2
It took me a moment to be able to find my words, it's been a long time since someone's spoken a single kind word in my direction.
"I'm Amber..." I was able to croak out. A warm smile formed on his face and his eyes lit up. "So, do you play?" I asked, instantly regretting it. Of course he plays, I was just stalking him while he was playing. Stupid. But, instead of laughing at the stupidity of my question he simply nodded with yet another smile and began to play once again. I watched his fingers move swiftly along the keys, creating beautiful music to fill the air and clear the awkwardness standing in between the two of us. It was in this moment I felt something I had yet to feel for ages. Happiness.
After a few minutes he stopped playing and looked back up at me, smiling yet again. How can this guy be so happy all the time? Does he not yet know the horrors this world has for us all? Maybe he's one of those lucky people who get to ride through life without a single bump in the road. I must have been staring off into space again with my thoughts.
"Do you play?" He asked, standing up from the bench to allow me to sit. I nodded slightly before sitting down and pressing a few keys gingerly, thinking of what to play. After a minute I began to play Brother by Falling In Reverse. A sad song that the singer of the band wrote in dedication to his brother who had passed away, it often brought tears to my eyes. I played silently, feeling his eyes burn into me. I had never played in front of anyone but my cat before. My fingers glided across the keys as his had not long before, I looked up slightly to see him watching me. Still a smile on his face, and a nod of encouragement but I suddenly became very anxious and stopped playing mid song. His smile slowly disappeared and he looked at me questioningly.
"Why'd you stop? You're really good!" He said, his smile returning. Does this guy ever not smile? I shook my head softly as a response. Thanks to the wonders of anxiety, words never really come easy to me. Most of my responses to people are just shrugs or a shake of the head. He just simply nodded as if to say he understood and that it was alright. I bit my lip softly, unsure as to what to say next.
"Well, I've got to go! I need to study for a test next period, but it was really nice meeting you! Shall we do this again tomorrow?" He asked, hope glimmering in his eyes. I nodded, a small smile on my face.
"See you then Amber!!" He said cheerfully before walking out of the room to leave me back in the silence and my thoughts. My mind was running wild, he called me Amber. He called me Amber. He called me Amber. Did he accept me as me? And willingly wants to spend his lunch with me? Was he new? I'd never seen him around before, maybe he was and that's why he's being so nice. What if someone tells him, and he hates me like the rest? I took a deep breathe trying to clear all of these negative thoughts away. RINGGGG. Time to go back to classes.
***
It wasn't until lunch time the next day that I saw him again. Sure enough, there he was playing the piano as he had been the day before. He looked up and smiled at me before sliding over to make room for me on the bench as well. I sat down next to him and he began to play a few notes before I recognized it Sonata in F major by Mozart. A duet, I also know how to play this. After a moment of hesitation I joined him, completing the song, making it whole. A little bit into the song he hit a series of wrong keys, sending him into laughter.
"Guess I'm not as good as I thought I was" He said chuckling softly, causing a small smile to form on my face. His ability to be able to just laugh off his own mistakes was quite strange to me, but at the same time a wonderful ability. It was in this exact moment that the thought occurred to me..I like this boy.
I realized that I was yet again staring at him, but this time I was surprised to find that he was staring back at me. His gaze seemed to be fixated on my eyes, he was biting his lip ever so slightly as if to hint something towards me but I instantly shook it off and looked back down at the piano. I pressed a few keys before looking back up at him, this time he wasn't looking back but off in the distance. Probably lost in his own thoughts as I often find myself doing as well. After yet another moment of awkward silence in between us, he leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before standing up.
"See you again tomorrow?" He asked, I simply noded in response, a little startled by the sudden kiss on the cheek. He just smiled as he always does then walked out of the room as he had done the day before. I just sat there in silence still wondering why he had kissed me on the cheek. Did he like me? Or was he just a really friendly person that does that to all his female friends? I got so caught up in my mind again that the ringing of the bell jumped me back into the harshness of reality.
