Music

Elise can't fall asleep, hasn't been able to fall asleep for the past hour, so she gets out of bed and taps her phone, which glows blue against the dark, telling her that it's well past 1 A.M.

Although she can't see much, she surveys the room: the guest room in the Carters' beach house, where she and her sister Adelaide, younger by a year, are staying. They've known the Carters for a long time, in the delightful circumstance of neighbors with children who happen to be the right ages for companionship—she and Adelaide are close in age to Aiden, while Kathryn, the youngest Ashton, often played with Aiden's brother Ethan. When the Carters moved to a different state, they'd still kept in touch often, although it had been more difficult with the distance. So it'd been a pleasant surprise earlier this month when the Carters had invited the three sisters to join them at Silverstone Beach for the summer, an invitation they had eagerly accepted.

Adelaide's soft snores sound from the bed across the room. She's a heavy sleeper, and only because Elise is aware of this does she turn on her bedside lamp, rummage through her luggage to pull out a notebook, and start working on the calculus problems she finds after a few searches on her laptop. The setup isn't ideal, but the calculus is soothing: it's hard—well, harder—to get distracted by useless, recurring thoughts and questions when she has math problems to work on. After a while, she's satisfactorily tired, probably tired enough to fall asleep if she wanted to, but she keeps working: call her a nerd, but she finds great enjoyment in self-studying calculus for fun.

She doesn't know how long it's been since the faint melody started playing before she notices it, but at some point in a problem on harmonic series she does. Her first thought is, Aiden, and it's a logical conclusion. He'd been an accomplished pianist even four years ago, and that doesn't seem to have changed.

Acting on the thought, she slips out of the room and out into the hallway, finding she is correct and it is indeed that brown-haired, green-eyed boy at the piano in the living room, although his eyes can't be seen at the minute as they are closed as he ever so slightly sways to the rhythm of the piece.

She is still watching him from the hallway when he finishes the piece and opens his eyes. He startles a bit to see her there, but calms down quickly and turns apologetic.

"Sorry, did I wake you? I had the mute on in the hopes that I wouldn't wake anyone."

"No, I wasn't able to fall asleep anyway. You only interrupted me on a fascinating problem about harmonic series." Elise smiles wryly.

"My apologies."

"It's alright, I'd basically figured it out."

Aiden chuckles. "Oh, right, math genius."

"Says you, piano prodigy. Why are you playing piano in the middle of the night?"

"Couldn't sleep either, I guess."

"Hm." Elise wants to ask why, but is scared that he will ask the same.

The silence that proceeds is more comfortable, one between friends who are comfortable enough to be quiet together, than their first reunion earlier in the day, between friends who hadn't seen each other in too long and aren't quite sure what to say.

"Well, I'll leave you to it." Elise turns around and begins to walk back to the guest room, but—

"Wait!" Aiden calls. Elise turns around again, and Aiden blinks and looks a little dazzled. "Do you want to...stay here and listen? I mean, of course, you don't. Never mind, it was a stupid thought." Flustered, he shakes his head and looks down at the piano.

Elise blinks. She's never been one for music, but somehow his offer sounds a bit appealing. "I suppose I can't fall asleep either. And that calculus problem is quite exciting, I'd like to save the satisfaction for the morning."

"Well, then, don't mind me," Aiden says and begins playing again. As he does, Elise makes her way over to the couch and curls up against the cushion, listening to his playing, a light melody that somehow lulls her to sleep even though she isn't tired at all anymore.