Falling Slowly

Pt.2|Ch.12

Tuesday

•••••Aiden's Perspective

Each clock ticks its time by,
And now nothing's left to do but pray
That my redhead's alright
That he's not wasting away
Like the wick of a candle that's set alight

Embarrassed at myself, I scribbled the stanza out as quickly as I'd written it.

'Get a grip.' I scolded myself, closing the journal and wrapping the string around it again.

I'd had that thing for almost two years, and it still had plenty of room for me and my stupid words.

Groaning aloud in frustration, I picked Cephas up and set her on my shoulder.

I wasn't sure what I was playing, but my fingers danced across the fingerboard, and I pulled the bow steadily across the strings.

A silly, made-up melody, almost as ridiculous as the poem I'd attempted to write.

It seemed as though both my words and my music had decided to fail me that day.

I set Cephas down, and set to cleaning the rosin dust off of her strings.

It didn't matter if I couldn't play anything right then, but the show in two hours was a different story.

"Hey," an all-too-familiar voice came from the door, making my heart skip a beat.

"Hey," I replied, turning to face him. He was definitely more tired than the last time I'd seen him, but looked to be healthy otherwise.

"How are you?" I asked. "I haven't seen you in, like,"

"Ten days." Sky leaned against the doorframe, scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah, I'm alright."

I nodded, gesturing to the chairs that were set up next to the music stands. "Do you want to sit down?"

"Can I?" He took a step inside. "I didn't know if you were done rehearsing or not,"

"We had a run-through rehearsal earlier."

"Oh," He took my offer, taking a seat. "You know you're, like, the only one who uses this music room?"

I nodded, pulling out another chair and sitting across from him. "Then no one should interrupt our conversation."

"That's true." He agreed, letting his bronze eyes study my face. "You look pretty today." He mumbled, fiddling awkwardly with his hands. "As usual."

I smiled, laughing for the first time in days. "Thank you, Sky."

He nodded, still staring at his hands.

I cleared my throat. "Ben said you were at the show yesterday. I didn't see you, but he—"

"Aiden," He interrupted.

I looked up. "Yeah?"

He lifted his head, deep regret swimming in his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I haven't talked to you since the night she died...I didn't even bother to ask how you were dealing with it, and," a tear slipped free, making its way down his cheek. "I shouldn't have left you by yourself,"

I rose from my chair, standing next to him and drying his eyes with the edge of my sleeve. "It's okay," I said softly. "You needed time to yourself, I get that. Josh and Ben checked up on me whenever they could—"

"They shouldn't have to." He protested. "I should be able to take care of you."

"But with the loss you just suffered, you'd need a few days to recharge." I smiled down at him. "I'm fine, and it's my job to take care of you until you are."