The Lunacy Fringe

Thirty-Eight

I was late for school on Monday due to a doctor's appointment. And also lunch. Since my dad wanted to celebrate my newly freed arm with fried food. So when I finally got to school, it was already the lunch period. I found Quinn sitting in my spot by the tree, using Billie's lap as a pillow.

"Hey, guys," I said, taking the spot between Felix and Aaron since Quinn had stolen mine.

"Ruby, where've you been?" Aaron asked.

"Doctor's appointment." I lifted my arm to show him that it was no longer in a cast. But being in California did seem to be leaving its physical marks on me. My right arm was significantly paler than the left one.

"Awesome. Can I sign your arm?"

"Go for it." I held my arm out, and he dug around for a pen in his bag.

Then everyone else decided to join in. And soon enough, my arm was covered in as many signatures as my cast had been. When Martin finished, he handed the pen out to the only person who hadn't signed yet.

"Your turn," he said. So Felix took the pen and lifted my arm onto his lap. He ran his thumb down my wrist as he looked for a blank spot. It sent chills up and down my spine.

"You have goosebumps," he said quietly.

He looked at me and smiled. I blushed like a fool. Then he turned back to my arm and added a very large and very dark heart on the back of my hand. My heart was beating fast again, and I couldn't hold back my smile. No one said anything, but I figured Felix wasn't the person who went around drawing hearts on everything. Or at least I hoped he wasn't. He handed the pen back to Aaron when he was finished.

"So, uh—we got a plan yet for this prom thing?" Quinn asked everyone, burying his head in a magazine.

"Um—I don't know. What's everyone else doing?" Billie replied. Everyone shrugged. Aside from Billie telling me I had to go and me accepting Felix's offer, I didn't have anything planned yet.

"We can go in together. Carpool. Might be cheaper."

"That works."

"That's the dude's job," Amy said from behind Billie. She peeked out and rested her chin on Billie's shoulder. "Ladies don't have to pay for shit."

"Oh, definitely," Billie agreed. I smiled.

"It's the cultural custom," I agreed.

"Cheap asses," Quinn mumbled.

"Listen, do you know how much money we gotta spend on dresses?" Amy retorted. "You dumb asses can just borrow from your dads or brothers or rent shit. We have to put a lot of money into this."

"She has a point," Billie said.

The bell rang, and everyone got up to get their stuff together for class. Felix's eyes met mine, and he appeared beside me when I finished saying goodbye to everyone. We walked back to the front doors and didn't say anything until he reached out to hold my hand.

"How's your arm feeling?" he asked once we got to the front hall.

"Stiff, but it feels good to use it again," I explained.

"That's good."

"I'll miss playing with you in class. Even though we were awful." He laughed.

"Who says we have to stop being a team? If we keep practicing, maybe we can become a sideshow feature. It can be our backup plan." He led me into the music room, which was already starting to fill up. But we went right to the piano anyway.

"We've got some time before class starts," he said, taking the seat and lifting the cover. I sat down beside him. "Just like old times." He put his hand up, and I did the same with my left.

"And by old times, you mean last week." He laughed. God, I loved the sound of his laugh.

"You know what I mean."

"What do you want to play?"

"What about one of those Ruby Emery originals?"

"Oh, I don't usually write anything down."

"You don't have to. Just play, and I'll add to it."

"Okay, I'll try."

I started with something that sounded slow and cheesy at first. He studied my hand for a long moment as I attempted to find a melody. Then he began to move his fingers and add to my song. The few times we'd played together had been fun. Still, they always resulted in a sloppy, goofy version of whatever song we were trying to learn. And we'd always been playing someone else's music. This time it was ours. And when he stuck his other hand on the keys, I did the same. Four hands, twenty fingers, one beautiful song.

And then a thought hit me unexpectedly. It made me feel stupid, and I didn't want to admit it so soon, especially given all the warnings. But I thought—maybe my dad was onto something after all. It would be easy to love Felix. We worked well together. Had fun together. And we created something beautiful together. I wondered if it would reflect in other aspects of our lives and our relationship.

And then I thought that maybe I already knew the truth. Even then, when I was just a teenage girl with a crush on the boy next door. And Felix—he was just a boy with thoughts he couldn't quite get the hang of and fears he didn't know how to deal with. But someday, we'd create something beautiful again.

And we'd name them after gems.

"Alright, class," Miss Kay said when she stepped into the room and interrupted us.

The song stopped abruptly, and I wished it didn't have to end. I wanted to see how far we could go before we lost focus. And when I looked up at Felix, he was already looking back at me. His dark eyebrows were creased, and there was a brief moment I saw something in his green eyes. I wondered if he was thinking the same things as me. But he quickly covered it with a nervous smile, and we turned back to our teacher.