When the Violin Sings

Chapter 18

December, 10 Months Earlier

Noel traced her fingertips into the mist of her bedroom window, watching the snow gently fall outside during a particularly cloudy afternoon. Though the heater was running at full blast, the window absorbed the frigid air, creating a cold space for Noel to sit. She didn't mind much. She had a warm gray blanket wrapped around her body and a cup of hot tea sitting across from her feet.

Winter break had arrived. While the sparkling Christmas lights and scent of warm gingerbread cookies used to bring her joy, it felt no different than any other day at this point. Her mother substituted the time she was usually in class with more practice, even if the city Christmas concert had already come and gone and there would be no competitions again until the next year. But her mother claimed her skills could get rusty, so Noel continued practicing, even though the winter cold often made her fingers go numb.

Though Noel did have a few more hours of free time, it wasn't often spent doing activities she enjoyed. Noel would rather be walking around campus or curled up reading a book in the shed she liked to visit. Or she would rather be talking to Riley.

Noel glanced at her phone. She had not heard a peep since winter break had begun. Not once had she run into Riley during finals week, and even the few days she did stop by the shed, there was no one to greet her but the wind and a few stray cats that had decided to make the place their new home. She wasn't sure why she was hesitating. It was just Riley, wasn't it? Then why was it so hard to reach out?

Noel knew that she did not want to sit and look at the snowflakes cascading down from the sky forever. She reached for her cup of tea and took a long sip, letting the beverage warm her body, before she descended from her window seat with her blanket still wrapped around her. Slowly, she moved toward her bed and took a seat on its edge. She had spent too long staring at a blank screen and trying to will Riley to text her. Besides, Riley probably had other friends to hang out with and family activities and...

Noel realized she was slowly trying to will herself out of texting Riley. That she was telling herself again that she didn't deserve to have a friend.

After another ten minutes passed of her beginning a text, backspacing, placing her phone away, and grabbing it again, Noel finally had the courage to send one text:

I miss you.

She held her phone in her hands and averted her eyes. Once she saw the text had been read, and there was still no response, she panicked and began typing away again:

Can we talk? she asked.

Riley responded with a thumbs up, and no sooner did Noel read the text, her phone began to buzz. She jolted and dropped the phone out of her hands, wincing at the way it bounced along the carpet. She cursed to herself and scrambled for her cell phone before finally picking up.

"Hello?"

"Hey. What took you so long to answer?" Riley asked, giggling a little bit.

"Dropped my phone," Noel said before shuffling across the floor and leaning back against the side of her bed. She kept her voice quiet, afraid her mother would walk into her room if she spoke too loud to ask who she was talking to.

"How are you?" Noel asked.

"Good now that finals are over."

"Good."

"What about you?" Riley asked.

"Good..."

A pause settled between them. Noel twisted her finger into her blanket, trying to find the right words to say. She didn't want to ignore what had happened between them altogether, but Riley was acting so normal, like it was just another day again, that she was afraid of saying the wrong thing.