Deep Asleep

Chapter 14 : Music

Jane wasn't lying when she said she wouldn't be a good company; she completely ignored Max's presence. But the redhead was fine with that, she took her chess set, put it on a table, and tried to play against herself. She wished Jane was looking at her while doing this, maybe it could have helped her to remember how to play, but the brunette was looking at her ceiling with an angry expression on her face. Max had no idea of what she was doing with her chess pieces, she was just following what was written on her book. She looked at Jane, but the other girl was still angry. She spent the day working on her memory, her language, and other defects she had; she must be frustrated not to remember everything about her. Knowing Jane, it wouldn't be surprising.

- "What hurts you? What you don't remember or what you remember?" Max asked.

Jane didn't answer, she didn't even react.

- "Certainly both," Max mumbled.

Max wasn't expecting Jane to answer, but she wanted to cheer her up, not to feel completely useless. She sat on Jane's bed, switched on the TV, and searched for something interesting. She found a channel of music and let it, wondering if Jane knew some of these songs. Max was focused on Jane's face, but the girl really seemed too angry to participate in any conversation, but not the rest of her body apparently. Max felt something moving in the bed, when she looked down, she noticed that Jane was taping with her fingers like if she was playing the piano and she was beating the rhythm with her right foot. Max leaned above Jane's body to see if her left side was moving too. Her left foot was beating the rhythm too, and even her fingers were playing piano, even if it was less clear. Max put her face above Jane's and placed her hands on her cheeks, forcing her to look at her.

- "Did you use to play any instrument before?"

Jane frowned, not understanding why she was asking that right now. Max moved the brunette's head to let her see her hands moving.

- "...Piano...yeah...yeah! I was playing piano!" Jane excitedly said, like if she wasn't believing it. "Max! That's amazing! I was playing piano!"

- "Yeah! That's amazing!"

- "Oh my god, I can't believe I remembered that!"

- "Your body did, that's so cool!"

- "Yeah, that's so cool."

All this excitement got tired the brunette. She dropped her head on her pillow and closed her eyes, still not believing she remembered something, but, this time, she had a big smile on her face. Max didn't want to move from the bed; she wanted to admire the beautiful smile that Jane was wearing. It was the first time she had seen Jane smiling like that; it was something she had always wanted to see.

- "Thank you," Jane sighed.

- "For what?" Max frowned.

- "For being here."

- "No problem."

Max widely smiled and even felt her cheeks burning. The effects that Jane had on her were indescribable; she was feeling so many things inside her, it was so pleasant that she wanted it to last forever.

- "Are you gonna sleep?" Max murmured.

- "(softly sighs with her nose) Nah, I'm just enjoying my new discovery."

- "You know, maybe you could tell that to your therapist, he could maybe find you a piano, like that it would work your arms and your mind, no?"

- "Yeah, that sounds good," Jane smiled. "I certainly don't remember how to play."

- "It will come back; you need to work your cerebral plasticity."

- "My cerebral...plas-what?"

- "It's a part in your brain, I don't really know, but when you learn something new, the more you work on this thing, the more your cerebral plasticity grow, that's how playing instruments or chess become easier with the time."

- "Oh...okay. You know lots of things."

- "Not that much, I'm sure you're smarter than me."

- "Oh yeah, of course I am, it doesn't mean you're stupid!"

- "I can't tell if I should kill you or thank you," Max chuckled.

- "...Can I choose?" Jane joked.

Max gently pushed Jane's head, which amused the brunette. As Jane was feeling a bit better and was in a good mood, Max offered her to keep searching for her favorite bird. They did more pages than the day before, but Jane's favorite bird was still not on them, which depressed the brunette.

- "You already can play the piano; your bird can wait."

- "I guess..."

- "Don't be disappointed, see all the progress you made today, your brain is stimulated, it's a good thing."

- "Yeah, you're right."

- "I'm always right."

- "...yeah..."

- "I won't raise your unpleasant tone," Max joked with a serious tone.

Jane smiled again and the heat inside Max's body raised too rapidly to be controlled. She knew her cheeks became red and was sure that Jane noticed it.

- "You're red, are you sick?" Jane frowned.

Yep, she definitely noticed it.

- "No, I'm fine, it's the sun, that's all."

- "You wanna draw the curtains?"

- "No, no, you need sun too, don't worry for me."

- "Okay. Don't burn for me!"

- "I'm okay, don't worry. You should take some rest, to be in good shape for tomorrow, okay?"

- "Are you coming back tomorrow?"

- "Of course, do I have to remind you that I've nothing better to do?"

- "(lightly chuckles) Cool," Jane smiled.

The brunette slowly closed her eyes, feeling the tiredness coming. Max intertwined her fingers with hers and waited for Jane to fall asleep to leave. In fact, she wanted to stay as much as possible here, she was feeling good here, even when Jane wasn't a good company, it was still a better company than her own family. She was feeling normal with Jane, like if she was belonging here.