Chapter 35

That night, it was as if nothing terrifying had even happened.  My parents went back to normal, and I supposed that was more for their benefit than mine, and once the security company packed their things up after setting up a state of the art security system in our home, I felt a lot safer than I had a mere four hours ago. It was a Sunday night and I was busy reading a chapter for school and stressing about the next few hours I would've had to spend studying if I wanted to make a good grade on a History exam when a soft knock came at my closed window. Immediately, my mind thought the worst, until I remembered that a certain someone had gone home to have a family dinner that night and would be right back over, his words. I didn't really believe that he actually wanted to spend that much time with me, but if the fact that he was at my window was any proof, I was definitely wrong. I tentatively put my book down and gazed over my outfit which consisted of an oversized tee shirt with a cute bralette underneath and some pretty tiny sleeping shorts. Oh well. I walked over to the window and pulled the curtains aside to reveal a grinning Kieran who had a plate of something in his hands. I opened the window to allow him in, grateful that he didn't actually have to scale my entire house just to get to the window, and let him inside. His entire presence filled up my room and I was glad for the distraction, my eyes lingering on his taut muscles stretched across his simple black shirt and dark wash denim jeans that hugged his body in all of the right places. He was so much taller than me that I had to crane my neck to look into his gorgeous eyes that I would never get enough of. "Hi," I squeaked out, wanting to immediately slap myself in the face afterwards.  So not cool.  You don't start out saying 'hi' you say something cool like, 'hey, what's up?' no 'hi'! "Hi," he responded, an amused smirk filling out his features. Cue the slapping myself in the forehead. "How was your dinner?" He rolled his eyes as he made his way towards my desk in the corner of the room. "How do you think it was?  I would have invited you but Jake was there and he brought the same girl who was at breakfast.  I don't think anyone would have wanted another repeat of this morning..." he trailed off and I laughed at the memory. No, we most certainly did not want a repeat of that. "Hey, at least I didn't break her face or anything, although I was tempted." He chuckled at that, and he seemed to like the fact that I could stand up for myself and wasn't a helpless little damsel in distress that always needed saving. I could hold my own. Unless I froze, which I sometimes tended to do.  Once I froze, there was no helping me, not even the most training in the world could help me. "Nice room," he commented, his large stride allowing him to easily check the room over in a few seconds. I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks as he looked at my personal, girly items.  Although I hadn't lost my entire sense of style when I moved back from New York, it hadn't all come back. He walked over to my keyboard in the corner with the dust collecting on the keys and turned it on, pressing a few keys and allowing the filtered sound to drift through the otherwise music free room. "Thanks," I said tentatively, hoping he wasn't going to ask me what I thought he was going to ask me. "You play still?" I cleared my throat and went to sit on the edge of my bed, feeling his hot eyes trailing my every move. "Yeah, sometimes..." He gave me a look that said he didn't really believe me. "Really?  Because this dust says otherwise.  I remember you used to love playing, practicing for fun even.  What changed?" I gulped. "Well, I guess I sort of associated music with Breckenridge, the school that I went to, and that was where everything bad ever happened to me.  So, I stopped playing.  I'm too scared that if I start again, I'll feel even more miserable." He turned that thought over in his mind and I could see the cogs in his brain turning. "How do you feel right now?" he asked me, turning towards me and leaning his back against the keyboard, effervescent eyes trained on my body. "I feel fine.  When I told you what happened to me it was like a weight lifted off of my shoulders.  Sure, I'm scared of when he'll come back, and mad as hell that he thinks he can terrorize me in my own home, but I'm not near as scared or pained as I was before I told you." "Then are you still scared to play?" I had to think about that for a minute. Was I still scared to play? Was I scared that once I put my hands on the white and black keys that the pain would come floating back in note by note, chord by chord, word by word that I played and sang? Was I terrified to feel that sinking feeling in my chest, pulling me down like I was drowning under water and couldn't get my head to peak above the surface? I zoned my eyes in on the keys and allowed the logic to fill my body and my mind, and stood up. Kieran gave me an intrigued look but otherwise kept his face impassive as I strode towards him and my keyboard. I started by just running my fingers over the top, not pushing down any to make any noise.  It felt familiar and brought chills to my arms and neck. Kieran pulled the bench out for me and I gratefully took a seat and straightened my back, inhaling and exhaling, before my fingers began flowing gently over the notes. The world didn't end, and I didn't feel the pain immediately slam into my chest with the force of all the terrible things that had happened to me. A smile found its way to my face for about the tenth time that day which was relatively unheard of for me, especially a smile that wasn't fake or forced, and I found myself singing along to one of my favorite songs that always put me in a better mood. I felt Kieran leaning down to watch as I played, probably wondering how I did it so easily after not having practiced in son long, but it was as if all of the stress was released from my body and floated down to my fingers and out through my music, finally freeing me from the prison I had forced myself in. I knew I had Kieran's full attention, especially with the song that I'd chosen, 'Who You Are' by Jessie J, and I knew he had no idea the extent of my vocal abilities until I heard him pull in a sharp intake of breath as the climax of the song began to come to a head. It felt so amazing to sing and play again since it had been so long since I'd used my voice for something other than talking or crying out in pain from my nightmares and fear. Once it was over, I sunk back in towards the back of the chair and allowed a long breath to escape me. "I knew you could sing and play, but that was just...wow." I smiled at Kieran as I put a hand around his that was resting on my shoulder. I pulled myself up from my sitting position on the piano bench and walked up towards Kieran so we were standing directly in front of each other. "I haven't played in so long...I guess I was just waiting for the right motivation to play again..." I trailed off, the ghost of a smile pulling at my lips. I cast my eyes downward, a blush creeping across my face as Kieran put his hand to my chin to get me to look at him in his deep verdant eyes. "Glad I could be of service," he said and a cocky smirk filled out his features. There was a magnetic pull between the both of us and I found myself reaching up on my toes to brush my lips against his quickly, deepening our connection as fireworks exploded along my senses and I knew that I never wanted to be apart from him, I knew that I was in love with Kieran Robertson.