An Endless Serenade

Chapter Thirty

"Again, Allie."

My mouth dropped and I stared at Paul in horror. "Again?!"

He nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. "You barely have it memorized. Keep doing it until you have it all memorized."

"It's not fair," I whined. "My hands hurt. We've been going at it all day— all week!"

It'd been crack down time, and my fingers were really regretting it.

"Play it again," he ordered.

"Tyrant," I muttered.

"Teacher," he corrected.

Sighing, I put my hands back to the keys. "Alright, alright..."

Then, just as I was about to start playing, the door to the classroom opened up. Beaming in delight at my lord and savior, I twisted in my chair to shout an 'I love you!' to whoever walked in. However, when Kyle met my gaze, I snapped my mouth shut.

"What do you want?" Paul asked flatly.

I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. It was cute how annoyed Paul got with Kyle.

Kyle smiled sheepishly. "I, uh, just wanted to check in on Allie. Olivia told me she's been practicing hard for Nationals."

"Yes, I have been," I said, flexing my bicep. "Too bad this time Olivia's not in the competition— now you won't have any one to go blabbing to, huh?"

"I... deserved that," he admitted. "What I did was pretty awful, huh?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"Especially because I'm a grown adult."

"Again, yep."

"I realized it then, but I guess I was a little blinded by my feelings. I really do feel terrible about all that's happened," he carried on, cupping his elbow with one hand. "So I wanted to apologize again..."

"Apology accepted," I said easily.

Paul's head whipped around to me. "What?"

"What?" I responded. "It's no dust under my shoe."

"I think you mean no dirt off your shoulder," Kyle corrected me.

I waved my hand nonchalantly. "Tomato, tomato. Point is, I'm over it. I don't like dealing with drama, anyway. And also, I still won the competition."

"Well I guess if you won then that's all that matters," Paul said dryly. "Not that he used you, or anything."

"I really regret it," Kyle spoke up again. "That's why I came to see if you needed help with anything."

"She doesn't," Paul said brusquely.

"Actually, I could use a break," I said, pushing away from the piano. "I'm hungry. Why don't we all get something to eat? At the diner?"

Kyle brightened at my words. "You want to hang out?"

"You want to hang out?" Paul echoed, sounding more distressed than happy.

"Yeah, I'm hungry," I repeated, giving Paul the puppy-dog look. "Please? I promise I'll practice more at home."

Paul seemed hesitant. He glanced at Kyle and frowned. I wondered if he felt jealous.