Everything (in) between us

7: Violin, Piano and something in between

Computer Science was dreadful.

It was a class Aria shared with Vanessa and all she could hear from the back of the lab were girls, laughing. She knew they would be pointing at her, whispering horrible things. She didn't understand why they were doing what they were doing, but she didn't care enough to find out.

Aria had never been as glad to see a lesson end as she was in that moment. She heard Vanessa call her name, but acted as if she didn't as she speed walked the hell out.

She found Andro on his way to music, his guitar strapped across his back. She was panting.

He glanced sideways at her. "You okay?" he asked, looking behind her to see who she was running from.

She nodded, and pulled all her hair over one shoulder. Andro shrugged and looked forward again, walking faster to keep to her pace.

"Did you sleep with my brother last night?" he asked, and, as the breath was knocked right out of her, Aria spluttered, choking on her own spit.

He gasped slightly and rubbed her back.

"W-what?!" she yelled after she was done, pushing his hand off her. "No! Why on earth would you think that?"

He was confused, as if he hadn't expected this response. So what the hell did he expect, Aria thought, almost bitter that he wasn't more... jealous, about it, actually.

"Well, Hero came home grinning," he explained, still rubbing her back slightly, almost as if he were doing it unknowingly. "And you're practically glowing. I just thought..."

"You thought I had sex with Harlan?"

Andro frowned and tilted his head. "Harlan?" He asked, his eyes clouding over with confusion. Aria frowned. Did Andro not know his own brother's name? "Who's Harlan?"

She thought of the panic in Hero's voice the previous night, and bit her lip. "No one," she said. "I just..." she struggled to come up with an excuse. Greeny. "I use it to piss him off, because he calls me Greeny."

Andro shrugged. "It's okay, if you did," he continued. "Most girls do."

She wasn't particularly bothered that he had made that assumption about her. What bothered her more was the fact that he didn't care about who she slept with... if anyone.

"You- you wouldn't care?" She asked, hating herself for feeling upset about that. Of course he wouldn't care. He wasn't her boyfriend, nor was he interested in her.

He glanced down at her, and he was confused from the look of it. "No," he said nonchalantly, and Aria could tell he was being completely honest. "Sh-should I care?"

Aria gulped down the ball of emotion. You've only known him six weeks, he's not exactly the love of your life.

"No," she laughed slightly, and walked a little faster. Andro didn't move, but looked on as she walked away. "Why would you care?"

Before he could reply, she was gone.

***

Andro stared at the back of Aria's head from behind her in the lecture hall. The professor was talking about which specific notes fit into which specific pitches, but Andro knew everything he was saying, so instead he focussed on Aria. She scribbled down notes occasionally, and from what he could see, she had bubbly, very neat and symmetrical hand writing. He glanced down at his own notebook. The mild dyslexia made it difficult for him to be very good with writing notes, but increased his momentum when he was performing.