The Song

Part Twelve

"What is this doing here?" I asked Aston, my fingers still on the keys of the piano.

"Long story," he sighed, sitting down next to me.

"You didn't buy it for me did you? God, it was priced at like fifteen thousand pounds!"

"Like I said, long story," Aston replied, "We both know you wouldn't have let me pay fifteen grand for a piano."

"Tell me the story," I prompted, "I want to know."

"Ok," Aston said, his fingers trailing along the ivory keys too. "We'd been together for less than a year... Nine months, maybe a bit longer. You were still working at the music shop and I don't know how many sales of this piano you got in the way of."

"A lot probably," I smirked, "I did it all the time."

"Exactly. Anyways, it's kind of sad... Your boss..."

"Bill!"

"Yup. He uh, had a heart attack," Aston said.

"Oh no... He didn't..."

"Yeah, he passed away."

"That is sad," I said, "He wasn't that old."

"Nope. His son inherited the shop and all of the inventory. But he was living up in Liverpool and didn't really want to keep the shop so he put everything up for auction."

"Wow," I sighed, surprised at this news.

"You were really upset by all of it. Not so much that you were essentially losing your job, but you hated that the piano was going to go to some unknown person. I remember when you found out you were a total mess about it, crying and all that," Aston explained.

"This piano was my baby."

"I know... So I called up Bill's son and asked if I could buy the piano."

"Oh god..." I muttered, "You did pay a lot for it!"

"Only about half of it's worth," Aston said, "He was more than happy to get rid of it before the auction, and I don't think he had any idea of how much it was really worth."

"So you took advantage of him?"

"No!!!" Aston defended, "It was a fair deal. I had to move it and all that."

"Oh, so how did it end up here?" I asked.

"Well, I put it in my old house and hid it away for a while. I managed to keep it secret until our one year anniversary," he grinned, "You were so annoyed about how it had disappeared, and then on our anniversary I showed it to you."

"You didn't?" I asked. It was so sweet and romantic.

"I did," Aston said, "I showed you where I'd been hiding it and asked you to move in with me."

"And I said yes?"

"Yup," Aston grinned, "You were pretty much a mess that day... You were so happy to have the piano and to be moving in, but so annoyed at me for buying it behind your back."

"Sounds about right."

"It's a special piano for us," he shrugged, "I wanted the moment to be perfect."

"Why is it special for us?" I asked. I knew it was special to me, but us?

"The first time I ever saw you, you were sitting at it," he said, "I was walking past the music shop and saw you sitting there playing it and I was enraptured. I'd never seen something so beautiful in my life..."

I felt my cheeks blush as I turned to look at him sitting there, a lost, sad look in his eyes.

"I didn't have any reason to go into the shop, but I did anyways. And then I heard you playing and I was gone. Love at first sight."

"And me?" I asked, "How did I fall for you?"

"Took a while," Aston grinned, "I managed to talk you into giving me little five minute lessons here and there. And then I got you to go to lunch with me one day and then we did dinner a week later, and soon we were together..."

"That’s sweet."

"You're so not the kind of girl I would have gone for back then, but the second I saw you... I was gone. Everything changed."

"You know," I said lightly, "I've thought about this. You're definitely not the type I would have gone for. I kept trying to think of what I could have possibly done to end up with you. Not meaning that in a bad way, was just very shocked."

"We have more in common than you'd think," Aston said, "On paper we're not a good match necessarily, but we work pretty well together. It's easy."

"Hmmm..." I mused, my fingers playing a little tune on the piano.

"Do you remember any of your songs?" he asked, "You've got some you wrote out in books, but others were just in your head."

"My sister said that. To be honest I saw those composition awards and I have no idea what they're for. I've got nothing."

"You'll remember," Aston said, slipping up from the bench. "It's late, you should get to bed."

"Yeah," I yawned, gingerly standing up myself.

Together the pair of us climbed the stairs and then stopped in the hallway between our rooms.

"I'm sorry I can't remember being the girl you love," I whispered.

"Don't..."

"I can see it in your eyes, this is killing you. I just wish that I could remember because I hate to see people hurt."

"You will," Aston said fiercely, "You'll remember. We'll be ok."

I nodded my head gently, my stomach in knots. I felt so awful about all of this because he clearly was struggling in the moment. "Good night," I smiled.

"Night Jess," Aston said, opening the door to his room and almost inaudibly whispering, "Love you."

Again I didn't respond to this statement, because as horrible as it sounded, I felt nothing back.