AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You two seem pretty close now,” Raine says.
“I understand why he left. I know it isn’t his fault. But I do wonder sometimes... I wonder if I’d have developed the OCD if he’d stayed. Or if it wouldn’t have been so bad. Or if I would’ve gotten diagnosed sooner. Mum didn’t like taking us to the doctor. She didn’t want anyone guessing...” I don’t say any more. Raine can fill in the blanks.
Raine doesn’t say anything, and I’m glad. I don’t need to hear how sorry she is, or how sad it makes her.
“Do the windmills ever stop spinning?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” I say. “I’ve never thought about it.”
She doesn’t say anything. I watch the windmills turn and think about how much I want her to stay. I want her to ask me random questions like this every day. I want to think about things I’d never think about unless she asked.
“Can I hear one of your songs?” I ask. When she doesn’t answer, I look down and find that she’s looking up at me, hesitation written on her face. “Please?”
“I don’t have an entire song. Just bits and pieces.”
“That’s fine.”
She stares at her phone in her hands. “They’re not good.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“Will you be honest?”
When she looks up at me, I’m not sure what to make of her expression. The hesitation is still there but... there’s something like anticipation too. That creative, wide-open part of her that is always talking, always sharing, always giving. It takes everything in me not to kiss her.
“I very rarely say things I don’t mean,” I tell her.
She’s still for a moment. I think we’re both holding our breath. And then she pulls the earbud from her ear and puts it in mine. “I can’t listen to it while you’re listening to it,” she says, looking away from me to scroll through her phone.
I don’t want to say something wrong, so I don’t say anything. A moment later, Raine’s voice sounds in my ears. I look down at her, but she’s got her eyes on the screen of her phone.
I expected Raine’s music to be good. I knew she could sing. I knew she could play well. But I didn’t expectthis.I didn’t know she could take everything she is and turn it into music. Because that’s exactly what her music sounds like. There’s no other way to describe it. It’s everything I think of when I think of her. Full and energetic and warm and a little unexpected.
When the music stops, she looks up at me, and the anxiety in her eyes makes me laugh.
“Told you it’s bad,” she says, and looks away.
“That’s not why I’m laughing,” I say. “I’m laughing because I can’t believe you don’t know.”
Her eyes search mine. “Don’t know what?”
“How talented you are.”
“You’re just being nice,” she says.
“I’m not.”
A slight smile forms on her lips. “You’re biased.”
“I am, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m right, and if you’d just share your music with more people, you’d see.”
“I don’t know...”
“Play for the pub,” I say.
“Ihaveplayed for the pub.”
I lean in closer. “Playthisfor the pub.” She opens her mouth to respond, but I cut her off. “Don’t answer me now,” I say. “Just promise me you’ll think about it.”
