Although I have been growing closer to Adrien, Nino remains an enigma.
He does not have a serious bone in his body. I cannot imagine what Adrien sees in his foolish antics and aimless chatter. But, since Adrien likes him in spite of all of this, I do my best to tolerate him.
We are working in a group for mathematics. Adrien and I have started, but Nino is listening to a song on his headphones. "We're supposed to be working," I tell him sternly.
He does not seem to have heard exactly what I said, but he takes his headphones off, "Felix, you have to listen to this song!"
Before I can protest he puts the headphones on my head, messing up my hair. It's some sort of weird synth or electronic beat, and I grab the headphones to rip them off.
Then the violin starts.
My hands pause. And hold. The violin is fast, running through notes in a staccato over that strange beat. The mood changes as the strokes turn to plucks and the background weakens, then builds to a charged re-entry of strong electro beat and fast violin.
It is so expressive. I feel it swell and soar, not just with the beauty characteristic of a violin, but an energy I have never heard before. The closest I can compare it to is a gorgeous fiddle, but that description does not do the music justice. It is nothing like the classical music I listen to. It is nothing like the pop songs I occasionally hear on the radio. It is miraculous.
As the song comes to a finale, my eyes are closed. I want to appreciate the violin. And the player, whoever it is, their expression is strong and impossible to ignore.
When there is no more song, I open my eyes. Both Nino and Adrien are looking at me expectantly. Embarrassed, I take the headphones off and shove them back to Nino. "So, you liked it?" Nino asked.
"It was okay," I lied, "We really should work on this project, though."
Nino laughed, "Don't worry, Adrien and I have been working on it while you were distracted."
"I- I wasn't distracted! I was being polite, listening fully to what you forced upon me."
"Aw, thanks!" Nino somehow took that as a compliment.
I look at his paper, "Also, I hardly call those dinosaur doodles 'work'."
He chuckles, "Don't hate on the dinosaurs, man. They help me concentrate."
I put on my best deadpan face.
"No, really, doodling keeps me from falling asleep."
"Perhaps if you paid attention to the material, you would be interested enough to not fall asleep."
"I try! But it's just not interesting," He leans back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, "Maybe if they taught us stuff I cared about..."
"Like what?" I challenge him.
"I dunno, taxes?"
I could not hide the surprise on my face, "Taxes? You're interested in taxes?"
"Well, not interested, exactly," He looks thoughtfully, "But it's something that I know will actually have a use in life. Like, when am I going to need the quadratic formula? Or the exact year of some ancient battle? Or the billion other facts we're supposed to memorize? Like, what's the point? At least with taxes, I'll be bored learning skills I will definitely need later in life."
"I suppose that philosophy has some merit," I conceded.
Adrien interrupts us, "Um, guys? Math project."
"Yes!" I feel ashamed to lose focus so easily, but it is because Nino somehow lured me into a conversation. He always seemed to find a way to slack off. He sighs as he looks down at the math sheet, and we finally begin work.
Listening to that one song seemed to have encourage Nino. At least once a day, he finds a chance to spring his headphones on me and make me endure another one of his songs. He even taught me some terms, such as 'dubstep', which refers to strong electronic beats. Although I do not admit to liking any of them, I listen through each song respectfully, hoping he will bring up the electro-violin song again and I can maybe peek on his phone for the name. To my disappointment, it has not come up again.
Adrien is at his fencing class, as usual, and I know I am alone in the house. The melody refuses to escape my head, as I lay in bed trying to study. I need to hear it again, but I do not know what it is.
I look towards my violin case.
I can not hear the exact song again, but perhaps I can recreate an approximation to satisfy my need. I open the case, and gingerly lift my bow. After tightening it, I rub it over some rosin. I then lift the violin itself, and hesitantly play a few notes. It has become out of tune. Using my phone to find the necessary notes, I slowly tune it.
Finally, it is ready to play, and I try to feel out what I heard. Was it here? Or this note? I don't know if I'm starting at the right note, but I work through what I remember, and feel as if I have at least a general grasp of the sound. I at least have the relative notes for part of it figured out. I keep trying to capture it. Although I think I'm close, I am sorely lacking. I only heard the song once, over a week ago, and I lack the expressiveness of the original violinist.
I remember how forceful it was. How it demanded to be heard. How loose, and free.
I have worked long enough on trying to recreate that mysterious song. I let my fingers go.
My strokes are hesitant at first, lacking any guidance. But as I force myself to carry on, I find myself falling into a rhythm, a song. Thinking of the mysterious song, I incorporate some harsh staccatos, bringing out some of my own frustrations. Both listening and making the music, I have slipped into a minor key, further letting out the tenseness that has built up inside of me.
Every movement makes me looser, even my body literally begins to sway. I roll through some arpeggios without reason, I strike high notes with a starkness I rarely used to dare, and let myself do what I want. And with every stroke, I can not help but want more.
The sound of a car approaching breaks me out of my trance. Adrien must be back. My body pauses, realizing a world outside exists. I do not want Adrien to see me in such a private moment. The violin and loosened bow are quickly back in the case. As I hear footsteps coming down the hall, I pick up a book and sit in a chair, as if I had been reading the whole time.
On cue, Adrien walks in without knocking and goes straight to my bed, collapsing onto it in exhaustion, "Fencing was ridiculous. Some kid had sloppy form, and so Armand made all of us run through footwork, like, fifty million times! I'm so tired," He sighed, "What about you?"
"I've been reading..." I looked at the random book I picked up, "...War and Peace."
"Is it good?" Adrien asked.
"I've barely started," Actually, despite owning the book, I have not read it at all, so I quickly switch the subject, "More importantly, I've got a song I can't seem to get out of my head."
"What song?"
"I don't know! Nino showed it to me once, so I've been listening to everything he gives me in the hopes of hearing it again, but it hasn't shown up!"
Adrien laughed, "That's easy to fix, just ask him."
I pause, "Ask him?"
"You know, 'Hey Nino, what was that song you showed me?', easy as that."
"But I don't want to appear as if I actually like his music."
"Why not?"
"Well, I don't want to encourage him."
"What do you mean, 'encourage him'?"
"To talk to me and so forth."
"Do you dislike him that much?"
"Yes! He's obnoxious, and lacks discipline, and won't shut up, and-"
"But you liked that song?"
"Well, yes."
"So he's not all bad."
I contemplated this, "I suppose."
"And you talk to him all the time anyway."
"Only because he engages me in conversation."
Adrien's phone beeped, he pulled it out, and a look of panic came over his face, "Ladybug is in a fight! Felix, I have to go. I'm… a really huge fan of hers, and can not resist a chance to see her in person. You let Nino in and entertain him while I'm gone."
"Wait, what?"
"He's coming to see me soon, but I can't stay here, so you talk to him. Ask him about that song and stuff."
"Adrien! I can't do that! Besides, you're not supposed to have friends over, right?"
"Well, I'm not," He shifted his eyes, "But you're not under the same rules. So I kind of told Nathalie Nino was coming to visit you."
"Adrien!" I exclaim, flabbergasted.
"Hey, it'll technically be true now!" Adrien was pacing, eager to leave, "So you take care of Nino for me, 'kay? I'll be back soon."
"You don't actually expect me to do this, do you?" I ask with my arms crossed.
He opens the window and hops onto the nearby tree branch to escape, "Thankyousomuchseeyousoonbye!"
He is gone before I can protest further. He likes to go out recklessly through the windows like some sort of thief whenever he is sneaking out, and I am still getting used to that.
I flop onto the bed in frustration, but before I have a chance to recover, I hear footsteps. Nathalie knocks on my door, "Felix, Nino is here to see you."
She opens the door, and Nino comes in, "Hey buddy!"
I dislike the word 'buddy'.
Nathalie exits, leaving Nino and I alone, "So did Adrien tell you about the plan to slip me in here? I know you didn't actually invite me over, but to get me in Adrien had to say I was visiting you and not him, you know, 'cause his dad's weird about letting Adrien have a social life."
"I know, Adrien told me five minutes ago before he left."
"He left?"
"That superheroine is active, so he ran out to try and see her," I roll my eyes, "He's obsessed."
Nino looks disappointed for once. And he is quiet. I know I have said he should stop talking before, but now it is making an awkward silence. I wish he would talk, or that Adrien was still here. Adrien was good with people, he would know what to say. All I can do is offend people. Nino looks up at me. This is Adrien's guest. I do not want him to have a bad memory of Adrien because I was a bad host. What would Adrien do?
"So," I break the silence, "Um, you showed me a song awhile back."
"I show you a lot of songs. It's my duty to share my good taste with musically deprived kids like you."
"Yeah, but there was one that had a violin."
"Could you be more specific?"
"Are there more than one with a violin?"
"Probably. I don't really know, what's it sound like?"
"A violin or the song?"
He shrugs, "I'm no instrument connoisseur, but I kind of know what a violin sounds like. Tell me about the song itself."
I am appalled, 'kind of know' the sound of a violin? Who is so uncultured as to not be able to recognize such a distinctive instrument?
"Felix? The song?"
I realize I am in shocked silence, and quickly gather myself, "Yes, the song. It had some of that 'dubstep' sound, but over that was a violin."
"I have a lot of dubstep."
"The melody was, like…" I attempt to imitate it with my voice, but my vocal rendition is atrocious.
Nino cringed a little, "Yeah, I don't recognize that."
I realize I can't use my voice, but I can use something else, "Wait!"
I hurry to violin case. Fortunately, I had not had time to clean the rosin off earlier, so I can play immediately. I start to play the bits I figured out and remembered. I am sloppy, but find the notes well enough to make it recognizable.
"Oh!" Nino exclaims, "That first song I showed you!"
"Yes!"
"That was some of Lindsey Stirling's work."
I have to memorize that name, "Lindsey Stirling?"
"Yeah, she's a violinist. Let's see… If I remember correctly, I showed you the zombie one."
"Zombie?"
"Yeah, there's a music video that goes with it, let me show you..."
Felix pulls out his phone, and joins me on the side of the bed. His shoulder is almost touching mine as he sits down and scrolls through YouTube results of a search. He finds the video, and leans over to give me a better view, causing our shoulders to touch.
I am not accustomed to physical contact. Not that touching Nino was necessarily awful but I feel like I'm stiffening up and he will notice and think I am weird. But I also do not want to move away because he will think I am weird then as well. But are we close enough to be at the stage of casual touching? Is it weird that I am not weirded out? Is he normal and I am weird or is he weird and I am normal? Everything is weird. He is warm, it might be nice to casually touch someone like this if I was not so worried about what he thought of me.
Fortunately I can focus on the music video to distract myself.
Adrien returns after 8 songs and their corresponding music videos.
"...I can't get enough of this, she's incredible!" I rave.
"I can make you a mix of her songs if you want, the best of the best." Nino offers.
"Please do."
"I see you two are getting along well."
Nino and I look up at once to see Adrien climbing through my window. I realize with a start how close Nino and I are, and under Adrien's gaze I feel embarrassed and have to scoot away.
"Adrien!" Nino exclaims with enthusiasm, "So you finally decided to show up."
Adrien laughs, "Yeah, sorry about that."
"No sweat, Felix and I got to hang out."
"That's cool, I'm glad you two are getting along," Adrien looks legitimately relieved, and I remember the rude things I said about Nino this earlier. Really, how did he trust me with Nino after I complained about him like that? Still, I am glad he took that leap of faith and let us hang out.
"Sadly for you, Adrien, I have to get home soon," Nino sighs, though he is still smiling, "You missed out."
"I'm really sorry, I just had to-"
"I know, I know, Felix told me all about it. We can hang out some other day. And hey, since I can actually visit your house now, expect some more visits," Nino turns to me, "You too, Felix."
He exits the room, waving, "Bye guys, see you at school!"
"See you!" Adrien replies, and I wave.
Nino is gone, and Adrien looks at me. "What?" I ask.
"I really am glad you two are getting along. I was worried when I left, but this turned out better than I expected."
"What were you expecting?"
Adrien started walking towards the door, "Wow! I am tired! I guess chasing a superheroine around the city right after fencing really uses up the energy, I better take a nap..."
"Hey! Adrien!" I call out as he escapes.
"Can't talk, too tired, bye!"
