" MUSE " D. KEY

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR.

Marley's eyes watered as she focused on the sheet music in front of her, part of her forgetting about the need to blink. She was busy silently reading over the notes and rhythms to Let It Be by the Beatles, fingering along with her flute in her hands, before she started recording her newest cover.

The Beatles held a special place in Marley's heart, as well as her whole family. Ever since she was a young child, her parents had her listening to old records of the band on a phonograph that had been passed down through several generations.

The phonograph now belonged to Marley, and it sat on an end table in the corner of her living room.

The Beatles were her mother's favorite band. The way the older woman's eyes lit up whenever she talked about the British band from the 60s reminded Marley of the way a modern day teenage girl's face would look whenever she talked about One Direction. Whenever her father proposed to her mother, he sang Hey Jude (because, quite ironically, Marley's mother's name was Judith.)

Because of her family's history with the old band, Marley made sure she did a cover of a song by the Beatles once a month, as a tribute to her mother who watched every single one of her videos.

Just before Marley was able to press record on her camera, ready to begin playing the song, her phone that sat on the end table beside her started vibrating. The screen lit up, and her familiar ringtone began playing loudly (she wasn't ashamed to admit the fact that her ringtone just so happened to be a montage of Markiplier's various screams.) At any other time, she would have laughed her ass off at the different scream's coming from her phone's speakers, but at that moment it scared the life out of her, causing her to jump violently on her stool.

"Crap," she groaned aloud, rolling her eyes in annoyance. She always remembered to put her phone on Do Not Disturb before she began shooting a video; she must have forgotten this time. Setting her flute down carefully, she reached for her phone. As she read the name of the screen (a name she never would have thought would appear) her heart seemed to plummet to her feet.

Devan.

Why is Devan calling me? She wondered as she stared down at the five letters flashing across her screen. Markiplier's screams still kept going, but she knew that at any moment her phone would send Devan to voicemail. She debated just letting it, for her stomach twisted inside of her at the thought of actually talking to Devan Key.

But how often would one get this opportunity? Not very often, she concluded, and with shaky hands and a pounding heart, she answered the phone before she could convince herself otherwise.

Neither of them spoke for a moment; the only sound that could be heard was Marley's shaky breathing. Eventually, however, she forced herself to speak. "H-hello?" She silently cursed herself for sounding so pathetic- so nervous. Her voice was soft and shaky, and for a moment she wondered if Devan had even heard her.

"Hey," spoke a voice over the speaker, a voice that she had only in YouTube videos. He sounded so different over the phone; she was so used to the loudness of his voice as he and Collins talked over each other, making sure they could be heard clearly in the video. But now, as he talked normally, his voice sounded much more warmer, more real. "What happened to the overly-confident Marley that I've been speaking to for months?"

A breathy laugh followed his words, and Marley could tell that he was nervous, too.

"The overly-confident Marley was never there," she replied, beginning to feel more comfortable with every passing second. "Just the slightly-confident Marley."

Devan didn't answer right away; she could just barely hear him sigh over the line. Marley found it weird that she could sense the smile that he wore on his face, wide and bright- she could see it in her mind, and this made her smile, too. "Oh my God, your voice."

"What? It sounds like I'm five?" Marley joked, though she couldn't help but feel slightly self-conscious at that moment- a feeling she didn't experience all that often. She couldn't help but wonder what her voice did sound like over the phone. "That's why I prefer to play the flute. It sounds better than my voice."

"Nonsense," Devan insisted, and once again Marley knew he was smiling.

"Not that I'm not glad you called-" Even though I'm nervous as hell to be speaking to Devan Key over the phone right now, she added in her mind- "but why did you decide to randomly call me?"

"I took a break from painting, and I realized that I've never actually heard your voice before," Devan explained with a nervous laugh. "I wanted to hear it."

"Well, now that you've heard it, what do you think?" Marley questioned jokingly. She hated the fact that when she was nervous she tended to ramble, thus saying things that didn't make sense or that were just downright stupid.

"I think it's beautiful, Marley," Devan responded almost immediately. Marley heard a quiet thump over the line, as if the boy had smacked himself. She didn't ponder on that, however, as she was currently trying to steady her breathing and fluttering heart after Devan said her name.

"You have quite the charming voice, as well, Dev," she said into the phone, and once again she could almost see him smile. "And a really nice smile."

"How'd you know I was smiling?"

Marley shrugged with a cheeky grin. "Just a guess. I mean, who wouldn't be smiling while talking on the phone with the wonderful Marley Gittens?"

"Don't get cocky now, Mar," Devan warned with a short laugh. "I mean, you're not wrong, but there's no need to gloat about it."

Marley couldn't help but notice the shakiness that still laced his words. Devan was extremely nervous, and she wondered why. The boy always seemed to confident while on camera, but now it seemed as though he had never spoken to a girl in his life.

"Hey, listen, I was just about to record a video when you called, so-"

"Oh, were you?" Devan cut her off. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry. I'll let you go."

"Thanks," Marley smiled, but before she said her goodbyes she added: "this was nice. Maybe we could do it again sometime?"

"I'd like that," Devan agreed. "Text me later?"

"Of course. Bye, Dev."

"Bye, beautiful." Before she had the chance to process his words, the line went dead as Devan hung up.

As Marley recorded her video that afternoon, she couldn't get the sound of Devan's voice out of her head; the way he said her name, his soft laugh and the way he called her beautiful. It could have just been a coincidence, but Marley felt as if she played better than she ever had before.

xxx

A/N:

Omg I'm so proud of this chapter. I just think it's the cutest thing ever and I'm in love with it. I LOVE MARVAN THEY JUST NEED TO DATE ALREADY ;)))))