Diving Deep (UK Crush #2)

Chapter 5

I looked at my watch and debated stopping. It had been nearly two hours, two very hard hours of Hanon, still the best piano exercises in the world for getting the fingers into shape. I had started at one hour when arriving in London and had slowly been increasing, both in time and speed settings on my metronome. Yesterday I'd gone to two hours, so if I didn't do two hours today, technically it would be a step back.

I sighed, set the metronome higher, and continued. It was tedious but very satisfying to hear the exercises evening out, to hear my extremely weak fourth and fifth fingers getting stronger as the days progressed. I kept the piano lid closed to minimize the sound, and I opened the windows to let some of it out and not have it echo around the house too much, as there was nothing more irritating or monotonous than the sound of Hanon for hours on end; I did have a fleeting thought for the neighbors, though, and how their mornings were affected by the repetitive sound of the exercises floating through their lovely neighborhood. At least this side of the house faced the street and the traffic.

I flipped to the back of the book, to do some of the other exercises, and played through a few of those, which were improving also, and finished the morning, as usual, by opening the lid, and playing through a few of my favorites, including a few UK Crush interpretations. I spoke to Gethin and Ronan almost daily, but it wasn't the same as seeing them, and touching them, and of course having no contact with Matty had punched a huge hole in my life that nothing could fill.

Geth and Ronan had taken the news about me and Teddy with humor, saying they weren't surprised, they'd known it was going to happen, almost from the beginning, and they were really happy about it. There were a couple of jokes about how, if things went wrong between us, Teddy shouldn't just assume this time they'd take his side like they always had in the past, and Teddy had taken the ribbing with good grace, telling the boys that nothing was going to go wrong unless one of them came to London to try to take me away from him, in which case there would be a murder and the problem would be solved.

It was a hot and muggy day, and playing had made me sweaty, so I went into the bedroom to take a cold shower. Teddy was amazed at this habit of mine; he couldn't stand very cold water, and couldn't believe that I could just step into a stream of it. I told him years of diving into a freezing cold, outdoor pool in December had made me immune to water temperature, and once you adjusted to it, it was very refreshing and felt fabulous when you got out, kept you cool for hours afterward.

I got out and put on a spaghetti strap sundress from India that I'd picked up on clearance somewhere, the kind made of wrinkled cotton in many different colors, the coolest thing on a day like today. I was feeling better about the way I looked, or more specifically, about how I compared in the looks department with my guy. I would never match him in beauty, that was a given. He was lean, slim hipped, long legged, with a perfect jaw. I was a dumpling, round everywhere. But he loved me, and the way I looked.

Swoon.

I was brushing my hair out to let it dry when I heard voices coming from the back bedroom, and I followed the sound. It was Teddy, talking to Gethin on FaceTime. He must have left the door open so he'd hear when I stopped practicing. I was turning away when I heard Geth say my name in his sing-song Welsh accent, and I stopped to listen. Maybe I shouldn't have, but how could I walk away when I heard my name?

"Aw, I don't know, man, I don't think I can talk about that," Teddy said, embarrassment in his voice.

"We've talked about all those things before, mate," Gethin responded.

"I know, but this is her, you know? I mean, literally, you know her, so well, this is Birdie, she's like our sister, I mean, your sister, but like mine too, sort of, in a weird way. Ah, fuck, I don't know what I'm saying.