Sonata

 

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"The two people connected by the red tread are destined lovers, regardless of place, time, or circumstances. This magical cord may strech or tangle, but never break."

 

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O N E

Lance’s fingers traveled for all the extension of her hair, playing with every lock that passed through them. Katie had let her hair grow in the last two seasons and now it stretched to the middle of her back, Lance adored the sensation of the ebony that crowned her head in contact with his skin and the scent of the flowers from the lake that caressed his nose with every movement of his hands on the tangled of strands in front of him. He could not contain the smiles that slipped from his lips every time he remembered to who the gold threads belonged.       

They had spent the whole day at the lake enjoying the last day of their summer vacation. Lance climbed the trellis of Katie's room in the morning with a picnic basket in one hand and a mischievous smile on his lips, Katie just returned the smile sleepily before starting to run across her room in a rush of energy shoving everything she rated as necessary in a backpack and accompanying his friend down the steep side of her house.              

The run to the lake served as a warm-up for the long day ahead. The first thing that happened when they arrived at their destination was a rain of clothes flying all over the place followed by the sound of cannonballs and incessant splashes until the midday sun began to flare up and the pair of friends were forced to reluctantly leave the water and shelter from the scorching rays of sunlight beneath one of the leafy willows surrounding the lake.       

The rest of the afternoon was summed up by the banquet stored in the picnic basket - made up of all the variety of cookies, toasts, and jellies that made up Lance's house pantry with two little apple juice boxes and a half-melted box of chocolates brought by Katie as dessert - followed by a cozy and short nap and Lance's failed fishing attempt that earned Katie good laughs, he ended up fishing more branches than she thought possible and his own t-shirt in the end.       

The strong sun left Katie’s small freckles more apparent and Lance’s caramel skin more brunt at the end of the day. On the way home Katie had joked that he looked like a cinnamon and caramel cappuccino bringing a slight blush into the boy’s face. Well, actually turning it redder that it already was. You see, that afternoon had been important to the two teens in many different ways: the end of the last summer as middle schoolers, the last day before the beginning of the hellish high school, smiles, jokes, and new precious memories built. However, for Lance this January 31 was important in a more special way than all the memories and laughter of that day. It was the day he realized that he was in love with his best friend. And that very day he knew that he was totally and utterly screwed.       

It seemed that the universe conspired and planned for that moment happen on that exactly summer afternoon. The breeze blew lightly across the lake scattering the scent of the wildflowers through the air, the sun shining so beautifully reflecting on the surface of the lake, flickering in the water making it look like crystal, the birds sang along with the rustling of the trees forming a sweet symphony and everything seemed more than perfect. Perfectly designed to prepare him for what was to come. When Katie smiled, Lance thought he had never seen anything or anyone as beautiful as her, nothing that could compare to her beauty at that very moment. With his thumping heart and the dreamiest smile he had ever given before, he knew he was completely in love with Katie Holt.       

Now, in the middle of a crazy Star Wars marathon – of the first trilogy, of course – in his bedroom between a huge bowl of popcorn, a giant bottle of Coke and the mesmerizing scent of flowers from Katie’s hair, Lance debated internally about the dilemma of his newest discovery.       

Best childhood friends ended up falling in love were witnessed by Lance only in the Chick Flicks that Katie made him watch from time to time on Saturday night movies, being one of the main characters in one of those stories was something Lance never imagined he would ever be – which he never thought exist in their reality – until now.       

How could this work in any way? Should he tell her how he felt? Keep everything for himself? They told everything to each other, but this was totally different from a prank they had applied to one of their crabby aunts or one of the crazy dreams they had in the middle of the night. Lance knew that Katie loved him, but not in the way he wanted her to. She loved him as dear childhood friend, as an older brother even. How could he tell her that he wanted to love her more than this, not as a friend, not as a brother, but as a lover when he knew that the feeling would not be reciprocate? Lance couldn’t understand anything anymore, every time he thought about it, everything seemed to make even less sense. Only one thing was clear in his head at that moment: fate was really a big cruel son of a bitch.

 

§ § § 

   

Lance woke up the next morning with the lively - and wet - good morning of Lino, his dog. He did not even remember falling asleep the night before, all he could remember was Darth Vader's sinister voice saying "I am your father" and Katie's rough imitation of the older Skywalker. Oh, right, Katie. She should have went home after the movie ended, which was strange because she always slept there on the movie nights.        

Apart from the fact that yesterday was not Saturday movie night and today was not Sunday morning, but seven in the morning on Monday and, damn, he was really late and Katie was going to kill him because of it.       

Trying to finish buckling his belt and tying his right tennis shoelace, Lance hurried to the front door; he nearly tripped and fell on his mother's begonias as he hurried past his house lawn.            

Katie was sitting on the wall of her house swinging her legs forward and back as she waited for him, the lilac dress, that her mother had probably made her wear for the first day of class, danced along with the morning breeze and the world seemed to stop to Lance at that moment. Katie was beautiful, he thought, and he could not help but find himself a tremendous idiot for never having noticed that.        

"Great, you're here," she said as soon as she realized his presence. Lance's brief reverie dissipated, giving way to one of his several gallant smiles as he prepared for the scolding he was about to take. "I was going to wake you up with a bucket of water if you didn’t come down in the next three minutes."        

"It’s great that I am way ahead for your good morning service then." Katie scowled as she pulled Lance’s hand to start their walk to school.        

"You should. The next time you are late again, I'll wake you up with a bucket of worms." She threatened with a scowl that soon broke into a smile as soon as she saw the grimace of her friend when he heard the name of the annelid.     

“You wouldn’t dare.” He said huffy.       

“Oh, and why not?” She shot him a threatening glance arching one of her eyebrows.       

“You love me so much to do it.”       

“Of course, you are the love of my life Lance.” She retorted rolling her eyes.      

 That words had no real meaning and Lance knew that, but the mere mention of them next to his name made his heart beat faster and all his system to auto warm up.      

 "Hey, aren’t you coming?" The expression on Katie's face was already bordering the impatient. Only then did Lance realized that he had begun to stare at her instead of walking. With an embarrassed blush, he started to walk until he reached her again.      

Lance smiled.       

Maybe it was selfish of him, coward even, but those newly discovered feelings of his, he had decided to keep to himself and appreciate them just a little more before introducing them to the world. Everything was great the way it was now, and he didn’t care if it continued like this for a while longer. Maybe fate was not as cruel as he imagined or maybe Lance was already delirious, but he found it easy to give it a chance.

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T W O

No matter how incessant her thirst for knowledge was, Katie had to admit that she was rethinking her love for the mathematics. If they ever asked her how her ideal Friday would be, she certainly would not say that spending the entire night answering a huge algebra questionnaire. Of course, the practice led to perfection, but she did not see the need to do repetitive forty-seven mathematical problems of a subject that she had already dominated from elementary school. She had even lost count of how often she had to separate the real numbers from the naturals and apply Bhaskara in a stupid second-degree equation.       

When Lance's older brother, Marco, had told her that high school was hell Katie laughed thinking he was overdoing it a little too much. At that moment, she suspected that her teachers were the executioners themselves.                   

Lance should have given up on the first fifteen exercises and would probably be in her room on Sunday night begging her to allow him copy her answers. Katie rolled her eyes at the thought. Typical of Lance. It was not like he was dumb or something, silly maybe, it was that it took him a little longer to him to dedicate for something, and his slight ADHD did not help him much with it.                    

A knock on the glass of her window made Katie awaken from her daydreams and her newly discovered hate for numbers.      

Lance.      

Her lips curved into a convinced smile. That had been quick. She didn’t expect to see him begging so soon.       

He climbed into her room as soon as the window was opened. A cheerful smile on his lips, which Katie knew to be totally false, and a slight tremble in his eyes. Something wasn’t right.       

"Uhn ... I brought pizza?" He said offering the box with a awkward smile. The statement that sounded more like a question when trying to start a conversation just confirmed her suspicions.       

Lance was very attentive and always helped to cheer when someone around him was feeling a bit down, but he always ended up keeping his conflicting feelings to himself, always pretending to be well until the last moment with false smiles and a poor imitation of himself, ending almost always hurt in the end. He was the type who cared, but not with him for what it seemed. Katie had learned to deal with it years ago. It would give him fifteen minutes to calm down, if he didn’t spill the beans until there she would put him on the spot. It always worked.       

With a gentle smile she took his hand and started guiding him through her room.       

“Where are we going?”       

“Roof.” It was only what she said while pushed her petite body through skylight on the corner of her room.       

Katie spent several nights on the roof of her house accompanied by a bag of Skittles and her headphones staring at the stars, sometimes Lance joined her. The roof was a good place to relax and calm down and that was exactly what Lance needed at this moment.       

Stuffing her mouth with a generous piece of a cheesy pizza Katie cast a watchful glance in the direction of Lance. He was still the same as when he arrived: tense, lost look and a restlessness that he tried to disguise with some smiles, that honestly, couldn’t fool her even a hundred meters away.       

The silence between the two was already becoming embarrassing. She hated it when he didn’t tell her what was happening and Katie honestly hated guessing games. Even knowing his self-denying nature at times seeing Lance dampen his feelings within himself in an attempt to keep others from worrying was really agonizing. Why could not he be a little more selfish? She really would not mind dealing with his complaints from time to time and this would really save her a lot of trouble to come up with a strategy that would let him speak.       

Giving one last glance to her friend before taking a last breath and beginning the interrogation she saw a solitary tear trickle down his cheek before it was wiped quickly. Shit.       

In a quick movement Katie enveloped Lance in the midst of her arms, her hands running through his hair stroking it gently in an attempt to comfort him, he just buried his face in her shoulder and let small hiccups sneak through his lips. It usually took longer for his happy carefree mask to fall, whatever was bothering him for sure was something really serious or he'd been keeping that facade for a few days, and if that was the case Katie would not forgive himself for not having noticed earlier that his dear friend was so hurt.       

After a few minutes Katie's T-shirt was totally soaked. She didn’t really cared about a few tears in her blouse, but she had to admit that when she heard the sniff of Lance's nose she could not contain a slight squirm from her shoulders. The sobbing had already calmed down a little and her body had stopped shaking with the small sobs. It's all right. It was time to talk.       

"Lance, you know I love you, but don’t wipe your nose at me, this is my favorite shirt," she said in a teasing tone. A weak laugh echoed from his lips. A beginning. Katie wiped the remaining tears from his face and he deepened into her embrace. Sometimes he could be very sticky, not that she complained. She loved the feel of Lance's embraces, they were warm and safe, a safe haven. But now she was not the one who needed this kind of comfort.              

“Lance- “       

“My parents are having an argument. I think it’s because of me.”      

Oh. Katie could understand everything now. Family. That’s the most important thing to him, and seeing his parents fighting was something that could shake his whole structure. His parents were the ones he always looked up for, the pillars supporting his house. Not being able to see it, made him came to shelter in her house. She could only imagine how he might be feeling, even more knowing that the reason for the argument was him - which was probably just a mistake, but no matter what, Lance always found a way to throw the blame on him.       

“Bullshit. Lance, you are the best person I know and certainly the best son too. What could you have done for your parents to discuss?”       

He didn’t responded, just sighted.              

"Look, couples argue once in a while and it won’t have to do with you most of the time. My parents also argue at one time or another, but they always end up making peace in the end and I bet your parents will also reconcile soon, and if they do not" Lance cringed with the statement "I'm sure you'll find a way for them to get it right."       

The tightness around her waist intensified and Lance finally looked her straight in the eye.      

“Thank you Katie, you are the best.”       

All the weight Lance carried seemed to disappear. He still wasn’t in his hundred percent of animation and silly smiles, but that was already a start.       

"Of course I am, you idiot." She replied messing his hair. "Now come on, this pizza will not eat itself."      

She didn’t have to say it twice, the next second Lance was already with a huge slice of pizza tucked into his mouth delighted with the melted cheese with a goofy smile between his lips. Katie laughed and took a slice for herself. It was as strange as something as simple as a slice of pizza could make someone look as happy as Lance looked at that moment and it made her smile.       

"I was thinking" Katie started "what if we made a double movie night?"               

Lance's eyes seemed to gain a new glow. He smiled like a lively child on a Christmas morning.        

"Did I ever told you I adore you?" He said leaning his head against her shoulder.       

His smile was mesmerizing and it did stupid things with her stupid heart. Katie was relieved by the opaque night light not allowing Lance to see the light blush that covered her face.       

Katie never discovered that she was in love with Lance, the feeling was always there and it grew with time. At least that was how she liked to think.

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