CELESTE + HERMES
"Thank you. Have a nice day."
Celeste tips the driver while also giving an embracing smile. She was looking forward to this day, but she always is on Wednesdays and Fridays. It was her only day where she could practice without the disruptions of other musicians.
Practically skipping the basement of the school (where the school puts non-athletic clubs and groups). Despite the location of the room, she didn't hesitate to throw waves and smiles. Which is something you wouldn't normally see a student doing. Especially this early.
While walking down the stairs, Celeste became more and more eager to play. Having practiced the same few tunes, she's excited to know that her progress is starting to pay off.
Approaching closer to the area, she heard music already playing. A guitar to be exact. The guitar played riffs up and down that made Celeste's hair stand up. The noise grew louder once she opened the door.
Her jaw dropped as she watched the rock star command the stage, his guitar in hand. To her, he epitomized the quintessential guitarist—jet-black hair, a constellation of piercings, and arms sleeved with ink. Yet, despite fitting the stereotype perfectly, there was something mesmerizing about how he lost himself in the music, a raw, magnetic energy that pulled her in.
The amplifier was cranked all the way up which was sure to give her an attitude and if it wasn't that, it was the bad posture, bad technique, and music sheets scattered on the floor.
Even through the chaos, she found a weird peace seeing the passion he had.
After seeing Celeste from the corner of his eye, Hermes didn't stop playing but instead played louder ignoring the guest.
Getting tuned out from the nuisance, Celeste stopped yelling for the music to turn down, but instead walked to the amp and unplugged it.
While playing, Hermes had a mean mug of satisfaction, but now, he had just a mean mug. refraining from letting his anger win, he shifted in discomfort and sat down waiting for the girl to speak.
"I have practice today. This room is only mine." Celeste said as nicely as she could to avoid a bigger confrontation. "That's funny because this is my room too. My ticket."
Walking over to where Hermes pointed, she reads the ticket, then hers, then his, then hers again.
as much as she wanted to throw him out, the tickets read the same. "They must've messed up our schedules because we're in here at the same time." Celeste slouches over into one of the seats.
"Well, I guess you have the chance to be blessed by my talent. What's your name?" Hermes says beginning to retune his guitar to a Drop-D tuning.
"Celeste."
"Like the stars?" Hermes questions not taking his eyes off his instrument.
"Y-yeah. Sort of."
"Fitting." Hermes glanced over for a split second.
Ignoring the last word, she questions what his name is.
"Well, what's your name?" Celeste, unlike Hermes, gives him her full attention.
"Hermes."
pleasantly shocked by his name, she heads over to her instrument. "What do you play?"
"Violin!" Celeste says barely letting him finish his question. Hermes smiles at her excitement.
"Play me something." Hermes offers.
"Oh, I've actually been learning something new and I almost got the hang of it." Celeste slowly pulls her violin out of the case.
Stuttering as she put her bow up to the strings, she takes a deep breath. Only getting a chance to play an A#, Hermes interrupts. "Awfully slow isn't it."
"Well Mr.Rockstar, some of us actually play music that means something. People like you only play to make a bunch of noise."
Celeste tries to say softly trying to portray a joke, but Hermes catches onto the true intention. 'What would y'all know about feeling something? Y'all are too focused on being perfect all the fucking time. Oh no, the technique. God forbid your posture is at 89 degrees."
Deciding that the best choice in this situation is to leave, she puts her items back where they go without further conversation. it's not like she'd be able to hear herself next to the constant eruptions.
As Celeste reaches for the doorknob, Ms. Reynolds, the music teacher bursts into the room with a bright gleam.
"There's great news. There's a concert and some legit producers are going to be there. technically I got this news a week ago, but I had to do the sheet music. So Celeste, would you mind doing a duet? Wait, who's this? I thought this was your private practice."
"That's what I thought too. That's Henry, he does rock, metal, or whatever he calls it." Celeste says in disgust trying to leave the room. Ms. Reynolds lets out a gasp after Celeste's statements. "that's perfect! That rarely happens. I was thinking of you with a cello, but a rocker is perfect! I have to redo the sheet music."
Ms. Reynolds almost races down the hall but gets stopped in her tracks. "Wait, Ms. Reynolds. We don't necessarily get along and I'd prefer not to."
Ms. Reynolds ducks down closer to Celeste's ear and begins to whisper, "Please. You're my best student. I've never known anybody more passionate about music. It's truthfully a fundraiser and if we don't make enough money, the principal is going to shut down the music program."
Celeste sighs, sucking up her frustration with not having privacy and having to share it with a maniac. She'd never want anything to happen to the music room. Celeste nods her head. "Also, I'd argue that he has more passion. You can just feel it."
Ms. Reynalds scurries down the hallway.
Slowly turning around to the boy to see him already looking at her. "Henry? I made you that mad?"
"Yeah, you did."
"you started it. Talking about how I don't feel anything. When in reality, it's the only way I feel something. But to be fair, I'd be mad too if I only got to play music dated back to the 1700s."
"Okay." Celeste rolls her eyes." Clean slate. I'm sorry about what I said about how you connect with music. Music's my cope as well. Most people don't understand how close music can get to you. You know?"
As Celeste continued talking, the worse she felt.
" I know. I don't only play metal either Mrs. Paganini. I also play bass guitar and piano."
Celeste started to stare at the piano in the corner of the room and Hermes took the hint. "Come."
Following closely in his footsteps, they were eventually sitting on the bench together only inches apart.
"There's this one song I think you'll like, just play this note..."
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Duration: 10-15 minutes
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writing prompts
RomanceA collection of short stories that I wrote. Obviously don't steal my work.
