Filled with adrenaline and a strange sense of duty, I grab the nearest sheet of paper I can find and begin scribbling onto the blank canvas, filling it with hurried symbols and jagged letters that converge and spread with wild abandon.
When I’m done, I’m filled with more energy than before—a force begging to be put to use. So I clean my shithole of a hotel suite—grabbing empty bottles and takeout containers by the fistful—and stranger still, I sing the whole while. It’s been years since I’ve done it so casually. Years since I’ve been happy enough to let that caged bird in my heart sing. Even longer since I listened.
Just as I’m finishing, my phone dings with a text, and I nearly trip over myself trying to get to the phone sitting on my nightstand. With trembling fingers, I open Eloise’s text—but I’m wholly unprepared for the picture that’s enclosed.
Eloise, lying in bed, inmyshirt, and nothing else.
My eyes scour the frame hungrily, all the blood rushing to my cock as I take in the tops of her silky thighs and the pouty expression on her angelic face.
Thanks for the shirt (;
I’ve died. I’ve died and gone someplace much, much better.At least, that’s the only explanation for me being gifted something this wonderful. Someone this enchanting.
I’ve never seen anything more beautiful. Good night, little muse.
Good night, Riot <3
I stare at my screen for a long while after, staring at the little heart she sent while mine is about to combust. As I stand there, my pulse thrumming in my ears and my knees fixing to give way, I realize something shocking.
I think… I think I’mhappy.Happy for the first time in a long, long while.
If only it was meant to last…
16
Riot
1 month later…
“Here. I want you to take this paper home. Memorize the chords. Practice making the hand positions with your eyes closed. That's your homework.”
She looks over the chords I've roughly scribbled down on paper, then slowly drags her eyes to the title etched at the very top.
Her brow rises to her hairline as she finds my gaze. “'Wonderful Tonight'?”
I nod. “Yep. At the level you're at, you should have zero trouble playing it.”
It’s been four whole weeks since Eloise and I have seen each other outside of the shop, since we had our weekend of magic. We still text occasionally, but even that has become a rarity. I’ve asked her several times to go out again, but she keeps telling me she’s busy. There’s been no more pictures, no mention of our night together, and whenever I try to bring it up, she changes the subject.
She’s pulling away, and it makes me wonder if she’s begun to regret our time together—if she wishes we never crossed the line between student and teacher.
I’m too scared to ask, so I don’t.
Eloise looks down at the sheet music again, nodding as if verifying what I told her to be true. “Isn't this the song where the guy is complaining about his girlfriend taking forever to get ready?”
I nearly spit coffee all over her pretty white blouse. Forcing the sip down, I give her an incredulous stare. “I mean… technically, yes? But most people know it as one of the greatest love songs ever written.”
“Hmm.”
“You don't sound convinced.” I lean back and take another sip of my coffee.
“I just don't understand how being annoyed with someone equates to ‘the greatest love song of all time.’” Eloise's nose crinkles as she makes her little air quotes, and my heart beats loud enough for her to hear across the room.
“A good part of love is being annoyed with the other person. Pissing them off, getting under their skin—but still cherishing them enough to know that even with all those little things, they're still the most beautiful thing in the world.”
“Huh. I guess I wouldn't know anything about that.”
“Hmm.” I rest my chin on my fist while I stare at her.You’re so fucking beautiful, Eloise, and you don’t even know it.
