When I Was Alphie

Chapter Eight / Falling

Author's note: this chapter wasn't edited so please feel free to point out any flaws. I think most of my readers will find this chapter a bit more exciting because we finally have some romance!

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Chapter Eight / Falling

Two weeks later

There are a lot of things that don't make sense to me; such as falling for someone.

Sartaaj shoots me out of orbit and I go high, high, high. Everything he does is lovely, fascinating, and new. I find out he plays piano, his elegant fingers play beautiful music, and that he learned one of my favorite songs. He gestures for me to sit beside him on the oak bench in front of the grand piano standing in his family room.

"I have a confession." He looks at me sheepishly while his hands are poised over the ebony keys.

There's a flush throughout my body, from my toes to the roots of my hair. I nod shyly because I don't think my words are going to work while the sides of our thighs touch and he's looking at me intently. I can tell his confession is going to be pleasant and sweet from the expression on his face.

"So, firstly." He looks at his hands, hovering over the keys, then at me. "This song is really beautiful and I may have listened to it a hundred times on loop before I decided to learn it. Secondly, I'm definitely having some performance anxiety. Thirdly," he looks truly flustered before he continues speaking, "I had this big idea of surprising you and dedicating a song to you, but then didn't know how that would work without an audience."

"Oh." I glance at his hands still poised without touching down. "That's okay. I know you learned it for me."

"Well, I'm going to go ahead and do it, even though there's no one but us to hear the song and you already know it's for you. This song is for you, Alphie, one of the sweetest boys I've ever met."

Before I can say anything, he begins to play. His fingers move from muscle memory, his shoulders hunch forward ever slightly, and the space between his eyes scrunches with his complete concentration. I am mesmerized while a perfect piano rendition of my favorite song floods the room from wall to wall. It's hauntingly beautiful to hear him play and watch him transform into someone I never knew him to be.

Sartaaj and I listen to a lot of music together. In the past two weeks, we've hung out almost every day, getting to know one another better with a fervency that I've never experienced with anyone else. After school, we'd drive in his car with no destination in mind, the windows rolled down while we made a playlist together of all our favorite tunes. While he drove he would frequently steal glances at me, smiling warmly when he saw that I was already gazing at him. Who wouldn't stare in awe? Together we started to build a tender friendship with bricks made of kind compliments, shared laughter, and the occasional hand-holding.

One night we laid on our backs in his front yard to stargaze. I liked that Sartaaj didn't think this was a silly activity or make fun of me when I suggested it. We bundled up in puffy jackets and spread out a blanket made of India yarn that his grandmother had made him when he was born. I felt special when he took my hand in his and asked me to play a song on my phone for him, a song that was quiet but profound for a moment that was both of those things. His hand was a furnace in mine, warming me to my very core.

I don't know what to do about my feelings, which are unknown and terrifying. What is blossoming between me and him feels fragile, and I worry that one wrong move will break it. For Sartaaj I want to be lovely and unblemished, the normal boy he thinks I am. Now, when he looks at me, I can see in his eyes that he's falling for that boy he perceives me as, just as rapidly as I fall for him.