piano lessons // phan ((being rewritten))

lesson three

"You have got to be kidding me."

Dan sighed at Phil, not quite annoyed but not pleased either. They were sat at the piano for Phil's third lesson, and Dan had just asked Phil to play what he had taught him yesterday.

"I'm sorry!" Phil said, burying his face in his hands. "I thought I'd be able to memorize it!"

"It was two lines! How do you forget seven measures in one night? It wasn't even that hard."

"That's easy for you to say! I have no idea what I'm doing!"

Dan, running his hand through his hair, turned to Phil. "If you want to learn this song, you're going to need to be able to read the notes. I'm not going to keep teaching you if you're just going to forget everything the next day."

"I said I was sorry!"

"Yes, you did. Now come on." Dan sat down at his desk, and Phil followed him, lowering his head in shame.

"Now this,' Dan said, pointing at the piece of music he placed in front of him, 'this is a quarter note."

Phil turned to Dan, exasperated. "Obviously. I may not be a musician, but I'm not an idiot."

Dan chuckled at Phil's annoyance. "Hey, you're the one that forgot everything. If I'm going to teach you, you're going to learn the way I learned. All the way from step one."

"I hate you," Phil said matter-of-factly.

Dan laughed. "I love you too."

He didn't see it, but Phil's face had gone red and his stomach twisted into knots upon hearing those words. Yes, he knew Dan was being sarcastic, but he couldn't help but wish it were true.

"So, quarter note," Dan said, going back to the paper. "Hold it for one count. Got that, Philly?"

---

"Okay I get it! Seven naturals, C-D-E-F-G-A-B! I think I got it covered! Now can we please go back to playing on the actual piano?" Phil had expected Dan to let him go back to playing after a few minutes at his desk, but it felt like forever since they first sat down.

"No, I still don't think you get it. Phil, you can barely read treble clef, and you are nowhere near ready for bass clef," Dan said, looking at Phil and trying not to give in. "I swear, once you can read notes the rest will be easy! All you'll have to do is read as you play instead of having to memorize it."

"Dannnnnnnnn," Phil said, tilting his head in his direction.

Dan smiled at him sweetly. "Phillllllllllll."

"Please?"

"No."

"But learning notes isn't as fun as actually playing them."

"Playing correctly is even better."

Phil looked at Dan, and he felt like he wanted to bang his head against a wall. He had decided that he absolutely hated treble and bass clef. Why were there so many letters anyways? He couldn't keep track of it all.

Staring at the ceiling, Phil mumbled, "this is no fun."

"Too bad," Dan said, shoving the pencil back into Phil's hand.

"I still hate you, you know," Phil murmured.

Dan laughed. "Of course you do."

Dan resumed pointing out certain things to Phil and explaining what they were, and Phil continued to listen. He may have felt like he wanted to jump out of Dan's bedroom window, but he decided to focus on Dan's voice rather than his words. He had a nice voice, and Phil could listen to it forever. Well, he could, if he was talking to him about literally anything else.

"Are you serious?" Dan snickered, noting how Phil was staring at a corner of the desk and seemed to be lost in his thoughts. "You're not paying attention? Again, really?"

"S-sorry."

Dan rolled his eyes playfully and threw the pencil he was holding at Phil's shoulder. Leaning back in his chair, he lifted his feet up onto the desk and rubbed his eyes, hiding his smile. "You're impossible."