29. Hitting My Head Against the Wall #2
Sure enough, piano music could be heard from the Perry-Crawford home.
It glided through the air from an open window that Bexley was placing a planter box in, which had adorable succulents and other flowers I couldn’t quite name springing from it.
Her hands were covered in dirt as she clapped them on her apron and turned to see who was walking up her sidewalk.
“Nick, my darling! Nice to see you two!”
“Hey, Bex,” I greeted her solemnly. She welcomed me with a hug and kiss before relaying the same to Odysseus. “Is Stark with you guys right now?”
“He’s just inside with May. They’re practicing for a talent show Stark enrolled in.”
“Gods, he must really be bored,” I laughed.
She shrugged with a wink. “The man is full of mystery. You can go right in: I’m sure he needs a break anyway.”
“This will be the last time I see the light of day!” I squeaked as Odysseus dragged, literally dragged, me up the steps.
“You’re being more suspicious by throwing a tantrum. Level yourself and be confident so he feels confident.”
“Funny that the mute is telling people to be confident!”
He pondered my comment. “Touché.” I threw my hands up in defeat and wrenched the door open, storming through the living room. Odysseus hurried to keep pace but failed miserably.
May was leaning against the piano with a pencil in her hand, which she tapped alongside the tune that Stark played methodically.
His eyes were dead fixed on the keys he strummed, and he bobbed his head to the melody to keep himself in key.
May looked up when she heard us enter the house and smiled widely.
“Look what the cat dragged in. Hello my lovelies!”
“H-Hey guys…” Odysseus nudged me to force the stutter out of me. I cleared my throat loudly. “Whatchya doing?”
“Just practicing. I’ve always wanted to learn to play, so May offered to teach me.” Stark kept up with the song as he spoke, “What brings you two to our neck of the woods?”
Odysseus gestured to Stark with his chin, raising his eyebrows as if to say, ‘spit it out!’
I laughed nervously, loudly, and this made Stark turn to me slightly. His expression was unamused, and that made my stomach twist so hard I thought I was going to throw up. “I, er, came to see you, Stark. Someone… wanted to talk to you and asked if I could convince you to meet with them.”
“Someone?” he prompted as he played.
I shrunk into my shirt collar. “S-Seraphine…”
Stark slammed his hands down on the piano, making multiple keys play abruptly. I yelped and dove behind Odysseus to protect myself, and this time, he didn’t stop me from hiding. Stark spun on the bench to glare at me heavily. “What did you just say to me?”
“Please don’t kill me!” I sobbed.
Odysseus took over talking. “Stark, it’s not Nick’s fault: he’s just the messenger. Seraphine asked him to try and convince you into talking with her-…”
“Why on the God’s green fucking Earth would I want to speak to that woman?” he shot back, in a pure rage at this point.
Odysseus trembled like a leaf and kept trying to break the hold I had on his waist to pull me back out from behind him, but I refused to budge and instead buried my face in his lower back so Stark’s glare wouldn’t burn a hole through my head.
Odysseus took a settling breath before continuing, “Look, I know you guys have bad blood and all, but wouldn’t you like to say your piece and gain some closure-… ?”
“I have all the closure I need. I have a life that I very much enjoy, WITHOUT Seraphine, might I add!”
“You realize you’re playing piano for a talent show cause you’re that socially reserved, right?” I muttered weakly.
Stark went to roar at me, but instead, May thunked his head with her pencil.
“He’s right, you know. Stark, you spend your whole existence trying to fill this void within yourself, a void that you couldn’t even fill when you were alive, and that void is named Seraphine.
Wouldn’t it help, even a little, if you entertained one conversation with her? Just one?”
Stark’s bottom lip jutted out as he thought of a response.
I figured I was momentarily safe and slithered out from behind Odysseus, who quietly scolded me for leaving him hanging like that.
Instead, I moved to sit on the bean bag beside Stark, who refused to look at me.
I reached out and took his hand, happy he didn’t pull away.
“Stark, you know I want you to be happy, right? That I would never make you do something you don’t want to do? ”
“Yeah, yeah…” he grumbled.
I played with his fingers as I spoke, “She feels guilty about the way things happened between you two and has held onto the same pain you have for centuries. I think you owe it to one another to express yourselves and let some of this pain out, so you can both move on…”
“Both move on? She went and got knocked up by Erasmus, so it seems she’s moved on just fine without me!” he bitterly snarled.
I cringed under his comment. “It may feel that way, but she wants you to do the same.”
“To hookup with Erasmus?” he joked.
I whacked his arm as he snorted little giggles. “You know what I mean, dumbass!”
He rolled his lips loudly as he pondered what I said.
I continued to pull on his hand and manipulate it in mine, trying to settle him through my touch.
His cold fingers were clammy with anxiety, and I knew better than to rush his decision.
He finally picked his head up. “I don’t know if I’m ready for that kind of talk. ”
“You’ve had two thousand years to be ready,” May pointed out.
He pouted miserably under May’s words. “I… I don’t even know what I would say to her?”
“How about a hi, how are you, how’s life to start?
” Odysseus sat in the bag beside me. “You can start as friends, ya know. She’s still the same person you knew, after all.
People don’t change overnight, and it certainly seems that she retained much of her previous personality, give or take being a bit more gentle with her training. ”
Stark exhaled through his nose before nodding once. “Fine, yeah, ok, I’ll talk to her… but I want you to be in the room when I do, Nick. I don’t think I have the strength to do it on my own.”
I tsked and squished his cheeks together. “Don’t worry my Starky-warky, I’ll be right there beside you!”
“Eww,” Stark laughed out.
“Alice?” I called sweetly into the air. Alice popped up immediately, still covered in flour, but wearing a big smile. “Can you please tell Seraphine’s Shadows that we’re ready for her?”
“On the double, little man!”
“I am not little!” I whined, though the rest of the room laughed at my frustration.