A Million Heartbeats

A spy on the garden

Even the audition had been pretty good; Robert was not going to take any risks, so he started rehearsing every afternoon after school. As soon as he stood up from the table after dinner, he’d run to his room and grab his guitar. The days were getting hotter every time and he tried practicing outside in the backyard enjoying the cool summer breeze. Robert would sing his heart out as if no one was listening, but there was someone who had been listening to him for the past couple of days, his next door neighbor, Nerissa. She would sit in the grass of her backyard and stare at the beautiful afternoon sky as she listened intently to the lyrics coming out of Robert’s voice, and the beautiful notes of his guitar. Whenever it was a love song, she’d close her eyes and imagine he was singing to her that always brought a big smile to her face.

The more she thought or hears about him, the more confused she was. She hated him for being so rude and cold, but at the same time that was exactly what made her even more curious about Robert, somehow she wanted to get to know him better. She wasn’t totally convinced that was his real personality.

That afternoon as she was listening to him play, she gathered the courage to stand up and let him know how beautiful he played.

“You are absolutely amazing”. She told him as she stand to peek to the other side of the fence.

Robert was very surprised to know she had been listening to him, but he was also upset about it. So as soon as he heard her voice and saw her, he stopped playing and stood from where he was seating to walk towards her. At that moment Nerissa wasn’t sure if let him know she was there had been the greatest idea, she started having second thoughts, maybe she should have stayed quiet just like the past days, but there was something inside her that had driven her to confront him.

Robert stopped as he got near the fence and looked at her directly in the eyes.

“How long have you been listening?”. He asked her.

“Since you started”. She replied.

“You mean since I started today or since I started coming out here to rehearse?”.

She couldn’t believe it, was he some kind of mind reader, or maybe he had been watching her in secret too. How could he know she had been there for the past days, if she had remained quiet all that time?

“What do you mean?”.  The tone on her voice and the vague answer exposed her nervousness and the obvious fact that she had been doing so for a while.

“Nothing,Just forget it”. Robert simply said and turned around.

“Robert wait!”. Nerissa surprisingly said.

Robert feet stopped the second he heard her voice calling his name. He smiled, but as soon as he turned to her, he changed his smile for a serious expression.

“Yes?”. He asked.

“Don’t go, I mean you don’t have to leave because I’m here, I can go back inside my house and let you rehearse without distractions”.

“So you are saying that you distract me?”. He asked, slowly walking towards her looking her in the eyes.

Nerissa couldn’t help but to feel nervous and she did not know what to say.  And she couldn’t fool herself, she knew perfectly how nervous he made her feel every time he looked at her in the eyes, but his mere presence was enough to send her feelings on a twister of emotions.

“Well not exactly, but since you know I’m here listening, maybe that keeps you from playing like you really do, maybe you play and sing better when you know you are alone, that’s all I’m saying”.

“So I wasn’t playing nice?”. Robert insisted, trying to make her more nervous.

“No!, I mean, yes you were, but maybe I just shouldn’t-“. She began to stutter.

“I think you should stay”. Robert kindly told her, now trying to make her feel better about herself.

“Well, is kind of dinner time and my mom will probably call me to go inside anytime now, so I better go inside”. She said, smiling and waving at him before leaving.

Robert just smiled at her and gave her a slight wave with his hand as he watched her leave. It was like she was contradicting him. She sure was a strange girl and with every word they crossed, Robert just wanted to know more and more about her.

But as she left, he turned around too and sat on the grass to continue to play his guitar. Then Claudine came out running to the backyard.

“Robert, there is a guy outside that is looking for you his name is Jason”. Claudine said.

Robert stood up and went to the front door, there was Jason.

“Hey dude!” Jason greeted Robert.

“Hey Jason, what are you doing here?” Robert asked him.

“Sorry I came without prior notice, but I needed to talk to you”. Jason said.

“Sure, come on in”. Robert replied opening the door to let him in.

“Wow this is such a nice a nice house dude”. Jason said as he looked up to the ceiling and walls.

“Yeah I guess it is, so?”. Robert replied as he stared at Jason waiting for him to tell him the reason of his surprise visit.

Once Jason finished looking around he looked back at Robert.

“Oh, sorry dude, I can’t help but be curious about the homes of people”. Jason said.

“Yeah I can see that, so do you want to tell me something?”. Robert asked him.

“No, actually I just came here to ask you for a huge favor”.

“What is it?. Wait, how did you find out my address?” Robert asked.

“Don’t worry about it dude, I’m not spying on you or anything like that”. Jason said jokingly.

“So what is the huge favor you want to ask me for?”.

“Oh yes, dude could you teach me how to play guitar?”.

“Guitar, I thought you liked to be a drummer”.

“I do, but is always good to add more instrument skills to your list”.

“Ok, so have you played other instrument before?”.

“Other than drums?, well I tried to play violin when I was in elementary school, but I failed miserably”. Jason said chuckling, while Robert laughed about it too.

“And apart from that, nothing else?”. Robert asked him, trying to hide his laughter.

“I’ve tried but the only instrument that I’m actually good at so far is the drums”.

“Ok, I guess I can teach you to play guitar, but is going to take a lot of patience and concentration”. Robert added.

“I will do whatever it takes, thanks dude you are so awesome!”. Jason said patting Robert on the back.