Georgie and I are friends again and I couldn't be happier. I took a picture of us together and sent it to Mom with a text that said "I'm sleeping over at Georgie's house." It was nearly a mocking move but not really. I didn't want my mom to get the wrong idea of where I am.
I slept over and it was Georgie's turn to get me up-to-date on what's been going on in her life. She had a boyfriend named Kale and he was her first for everything. They'd been a thing since 8th grade and I thought that was pretty amazing.
By the morning, it was like we had never had a separation of seven years, we were goofing off and enjoying ourselves and I didn't miss the satisfied smile Pat had when he looked at us laughing together while watching Full House.
I hadn't talked to Mom in about four days and I'd been carrying on with Max fine and hadn't been talking to Joe more than I usually do.
Mom and Joe have appeared to be kind of uncomfortable around each other, so I figured Joe properly confessed his affair, but I don't know what else is going on with that.
Today was Wednesday and I was practicing after my lesson with Mr. River on the piano, making sure I had my piano part down. I would be practicing with the band some more tomorrow. Band practices together were on Mondays and Thursdays and one-on-ones were on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On Friday there were usually practices, too, but they were very flexible. Weekend practices were only when we were going to have a concert coming up soon.
I grinned when I did the part that I'd been struggling on correctly where the speedy tempo became a problem. I loved playing the piano because it helped me focus my attention on learning something new or mastering something old and helped me forget all my problems. My problems became only lost memories when I played.
I heard clapping behind me and I whipped my head around to see it was Dylan. I laughed at him as he continued to clap and cupped his hands over his mouth to make a "microphone" and made the sound that resembled an audience cheering.
"Shut up," I giggled, covering my face with my hands. I didn't like playing for a specific person, or anybody in general. Playing with a band was a different story; my playing wasn't individualized.
"Why?" Dylan asked teasingly, coming over to me, "You're amazing! You haven't even been playing for that long."
I looked down at the keys and noticed how relaxed my long fingers were against them. I smiled fondly, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Dylan replied, standing next to me. It was strange being so close to him. It wasn't like I hadn't hugged him before and we were both comfortable with each other; we were practically best friends. But for whatever reason, this felt different.
I could feel the heat from his body radiating towards mine and it felt comforting with him right there, giving me some warmth that I didn't need before. At that moment, I wanted more than anything for him to wrap his arms around me and never let go.
"Thank you for everything," I murmured, looking only at the notes on my music sheet.
Dylan leaned closer, his mouth next to my ear and I suppressed a shiver when he chuckled and I could feel the rumble of his chest next to me, "What do you mean?"
"For being my friend and for being a great one at that," I blurted out. Dylan backed up a little and when I turned to look at him, I could've sworn I'd seen a flash of disappointment before a grin quickly covered it.
"Please," he laughed, "I'm a fantastic friend."
I rolled my eyes at him and playfully punched him in the stomach, "Fine, you're a fantastic friend. But so am I."
"You are," Dylan admitted, the teasing in his voice gone. I smiled.
"I think that's the best compliment I've ever received in a long time," I told him.
"Then it's a pleasure that I was the one to deliver it," Dylan replied.
We were quiet for no more than a few minutes - those minutes holding no awkwardness, but only comfort - before Dylan grabbed my hand and started pulling me down the school hall with only a few students milling around.
"What are you doing?" I asked with an unwanted giggle.
"Well," Dylan started out dramatically, and I easily caught on to where he was taking me, "since you were able to learn how to play the piano so quickly and easily, I thought I could maybe teach you how to play the drums."
"The drums were in the music room."
"Yeah, but the whole set is in the band practice room."
"You just want to get me alone, don't you?"
"Where's the fun in admitting my true intentions?"
"You're not gonna kill me; right?"
"Of course not, Chrissy, I would never want to kill you or try to. I care about you way too much."
