The Light of Music

Love Again

Christian's POV

The day finally came: the day my training began. I shouldn't say "training" because although I am learning new things, I'm not competing in anything that I need to be training for. Maybe I should call it my musical lessons. Yeah, that works better. Let's start over.

The day finally came: the day my musical lessons began. Avi and I stayed at the apartment while Kevin went out with the rest. When we were alone, he pulled out his guitar, tuned it, and began playing the song that melted my heart: "Tumbleweed." Why is he doing this to me? He knows I am going to sing, even though I just want to listen to him. He sang the first line, then looked up to me. I knew that meant he wanted me to take the next line.

♪Pass those golden hills and trees♪

♪Feelin' like♪

♪I-I-I'm alone.♪

♪Yeah, I'm alone♪

♪Ooh, I'm alone♪

♪I'm alo-one.♪

The song continued on. While Avi was singing the next line, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I reached for it, wondering who could be texting me now. I unlocked the screen and smiled. It was Dani.

Hey, babe! Whatcha doing?

I tapped my screen to type my reply, unintentionally tuning out Avi and the guitar.

Heyy, love! Just singing with Avi Kaplan!! :D You?

I finished typing and was just about to hit Send when I realized something was different. Where's the music? I picked my head up slowly and discovered the source of my uneasiness. Avi had stopped playing and was now "death-staring" at me. He was clearly very upset and I wasn't going to do anything else to make him more so. I held up my finger to him, telling him to wait as I texted Dani. I deleted the first text and hurriedly typed the next.

Can't talk now. Avi is grumpy. Love ya!! Talk later.

I hit send and nearly threw my phone on the table next to us. Now I had no more distractions.

"I'm done. Sorry." I could barely look him in the face, though I could "feel" his anger coming at me. He sighed, placed his guitar on his knee, and began playing again. He sang the first part of the second verse, this time looking up at me to make sure I was paying attention. This time I was ready.

♪Sifting through all those fi-i-iles♪

♪Searching for what♪

♪I-I-I'll surely find.♪

I must not have been as ready as I thought because at this point, my mind began to drift. Luckily, I could multitask, so I kept singing while I thought of the day I met Danielle.

It was January 21, and it was raining. I had just gotten paid, so I decided to go to the mall, despite how small it is. However, this particular mall contained my two favorite stores: Hot Topic and FYE. I had a routine any time I went to the mall: walk around in Hot Topic, typically not finding anything cheap. Then I ventured to FYE and immediately went to the CD section. I usually wasn't looking for any CD specifically, but that day I was searching for PTXmas, their only album I didn't own. I scanned the racks and spotted the familiar colors of the cover. One left! I snatched the CD from the rack and started toward the checkout counter, but something stopped me about halfway. A woman, about my age, pulled the employee aside and asked for his help.

"Do you have PTXmas? I 've been searching through every store and none of them have it." Her voice made me smile for some reason, even though her back was to me.