Falling Slowly

Pt.3|Ch.10

Sunday

•••••Aiden's Perspective

The days dragged by with rehearsal after rehearsal after rehearsal.

My arms were tired and my fingertips were sore, but mostly, I was ready to go home.

The arrival of my mother eased the ache enough for me to at least get through the first concert performance, but there were still two more to go.

"Chin up," my mother chided. "Thursday is only three days away. All you have to do is survive until then."

"Wish me luck with that." I mumbled, glancing at my phone's screen. Black.

I rolled my eyes, tapping my nails on the table in impatience. 'He was supposed to call an hour ago.'

If he let anymore time pass, I'd have to text and ask if we could talk another time.

He despised that.

Finally, the screen lit up, and it was all I could do not to hastily snatch up the phone.

Glancing up at my mom, I carefully picked the phone up.

She looked at me, down at the device, back at me, and rolled her eyes.

"Alright, I should probably go come up with an excuse to leave the room." She said, turning on her heel.

When the door closed behind her, I clicked 'accept', and found him grinning back at me.

Sky's jaw dropped, and with a shocked gasp, he pretended to pass out.

I sighed. "What is it this time?"

"You're so pretty!" He answered, his words muffled by the carpet. "Did you get prettier overnight, or something?"

"Nope." I watched him pick himself up off the floor with amusement. "I'm exactly the same as the last time you saw me."

He shook his head. "That can't be true."

"Hate to break it to you, but it is."

His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You're playing with me."

"No, I'm not."

"Lies!" He declared. "My girlfriend gets prettier and prettier every day, and there's nothing anyone can say that will make me believe otherwise!"

"That's interesting, Sky." Ben called from the other room. "Could you shout that any louder? I don't think the entirety of Ohio heard you."

I laughed. "Why's he so grouchy?"

"Mr. Calhoun worked him to death with rehearsal the other day, and he's still tired from the show last night."

"Oh, yeah, how'd that go?"

Sky shrugged. "Pretty good. I think we're all just glad to have him back on stage."

"And that Chase is gone." I added, crossing my arms. "I still want to run him over with a—"

"Aiden," he reproached, giving me a reprimanding gaze. "Kind thoughts."

"Fine." I put up a smile. "I hope he has a nice day today."

He nodded in satisfaction. "Better."

"So," I propped my chin up on the palm of my hand. "How is everyone?"

"Good. Mama Cook decided to stay until the tour leaves Cincinnati, so you'll get to see her when you come home. Austyn and Josh have a performance tomorrow, so they've been rehearsing over the past couple days."