Can I Try Something?
Twelve-year-old Lucy sat cross-legged at the foot of Schroeder's piano, as usual. And Schroeder was ignoring her, as usual. He played a beautiful symphony, something by Beethoven, or Bach, Lucy didn't really know. She tapped her foot to the tune, lost in thought. Schroeder was curious as to why his muse hadn't made a peep thus far, but he wasn't about to complain. He thought he liked this Lucy.
But alas, he spoke too soon.
"Schroeder, can I try something?" she asked suddenly, turning around to face him. He didn't look up, but raised his eyebrows in question.
"What?"
Lucy took that as a 'yes' and scrambled onto her feet. Schroeder looked up now, still playing the piece without his eyes. Lucy fixed her skirt and went to stand next to him, waiting for him to finish. Schroeder wasn't quite sure what it was she was planning on doing, but he slowly brought the piece to a close and turned to face her completely.
Lucy shoved him out of the way a little bit and sat to his right, sharing the little piano with him. A look of stricken worry crossed Schroeder's normally emotionless face as Lucy delicately placed her hands on the higher keys. She tapped a single key, a high, lone note stringing out. She smiled, tapping another key.
At this point, Schroeder was nearly in tears at the sight of this reckless girl touching his piano. He immediately reached over and lifted her had off the keys, holding it suspended above the piano.
"I'd prefer if you didn't do that," he said softy.
Lucy smiled widely. "You're holding my hand!" she exclaimed, causing him to flush a deep crimson and drop her hand immediately. She began to pluck out a couple more notes as he watched fearfully.
After a few minutes of this, Schroeder became annoyed. "No, Lucy, you're doing it all wrong." he shook his head at her and she looked up at him with wide, questioning eyes. "Watch."
His fingers of his right hand caressed the keys with such delicacy, such intricacy, that Lucy had no response but to gape in awe. She had never paid much attention to his hands before. Only the sound. He played a few stairs of simple, slow bridges and then motioned to Lucy.
"Now you try." he removed his hand from the keys and watched warily as she nodded, determined to mimick his previous action. She tried, placing her fingers on each key as he had, but the sound was forced and scratchy, unlike the smooth notes that Schroeder had played. She pouted.
"Dang it," she muttered, folding her arms across her chest. "I thought for sure this would be easy."
"Well, it's not," he said defensively, placing both of his hands on the piano again and beginning another complex piece. Lucy sighed audibly beside him until he halted the piece and looked up at her again.
"Can I try something else?" she asked him again, almost forcibly. He had no choice but to allow her to take his seat centered in front of the piano and placed her hands gingerly on the keys. He watched with great interest as she carefully caressed the keys, almost as softly as he had not a moment before. He was actually quite surprised at the sound she created. It wasn't quite a masterpiece, like his own, but it was still soft and peaceful and even he had not made such a sound before. This sound was purely Lucy.
"Wow," he whispered, watching her fingers fly across the keys with great ease. "How'd you learn that?"
Lucy stopped playing and shrugged. "Listening to you," she responded, as if it were the most obvious reason in the world.
Schroeder suddenly felt uncomfortable, sitting there watching Lucy play his most prized possession. He scooted back over to sit on her left, so they were now sharing the small piano, each with a half to themselves.
"Can you take that up an octave?" he asked her, suggesting that she move over a bit with her piece. She did, and testing it out on the higher keys, looked at him in question. He nodded, now attempting to mimick her motions, but he simply could not. This song was Lucy's song. He was suddenly struck with an idea. He began to play the same basic bridges from before, only this time he played with two hands and made the bridges a bit more complicated.
"Now you join in," he said quietly. Lucy caught on right away and played her piece adjacent to his. Together, the two pieces made a beautiful, balanced sound. The two sat, played, and listened to the music for a few moments before ending it slowly and softly.
"That was beautiful," Lucy said softly, lowering her hands to her sides, her eyes still resting on the black-and-white keys of the little piano. "I don't know why I didn't realize it before..."
"Yes, it was," Schroeder agreed. Only this time, he wasn't looking at his piano. He was watching Lucy with an interested eye, his eyes bright with wonder at the beauty before him. He hadn't known she could play! And so well... She couldn't play a simple bridge, true, but she could learn, in due time, with him. She was brilliant.
Suddenly, he was struck with another idea.
"Can I try something?" Schroeder found himself asking before he had a chance to weigh his options. Lucy turned to him and met his eyes, smiling lightly.
"Sure," she agreed, thinking that he'd want to show her a few more bridges on the piano or something.
She placed her left hand back on the keys, but Schroeder took it gently, removing it from the keys and simply holding it in his own. She watched him, questioning, but for once not speaking. Schroeder took a shaky, tentative breath and then, without thinking again, leaned in close to her, pressing his lips to hers before she had the chance to blink. Lucy returned the kiss cautiously, but her heart leapt giddily in her chest.
When at last he pulled away, Lucy's hand still held in his, Schroeder locked eyes with her.
"Beautiful," he said quietly. "I don't know why I didn't notice it before."