His Girl #Wattys2016

6. Oops!

As Drake got ready to leave, a question raised in my head. How on earth could we go over to Aaron's without having to cross Melanie's path? I thought of discussing this with Drake but he seemed to have a plan already. As soon as we reached Melanie, Drake took out an orange from the fruit bowl and handed it to her. The joy she expressed as she took it from his hands made me chuckle. Though she was hard to figure out, her love of oranges was something everyone knew of. Quickly I smiled at Drake for the quick thinking and excused myself to make a call. Drake followed me after a short while.

Drake and I stayed quiet as we made our way towards Aaron's floor, but as we reached the door Drake cleared his throat.

"I'm still worried for you." He said, staring straight ahead, not making eye contact.

"Me too." I mumbled.

When the door opened, it was not Aaron who was standing behind the door but his brother Adrian. Aaron was scribbling on a small piece of paper and looked like he hadn't heard the doorbell. His keyboard was placed on a table before him and Adrian was holding a guitar. It took me a moment to understand that both the brothers were making new music.

Adrian was smiling like he was expecting company, so I reckoned he already knew about us. I craned my neck to look at Aaron as I spoke.

"Aaron asked us to come over-"

"I know," Adrian smile had a touch of mischief to it. "Come on in."

Drake stepped inside as soon as the words were uttered. I followed him in and smiled at Adrian for no reason.

"Make yourself comfortable," he said, gesturing towards the two seaters. "We'll be with you soon."

He made his way back to his brother and they both sat together, jamming; Aaron on the piano and Adrian with his guitar. The kind of music that escaped their hands were beyond words. I sneaked a look at Aaron but he seemed so engrossed in his work, he barely noticed me. I turned to Drake with a worried look on my face.

"Drake, I don't think it was a good idea," I whispered.

"Why?"

"He hasn't even acknowledged us yet. And we've been here for like-"

"A minute?" Drake finished for me, his tone sarcastic.

"It doesn't take someone a minute to know they've guests! Especially when they're sitting right in front of you!" I hissed.

"Hey!" He cocked his head, "don't blame me. You brought me here, not the vice versa."

Clearly, he was enjoying this a lot. So I decided not to utter a word more to him than necessary. I focussed my attention on the music and closed my eyes.

After what seemed like a forever, Aaron and Adrian finished their music making session. Someone, who I had no idea existed in the same room as me, handed a towel to Aaron. He draped it around his neck and stretched his arms above his head. Then, he saw me.

"Hey!" He said, as if he was noticing me for the first time.

But I couldn't complain. Because I had had the biggest realisation of my life; that when you have your most favourite thing in front of you, you won't notice other less important things. Like music and me in his case and him and the guy who brought the towel in my case.

"Hi," I squeaked. Realising some compliments were due, I added, "that was some other worldly music."

He just laughed and waved my comment away. Quickly, I raked my brains to think of something to keep the conversation going.

"So," I started. I always worked better under pressure, so I assumed the words would flow in once I opened my mouth. But no such luck.

"So?" He looked at me.

Noticing I was at loss of words, Drake piped in. "I didn't know Adrian lived here too."

"I didn't either," Aaron chuckled. "Apparently he couldn't stay away from me, so here he is."

The ease with which he put his arm around his brother and pulled him for a side hug made me ache for a hug too.

"You seem awfully quiet. My brother said you talked a lot." Adrian said, turning towards me.

I must've lost all the colour from my face, because Aaron looked worryingly at me. "Yeah. Are you... okay?"

"I am. Just a little..."

"Hungry?" Adrian asked, holding a chocolate in my face. "I heard you love chocolates."

"Eh? I never said that."

"Well, I guessed so. All girls like chocolates." He shrugged.

I shook my head and looked up at Aaron. Taking in a deep breath, I spoke up.

"Is everything alright, Aaron? You seem a little off."

"Oh," he stalled. "Actually, no. There's been a small problem."

When all of us looked at him curiously, he continued.

"Nothing serious, just work. I had a deadline of a week but the dates got altered and now the deadline's tomorrow."

"That's crazy! How can they expect you to finish a week's work in a day?" Drake looked as shocked as he sounded.

"Uh, actually, I don't see why that's bothering you so much." To Drake, who was eyeing me like I was crazy, I explained in brief, "this isn't the first time. He'd worked in the same situation for an album last year."

"Wow. Is there anything you don't know about my brother?" Adrian asked, clearly amused.

I blushed. Before I could answer, Aaron spoke up.

"If there is anything, you know who to ask." He winked.

Winked. At me.

My heartbeat raced and I had to steady my breathing to bring it back to normal. If under any other circumstance, I'd have been over the moon but the worry in Drake's eyes was too hard to ignore. I couldn't fall into a pit that I couldn't get out of, so I focussed on the other important details.

"So... the tickets?"

"Of course. Here you go," Aaron handed over two envelopes, addressed to Drake and me each.

"I'm really happy you'll be coming to watch me live." He sounded so genuine, I wanted to cry.

Instead of expressing my happiness, I ended up asking the one question I didn't want to know the answer to.

"Is it true that you've a girlfriend?"