Midnight Masquerade

Chapter 16 The Magic of Music

Travis-

I sit at the table in the kitchen apart from the other customers of the B&B. The leftovers from the dinner sitting on my untouched plate.

"Something wrong with the meal sonny?" The woman who owns the B&B asks coming up to me drying her hands.

"I'm just worried about my girlfriend." I tell her. "And I haven't actually tasted any of it." I admit, "I'm sure it's great, has to beat the take out pizzas we're living off of at school."

"What's she like, your girlfriend? She's awfully quiet."

"She's been through a lot recently, everything is a bit overwhelming for her." I tell her twisting my glass in circles on the table. "For both of us. Just more her than me."

"Strangers are great people to talk things over with, no prior knowledge to judge you by."

"We met the fall of our senior year, her father and mother had home schooled her up until then. My best friend didn't like that idea because he was in love with her and I was a bit of a wild card, still am sort of, but I am off drugs and alcohol, it's my start. I ended up in a coma for a few months and she got kicked out of her house, then just before we graduated she got raped and pregnant by some creep," I tell her leaving out that the creep turned out to be my ex-best friend. "We both got beat up a few times by some jerk at school that didn't like that we had his parking spot, and she lost the baby after being slammed into a squad car because I was hot-wiring our car that kept breaking down."

"It sounds like you've been through a lot." The woman says. "But the fact that you stayed by her side through it all also shows how much you care about her."

"It hurts that I can't do anything for her now." I admit. "We met this little girl today she was with her father. We adopted a dog for them. The girl was so excited. The dog escaped the leash and the girl ran out into the road to go after it. I wasn't even thinking when I ran out to get her before the car hit her. The look on Adriana's face when she saw the car was almost as if the girl was our own. Adriana disappeared after that. She was so heartbroken. We came home after that, she went up to the room and I actually came to get food for the both of us, I was going to go sit with her, then I started wallowing in self pity."

"Why don't you give her a little while to her self." She says gently, "Give her some time to just think things through."

"I don't know. I know I sound clingy, but I just don't think she's stable enough to stay alone."

"Sometimes, we just have to stumble around on our own to pick ourselves up." She says. "There's a music room just down the hall, you look like you could use an outlet." She stands up gathering a bowl of something and a glass of water on a tray before walking out of the kitchen. I stare at my now cold dinner and then stand up. I drink the water and eat all of it wincing at the temperature. I look around for the music room. A grand piano sits in the middle of the room and I sit down placing my fingers on the keys.

Friday night, date night,
I say pick out what you like,
I don't care as long as your here.

Surprise, Surprise, ain't that nice,
Same old chick flick 18th time.
You know the one with the guy.
Halfway through, look at you,
Smiling like you always do, and I can't help but just stare.
Cause suddenly, it hits me, as I watch you make believe,

I wanna make this your reality.

And If you'll be my leading lady, even If I may look crazy.

I'll grab your hand, ask you to dance,
In the middle of the street.
Learn the signs, cheesy lines,
Like baby you complete me.
And in case you forget where we've been
And what we did,
I'll write it all down,
Read it out loud, again and again.
I promise if you let me,
I'll love you like the movies.