Title: Old Piano Keys
Characters: Caroline Scott, Mary Read
Pairings: No pairings unless you squint really hard
Rating: T
Words: 724
Frost freckles on a window pane of a store. Her nose presses on the cold surface; she peers into the store.. A sleek grand piano stands at the centre of silver and gold instruments. The black surface shines, reflecting off the other instruments. She squints. The price too expensive for her to even think about.
She can't afford it in her current situation.
"Looking at pianos again?" she turns around to see Mary leaning against the wall. She greets her and resumes to looking at the instrument.
Mary shakes her head, "No matter how hard you stare, it's not going to appear in the living room.
Caroline does not say anything. Inside the store, a man with a nice suit and a wide grin buys the piano. Gleefully, he shakes hands with the clerk. She frowns, wishing she had the money to purchase a piano. Any piano will do, she just wants to return to music.
Snowflakes begin cascading from the sky.
"Look, let's just go somewhere else," Caroline walks away from the store, discontent with the outcome.
"Hey, I know a place you'd like," Mary says, "just follow me."
They walk arm in arm under the flurry of snowflakes. They pass by children running around in circles trying to catch a snowflake with their tongue. Mary sticks hers out too. Not a single snowflake lands and Caroline giggles. Mary smirks, challenging her to catch one for herself. Caroline sticks her tongue out, no snowflake lands. They laugh.
Mary stops in front of an unfamiliar coffee shop.
"Now you don't have to stare at the music store anymore," Mary says as they enter the shop.
An old piano stands at the centre of the stage. The ocher shade gives no reflections, instead a warm antique feel. She squints, no price tag to be seen. Several amps and a drum kit line next to the piano; a lone microphone in front.
It's perfect.
"How did you?" she asks, still in awe.
"It's just a walk away from the police station. Everyone seems to like the coffee here," Mary says, "The looks on their faces when I told them I haven't been here."
Before Caroline can run to the piano, Mary grabs on to her arm to stop her, "Also we need to get something first."
From the corner of her eye, she sees a cashier watching them with suspicion. Her expression becomes more heated.
She orders something simple, a coffee and a muffin. Mary orders something similar. They sit at a table inches away from the stage and discussed the possibility of regrouping the band. Mary already talked with the manager and she's excited about need something to entertain the guest and the equipment is gathering dust on the stage.
"I could bring my bass here, it still works," Mary says in-between sips of her coffee, "I saw Ade hitting the desk with two pens yesterday. He misses the drums. He'll gladly sign up. Now, the only one missing is a guitarist. Where is Matthew anyway?"
Caroline shivers at the mention of the name. "Matthew left town after high school, remember?"
Mary finishes her drink, "Well, he's a dick anyway. We'll find someone else."
Caroline plays 'Take the A Train,' one of the first songs they played in Stage Band. Mary hums the bass line, later she mimics a drummer as she pretends to improvise. She misses this; the sound of note coming out from the piano as she presses the keys, the rhythm of the tune and how her feet taps along with continue to play songs from their memories until Mary leans against Caroline's shoulder and murmurs, "Sing a song for me."
(Caroline will not tell her how content she feels when she leaned against her shoulder.)
She stops, "But I haven't sang anything since high school. I really don't know what to sing."
A thick blanket of snow covers the streets. Snowflakes become larger and more abundant. Dozens seek refuge in the coffee shop, and soon almost all the tables are full. The shop wakes to serve the customers seeking for warmth.
"Summertime, because we need that right now."
With a few notes from the piano, she begins the song. She lets her voice open, unused for a long time. She hits all the right notes, feeling right at home.
AN which just turned into a rant: There was a confession on tumblr that pissed me off so I wrote this fic. Actually, I had this fic in mind for a long time, that confession just prompted me to write it. I love these two ladies and I can't stand it when anyone dehumanizes either of them and pits them together. For one, Mary Read is a real person. She can stand up for herself and she doesn't need to deserve anyone but herself, especially not a fictional character. Caroline gets bastardized in many fics I've seen and turned into a shallow, "stupid" "bitch." And suddenly, Mary's better because she does not act like that?
This is not middle school (more or less high school too, but I'm almost done with my high school career and not once have I done this) where suddenly the girl who dated the boy you had a crush on his now a bitch and you have to dehumanize her as much as possible. She does not become the main target of every despicable thing you can think of.
I have an entire AU planned out for this which may or may not turn into an actual multi-chaptered story (ha as if I do that).