AN: Welcome to chapter seven! The song for this chapter is "Butterfly Waltz" by Brian Crain.

No. 7: Amy – Butterfly

Amy clutched her pillow to her chest and buried her chin in it. She begged for sleep, but it refused her. She wished for peaceful oblivion, but her memories of the day would not stop haunting her. She snapped her eyes shut and tried to expel them from her mind, but they only came back even more vivid than before.

"Stupid Jake. Stupid, stupid, stupid Jake" she thought, over and over again. She tightened her grip on the pillow, hoping she could squeeze some comfort out of it.

She almost kissed Jake and not because she was trying to get a creepy guy to leave her alone, but because a part of her wanted to. She wanted to kiss his stupid, cute, big-nosed, stupid face and it took an act of God to pull away from him. She remembered everything so vividly: the soft look in his eyes after she glanced at his lips, the way his shirt smelled like old spice and laundry detergent, and the heat of his arms underneath her hands. All she had to do was move herself forward a little bit and they would have made contact.

Amy imagined his lips on hers. They'd done it once before, but she wasn't present for that kiss. She didn't take the time to appreciate it in her desperation to get the frat boy to leave her alone. Her lips tingled with the idea of really kissing him. She grew uneasy and began tossing and turning in her bed. She didn't want to be attracted to Jake. She liked her piano player. Of that, she was sure.

A wave of guilt hit her. She knew she had strong feelings for the piano player, but she worried she wouldn't be attracted to him if she met him. What if he was ugly? Grotesque, even?

"'How could he ever be grotesque? Ever to me?'" she thought, thinking of Roxanne. She suddenly felt ashamed of herself. What should it matter if he wasn't the most handsome guy she'd ever seen? The letters they shared, the music that soothed her, healed her- all of that meant way more than soft eyes and a kind smile. Jake was a warm body, tempting, but fleeting. Yes, they were friends, but the spark…that was just because he was there, a result of circumstance. The feelings between her and the piano player were real.

That's what she told herself at least. It was what made her impulsively head over to the music building a whole hour earlier than she usually did. She knew if she showed up early, they'd be forced to see each other and then, Amy could prove to herself just where her affections lied. It was good in theory, except that he never came. She sat by herself in the hallway for hours and never saw a trace of him. They'd been meeting every night and he never made any mention of some other engagement for that night in particular. Why hadn't he come?

A part of Amy thought it was for the better. She had acted out impulsively and selfishly. What if he wasn't ready to meet her yet? It wasn't fair that she just sprang it on him, they needed to decide together. Amy decided that she would discuss it with him the next night. She needed to handle this head on.

Her plan proved difficult as her piano player didn't show up for an entire week. Every night she went and sat in an empty, silent hallway for a couple of hours, but every night she went. Sometimes she would bring her books and study, and sometimes she would just sit there and miss him. As each day passed without hearing from him, Amy grew more disheartened. She had no idea how to reach out to him. On the seventh day, her melancholy was starting to show.

"Hey, what's going on with you?" Jake asked as he set his tray down in the spot next to hers on the dining hall table. Amy lifted her head from the palm she was leaning on to look at him.

"It's nothing. I'm fine" she said.

"I know you're lying. You're terrible liar"

"I'm fine" she repeated.

"You're not. Talk to me" he said, his eyes kind. Amy felt a surge of affection for him just then. Despite their awkward moment a week ago, Jake had continued to be her friend and was courteous enough to pretend like nothing happened between them. She decided that she could trust in her friendship with him. She took a deep breath.

"You know that guy I told you about?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, he's kind of been standing me up" she said, a weight lifting from her chest.

"Kind of?" he asked. He looked oddly uncomfortable, but she ignored it.

"Well, we never made plans to meet. We've just been meeting at the same time, same place every night for the past couple of weeks and he suddenly stopped coming" she said.

"Why don't you just text him and ask to meet up?"

"Well, I can't really do that…" she said, embarrassed.

"Why?"

"It's complicated. If I tell you, you have to promise not to make fun of me" She said, staring at him with stern eyes.

"On my honor!" he said and she took another deep breath. She went on to explain how she came to meet the boy playing the piano, how they communicated with notes through a door, and how they kept their identities a secret from each other.

"So you don't even know this guy's name?" Jake asked. Amy shook her head.

"I know, it's crazy, but I think we both got so swept up in how, I dunno, I guess how romantic the whole thing was. I mean, at first he was like this ethereal being that made me feel better when I was sad, and then I sent him that first note, and suddenly…I don't know" Amy said, getting more embarrassed the more she talked about it.

"You started having feelings for him?" he asked, with an unfamiliar serious countenance. Amy looked at him for a second, debating how to answer. She decided on honesty.

"Yeah, but I don't even know if he feels the same. I'm probably just some pen pal to him" She said, looking down.

"That's not true," Jake said with a conviction that surprised her, "I mean, I can't imagine that you guys would talk for hours every day and he wouldn't feel the same. Otherwise, he wouldn't do it, y'know?"

"I guess that makes sense" Amy said, feeling a little lighter.

"You know what I bet happened? I bet he realized how intense things were getting and he got scared"

"Scared?"

"Yeah, like he was worried he'd mess it all up" Jake said.

"Then what do I do?" she asked.

"Well, I guess you'd probably want to keep going to the music building and hope he shows up. If he doesn't come back after like two weeks, stop going" he said and felt fear grip her heart.

"What if he never shows up again?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"He will" he said simply.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Well, he's probably super gross and doesn't want to give up the chance to talk to a real, human woman" he said, flashing a smirk at her, while she glared at him.

"God, you're such an asshole" she said, pushing one of his shoulders as he laughed.

"I'm kidding," he said, looking at her sincerely, "You'll be fine, he'll come"

Jake smiled at her kindly and it made her feel warm.

"Thanks, Jake" she said, returning his smile. He nodded and looked down at his mashed potatoes.

Amy made the long walk to the music building with dread filling up in her throat. If he wasn't there tonight, she knew it would take a toll on her heart. When she reached the entrance, her heart batted against her ribcage, as if it was aware of the possible danger and wanted to escape. Amy took a deep breath and walked with determination up the stairs.

Then, the sweetest sound hit her ears. Someone was playing one of her favorite songs and her face broke into a smile she couldn't contain if she wanted to. She ran up the rest of the stairs two at a time and ran down the hall. Butterflies frenzied in her stomach as she saw a note on the floor and picked it up.

I hope you're here.

Amy looked at the words and her eyes glazed over with water, a soft smile accompanying them. She grabbed a pen and wrote back:

I'm here.

She slipped the paper through the door crack and knocked on the door gently. Normally she waited for him to notice the paper on his own because she didn't want to disturb his practice, but she felt no guilt in inconveniencing him tonight. She heard the music stop and felt him approach the door. An overwhelming impulse to open the door and hold him overcame her. She was so sick of this damn wall. She was just so happy he was here. She realized that this week had been harder on her than she first thought. The paper slid back through the door.

"Hey, I'm really glad you came"

"I've been here every night…" she wrote.

"You were?"

"Yeah"

"I'm sorry. I kind of dropped off the face of the planet and I should have explained why"

"What happened?"

"It's really stupid. I was basically being a huge jerk" he wrote back.

"Enlighten me" she wrote, and it took a long time to get a response.

"Well, last week, when I was coming up here to practice I noticed someone in front of the door and I realized it was you. I kind of panicked and ran away" he wrote and a pit formed in Amy's stomach. So he had seen her. Maybe he didn't like what he saw.

"I'm sorry. I got here early. I was being impatient. I just really wanted to see you, but I guess I scared you off, huh?"

"No, it wasn't that. I just never expected you to be so pretty" he wrote and Amy's stomach dropped like she was on steep rollercoaster. Her cheeks immediately filled with color and she hastily wrote back.

"Oh, well, thank you, but you could have talked to me"

"I couldn't. Hey, but I'm really sorry for not saying anything and leaving you in the dark. I'm working on a way to make it up to you right now"

"What is it?"

"It's a surprise, but I'll show you soon"

"Actually, physically show me?" she asked.

"No, not exactly"

"I want to meet you"

"Just give me a little more time, I promise it'll be soon" he wrote and Amy was disappointed. She wanted to break the walls down that stood between them. She felt trapped.

"This is harder than I thought it would be" she wrote.

"Yeah"

"Alright, I'll wait, but no more running off without telling me" she wrote.

"Haha I promise I won't do that again"

"Good"

"Can I ask you a question?" he asked.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"What's your first name?" he asked and Amy was surprised. He'd never asked her a question like that before.

"It's Amy"

"Amy, huh?"

"Yup, your turn"

"Sorry, I'm withholding that information for now"

"What? Why?" she asked.

"Haha it's all part of my plan" he said.

"You're being weird"

"Or am I being cool and mysterious?" he wrote and she laughed.

"No, just weird, you weirdo"

"Hey, Amy?"

"Yeah?" she wrote.

"Thanks for coming every night" he wrote and she smiled.

"Anytime. Hey, I think I'm going to head out"

"Okay, talk to you tomorrow"

"Promise?"

"Promise"

Amy left the music building with a grin on her face that refused to leave. After talking with him, she realized Jake had been right all along about the piano player.

"He thinks I'm pretty" she thought and cursed herself for being so immature. It didn't cure her smile though, which grew brighter every second and was fueled by the glow from the knowledge that the person she liked certainly seemed to like her back.

AN: Here's chapter seven! It's a little bit of filler, but we'll have some more fun developments next chapter. Only three chapters left, so looks like I'll finish in time! Yay!

Thank you guys so much for all of your comments and song suggestions! I've had such a great time listening to them all. You're all precious babies and I love you.

Special shout outs to killmotion for recommending Brian Crain to me and to jillwritesthings for suggesting "Clair De Lune" for the last chapter. You guys are awesome 3