Falling Slowly

iii. her

saturday, november twenty-third, twenty-fourteen

• • •

"how's performance going?"
"it's going."
"anything stick out in particular?"
"well there's this guy..."

• • •

the next week
her father pulled up
to the alleyway
and parked in his usual spot.
"I'll be here at four, kiddo."
"cool."

• • •

she pushed past the doors,
her electric guitar case in one hand.
she felt embarrassed.
to be the only one who
didn't own an acoustic guitar
when she signed up
for an acoustic show.

• • •

what an idiot,
she thought to herself.

• • •

"good morning, dear,"
said the nice secretary
named judy.

• • •

she liked judy.
judy was like that
grandmother who always baked
an excess amount of cookies,
hoping that someone
would care enough to stop by
and take some.

• • •

taking a deep breath,
she ascended the staircase.
she nearly tripped on
the third step.

• • •

once in the practice area,
she took her spot
on the right side
of that elderly couch,
and prepared her sheet music
and her electric guitar.

• • •

she was always the
first to arrive.
people trickled in
five minutes after one;
they were late.
but one person never came in
until a quarter has passed,
and the lateness
was unorthodox.

• • •

his footsteps
could be heard
underneath the rumbling
of the bass drum.

• • •

she indulged herself in
the advanced placement
biology homework
she brought to practice --
to get stuff done
while she had time.

she never had time.

• • •

there was a creak
and a drop in the seat
as he sat on the left side
of the old, worn-out couch.
there was a gap in the center;
just like last week.

• • •

he had his head
propped on his hand,
his elbow on the sofa arm
as he closed his eyes.
was he really that uninterested?

• • •

this was the one thing
that she was so very
very
very
passionate about.
and it was like he didn't
even care.

• • •

she furrowed her brows,
deciding that this boy
that she had convinced herself
that she liked
was not what she expected
and that she only
thought she liked him
because like others her age
she was in love with the idea
of being in love.

• • •

she went back to
explaining the importance
of genomic imprinting.

• • •

"radioactive in the front,
closer to fine in the back,"
announced derek.
she got up, setting
the notebook
with neatly written letters
down on the right side.

• • •

slowly,
she grabbed her electric guitar
for an acoustic song
and started for the front.

• • •

"I need to borrow an acoustic again."
she told derek.
"do you not own one?"
"it can't plug into an amp."
he pointed to the boy's Taylor.
"why don't you borrow his again?"

• • •

swallowing,
she glanced back over her shoulder.
looking for his eyes.

• • •

he was still dozed off,
but the tapping of his foot
to the rhythm of the back group's song
gave his consciousness away.

• • •

deciding that she didn't care
what he thought,
she picked up his guitar
from the rack
and took her seat.

• • •

he never opened his eyes.

• • •

plugging the acoustic
into one of the free amps,
she took a seat
and set her music on the stand
counting off a
one
two
three
four
and plucked the strings
of his acoustic guitar
with a graceful lilt.

• • •

the rest of her group
entered the song
but she was too focused
on making sure she was perfect
and entered
her zone of concentration
where it was just her
and the music.

• • •

the hairs on the
back of her neck rose.
she glanced up while

he glanced away.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Comment, vote, promote. :) Dedicated to lydiarse because she's honestly my inspiration on wattpad. Go read her stuff now. o:

-Isabelle