Melody's Muse ✓

17. Slacking

Cole

"Oh... hello Cole," Mr. Carter greets me, slightly confused, when he opens the door. "Ms. Aria didn't tell me you were coming today." He hesitates for a moment before stepping to the side to let me in.

I come in and take off my heavy winter coat. There's still a faint scent of cinnamon and spices drifting through the halls from yesterday's cookies. The smell didn't last long at my place. Melody sent me home with a bunch of the cookies and I decided to share some with the guys. They disappeared nearly instantly.

"Oh I wasn't going to, but I'm going out for dinner with some friends tonight," I explain as I dust off the remaining snow still clinging to my hair. "I didn't realize how close the restaurant was from here, so I thought I would stop by just to say hi."

He gives me a polite nod but there's an uneasy look on his face. "Ms. Aria is busy practicing right now."

I wave my hand casually. "Oh I'll try not to distract her. I probably won't stay for long anyways."

"Alright, as long as you don't get in her way," he says sternly.

What's that supposed to mean? Mr. Carter quickly heads down the hall before I can ask.

I find Melody in the living room, sitting at the piano. On top of the piano are three disproportionately large coffee cups resting on pink coasters. Two are empty with beige streaks of coffee remnants inside, the third is half full. That's a lot of coffee for someone her size at three in the afternoon.

She's silently staring at some messy sheet music that I assume she wrote herself. Her normally smooth and straight hair is tied up into a fuzzy bun. There's a pencil tucked behind her ear, but she's also holding one and rhythmically tapping it against the bench. She's holding another pencil in her other hand and quickly twirling it in smooth circles. Her hand eye coordination never fails to amaze me.

"Hi Mel," I call.

She doesn't respond.

"Mel?" I slowly walk closer to her.

She still doesn't respond and just scribbles something out on the sheet.

"Mel?" I lightly tap her on the shoulder.

Melody jumps and quietly gasps. She drops her pencil and the graphite snaps when it hits the floor. The other pencil she was twirling goes flying. I hop out of the way before it stabs my stomach like a spear. She quickly turns around and her wide, nervous eyes soften when she sees me. 

"O-oh, hi Cole."

"Oh god, I'm so sorry Mel." I quickly bend down to pick up her pencils. "Are you ok?"

"Thanks," she mumbles as I hand her the pencils. "I guess I was just really focused."

"You can say that again, you scared me." I place my hand over my chest as I feel my heartbeat slowly calming down.

She raises an eyebrow. "I scared you?" I stammer to rush out another apology. God, why am I such an idiot? She just laughs and swings her legs smoothly over the bench so that she's facing me. "I'm just kidding. Mr. Carter claims it's like my mind is on another planet when I'm in the zone."

She scoots over a little and pats the space on the bench next to her. "Yeah, I've never seen someone so focused," I remark as I sit down.

Melody just shrugs and mumbles something inaudible. She looks up and stares curiously at me for a moment. "What are you doing here anyways? I thought I told you I was too busy for a lesson today."