It Continues [BOOK 2] ✔️

Chapter Five: Night Changes

"Bake the world a better place"

THEY WERE IN A ROOM filled with shelves and shelves of books – of all kinds – but the thing that caught Declan’s attention the most was a white grand piano placed right in the corner of the room. Declan’s eyes wandered around the smaller room. It seemed to be some sort of library, and there were a lot of antique stuff in the room. Vintage furniture, wallpapers, picture frames and many more. “What is this room?” He asked and watched as Allie turned the lights and air conditioner on.

“It’s some sort of our second lounge room. There are a lot of books here with a lot of genres – fictions, historical, references, romance, mystery, you name it! Grandpapa, Mrs. Durant’s late husband was a very artistic person. He loved everything art – literature, music and whatnot,” She smiled melancholically, running her fingers across the books. “He was also the one who sketched those portraits you were looking at earlier,”

Declan nodded his head. He’d never actually met Mrs. Durant’s husband, but he could tell he was such a great person. “He sounds like a brilliant man,”

“Yeah,” Allie smiled before abruptly changing into a more cheerful mode, clapping her hands. “Anyway, I’ve brought you here because of this piano,” She giggled, bouncing up and down on her feet excitedly. “I don’t really know for sure, but I heard from the people in our school that you’re a really talented pianist,”

Embarrassed, he averted his gaze from Allie’s beautiful brown ones and murmured, “There’s no such thing, Allie. I… I’m not that good,”

She chuckled, pulling his hand and practically forced him to sit on the piano seat. “I don’t care!” Allie exclaimed, chuckling still. “Come on, Declan. Play something for me,”

“Fair warning, I’m a little rusty, so, don’t expect much,” Uncertain, Declan swallowed apprehensively and studied the piano in front of him. He was, indeed, capable of playing the instrument but it had been a long time since he played and he wasn’t sure if he still got it. However, the smile on the Allie’s face made it impossible for him to refuse as he found himself playing a soft song with his eyes set on Allie’s brown ones.

Declan couldn’t resist the grin on his face when the girl he’d crush on (who was also, according to him, way out of his league) gasp, recognizing the song. “Do you know this song?” He asked and chuckled when she nodded excitedly.

“Oh, I do, I do! I love it even,” She chuckled. “It’s Night Changes’ Piano version, isn’t it? One Direction’s?”

“Yep,” He nodded, looking down at his fingers and he felt slightly proud for being able to play the song without mistakes so far. The girl was happy, too. Way to go, man. The song was reaching towards the second verse when suddenly, Allie began to sing along the lyrics causing Declan’s breath to hitch in surprise for, heck, this girl could sing. His widened eyes went to hers and he watched as she laughed, gesturing him to focus on the piano playing whilst she sang.

Allie’s voice was beautiful. It was a sweet and melodious, and got a little bit of rasp and softness in it. Declan found himself lost in both her voice and eyes as she gazed at him, smiling softly. And then when the song ended, Allie chuckled softly, as if she was embarrassed and said, “I know, I know. I couldn’t help it. I loved the song so much,” She looked up into his eyes, almost shyly Declan’s heart could burst. “You played beautifully,”

Declan let out a shaky breath, unable to stop himself. “You sing beautifully, too. I felt like I was in the clouds and… I was… lost,” His heart pounded as he watched the smile disappeared from Allie’s face, a look of surprise replaced it and in instant, he knew he’d just made a stupid mistake. “I-I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to sound weird. I-I’ll just go,”

“Wait, Declan, please,” She called and went to stand in front of him quickly, and only then he realized how short she was, her head just under his chin. (Or was he too tall?) “You weren’t being weird, I promise,” Allie said, smiling softly. “That was really sweet of you, Declan,” She pushed a strand of hair away from her face. “No one’s ever heard me sing, you know? You were the first one. I mean, besides my family,”

She chuckled and took a step back before playfully curtsying with a hand on her chest and the other holding her dress. “Thank you for the wonderful piano playing, good sir,”

Grinning, Declan, too, took a step back and decided to play along as he bowed. “Glad to be of your service, milady,”

***

The dinner with the Curtis had been splendid. Allie had learned that Mrs. Curtis, before she married Mr. Curtis, was a worker at The Little Café and apparently, they both met and fell in love with each other at the very first time they saw each other at the café. It was a rather beautiful love story. The clock struck 10 in the evening when they decided to go home seeing that the twins were already fast asleep.

“Oh, look at you, you sleeping baby,” Allie cooed at one of the twins as she carefully lifted him up from the couch and made her way towards the front door. “They’re so cute, Mrs. Curtis. But I have to admit, I can’t really tell which is which,”

“Understandable,” Emmet commented and she chuckled, ruffling the thirteen year old boy’s hair and ignoring his protests about how everyone kept doing that to him and how annoying it was. “You’re one pretty lady, but please, don’t do that again,”

“Emmet, sweetheart,” Mrs. Curtis hissed at his second eldest son before turning towards Allie. “This is Keith, Allie, dear. His hair is slightly lighter than Joel’s, that’s one way to differentiate them,” She then went to murmur in Keith’s ear, soothing him as she took him from Allie’s arms.

Chuckling, Allie then left the Curtis to have a brief chat with Mrs. Durant while Mr. Curtis carried the twins to the car and made her way towards Declan who was standing outside and smiled when he did. “So, tonight has been fun,”

“It is. Thanks for having us,” He shrugged, adjusting his glasses.

Allie wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling cold as the night breeze drifted against her bare skin. She smiled up to the awkward yet interesting and sweet guy who happened to be her schoolmate and co-worker and said, “Anytime, Declan. So you don’t really recall seeing me around the school? I can’t help but feel slightly offended by that,” She joked.

Pursing his lips, Declan began to fidget with his fingers. “I’m really sorry, Allie. I-it’s just that, when I’m at school, I don’t really pay much attention to my surroundings. All I care about is going to class and study,” He shrugged. “I don’t even have any friends, not that I actually care,”

Allie frowned. “Surely you have friends,” Declan shook his head no. “Not even one?” He shook his head again.

He shrugged nonchalantly and it was obvious having no friends didn’t bother him as much as Allie thought it’d be. If it were her, she’d feel lonely and miserable. “Everyone seems to think that just because I’m smart, I’m a stuck-up and basically a dick. I also heard people said that I think of myself above everyone or something like that,” Declan chuckled, seemingly amused.

“That’s not true,” Allie protested before she could stop herself. “You’re incredibly smart but you don’t brag about it, I really like that about you. And you’re also sweet and funny. You made me laugh in a span of three minutes and you’re…” She let out a breath, suddenly feeling embarrassed by the excessive compliments.

Declan didn’t seem to be in a better position also. He was red as a tomato.

“You’re genuine,” She concluded.

Declan’s hazel eyes darted between her boring brown ones before a small smile spread across his red face, his hand went to run his fingers through his messy hair. “You think too highly of me, Allie. And it’s fine. I’d rather have no friends than being stuck with the fake ones who talks behind your back,” He then glanced at his family who were all already in the car. “I have to go. Thanks again,”

Allie then watched as he rushed towards the car and shut the door. And within minutes, they were gone.

| END OF CHAPTER FIVE |

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Author's Note:
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