Amor de mi Alma || 2Jae

Chapter 2

Something about performing Last Ride of the Pony Express gives Youngjae an even better thrill than just playing it during practice.

During the only moment he can move from the timpani, he plays the triangle in the first few bars as an extra addition, as Mr. Divins had said it was. It sounded good so no-one complained about it during practice. He also plays as loud as Mr. Divins wants him to, and he even goes the extra bit and over-exaggerate his movements, as he notices the audience is amused by it. He can't help but grin widely when Jaehoon shakes his head in disbelief.

During Praetorian Guard, things go a little wrong (Rosy drops her drumstick by accident after she finishes playing a line on her snare-drum and it makes an ugly sound in the middle of the silence) and Cha'la goes great in his opinion (everyone had quite some fun with the chanting and clapping). 

Sooner than Youngjae likes, the concert is over and the Jazz kids stream out of the Gymnasium to put their instruments away, and a minute later Mr. Divins dismisses the remaining group of students, who also hurry to put away their instruments. 

After most of the chairs and guests are out of the Gymnasium, Youngjae begins telling his section to put things away, helping roll the marimba back to the Band Room himself with Yugyeom on the other side of the instrument. 

Warm laughter was heard from the corner of the room and chattering everywhere else, and Youngjae stretched out as Yugyeom went to find Kunpimook and Yugyeom. He is immediately attacked in a hug, a girl's body on his back and her legs around his waist, arms around his neck.

"Hi, Youngjae!"

Youngjae grins and Jasmine, one of the alto saxophones, climbs off his back and presses a short kiss to his lips. "You played great, as usual."

"And you too, especially your solo in Jazz,"

"Thank you, Jae!" Jasmine grins at him and her friend Delma call for her. "I'll get going now, Delma wanted to take Braelynn and me to McDonalds for ice-cream."

"Get me some too?"

"Of course!" Jasmine says as she begins to walk away, kissing Youngjae once more before disappearing between people.

"Stop acting so sickly in love, it's so sweet I'm going to vomit," Jinyoung appears beside Youngjae. "C'mon, you said you wanted to meet my friends and they're here right now, and if you'll want to meet the one that did the cool graffiti in the second-floor bathroom you'll have to hurry because he has social anxiety and really wants to go back to his house."

"Social anxiety?"

"And I probably shouldn't've told you that so don't let him know that you know or he'll kill me." Jinyoung takes Youngjae's sleeve and pulls him toward the corner where the warm laughter came from and now Youngjae sees who was behind it; a short boy with dyed-red hair and wearing a basketball jersey with the name 'TUAN' written on the back doubled over and laughing as a second boy, just as short, tickles his side, brown hair swept aside and the name 'WANG' shining on his back.

"Mark! Jackson!" The two boys immediately look up and Youngjae grins at them. "This is the Youngjae I told you about, the timpani-player in that song you two liked that much, Last Ride of the Pony Express."

"Pleasure," says the brown-haired. "The name is Jackson Wang,"

"Oh shut up, Jackson," Jinyoung scoffs. "He has a girlfriend - oh, there he is - Jaebum!"

A few seconds later they are joined by a boy that's just a little taller than Youngjae, brown eyes cast to the ground and his red-brown hair falling in front of his face, covering his whole forehead and part of his eyebrows. Youngjae noticed how he was wiping his shaky hands on his sweatpants and seemed to be trying his very best to remain unseen among everyone else in the Band Room.

"Youngjae, this is Jaebum, the boy that did the graffiti in the second-floor washroom," Jinyoung introduces.

"It's nice to meet you, Jaebum," Youngjae sticks out his hand (Jackson calls that he wanted to have a proper introduction too). After a few seconds, Jaebum only glances up and then glances aside, and Youngjae lowers his hand awkwardly and clears his throat. "I really liked the graffiti you did."

"Thanks," Jaebum mumbles. He raises his head and looks at Jinyoung with tired, sad eyes. "Can I go home now? I liked the concert but I really want to leave."

"Sure you can, go call your mom, she can pick you up, right?" Jaebum nods and leaves. Youngjae is quite surprised that the boy disappears so quickly, and the tone of Jinyoung's voice is one he has never heard before. It's caring, but not the motherly-kind of caring when he scolds the two younger boys (who are nowhere in sight, currently) for doing something stupid. It's more of a 'please be careful and safe I know that you're hurting' kind of caring. And that is was sparks curiosity in Youngjae's mind, yet he decides to play it safe and keep his mouth shut about it.

"I should probably get going," Mark says calmly, though there is still evidence of laughter in his voice. "I don't want to let my Friday night go to waste."

"Is that an insult I hear?"

"No." Mark grins at Jinyoung. "It was nice to meet you, Youngjae. See you around on Monday."

Mark pats Youngjae on his shoulder as he passes and soon after Jackson follows, winking at the younger once and avoiding Jinyoung's hand that comes flying toward him. 

Once the two are out of sight, Jinyoung turns to Youngjae. "So? What'd you think of them?"

"Not like I had expected," Youngjae chuckles, loosening his tie. He somehow felt watched from afar and glanced around the room briefly. "That Jaebum is..."

"Odd?"

"Yeah."

"He's been like that since I met him in freshman year," Jinyoung rubs his forehead with the heel of his palm, looking out the door where Jaebum had disappeared moments ago. 

"Do you know how he got social anxiety?"

"No, and even if I knew, he would've told me knowing that he could trust that I wouldn't tell anyone else, so you wouldn't even get a word out of me about it if I knew." Jinyoung looks at Youngjae. "I've been trying to convince him to join Band for a while now but he kept saying that he didn't want to because he knew literally no-one but me and he doesn't like the saxophone. Maybe he'll join percussion line."

"Maybe," Youngjae says, and then he clicks his tongue. "I wouldn't mind helping him, just tell him that, okay?"

Jinyoung nods. "I doubt you'd see him much anyway, he's always either at home or in the guidance office upstairs. Doesn't like to meet people."

"Understandable."

"But just know," Jinyoung continues as if Youngjae didn't just interrupt him. "He's been looking at you for a while now, ever since he passed the Band Room last week and saw you play. He's actually very observant, likes to use you as his muse. Maybe you could help him with more than just percussion and reading music." Jinyoung pats Youngjae's upper arm. "But I'll leave now, my sister will probably be waiting for me at her car."

Youngjae nods and Jinyoung leaves, picking up his saxophone and putting it away on the shelf of instruments before taking his backpack and jacket and walking out the Band Room.