(Hiatus) Truce//RedCrackle

Interlude- In Love Pt.1

Get ready for a longer than normal chapter--
And remember, interludes are past events!

-When we were in love-

Pt. 1

A rose.

Carmen hesitantly took it from my hand, her fingers light and stealthy as they held the stem, careful of thorns. She gazed at it for a moment before looking up to me, searching my face.

"For you."

She simply nodded in understanding.

"I love you."

Carmen nodded again, tears in her eyes.

I stepped forward, taking her face in my hands to kiss her cheek lightly. "I know the world is so strange for you right now," I whispered. "But maybe..."

Carmen swallowed, the rose between us.

"Asking you to be my girlfriend almost feels weird, just because of everything that's been happening recently."

There was silence from her, and she suddenly wrapped her arms around my waist, the rose fluttering safely down to the ground. I stiffened, but quickly relaxed into her, burying my face in the crook of her neck as she hugged me. "Is that a yes?" I muttered with a small laugh.

"Yes it's a yes, you dork," she huffed, her voice warbling as she answered into the hood of my jacket.

"Well then kiss me already!" I exclaimed jokingly, smiling brightly as she finally looked up.

She shook her head in exasperation and went back to hugging me.

I pressed my lips to her head instead, patient and willing to wait.

"And then if you put your thumb here, pointer finger here, and your pinky here, and now play up- yes, good!"

A smile split my face, and I angled my head to peer at Carmen. We sat together at the piano, situated so that our legs were pressed side-by-side, her hands resting over mine. I had only ever touched a piano once before, at VILE Academy. I had never been taught, and it was really just me running my hands over the smooth surface and plunking a few keys, so when Carmen had asked if she could teach me a song, I had been hesitant to comply.

But comply I did, and now, here we were.

"What's this song called again?" I asked, removing my hands from the piano. Carmen immediately brought them back up to keys, rearranging my fingers back onto them. I chuckled lightly at this, and she gave a coy smile.

"It's called Truce. It's by Twenty One Pilots- you've probably at least heard of them."

I perked up at this. "Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun? Those guys? Didn't they play Blurry Face?"

She nodded. "That's them."

I gave a sad smile. "My favorite is their song Cancer. It makes me think of my mum. In a happy way, somehow."

Carmen already knew the story of how my parents died, with my dad drowning in an Australian reef and my mother succumbing to cancer when I was just three. I only remembered my mum- her dimpled smile and bright, kind eyes. And I knew that I missed her. Carmen's face was sad, and she quietly reached up to cup my face, brushing her thumb over my cheek. "I love you," she whispered, pressing a light kiss to my lips.

"And I love you."

We stayed there for a moment, wrapped up in each other, before I leaned away and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry."