Descending Darkness(66)

He reaches up and runs a hand through his long hair. I lean forward and push the messed up hair back into its normal position. “I’m trying to ignore what I feel for her, Ryanne. Right now is not the time for a relationship. It’s safer for both of us if I keep things platonic between us,” he whispers.

“What if you don’t get another chance? What if right now is the perfect time? I had to watch Colton die before I admitted to myself that I couldn’t ignore my feelings anymore. Sometimes there’s no better time than the present because you don’t know if you’ll get a future. There’s no guarantee of a tomorrow. We’re lucky to get another chance. I know she likes you too, Liam.”

“What? She does?” I nod. I really want Liam to be happy. He deserves that much, especially after everything he’s been through because of me. He starts shaking his head. “It doesn’t change anything. I can’t risk it.”

“I just want you to be happy, Liam. You do whatever you think is right. Just remember that a girl won’t wait forever.” I look over toward Kyril. Natalie doesn’t like Kyril like that, but my glance is enough to startle Liam. I pat his knee and leave him pondering on the couch.

Going upstairs, I go into our bedroom and grab my iPod and sketchbook off the nightstand. When I come back downstairs, everyone is seated on the couch. I walk over to Colton and sit down beside him. I lean into his side and open the sketchbook.

I put my headphones in and click shuffle. The first song that pops up is “Amazing” by Matt Cardle. This isn’t a song that I can just listen to. I quietly hum along with the music. Absolutely no inspiration is coming to me as I stare down at the blank page, so I start drawing spirals across the paper. If something ends up appearing in the drawing...of course, it was intentional. I start bobbing along with the music.

Two of my swirls that overlap each other look like an eye, giving me an idea. I mirror that image on the page, drawing a face in the middle of the swirls. The face blends into the background. You’ll have to look at the picture pretty intently to see anything. When the song ends, I am still adding details to the drawing, but I feel like everyone is watching me. Looking up, I confirm the feeling. Yanking the right headphone out, I ask, “Was I singing again?”

“How are you not famous yet?” Natalie says. I blush a little and look up at Colton.

“Was I really loud?” I ask him. I seriously hope I wasn’t singing that loud.

“Not at first. You got louder the more you got into the song.” Shoot. I can’t turn my music up loud anymore. I can’t hear how loud I’m being. “Don’t be embarrassed, Ry. You have a beautiful singing voice.”

“Do you know Sara Bareilles?” Natalie asks.

“Oh goodness, of course she likes Sara Bareilles,” Emma mumbles.

“Do I know her? She’s my favorite artist.” Natalie jumps up and grabs my hand, pulling me off the couch. She runs up the stairs, dragging me after her. We stop at her room, and she grabs an iPod docking station. Exiting the room, I see everyone walking up the stairs. “What are you doing?”

She pulls me into the music room and forces me to sit down on the piano seat. “You’re going to play.”

“Why does everyone keep doing this to me?” I jump back up. “I’m not going to play. I didn’t mean to sing for everyone. I don’t want to play for everyone either. I hate having the attention on me, Natalie.”

“Then I’ll sing with you. It’ll be on me too!” I turn around and see everyone filing into the room. I start shaking my head. I turn around to walk out of the room, when Natalie grabs onto my hand. All the nerves I have start to fade away.

“That’s not fair.”

“I don’t play fair,” she mimics me. “Now you’re not nervous. It should be a piece of cake.”

“You know I could just shock you and walk out of here.”

“But you won’t because I know you want to play that piano. Otherwise you wouldn’t have let me drag you in here. You’re small, but you’re strong. You could have stopped me.” She has a point there. I look past her back to the piano. I do want to play it.

“Wait, she plays the piano?” Kyril asks.

“Yeah, she sings, plays, draws, dances, does gymnastics, runs, remembers random facts, reads minds, manifests weather elements, kicks butt…need I go on?” Emma says. I turn around and glare at Emma. Colton walks up behind me and slowly pushes me toward the piano. I let him because I already know that I am going to play.

“What am I playing?” I ask Natalie as I sit down at the piano. I place my hands on the keys. It just feels right sitting here. Music has always been a part of my life. I feel so comfortable sitting on a piano bench…not so comfortable when people are watching me play, or sing.