Chapter 21: Finally Playing
Things had been smooth sailing between the two over the past few weeks. There were no arguments over the PS4; Yuzu had dedicated the time when Mei went to her piano lessons to playing it, well mostly, she occasionally used it in the evenings. This way Mei couldn't get mad at her for playing or ignoring her, and it gave Yuzu something to do for the four hours when Mei was gone.
At current Mei had lessons on Monday mornings and Thursday afternoons. She was improving slowly and was always keen to show Yuzu what she had learned. Along with this Mei was putting in extra hours of practice throughout the week.
It had been over two weeks since Yuzu opened up to Mei about her troubles, but so far Mei hadn't seen Yuzu take on the advice she had tried to give her.
Is she ever going to play it? Mei was sat on their couch reading a book as Yuzu sat on the floor beneath her; eyes fixed on her phone. It was the fourth week into their summer break and Mei had returned from her afternoon lesson a little over an hour ago.
Over the past weeks, Mei had been continuously trying to get Yuzu to play, even if it was just a five-second example. This to start with surprised Mei, for two reasons: Yuzu actually agreed to play but only because it helped Mei, and that Yuzu could look at a piece she hadn't seen before and play it perfectly each and every time. The pieces she played were obviously easy but it still amazed Mei. She was slowly starting to get a good feel of how well Yuzu could play, well as much as she could from the small rhythms and rhymes she was playing.
Yet even with Mei's hard work, she couldn't find Yuzu at the piano unless she specifically called her over for help. When she had told Yuzu to push through her negatively she thought her girlfriend would take on her words, but it appeared that Yuzu was still avoiding playing by herself at all costs. Something Mei still couldn't quite put together, was that the blonde never seemed sad or annoyed when asked to help with, or listen to Mei's playing.
If she can do it with me then why can't she do it alone? These thoughts had churned in her mind for days, but she hadn't been able to bring herself to say anything. Yuzu had been in an exceptionally good mood this past couple of days, Mei didn't want to ruin that by bringing up this topic.
Yuzu had made it clear that she wasn't sure if she wanted to continue playing and asked for some time to figure it out, but how long was 'some'? Mei's growing interest in the instrument was making her more and more eager to hear something proper, something beautiful like Yuzu had described to her. Mei's tutor wouldn't play anything she didn't need to and focused solely on Mei's playing, so she was hoping Yuzu would have played something; She didn't.
"Yuzu?" Mei asked as she placed her book down, her legs wrapping around the blonde's waist and her hands lightly rested on her shoulders. She slowly pulled herself forward, bringing her arms around Yuzu's shoulders, her head now resting on her own arm as she gazing at Yuzu's pink face.
With Mei now hugging her from behind, and her long legs wrapped around her waist, Yuzu couldn't help it when her cheeks started to burn at the sudden action, especially when she felt her girlfriends gaze land on her.
"Y-Yes Mei?" Yuzu mumbled, quickly turning off her phone to look at Mei.
"Am I too close?" Mei gave Yuzu a smug smile as she pulled back slightly so it was just her hands on the blonde's shoulders.
"I wanted to ask you what your favourite piece to play, or used to be is on the piano," As Mei continued her confidence slowly dwindled away, and as she asked her question her voice became noticeably quieter. Yuzu let out a laugh, causing Mei to look at her confused.
"Sorry Mei, I didn't mean to laugh but you changed so quickly there..." After Yuzu caught her breath and relaxed from her fit of giggles, she turned around so she could face Mei. "I'll answer that if you tell me why you want to know," Yuzu gave a confident smile as she eyed a slightly pink Mei.
"I was just curious is all, I just wanted to know what type of music you liked to play." Mei gave her anticlimactic answer and Yuzu slumped down a little.
"Is that it, you didn't have any other reason? That's borning." Mei only rolled her eyes, "Well?" She gestured for Yuzu to keep her side of the bargain.
"Well I had two favourite pieces but they are both by the same pianist,' Ludovico Einaudi' He is my favourite, I loved all his pieces but my two favourites were, 'Nuvole Bianche' and 'Divenire'. They are great pieces they are really relaxing too. I don't know if I would still be able to play them perfectly though, I haven't had to use my left hand for any of the pieces you needed help with so I probably suck now," Yuzu laughed heartedly.
Mei gave her a smile, she had never heard of this artist never mind his pieces, but that didn't stop her from taking mental notes of both his name and the two songs Yuzu had mentioned. She would definitely be looking that up later.
"Do you want to see if you can still play it? I am sure once you have some practice you will be able to play it again. Maybe you could show me how to do it?" Mei gave Yuzu a hopeful smile but Yuzu gave an apologetic laugh.
"I might try it, but I can't teach you it, I don't mean to be mean Mei but you wouldn't be able to play it." Yuzu tried not to sound cocky when she said that, and she only just managed to swerve that bullet.
"Hmph, well can you at least show me? Pretty please?" Mei was doing her best to imitate Yuzu when she wanted something, in hopes the blonde would cave like she always seemed to.
After several long moments of Yuzu looking into Mei's bright eyes, she rolled her own and sighed as she stood up.
"Gaw fine Mei, but I don't even know if I remember how to play it, I will probably just mess it up. Come on then, If I have to play then you are coming with me," Yuzu gave Mei a dramatic sigh with a coy smile but Mei couldn't help but see fault in it. Why won't she go near the piano by herself, I can hear her perfectly from 4 metres away... Nonetheless, Mei got up from the couch and followed Yuzu to the piano, where she was tugged down onto the stool beside Yuzu.
After her fingers hovered over the keys for several seconds Yuzu pulled her hands back to her lap.
"I can't remember it," Yuzu looked at her hands that were tapping uncoordinatedly on her legs. I'm so glad she can't lie looking at me or without tapping her fingers.
"I know you can Yuzu, if you mess up don't worry. Like you said to me last week: everybody makes mistakes. C'mon..." Mei smiled and gestured to the piano.
"I hate that you know when I lie Mei, I don't know how you always know but it is very inconvenient for me." Yuzu huffed as she turned back to the keys; Mei grinned.
Mei watched as Yuzu seemed to be playing random notes at the minute. She would play two or three keys together then shake her head and move her hands again.
"Ahh sorry Mei, I'm just trying to remember how it starts, Oh, by the way, the one I'm trying to play is Nuvole Bianche, I honestly can't remember the other one." Yuzu gave Mei a smile before focusing back on her fingers. You're telling the truth, Ah how this little 'glitch' of Yuzu's worked wonders for Mei.
After almost a minute of Yuzu doing this with both her left and right hand she turned to Mei, "I think I have got it down, well I know what I am supposed to play but if I can is a whole other problem," Yuzu grinned as she turned back to the piano, her arm brushing against Mei's. Yuzu was holding onto that tiny bit of warmth with all her being. If she could feel Mei then she wasn't alone, which then meant she could be happy when playing.
The blonde started simple enough just playing three to four keys and Mei couldn't see how she wouldn't be able to play this song. But after almost thirty seconds of this slow relaxing start Yuzu stretched her left hand out and played something Mei didn't even know the name of. All she knew was that the notes were far enough away to be in different octaves. While her left hand played this, her right slipped into a gentle melody.
Mei was positively enhanced by her lover's performance, she couldn't fault the playing at all, it was as Yuzu said: beautiful. But there was a change. Yuzu had her eyes focused intently on her left hand as it sprung into a new motion, playing the same three notes at a time yet it seemed to walk back and forth over them. At the same time, her right had kept a similar pace but changed slightly at the same time. Mei wasn't quite sure what she was doing to be able to play several notes with each hand at the same time, but it was doing a great job of catching Mei's breath in her throat.
A little over a minute into the song it calmed down and Mei watched as Yuzu's left hand done most of the work, completely stunning her as her fingers gracefully lept up the length of the piano. Finding the will to move her eyes away from Yuzu's hands to her face, Mei was very much caught off guard as tears were welling up in Yuzu's eyes; no doubt blurring her vision, but she kept playing.
Mei lifted her hand to Yuzu's shoulder and gave a firm squeeze. She hoped the message came across that everything was okay, that she could stop if she wanted to. Yuzu gave the briefest of a nod, an acknowledgement of her girlfriend's concern, but her fingers didn't budge.
After the clam came what Mei would call the storm. Yuzu's left hand continued it's back and forth along keys Mei didn't even know the names of, while Yuzu's right jumped into a jumbled mess of tapping. Only it wasn't jumbled, it was precise and wonderful. The entire house was filled with the graceful clashing of notes, Yuzu's hands were moving at a pace Mei couldn't begin to fathom and the tune she played made Mei's heart swell. She didn't know why, she had never been one to get emotional over music, but Yuzu, the woman she loved with her whole heart was playing this pure melody with tears on her face and Mei couldn't stop them forming on her own.
After what felt like centuries to Yuzu she stopped, her fingers still on the keys her eyes fixed shut. "There," Through a croaky voice Yuzu spoke, but her eyes were still shut, tears still lined her face and her hands were still on the keys. Mei was stuck in place, she wasn't expecting something like this, she had definitely been underestimating her girlfriend. What she had heard her play was eyeopening but the single word she said after riddled Mei with guilt.
'There' What does that mean? Does she think I forced her into doing this? Is she mad? Is she crying because I forced her to play? Is this my fault? Mei's mind ran in search for an explanation, but she was still hung up on the tune that had played through the apartment moments ago. She tried to think of something to say but what could she say, she didn't even know what Yuzu was thinking right now.
"Sorry I didn't play it all, m-my left arm was starting to get tired but it was basically just the same thing over again..." Yuzu lifted her hands from the keys and lightly massaged her left forearm in hopes of easing the tension within it. It really had been too long since she played, she could only manage three and a half minutes before her arm got sore... Pathetic.
It was the first time she had played that song or any for that fact in years. Her heart tugged and squeezed in her chest, she didn't know what she was feeling. Her body and mind felt relaxed as the sound filled her ears, but her heart, it ached. She didn't know what the battle going on in her body was, but she couldn't bear it. The tears felt like tears of joy, ones she needed to let out years ago, but then why did her heart feel this way?
I played, I played... I don't think I feel sad Mei is right here, she looks starstruck. -Yuzu felt herself going to smile but then a thought ran through her mind, wiping it from her face before it could even appear-... I couldn't finish it, I couldn't play it. It was his favourite song, the one he played for me whenever I needed cheering up, our song, and I could finish it... I failed...
Wiping her eyes, Yuzu sat as her mind went to work, as did Mei's, as she tried to find a way to speak. Moving her hand from Yuzu's shoulder closest to her, Mei traced it over her back and onto her other shoulder, pulling Yuzu into a tight, one-sided embrace.
"Yuzu... That was magnificent, you were-" Mei had dried her tears as she wanted to express to the blonde just how amazing she was. But she was stopped as Yuzu silently lifted herself from her place on the stool. From Mei's grasp.
Mei swivelled around on the stool and watched as Yuzu robotically made her way down the hall and into their room. Emerging a minute later in black, ripped skinny jeans, a burgundy tight fitted shirt that could have used to have a couple more buttons done up, and a pair of trainers. Mei didn't have time to worry about her slightly revealing top.
Is she going out? Shit, I really fucked up, I pushed her too far and now she is crying, fuck. Wait Yuzu! Why did I have to ask?! As soon as she seen the blondes attire, Mei ripped herself from the chair and rushed to the other girl's side.
"Where are you going? I'm sorry if I upset you Yuzu, I didn't mean to force you into anything. Are you okay?" Mei asked as she reached the other girl with a worried expression. The blonde's face was still stained with tears and her eyes seemed a shade duller than they had ten minutes ago. Mei reached to wipe her girlfriend's tears but Yuzu swiftly moved out of the way.
"... You... Didn't do anything wrong. I'm going out, don't wait up." With that said Yuzu brushed past Mei and grabbed her coat. Clutching her keys Yuzu was about to leave when Mei pulled on her shoulder. She turned around not to see an angered Mei as she had expected but a worried, confused and panicked one. "Don't forget your phone... Where about are you going?" Firstly, Mei knew where the blonde was going: to drink, or at least that's what she thought. Asking her to stay was out of the question, Mei knew this was not something Yuzu was debating about, but she wouldn't let Yuzu leave without some form of contact. She knew asking to tag along would be a definite no, so making sure she could stay in touch was the next best thing.
Taking the phone, Yuzu shoved it in her pocket and gave Mei the briefest peck on the lips before opening the door and walking out. "Places,"
That kiss meant little to Mei, it was more of a burden than a comfort for her. Yuzu, the bright and bubbly, loving and cheerful Yuzu couldn't even look at her or kiss her for more than half a second. It only added to Mei's worries.
With that said the door closed separating the two girls. Mei was worried, concerned and felt as though she had made Yuzu feel this way. That all her nudges and talks about the piano had had no effect and Yuzu was feeling 'empty' again; Yuzu didn't even know what she was feeling, Happy? Sad? Disappointed? Maybe them all, but one thing she did feel was that she had let her teacher down. Let that connection rust away, now she couldn't even play the song that connected them together. She was in her eyes, a failure. And what was the cure for a failure?
Alcohol.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone