The Double-Tap Accident

Chapter Thirty-Nine: What Is Wrong With You?

Chapter Thirty-Nine: "What Is Wrong With You?"

AS I MADE MY way down the hallway of closed doors, I squeezed the stress ball in my hand tightly before stretching my fingers. I did the exercise a few times, listening to a familiar tune coming from the only room that was cracked open.

Of course Laurence would be on campus on a Sunday evening. I was supposed to see him later to join Dev's hockey night but after work and studying; I needed to destress. Laurence's presence meant that I wasn't the only one.

I opened the door wider. I think he was playing a Mozart piece. The song was familiar but not one I had familiarized myself with on the instrument. However, his fingers moved languidly across the keys as if he had played the tune a million times before. Yet I wouldn't be surprised if he had never played the song before today.

Laurence loved the piano as much as I did but he had a keen sense of what would come next, of where his fingers would go as they danced along the keys. Like now, he glanced at me without breaking the rhythm, nodding for me to join him on the bench.

When I sat next to him, I stayed quiet as the song progressed but he broke the melodic silence. "What are you doing here?" He asked, attention darting from the sheet to the keys before him.

"I was a bit stressed so I needed a break," My focus stuck to the notes on the paper, listening to him at the same time. He was on the last staff. When he was about to finish playing what was on the page, I pulled up the sheet music on the stand, putting the other one to the side. "What about you?"

"The usual," Meaning he was worried about his sister because of his parents. "You know I was thinking about you today."

"Because you texted me?"I asked, recalling the lengthy paragraphs he had sent me about another idea he had. This time for one of his projects for a class.

"Because I was thinking about why we're friends," He pressed on the keys harder even when he wasn't supposed to. He made the sound get louder even when he wasn't supposed to. He didn't care. "I don't think we became friends because of Aven. I think it's because we see each other like this, you know?"

"I know," I agreed. The piano was an outlet we both shared. "What happened, Laurie?"

"Again, the usual," He repeated, removing his hands from the instrument, stopping in the middle of the song. "You know the break was great because I knew she was away from the fighting. But I keep thinking about how I left her to come here. We've been talking a lot more and that--that fact is what keeps bothering me."

"There's no university in your hometown. You had no choice since you wanted to go."

"I have a feeling that even if there was a university in my hometown, I would have bolted regardless." He said with a shrug. His gaze was still fixed on the sheet music.

I racked my brain for something else for him to think about. Anna. His sister. He loved her as much as I loved my own. "She's graduating soon, right?"

Laurence broke out into a grin of a proud big brother, slowing down the melody when he wasn't supposed to. "She got into a trade school in Port Yonge. I was going to tell you tonight."

"Really?"

"It's a two-year program and she's going to move there during the summer," He explained. "And you're going to become best friends with her."

Huh? "What?"

"I think the two of you will be compatible. You have similar interests. She also played the piano but she quit. She might not be invested in music like you are or have a big hat collection than you and she might be a little annoying but to be fair, you can be too—"