Like Father Like Son

So I met someone...

1915
GUSTAVE

I missed her! Although I'm not quite sure why - we spent the afternoon together yesterday with William and the rest of our friends. We were supposed to be doing homework, but the two of us just ended up chatting and laughing away like the others weren't there. I wanted to see her again but Papa didn't know yet and Monday seemed so far away and-

"Gustave? Hello?" I blinked hard, my father waving a hand in front of my face. "Are you still here? If you have no interest in paying attention to the lesson, we can stop," he said. "I have work I could be doing. One of my clients is already getting impatient with the wait for their home design."

"No, no! I'm listening!" I insisted as I adjusted my posture before he would have to tell me to. "Where were we? Practising one of Chopin's compositions, right? I'm ready to play it for you."

"Gustave." Papa sighed and ran a hand over his hair. "We were practising one of Mozart's pieces. We have been for just under an hour now. Or at least I have been. What have you been up to?"

"Daydreaming, I suppose. My mind is on someone...something else." I cursed myself silently for tripping over my words as I watched my father's brow crease into a frown. "Just thinking about something. Not anything in particular."

"You said 'someone'. Who is the someone in question?"

 
I sighed, but couldn't help but smile as I got to my feet and started to pace a little. "So I met someone..." I started. "I met a girl."

"A girl? Another one?" Papa repeated, already the slightest bit wary of the scenario at hand. "Do you really want to put us through that again?"

"Us?" I laughed. "I was the one who dealt with the heartbreak!"

"And I was the one who had to deal with you as you dealt with said heartbreak. I never realized just how related we are until I saw how much you cried over that young lady."

"But Papa, this one is different!" I cried, practically whining to defend the girl who had captured my heart.

He chuckled. "Of course she is. They're all different at the start, mio soldatino."

I frowned. "How would you know? You only ever truly loved one woman," I said.

"One that you know of."

That was the comment that threw me for a loop. "What?!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, nothing. So, this new girl. Tell me her name," Papa prompted, sitting back in his chair and crossing his legs at the knee, all the while never wiping a small smile from his face.

"A girl?" Papa repeated, already the slightest bit wary of the scenario at hand. "Well then. What's her name?"

"Lara." My heart fluttered just saying her name - she truly did have me head over heels for her. "Lara Thomas. We met at the beginning of the school year in the music practice room at lunch. I ducked in there because William had gone off for a sports tryout with our friends and my anxiousness was kicking in, so I escaped to the music room. Little did I know, but I had a guest at my private performance."