//------------------------------// // 10 - Playing By Ear // Story: Leaving Me // by ScurryBelle //------------------------------// Later that day, we are sitting on Lyra's bed playing games on her console. Football is such a ridiculous thing to play as a video game, but Lyra wanted to see if she could beat me at a game neither of us have ever played. "The score is seven to six, Vinyl. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna win with thirty seconds left." Lyra says as she nudges me with her shoulder. "Whatever. I'm gonna make this field goal, and make it go into overtime. Then I'm bound to beat you." I throw back at her, trying my hardest to aim correctly. Lyra is wearing a pair of kneesocks and an over-sized sweatshirt. I got the feeling I'm in deep. Troubled waters, but their only thigh high. Ditto to myself for how I just explained that. I line up to the kick and I'm about to run for the ball when my phone rings. It makes me jump and I slam the thumb stick to the right, loosing the game. I grab my phone. "Hello to whoever is calling, I just lost my game with my friend." I burst out before whoever is on the line replies. "Hey Vinyl..." I hear on the other end. I check the the number. Octavia. "Oh, sorry. I was just playing a game with-" "I need you to come somewhere. Please." She interrupts me. "Oh, alright... Where?" I open up the notepad app on my phone. "1001 Coventry Blvd." I type it in. "Isn't that the-" "YES! Just come, please" She pleads. "I'll be right there." I tell her, putting down my controller and heading to the room where all my stuff is. "Thank you, Vinyl. You can't see but I'm smiling now." She says and hangs up. I get dressed in something nicer and grab my blazer. "Im going out for a while. I'll be back by tomorrow." I yell to Lyra. "Alright! I'm just happy I pounded your face in with this game." She yells back as I open the door. Heading outside, I notice the snow is a lot lower than it was yesterday. I head to the Beetle and jump inside, throwing my heavy coat in the back. Tavi wants me to go all the way to a sweets shop in the town where I grew up. As I head on the two hour drive I can't help but wonder what in the world Tavi wants all the way at that sweets shop. I arrive at the shop. It has a big lollipop on the top of the front wall. With tons of candy selections inside, from what I can see inside the car. I head inside, and the bell rings. "Welcome!" A girl about my age yells out to me from the counter. "Nice to see you!" She runs over and shakes my hand, then gasps. "Oh my gosh... Vinyl! Don't you remember me?" "Not really?" I say, backing up a foot. "Its me! Bon-Bon?" "Like a sweet roll?" "'Like a sweet roll?'" She mimics me. "No! Like a Bon-Bon! Its a candy that usually has a center of fondant or fruit or nuts coated in chocolate. I can't believe you don't remember me. I sat at the same table you and Lyra did. Lyra and I did all sorts of stuff together. I'm your number one fan in the whole world. Wait... I didn't say that." I start to walk back out the shop door to escape, then I hear Octavia yell out from the back room. "Hey!" I scurry around Bon-Bon and head to the farthest back counter. "Tavi, are you back there?" I shout into the back hallway. "Yeah, one second." She replies as she walks out. "I have a recital here in town. Since I lived in this town for the first half of my life, I thought I would go out of my way and play for everyone here, as a thank you gift." "Oh..." I'm disappointed. I thought this was going to be some type of make up date thing. I hate when things just never go my way. "Were you expecting something else?" "Sorta. I was hoping that coming out here with such a long drive would be something special." "I promise, It will be. Wait and see." She says as she head out from around the counter. She is wearing a gorgeous bright green dress, sporting dangling earrings, sparkly pointed dress shoes, and a large pink rose stuck in her hair, which is put up in a bun. I stand there, legs going wobbly. "Wow, Tavi. You look, INCREDIBLE. "Thank you." She brushes some hair out of her face and smiles. "We should get going. Its at eight, and its seven thirty now." I escort her to the door, and open it. Bon-Bon jumps out and gives me a weird awkward hug from behind, and I pry her off and leave the building. "Want me to carry you to the car? Those shoes look like they would get cold in snow." I ask Tavi. "Oh, Wow! Alright, thank you?" I lift her up in a fireman's carry and bring her to the car, putting her in the passenger seat. I head around the front and she hons the horn. "AUGH!" I jump three feet off the ground. "What was that Tavi!" I yell to her through the cars front window. She shrugs and I get in the car. She pulls down the overhead mirror and puts on some pale pink lipstick. "So, where is this?" I ask her, buckling up and starting the car again. "About fifteen minutes away, I sent directions to your phone." She finishes with her lipstick and fastens her seatbelt. "Look at me for a second." I turn my view to her. She is absolutely gorgeous. Her dark hair escaping the bun she set and flowing over her ears. We stare at each other for what feels like an eternity. She leans in and gives me a quick peck on the cheek, then sits back in her seat ready to leave. We head to a small concert hall at the end of the town, and park at the back entrance. Its old, has vines all over the back, covering a few juvenile graffiti artists perception of the mayor picking her nose. "This place really has gone downhill since we left." I say as we park in the closest available spot to the doors, which was reserved just for her."We really should try to help this town get back in shape. "Everywhere is getting worse Vinyl, nothing is ever any better. Our technology may be better, but our understanding is less and less." "I really hate when you throw smart stuff at me, I wish I did better in school like you did." "What? I thought you told me you had great grades in highschool!" She exclaims. "If you call passing with flat D's good." "You know what Vinyl, this is what I can't stand about you. You don't give a care about how what you do affects yourself and the people around you. THIS is why I need my space Vinyl. You just don't CARE... AUGH!" She furiously gets out of the car and runs inside. "...I'm sorry Tavi..." I say in the silence of the car. I get out and head in from the back entrance. Tavi is backstage talking to some other people. Quite possibly her old highschool friends that are excited for her to play. She is holding a shiny black cello that must be part of the concert hall's inventory. I walk closer to her group of friends and lean against a support beam near the front wall. She really is beautiful, and I have been fortunate enough to have her for a period of my life. I just need to find a way to change the dilemma between us. A older man walks over from the other end of the stage and whispers something in her ear. She waves off her friends and gets set in the center of the stage, curtains still closed in front of her. She tunes the cello and her eyes light up. You can really see the sound flowing through her. I look through the edge of the curtains at the crowd. Easily a few hundred people eagerly awaiting her performance. The curtains open and a roar of excitement spews out of the excited crowd. She plays a few notes, and starts on her most liked song. The Lark Ascending. I looked up the song recently because I missed her. She is exploding with joy as she runs the bow across the strings and creates perfect harmony. "Good evening Vinyl." I turn around and the old man is looking at me. "Oh hi!" I say, confused. "Are you enjoying the performance? We tried to keep it as local to the town as possible, but word got out apparently." "Yeah, I don't think this many people knew Octavia." I chuckle and lean against one of the steel support beams. "...I really do love her though." "Huh?" The old man replies in a confused tone. "She was my girlfriend... Its complicated" "Young people and weird relationships. Why do they fit so well?" The old man says, looking through the curtain with one eye. "Yeah... I hate love, its suck a pain in the rear end. "Yes it is." Song after song, the crowd cheers her on. The curtains close. Lights turn on for the crowd, and the backstage lights come back on. Tavi walks back over to the old man and I. "Wow! That felt amazing for all my old highschool friends to cheer me on." She says, packing away her cello into its case. "Yeah. And you did great!" I reply taking her cello from her. "I'll go put this back on the car." I head out into the wind. Its cold, but calming. The opens again behind me, and the footsteps get louder. A man walks by me and gets in his Dodge Challenger, and revs it up. It booms to life, and like I said before, muscle cars are way cooler than a Beetle. The car drives off. I'm standing there in silence now, the wind has gone quiet. More footsteps walks up behind me and I get two arms wrapped around my waist. "Hi!" I hear a voice from behind me. I turn around to find Lyra behind me. "Oh hey." I reply. "I watched the performance, I didn't know you were going to it when you left." She says, letting go of my waist and leaning against the car. "She did fantastic." "Yea, she did." I say grabbing my scarf from the back seat that I haven't work in a few months, or at least since Octavia left. I close the door, and Lyra is next to me again. "Lets go in and congratulate her!" She says pulling me back inside the building. I yank off her arm. "I'm just going to sit here for a bit. I need a moment." Lyra goes inside, yelling her name and squealing with joy as the door finally closes itself. I lean against the wall. I set the headphones I keep around my neck onto my ears and turn on one of my favorite songs. Blasting bass through my ears.