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No one was even breathing. I think we were all waiting for Aspen’s music, but it didn’t immediately come.
Whenever you’re ready, snowflake.
I was excited to hear her, but when she didn’t play, that anticipation shifted into something else. It made my heart race, and eventually, my hands clenched.
She wasn’t playing.
Aspen just stared at her sheet music blankly, and everyone started looking around. Maybe they thought they were missing something, and that drum in my chest hit violently.
Come on, snowflake.
No matter what my silent chants were, she wasn’t playing, and something made me grab the piano player next to me. He stood idle, waiting too. I angled down toward his height. “Hey, do we know what music she’s playing?”
The guy was surprised I spoke to him. His eyes flashed, but he nodded. He took a book off the piano and thumbed to an arrangement, and thank fuck it didn’t appear too difficult.
I hadn’t played in a while.
Honestly, this was a rash decision, and I’d chalk it up to my incessant need to continue to run into the flames for this girl. For some reason, I couldn’t stop.
I was addicted.
The music that filled the ballroom wasn’t confident at first. Again, I hadn’t played for a long fucking time, but sheer adrenaline was pushing me on. I pumped that sound into the ballroom, but only the beginning notes. I looped them around, and in the second playthrough, Aspen shifted around. I saw her in my periphery but couldn’t look up from the music.
Come on, snowflake.
I prayed she’d save my ass, and suddenly, it was me waiting for her to save me. This was awkward as fuck, and my notes weren’t as strong as they could be. They could be stronger.
And they were when she finally started playing.
She came in during my third playthrough, joining me, and I slowed to match her speed. I was rushing and trying to get through it, but I wasn’t anymore.
And the way she played…
I’d heard Aspen’s music before. She was famous for a frickin’ reason, and she showed this whole room her talent. She played out, killing it with a modern R&B song arranged in a classical style. I only wished I could watch her.
You got this, snow.
She did, and it was sheer adrenaline that got me through my own playing. That and wanting to hear her finish. We ended up doing that together, and when the room erupted in applause, I made sure that wasn’t for me.
I got up, applauding with everyone else for her, and I think mine was the loudest because eventually, she gazed over her shoulder at me. She had a look on her face I’d never seen, an awe in her eyes like she couldn’t believe what was happening.
Like she couldn’t believe I’d helped her.
I clapped hard, and a smile lifted her eyes. It pinched in the corner of her mouth too before she faced the crowd again. Holding her cello, she bowed a little, and wanting her to have her time in the sun, I eased from behind the piano. I allowed myself to fade into the crowd, and I didn’t stop hearing applause until I made it into another room. That was how loud it was.
I couldn’t believe I’d fucking done that, and my gram would be proud. She was the one who’d taught me piano like a million years ago.
It was rare I smiled from a memory of her and me these days. Memories of us usually made me sad, but today, they didn’t. I smiled wide, my hands in my pockets. I was kind of distracted in my thoughts, so it took me a moment to realize someone was in front of me.
I got nothing but the smell of cocoa and peppermint when small arms wove around me.
I huffed out a breath, as Aspen’s hold formed and her face buried into my ruffled shirt. “Snowflake?”
She didn’t answer, and I didn’t know what to do. I had my hands up like someone was holding me at gunpoint. I wasn’t hugging her back. I guess I’d been taken by surprise.
But with her continued warmth around me, I slowly gave in to her. My arms formed around her too eventually.
And once they did…
