Cadences [cake au] ✔

// twenty-three //

                  
Chapter 23

Luke's POV

"We're holding a concert in the rock department, do you wanna come listen? I mean, you don't have to, but it would be nice to see a familiar face in the crowd," I asked one Saturday afternoon when we were chilling on the lawn outside on a relatively sunny day. He looked up from his journal and smiled.

"Of course I want to. That reminds me... can we go look at the notice board in the classical department? Afterwards we should probably think about getting dinner and heading to the bar."

That's right, we still had our bar job. I sat and had a drink whilst he played the piano, and afterwards he had a drink whilst I sang with my guitar. I grinned at his beautiful face and replied, "Sounds like a plan. C'mon then, to the building of boring but fascinating music we go!"

It wasn't my first time in the building but it felt different. It always did, because you could often hear people practising their instruments of varying levels in the practice rooms and that set the mood. We found the notice board in the reception and Calum's eyes scanned the board for what he needed.

"Here, look – there's going to be a competition next week with the theme of English piano music."

I frowned, watching as the excited expression on his face died.

"W...what's wrong?" he whispered.

"Are you sure you wanna be participating in competitions? Your mum has only just been released from the police station, don't tell me she's making you do this?"

He squeezed his eyes shut and clasped my hands in his. "This is about me, Luke. Only me. My mum no longer has a say in what I do."

"Don't tell me – you actually enjoy doing these?"

He shrugged, averting his eyes to something behind me. "They aren't that bad. I'm used to them now."

Yep – I had definitely been right when I said he had real confidence. I would never have the audacity to go up on a stage in front of loads of people and a judge, and play something in order to win. That wasn't my way of life, I guess. I was way more laid-back and never went near those sort of events.

"Well, do you have a piece? It's next week you realise?"

He sent a smirk my way and cocked his head. "I always have something ready. I'll play it this evening to get the feel of it – can we make a quick stop to the library so I can choose a score?"

~

At the beginning I had no idea how he'd be able to learn a whole new piece in just one week – let alone one afternoon. I lounged on his sofa as he got to know the notes by the English composer I'd never heard of, staring longingly at his astounding talent to pick up pieces just like that.

So when we turned up at the bar for work, I could only sit and let my eyes freeze to Calum's adept fingers as he played the piece he'd chosen just hours prior. The people having their Saturday evening meal didn't seem to have a care in the world for the musical genius playing right in front of them, so collectively I held the whole audience's admiration in my very own mind.

"Hey Luke, I just got a text," Calum said to me once he'd left the performance area. "My mum wants to meet me outside, I won't be long," he informed. Although I was worried, I let him go by himself because I trusted that his mother had learnt from her mistakes and that she was only there to make amends with her son. "Oh, and I'll sing with you if you wait!"

I grinned as he left through to the front lounge and out the door, getting excited about singing with him. I waited patiently for about two minutes, until Fred (our boss) came out from the staff room with a confused look.

"Hey Luke, why aren't you performing?" he asked with a slight frown.

I scratched my neck, replying, "Cal and I were thinking of singing together today."

He didn't seem to understand. "Yeah, so where is he? Wasn't he just playing?"

"He had something to deal with."

"Then sing something by yourself first," he said dismissively, not even waiting for a reply before leaving again.

Unzipping my guitar case, I slid my hand under the neck and carried it to the chair made white by the spotlight, sitting down carefully and clearing my throat. To be honest, I didn't really know what to sing. I had a new song that I'd been working on for the past two days, but it was nothing special especially since I hadn't written it with Calum.

In the end I went for a cover of Paramore's Playing God, a song that reminded me a lot of Jack; not my brother, but my ex-boyfriend. The past few weeks he'd hardly crossed my mind at all but that evening I was in a strange mood, stranger than usual. Maybe it was the fact that Calum wasn't there listening to me, but it wasn't like I could blame him... right?

As I sang through the first verse and chorus, I thought back to the relationship Jack and I used to share before he became a massive dickhead and left the band for a stupid reason. Well, to be completely honest, he'd always been a dick but I hadn't expected him to show such true colours.

The only reason we dated in the first place was because we were both in the band, both sexually attracted to each other, and horny teenagers. Now, I'd experienced real love, one where you actually liked the person you were in a relationship with.

It made me even madder to think of his little smirk, the one he'd show when he was playing with you. I hated his guts, his alluring personality, the way he had with people.

"You don't deserve a point of view if the only thing you see is you."

Suddenly my eyes met with the devil. I didn't expect that me singing about him would actually manifest him into actual form and shape, but apparently I had that power.

I watched with contempt as the left side of his mouth curved up in a slanted way, causing me to play a wrong chord. A few heads were lifted from the tables and their respective conversations were disrupted, and yet that wasn't the worst thing to happen that night.

He approached the little stage, turning the mic away from me so he could sing into it. I felt as if I was being controlled by his gaze, his brown eyes that were more powerful and deceptive than most, and I continued playing the right chords as he sang.

"You don't have to believe me, but the way I, way I see it, next time you point a finger I might have to bend it back or break it, break it off," he sang, keeping that warm yet cold stare locking my eyes with his. He was communicating with me through the song lyrics; that I could tell. "Next time you point a finger, I'll point you to the mirror."

He had a nice voice. There, I admitted it. He didn't usually sing but when he did, it put a smile on everyone's faces because it didn't match his personality at all. It was so angelic, so sweet, so different to his harsh, conniving, deceitful nature.

Before I knew it, a smile was stretched across my cheeks, so wide that it didn't know how to return to its normal position when I saw Calum walking in with a scared, confused and belittled expression over his face, tripping over on to the restaurant floor in shock.

***
Sorry this is a little later than usual! My dad wanted to take me out running this morning so...

Hope the ending was ominous enough 😜

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Kimmy xx