician out of the scientist."

He tucks the instrument under his chin, having already practiced a tiny bit on his own. "As you wish, Sensei."

She grins. "Sensei...I like that."

He returns the smile. I like you.