The Piano Man

XIV. A Giant Middle School Crush

"She blushed and so did he. She greeted him in a faltering voice, and he spoke to her without knowing what he was saying." Candide 

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XIV. A Giant Middle School Crush

It would be two weeks on Monday since Noah had begun giving Maddie piano lessons, although, she seemed to be teaching him more than he did her.Noah's own mind had helped him to understand every possible combination of sounds a piano could make at a young age, but Maddie was proving him wrong.

Maddie definitely got her creative talent from her mom. Not only did she have a brilliant memory for music; Noah could teach her a piece and Maddie could repeat it immediately, but she had a real knack for coming up with brilliant twists to his melodies.

Maddie simply claimed that she was making them sound better, and that was exactly what she was doing. She understood the instrument, how it sounded, how it worked, and she knew what she could make it do.

Since starting to play with Maddie, Noah's score had begun to explode out of him. He had his sound, as Tally had told him, and he could now hear the entire movie. He was writing page after page of music, and then was putting it to the rough scenes that he had on his laptop. During their lessons, Noah would play what he had come up with for Maddie, and she would make it better, quite literally.

This kid was brilliant, and Noah often sat in awe of her.

Watching Maddie play had relaxed Sophie quite dramatically, Noah observed. She had been a wreck after her first appointment, and she was, of course, still anxious about Maddie's pending diagnosis.

But no matter what the doctors said, it couldn't take away Maddie's talent, and Noah believed that Sophie knew that, too.

Sophie had always looked like she was carrying around such a huge burden, like she was walking with a hundred-pound barbell over her shoulders that she couldn't seem to shift. She now seemed to be carrying herself a little differently.

She was standing taller, and she was smiling. Smiling at her co-workers, and she was smiling at him. Sophie actually had a really beautiful smile. When she smiled, her whole face warmed, and you couldn't help but feel the same way.

Sophie's energy was incredibly warm anyway. He'd never seen someone so wholly care for another before, without any concern for themselves. He understood that she was a mom, and her daughter came first, but Sophie really didn't think about herself at all.

He'd caught himself staring at her several times in the last week. He hadn't meant to; it was just hard not to notice the change in her as she cheerfully went about preparing the bar floor for a night of customers.

She was wearing her hair down tonight. Sophie had such beautiful hair that was a really interesting light shade of red. Maddie had the same colour. She had a slight olive-y undertone to her skin, which was smooth and clear. Her eyes, Noah thought, were perhaps the warmest part about her. It didn't hurt that the shade of brown reminded him of his favourite kind of chocolate.

Any.

She had a cute little nose that was ever so slightly upturned at the end, and her lips were soft, full, and pink. She didn't seem to wear much makeup. Or perhaps she did, he wouldn't know. His only experience, really, was the Sephora store that was set up in his bathroom as Vanessa liked his vanity more than the one in hers and Tally's bathroom.

Well, whatever she did or didn't use, she was pretty. God, she was really pretty.

Sophie made her way across the floor, laughing along with something that Holly had said, as she carried a tray of salt and pepper shakers. Holly was refilling the napkins.