Silent But Sweet

Chapter Seven - The Interruption

TW: swearing...

Evan snorted slightly as he laughed off Connor's comment, shaking his head. His fingers played a chord, then a second before a third. Connor watched him begin to play like it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen. The music was not loudly or confidently played but simultaneously was far from being shy and quiet like the boy playing was. The blond clearly new what he was doing which sparked a question in the brunet's mind: how many panic attacks had Evan had? If he spent enough time in this room to teach himself piano, he must've been through a lot. Connor watched as Evan's eyes softly flickered shut; he was dedicating all his focus to the music. His body rocked gently to the beat of what he was playing. 

The piece sounded relatively simple, as if it was more a backing part than a song itself. Resting his chin on his palm, Connor leaned forwards from where he sat. He smiled encouragingly at the boy playing for him. Sunlight shone through the window behind Connor, warming his back nicely.

A slam shook the room.

A squeal-like squeak escaped Evan's lips as he lifted his fingers from the ivory keys in panic. Eyes locking on the door, where the noise originated, Connor sat up slightly in alarm.

"AHA! I knew you two were having sex in here!" Evan swerved his body around on his chair so he could see the owner of the melodic voice. There, in the doorway, stood a slightly flustered Zoe Murphy. She appeared to have run all the way there.

"We are? Connor, why didn't you tell me? I would've stopped playing the piano." Evan signed towards the brunet boy as Zoe began fixing her honey-coloured hair. Just like Connor, everyone knew her, but for completely different reasons. She was beautiful, intelligent, sporty, musical. Everything about her seemed perfect, there was not a single thing the girl couldn't do.

Connor let out a chuckle which slowly morphed into a body-rocking laugh at the blond's comment. Evan sniggered under his breath whilst Zoe looked dumbfounded between the two amused boys. The brunet boy rocked off the windowsill and stalked towards his younger sister, still smiling. 

"What the hell are you doing here, Zoe?" He said although his voice was absent of any aggression. Zoe sheepishly shut the door behind herself.

"That weird Kleinman dude said you two were both missing and that you were probably, in his words, 'fucking your brains out'. I thought you were probably off getting high personally." She shrugged casually, her silky hair bouncing perfectly. "I told him to bring you guys back to gym, he said he didn't want to see the freaky shit you were probably doing. So I came here myself."

Evan remained where he was sat, feeling like an awkward third wheel to the siblings. He carefully witnessed Connor's face grow gradually sterner as he towered over his sister by at least half a foot. Both the Murphy siblings seemed so relaxed and cool; they were well known, attractive, tall and acted so nonchalantly, as if nothing mattered that much to them.

"Well, as you can see, we're not doing anything out of the ordinary." Connor said, gesturing to the room.

"Connor, you kidnapped the mute kid! That's kinda out of the ordinary, even for you." Zoe retorted, placing her hand on her hip and cocking her head to the side. The blond began to sweat nervously as he became the topic of discussion.

"I didn't kidnap him, Zo! For fuck's sake, he's my friend!" He spat defensively. "As a matter of fact, he brought me here."

"You? Have a friend?" 

Connor angrily sat next to Evan, huffing a curt yes to his sister. The small boy shifted, keeping his head down. He sensed how her comment had hurt the tall boy but deemed it safer to stay out of it; Evan was no stranger to being the silent witness to a fight.

"I never thought the day would come!" She teased more playfully than before, leaning against the inside of the door. Zoe crossed her arms after tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "So how much does he pay you to be his friend, huh?" Her swirling eyes of blue and green shifted on to Evan.

"That's not a nice thing to ask." Evan signed innocently. He was clearly more tense with the girl in the room. Zoe raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Yeah. She's my bratty baby sister, Hansen. She's not nice." Connor responded and leant backwards. Zoe smiled slightly. The shorter boy watched her do that, confused as to why she was smiling after Connor insulted her like that. "Plus she interrupted your playing. It sounded really good, too."

She rolled her eyes, knowing her brother was just trying to drag an apology out of her. "I'm sorry you had to witness our sibling bickering, Evan. It is Evan, yeah?" Her attitude suddenly shifted, becoming a lot gentler and friendlier. Her lips pulled into a welcoming smile as she approached the small boy. The look almost identically mirrored the smile Connor would flash him every now and then. "That's your name, right?"

He furiously nodded, wiping his sweaty palms on his trousers vigorously before shaking her hand. "I'm Zoe Murphy. You probably worked that out yourself but whatever."

Evan nodded again, slightly slower, glancing to his side only to see Connor's eyes locked on to him threateningly. He shuddered. The brunet boy seemed so different when he was around his sister, just like how he was with Jared; defensive and hurt, lashing out.

Connor seemed to shuffle slightly closer to his friend, almost protectively. The bell rang, announcing the end of second period.

"I'll leave you two, I guess. Clearly nothing illegal is going on in here so..." She trailed off, turning on her heels.

"Finally." Her brother said.

"Whatever, Connor. I'll see ya, Evan!" The girl turned her head to flash the boys a bright smile, winking before leaving the room as abruptly as she entered. Something had happened to her, something neither of the boys really noticed, that lead to her returning to her perky self without dragging Connor back to his lessons.

"She's being an oddly smug piece of shit today." The tall boy spoke before falling in to an uncomfortable silence. "I'm, uh, sorry."

"Why?"

"For her interrupting you. She does it a lot." Evan smiled at the other boy and nodded towards him, standing.

"I have to get my stuff for the next lessons. Bye!" The blond boy waved hurriedly before scampering out of the room, blushing furiously.

"B- oh, you're already gone." Connor sighed, picking up his bag. Was that cute boy rushing to make sure he wasn't late for his lessons really the same boy that wrote about disappearing? It was hard to tell. "Damn, Hansen. You really are an enigma."

Word count: 1135