story: Favorite Song
by: lauren (aka xo bella italiana ox)
rating: pg
summary: what if everything was wrong…and no one knew your favorite song?
disclaimer: i own nothing
pov: third-person
form: 1/1 partial songfic
inspiration: "favorite song", nine days. download or read the lyrics to see why. either way, great song, very fitting with the story.
notes: unimportant, but for the sake of the story, the favorite song is "nightingale" by norah jones. hmm…favorite songs are a comfort zone for most people, if that helps.
reviews: much appreciated, praise or flame, constructive criticism welcome.
Music. A familiar chord, something she knew. She took comfort in things she knew.
She shook it off and smiled at her boyfriend. Leaning against his locker, she giggled. And then she heard the music again. Stop imagining things. Colin and me, this is what you know. He's the only good thing left. The music persisted. Trying to block it out, she called in a singsong voice, "Colin! When are you gonna finally clean out that locker?"
He grunted, hiding a smile. Dropping his books to the floor, he wrapped his arms around her and leaned in for a kiss.
His arms were like her security blanket, and old comfort she knew all too well. Somehow, they weren't enough. She searched his eyes, searching for an old comfort she used to find there. She couldn't find it. She needed something that she knew, something she recognized.
And again, she heard the music.
Only moments later, a confused boy was calling out, "Amy? Where are you going? We're gonna be late for class!" to a girl who ran so fast her figure had become a blur.
She slowed down once she reached a deserted hallway. She hadn't imagined it. The song was playing fully and completely now, it's haunting melody so close now, but in a place she couldn't go back to. She wasn't sure why she broke away from Colin, it was almost like…she was running from him. Since when was a stupid song, no matter how significant, more important than the one true love of her life? He was her comfort, not some dumb song.
She needed to know where that music was coming from.
Approaching the door where the notes were escaping through, she peered in through the glass window. A familiar stranger sat in front of a piano, eyes closed, his hands gliding freely and skillfully across a stretch of black and white, a nightingale singing. Nightingale.
She was entranced. Pressing both hands to the door, she watched, she listened, she was taken away. The end of the song was the thing that sent her crashing painfully back into reality.
Letting out the breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding, she took drew a breath and burst through the door.
"Why were you playing that song?" she demanded, in a tone she hadn't meant to use.
The boy nearly fell off his chair at the sudden realization he was not as alone as he thought he'd been. He recovered quickly, and spun around on his bench, easily countering, "Whoa, Amy, unless it was your plan to give me a heart attack, could you try to not sneak up on me like that?"
"Sorry." She tucked her hair behind her ear nervously, and this time, softer, she repeated, "Um…Ephram…how do you know that song?"
"What? I'm not allowed?" he retorted, sarcasm lacing his voice, as it often did.
"It's not exactly a popular song, nor one you'd be listening to, unless you're a closet Norah Jones fan. Which I highly doubt." Shaking her head, she admitted, "It's just that it's my—"
"Favorite song?" he finished, a faint blush painting his cheeks. "I know."
They stood there for a few moments, staring at one another, he at the piano bench, she breathless and at last comforted, and then—
"Amy? Why'd you run off like that?" a loud voice interrupted, oblivious to the fact that something was happening, something beyond two people standing in a room.
She spun around quickly into outstretched arms and lied, "I-I saw Ephram drop his…" Her eyes fell upon the piano. "Music book, and I…didn't want him to lose it," she finished lamely.
The boy glared at the backstabber who had once been his friend, and wrapped his arm protectively around his possession. "Come on, Grover, we're both late for English now."
"You didn't have to come after me, I'm sorry!" she apologized, leaving with him.
"No prob, I'll pull the coma-boy thing. Works all the time," he bragged, grinning smugly.
She forced a laugh, but it trailed off into something else. "Hey…Colin?"
"Yeah?"
"I know this sounds kind of, like, weird…" she began hesitantly. "But…uh…do you know what my favorite song is?" Slightly embarassed, she looked away. Of course he knows.
"Yeah, of course, that..uh…new Britney one, right?"
Something inside her died, as did something she thought she saw in his eyes. "Uh, yeah. That's it."
"Why?" he wondered aloud, trying to sound as though he were just curious, but she thought she heard a slight suspicion, maybe accusing.
"Oh, nothing, I was just checking," she told him, her voice light, as though the issue were nothing but a mere curiousity, something she already had put behind her.
"You're a little crazy sometimes, you know that?" he laughed, stroking her hair fondly. He went in to kiss her.
And she let him, and she kissed him back. The kiss was short but to an observer, affectionate and comfortable.
She walked hand in hand to class with what she thought to be the other half of her heart. She had him, everything was okay. They were the king and queen. When she was with him, things made sense. She knew why he kissed her and what he was thinking and where he'd be at all times. She knew where he'd been and where he would go. The story of their relationship was easy, girl falls in love with brother's best friend, classic, traditional. She knew this was the way everything had to be.
But she still could not explain why the song continued to play in her heart.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
lyrics to "favorite song"
(the "you" in the song is the inspiration for Amy
the "I/me" in the song is inspiration for Ephram"
What if everything you had
Was like a castle made of sand
Would you open up your hand
or hold on tight
What if everything was wrong
and no one knew your favorite song
there's no one left to sing along
with you tonight
Everything is alright
I will see you tonight
Everything you want
is in your hands
And I can't help you decide
The battles you fight inside
and what hurts you
you don't understand
and it feels like there's nothing right
and it's all the same to you anyway
What if everything you had
Was like a castle made of sand
Would you open up your hand
or hold on tight
What if everything was wrong
and no one knew your favorite song
there's no one left to sing along
with you tonight
The better place you wished for
is just outside your front door
still it never seemed so far away
Summer gave no reward
Until this day was dreamed for
You wait to feel the sunlight
on your face
and it feels like there's nothing right
and it's all the same to you anyway
What if everything you had
Was like a castle made of sand
Would you open up your hand
or hold on tight
What if everything was wrong
and no one knew your favorite song
there is no one left to sing along
with you tonight
You never know what to say
So you run, you hide away
I see the shadow falling in the summer sun
So you never know what to say
It doesn't matter anyway
You'll heal inside
You'll feel this time
And if everything you had
Was like a castle made of sand
Would you open up your heart
and hold on tight
And if everything was wrong
I would sing your favorite song
and you would have to sing along
with me tonight
sing along with me tonight
sing along with me tonight
What if everything was wrong
and no one knew your favorite song