XPLR | Colby Brock

~25~

Ha! I was on time today. 😏

It felt like a long car ride. Two hours. By the time we had finally arrived, I was tired. I wanted nothing more than to lay down and go back to sleep, since it was impossible to sleep on the ride since the guys were so rowdy.

I got off the bus and waited for Elena, who had gotten held up in the back with Devyn and Katrina. Colby got off and stretched, the bottom of his shirt coming up a little. I looked away as soon as I noticed that, but I figured he'd seen me already. He smiled as he came over to me. "You ready?" He asked as he put his hands in his pockets. "As ready as I can be," I say as I laugh a bit, still looking to the doors for Elena.

"You like Devyn and Katrina?" he asked as he smiled at me even if I wasn't looking at him. "Yeah,  I do. They're really cool," I say as I look back at him. He took a step closer to me and softly said, "You didn't tell Elena about Cavenaugh right?" he whispered softly to me. I shivered. "No, no, of course not."

He smiled. "Good. That's our thing," he said as he put his backpack over his shoulder and called to Sam. I watched him go then turned back to the bus doors. Elena came out to me and we got our bags, the whole time she was talking my ear off excitedly. "Once we get to our room, we're starting the vlog," she said with a large smile.

I laughed. "Okay, okay."

And as soon as we did get to our room, bigger than both of our rooms at home combined, she set up the tripod and the camera, that's exactly what we did.

I pulled my chair up to the camera next to hers, and she smiled at me. "Ready?" She asked. I nodded.

She turned on the camera and waved to it. "Welcome back, guys! You won't believe what we're doing. If you had been watching my Snapchat, you would know Rose and I are headed to Coachella!" she said as she threw her arm around my neck and laughed. She looked at me. "And with who, Rose?"

I laughed as she tugged me closer. "Colby Brock and company," I laughed. I almost said TFIL guys. Oops. Unfortunately that's a thing of the past.

"Colby Brock and company!" Elena repeated, laughing. "We're staying with them in this huge house. It's got a pool and all of that. Come on, Rose, lets give them a tour," she motioned for me to stand up so I did, and she picked up the camera. I followed Elena as she showed the camera around our room then out to the hallway and down a spiral stair case.

I hadn't even seen this side of the House yet, but I could hear everyone downstairs where we were headed.

There was a long table set up outside on the patio, patiently waiting for its guests. And the thing that scared me when I first came down stairs, was a beautiful, polished grand piano that looked untouched.

Colby heard us come down and smiled. Katrina was standing next to the piano, inspecting every detail.

"Rose, come here!" he called to me, smiling as he motioned me over. I was nervous and excited to see such a piano. It was overwhelming yet inviting.

"Play something!" Elena pleaded as she followed behind me with the camera. "No..." I say timidly, without even really considering my options.

"Please, Rose? I've always wanted to hear you play," Colby said to me in that soft voice he always speaks to me in, and only me. Why just me?

I groaned sarcastically. I mean, of course I was going to play it. Eventually.

"Um... what do you want to hear?" I asked as the others started to come over to hear me and I adjusted the height of the bench. Elena smiled. "Play That song you're always practicing in your room. The fast one."

Winter's Wind. Of course.

Fredric Chopin, Etude Opus 25, Winter's Wind. Possibly one of the hardest pieces I've ever played, especially since I gave it to myself.

"Mind if we record?" Sam asked as he opened his phone. I shook my head. "No, I don't mind. Go ahead." Just as I said that Elena set up the camera in a place where the camera could see me.

Everyone got quiet waiting for me to start. I placed my hands over the starting keys and took a deep breath. Small personal crowds were always harder to perform in front of than large, faceless crowds.

With a soft breath, I gave myself a four beat count off and touched the first keys. It started out slow, the easiest yet most deceiving part of the piece. Winter's Wind was full of surprises.

I summoned all of my muscle memory and energy into my hands, and with a sharp, short breath in, I reached up to the higher pitched keys and began to climb down to the lower keys. I felt the energy in the room change as the tone and emotion of the song did.

The song went from soft and content to melancholic and intense.

I looked at my hands as I played, glancing between my left and right hands, breathing softly to keep myself calm as I played.

My fingers gracefully jumped from perfectly white ivory key to each dark ebony key, raising or lowering every natural note by a half step according to the key signature.

I started to become lost in the music, my hands going numb, playing without my control as they found their way up and down the gorgeous instrument. So was everyone else.

I never glanced up. Not once. I knew if I made eye contact with any of them, I would stumble then stop.

This is what I live for though. I live to have this effect on people with my music.

With that single thought, I forced every bit of passion and sorrow and determination into my hands, playing with every emotion piano evokes in me.

Then, I lifted my hand up for the final harmonic, taking in a breath, I pushed the keys down and let them ring out, pushing down the pedal at the bottom of the piano until it stopped with a silence that I had destroyed three and three quarters minutes earlier.

Everyone was silent, speechless.

"Holy shit," Jake said, breaking the silence and everyone's trance. I laughed at that and so did everyone else. I looked around at them, my cheeks turning pink as they congratulated me. I looked at Elena, then noticed a voice missing. I looked over at Colby.

He was still staring.