The Piano Knows Something I Don't Know

What is happiness?

What is happiness?

The days passed by in a flurry as the weather got even colder, my schoolwork got harder, and I fell even more in love with Brendon Urie. Patrick became a regular presence at the Aubergine Dream, although he rarely left Pete's side, and we would both often arrive home late. Nevertheless, it was a perfect lifestyle, despite all of the sleep deprivation. Seeing Brendon every night made all of the hours slaving over my schoolwork worth it.

One especially cold day, Patrick and I returned home from lunch to find a sign attached to the entrance to Flack Hall. Patrick stood on the tips of his toes and read the sign, and neither of us could believe what it said.

The heating system in Flack Hall is currently broken. We are working on a solution, and it should be fixed soon. Thank you for your patience! - The Kale University Maintenance Team

"This can't be serious," Patrick said. "Maybe the Greek Friendship Society is trying to pull a prank on us."

"That is a possibility, but this would be an unusually cruel prank," I said. "Not even the Greek Friendship Society would dare to pretend that the heater is broken in the middle of winter, so I think that it's real."

"What are we going to do?" Patrick asked. He already had a worried expression on his face.

All of a sudden, Hayley came up to us. "What's all of the commotion about?" she asked.

"Apparently the heating system in Flack Hall is broken," I said.

"I heard about that a few hours ago," Hayley said. "I also talked to the administration, and it should be fixed within two days."

"Two days?" Patrick said, panicked. It did seem like a long time to be without a place to live.

Hayley nodded and added, "They suggested that we find another place to stay until they fix it, preferably the Freshman Quad or one of the nearby Greek houses. I don't know about you, but I'm heading over to the Greek Friendship Society house to ask them if they'd be willing to take some of us."

"Why did it have to break at this time of year?" Patrick asked.

"Nature hates us," I said. It was the only reasonable explanation for a tragedy like this.

"No kidding," Hayley said. "What are you two going to do?"

"I think I'll go to the Greek Friendship Society house with you," Patrick said.

"I don't know yet," I said. There were plenty of other things that I had to worry about first, and I could always sleep in the library if I needed to.

I headed off to Beauregard Library to work on my paper on The Zhuangzi for Ancient Philosophy, and once I finished, I proofread my work and went to the Aubergine. I presumed that Patrick would meet me there later, so I wasn't concerned that I was going without him. I walked through Old Haven until I found the familiar neon purple sign, and as usual, Brendon was already there.

"Ryro!" Brendon exclaimed with a goofy grin on his face. "What's up?"

"I've just been having a bad day," I said.

"What happened?" Brendon asked.

"The Greek Friendship Society was incredibly noisy last night, so I couldn't sleep, my Ancient Philosophy professor assigned a rather extensive paper on The Zhuangzi, and now the heating system in my residence hall is broken and won't be fixed for another two days," I said. "I've heard that it might take even longer than that."

"That sounds terrible," Brendon said.

"It is terrible," I said. "I don't know what I'm going to do. If I stay in Flack Hall tonight, I'll probably freeze to death."