Beautiful Symphony

Chapter 20

  I waited for him outside the music room. I looked down at my phone screen. It was 2:32, and he still hadn't arrived. I sighed, and sat down on the steps. A few moments later, he jogged up to where I sat.

  "Hey," He breathed out. "I'm really sorry. I was caught up in something."

  I looked up at him. It wasn't really mad at him, but I decided to see how he might react if I acted that way. You're wicked, Ariette Willingham. I smirked to myself.

   I looked away and sighed. I got up from my place on the steps and headed for the door. "It's probably too late to do anything now. You should just go home."

  I had expected him to laugh or say something witty about my pessimistic remark, but he just grabbed my wrist. I turned to face him, and he looked almost desperate. "Please, come with me." He said, with a tone so pitiful I couldn't say no.

  I just nodded and he loosened his grip. He moved his hand from my wrist to my hand, and we just walked. He had not smiled once since I saw him that day, and it worried me. Elliot was not the kind of person who was just "in a mood".

  I had only known him for a while, but I knew something was wrong from the moment we left the porch. We walked silently, the wind blowing just enough to make my hair swish. I looked over at him, and he was staring out into the distance.

  His face looked so different from before. It was filled with worry, or some other emotion that I couldn't place. I slowed my pace and stopped walking. He didn't notice until my hand slipped out of his.

  He turned to me, clearly confused. I looked into his eyes. Those russet brown eyes, that were usually filled with so much excitement that they could make me instantly smile. Right then, they were sad, almost cold.

  "What are you-" He managed before I wrapped myself around him.

  I breathed into his chest,"What's wrong?" My heart was beating a mile a minute.

  "What?" He stood still, not returning the hug.

   I squeezed him tighter. "Tell me what's wrong." I could hear his heart beating.

  He didn't speak for a moment, but then wrapped his arms back around me and sighed.
"Nothing," He loosened his grip and looked down at me. "Everything's fine."

  He gave me a sad smile, one so fake it almost hurt. I pressed my lips against his, taking him by surprise. "Don't lie to me." I whispered, as soon as we broke apart. He stared into my eyes, and I could see that he had given up.

  I released him from my grip and we sat on the sand. I kept my hand on his, stroking his knuckles with my thumb.

  "My Dad called me today." He started, and I looked at him. I didn't know anything about his father. He was staring into the distance again, but he continued. "He left when I was eleven. Anna was only three, so she doesn't really remember him much. I didn't  know why he left. I just remember waking up one day, and he was gone. Mom refused to talk about him, so I did some research myself. It turned out that he and mom were never even married. She was his mistress. He had a whole other family, one that we never knew about. He left us to be with them."

  His voice broke on the last sentence, and I leaned into him, with one hand stroking his hair.

  "I don't know why he called. I just answered it, and when I heard his voice, I couldn't take it. I just hung up. I've been so angry at him for all these years, but part of me has always just missed him. And I just hung up on him. What if he wanted to apologize? What if he was going to come back? Mom would have been so happy. I just didn't know what to do, Ariette. I was afraid."

  He had started crying then. I lifted my head off his shoulder and wiped his tears with my sleeve. He let me, but he kept crying. It was a quiet cry, the kind that only comes from true pain. It hurt me just to see him like that. He slowed down and let out an unsteady breath.

  I looked at him and gave him a small smile. "There's nothing wrong with being afraid. You had no idea what he wanted. You haven't seen him in what, ten years? No one is going to blame you for anything here. If anyone did anything wrong here, it's him. He left someone so amazing without a simple explanation."

  He looked at me and smiled. That one was real. He put his hand on top of mine, resting on his cheek. "Thank you. I know I'm a mess, and we were supposed to have fun today. I totally ruined it."

  I returned the smile and kissed his forehead. "You ruined nothing. I'm just glad you told me."

He laughed and said,"Me too."

*****

We decided to take a lazy day and just talk. We found a spot along the line of trees that bordered the shore.

I looked over at him, and I laughed.

"What?" He asked. "What's funny?"

"Nothing," I chuckled. "I just noticed that I really don't know anything about you, despite being your girlfriend."

He laid back onto the ground and put his arms behind his head. "Hm. I guess I don't really know that much about you either. Here's an idea: let's each say one thing about ourselves back and forth."

"Alright," I said, laying down next to him. "I'm a pianist."

"I already knew that, cheater." He poked my arm. "Okay, I want to be a History professor when I grow up."

"Ooh, interesting. Okay, I adore classical music and classical music only."

"Ah, that's expected from an aspiring pianist. Okay, my birthday is November twelfth."

I laughed. "Good to know. Mine is March twenty-sixth."

He looked over at me and grinned. "Do you want to know a secret?"

I giggled. "Sure."

"I'm falling in love with you, Ariette."