Newfoundland

Song

It was nearly midnight when I heard singing and the light padding of footsteps. I felt Violet's weight on the edge of my bed. Her soft voice almost lost in the dark.

"Ian's outside."

His name alone was like electric shock therapy. I sprang out of bed and started for the window, slowly spreading the lace curtains apart. What I saw nearly sent me into cardiac arrest. As Violet had said, Ian was outside with a guitar and song.

I was going to murder him.

"Have Mom and Dad heard?" Violet shook her head. "Okay, that's good. Let's keep it that way."

Violet giggled.

I opened my window, the cool October air biting my skin. Quickly, I grabbed a cardigan slung over my bed post and shrugged it on. Ian kept on singing, the sight of my presence only encouraging him to be louder.

Between my teeth, I tried to be as quiet as possible. "Stop it! Stop!"

The edges of his mouth curled into a grin. A grin! This was not a time for grinning. Oh, how I would have loved to smack that expression off his face! This was humiliating. As if he hadn't had enough time to humiliate me at school he had to do it in the wee hours of the night.

To make it worse, I finally recognized the song he sang. It was Fall For You by Secondhand Serenade.

Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you

Over again, don't make me change my mind

Or I won't live to see another day, I swear it's true

Because a girl like you is impossible to find

You're impossible to find

When the last word was sung and the last string strummed, the night fell oftly quiet. Part of me missed his voice that hit a resonating chord deep inside my heart. The other half felt stung by his actions this afternoon; forgiveness too far away to grasp.

Beside me Violet clapped. And like that, the tantalizing spell he had woven with the song vanished.

"Lily," he called, "I'm sorry! I was an idiot and -"

"You are an idiot! What is wrong with you?"

"Everything. I don't think. I shouldn't have stood there and denied us. I was..." He trailed off, running a hand through his hair. "When I saw you walk away, I felt like you took a piece of me with you. Lily, I love you."

Violet gasped, echoing my own shock. "That is so romantic." Her hand curled around the hem of my t-shirt. "Tell him you love him back!"

"It's not that simple kiddo."

Violet jutted out her lower lip in a pout.

I turned back to Ian and saw his uncertainty shifting from foot to foot. I called out into the night and said, "Ian, I can't do this right now. I need to think. Please."

His shoulders sagged, sending a pang through my chest. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow?"

I nodded. "Yes. Goodnight, Ian. Thank you for this."

"Anything for you, Lily. Goodnight."

I watched him until he disappeared into the night.