butterflies & hurricanes // phan

Two

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02

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There was a black hat placed behind the piano stool the odd guy sat on. I looked into it briefly and saw some coins, glowing a bit because they reflected the terrible lighting shining above us in the hallways of the otherwise dark underground station.

People gave him money because they felt sorry for him without actually listening to him – which was a shame in my opinion.
I could tell it was like that because right now, I was the only one who stopped to listen to him play.

I was still silently singing along, or rather whispering. I let the sound of the piano rain down on me and enjoyed every moment of it. I knew the original song, of course I did, but this piano version of it was a whole other thing; it's hard to explain.

Too soon, the song was over. I expected the stranger to play another piece now, but the instrument remained silent. Now everything one could hear were the steps of people and the typical underground station announcements.

It made me sad. I wanted to listen to more music played by him.

But he just sat there, staring at the piano keys in front of him until he sighed and suddenly got up from the piano stool.

He turned around and I could see his face for the first time; I mean, I saw his face from the side before, with his fringe fallen in front of it, but now he fixed his hair and I could look him straight in his face. And damn, I knew he was pretty before, but no – that boy was fucking gorgeous, with his dark brown eyes and his perfectly formed lips.

This might be a good time to mention I'm bisexual.

The brunette guy noticed I was watching him and awkwardly smiled at me which made his dimples pop out. I now realised that the way I was staring at him probably came off as pretty weird, so I quickly looked into another direction. No, that's weird too. I turned my head back around to face him, and he giggled a bit and lightly shook his head.

I got my wallet out of my backpack, struggling with the zipper, and somehow took some money out of it and put it in the hat in front of the boy's feet. "You're really talented," I said and he smiled at me again. "I'm trying my best." He vowed jokingly which made me laugh quietly.

He grabbed the hat from the floor and turned around to leave. "Thanks for the donation." He laughed.

I watched him walk away, the sound of his piano-play still on my mind. I shook my head and decided it was time to leave.

The train arrived right when I turned around the corner to the platform I knew it would arrive at.

I had my phone and headphones with me, as always, so I listened to some music. Of course, as I just got reminded of how good the song was, I listened to "Butterflies & Hurricanes", the original version this time. Absolution was one of my favourite albums by Muse anyways, together with Origin of Symmetry.

The brunette boy still was on my mind. I couldn't get over the way he had played the piano, but also couldn't get over the way he smiled at me.

The train ride didn't take long, luckily, because I nearly fell asleep.

But when I finally arrived at the station closest to my university, I got out quickly to escape the dirty and dark underground station and to get to breathe some fresh air.

Well, I should probably introduce myself.

My name is Philip Lester, but everyone calls me Phil. I grew up in northern England, but we moved to Brighton when I was thirteen – now I'm 22 and a university student of media arts focusing on TV and movie production in London.