A Different Path

Chapter 47 - Stars

Criticism spot! :)

Crutchie's POV

I spent most of the day sleeping, keeping the blanket around me the entire time. It felt like entire days had gone by the time the ladder finally shook, Jack climbing up. I perked up right away, smiling as he reached the top. He came over to me, getting ready to sit down.

"Hey babe-" I cut him off by hugging him the moment he sat down, catching him off guard. "Something wrong?" He asked, brushing my hair back.

"I missed you," I mumbled, making him chuckle.

"Did you let yourself relax?" I let go so I could see him, nodding. "Good. You feeling any better?"

"Mhm, I only had one episode with my foot," I kept smiling at him, happy I finally had some good news for him. 

"Was it bad?"

"A little, but it wasn't super bad." He smiled some more, his face lighting up a little.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to come to the theatre with me tonight. You could play the piano while I paint so you don't get bored," he pushed my hair back, waiting for an answer.

"That'd be great," I said, getting off him. 

"Then let's go," he stood and put his hand out, helping me do the same.

When we reached the theare I immediately went to the piano, excited to play. Jack grabbed everything he needed and set himself up, walking over to me with a few papers in his hands.

"I found these in the shop, thought you might wanna look at them," he handed me the papers, and I felt my face light up when I noticed it was sheet music. I smiled, looking at him.

"Thank you," I said, putting them on the piano. 

"No problem," he walked over to his canvas, the two of us completely focusing on what we were doing.

A few hours went by, Jack making a bunch of progress on the backdrop while I kept plunking away. I was really focusing on one of the pieces, wanting to play it perfectly. Of course, since I was sight reading, I'd mess up now and then. I turned to the next page and went to play a chord, however I hit the wrong keys, making it sound horrible.

"Whoops," I chuckled, looking up at Jack. He turned around to look back at me, smiling. "Did you hear that?" I said, laughing harder.

"Yeah," he laughed too, only making me smile some more.

"You know what would really help?" I asked, keeping Jack's attention.

"What?" He walked over to me, messing with my hair.

"If I actually played the right notes." He laughed harder, not expecting that.

"Yeah, it might," he teased, looking at the music. "I don't know how you can read this."

"It just takes time to learn. Once you get it down, it's easier than it seems." He looked at me again, smiling.

"I'm almost done here, then we can go, alright?" I nodded, turning my attention back to the music.

Twenty minutes went by as I went over the parts I had messed up on, nearly perfecting it already. I was on the last page when pain shot through my entire right leg, making me stop immediately. Jack noticed how abrubtly I had stopped, so he looked to see if I was alright. Of course, he could tell I was in immense pain, so he dropped what he was doing and ran to me.

"How bad?" I went to answer him, but was unable to speak because of how I felt. "Is it worse than Scott?" I nodded, my eyes shut tight. "Five?" I thought for a moment, shaking my head. "Eight?" I nodded again, putting my head in my hands. "Hey, breathe, just hang in there," I followed his breathing, not noticing I had started to panic a little. "Do I need to get Race to help get you home?"