Play By Heart (Chapter 3)

          “I don’t like this dress.”
          Felecia let out an exasperated sigh. “Stop it, Shay!”
She didn’t mean to shout, but she and her friend Shay had been in the boutique for more than an hour and a half, and Shay still hadn’t decided on what to wear. It wasn’t even the prom yet. It was just Homecoming.
          “Sorry, I just can’t seem to make up my mind.”
Shay grabbed up another dress and held it in front of her. It was a soft pink, and looked very sleek and elegant.
          “I like this one, Shay,”
Shay glanced at Felecia sideways, “Are you serious?”
          It looked a lot less flashy then the other dresses she had tried on, and Felecia thought it was a beautiful color. She could honestly say she liked this choice.
          “It’s gorgeous.” Felecia proclaimed.
Shay ran her fingers through her auburn-dyed hair. “I don’t know, girl.” She paused and looked at the dress again. “I think I may want to try this on.”
          “No you don’t.” She told her, tugging her by her denim jean jacket. “’If you try it on, you’re going to change your mind.”
          Shay bit her lip, she looked at the dress with a pained expression; it was almost as if she was pleading with herself to not buy it. “Okay, I’m buying this thing.”
          Felecia applauded her decision. “As much agonizing as you did over this dress, you had better be the best looking thing there.”
          “Well of course,” Shay chimed with a smile, “Besides you.”
          “I don’t even know what I’m going to wear.”
Felecia had been too busy that week to even care; not to mention she didn’t want to have to face Kevin again. They had kept their distance from one another all week, and Felecia was hoping to further herself from him even more.
          “Well, who’s the lucky guy taking you to Homecoming?”
Shay’s eyes lit up. “Jase is taking me.” She sang.
          Felecia wasn’t the least bit surprised that Jase was her date. He had been the subject of every phone conversation they’d had in the past week. Somehow they eventually would revolve around him.
          “I would’ve never guessed that.” Felecia teased.
          “Oh, Shut up.” Shay held the dress gingerly in her hands and walked it up to the counter. “And who are you taking now that you and Kevin aren’t going together?”
          Shay responded before she could answer, “Let me guess… Joel!”
Felecia rolled her eyes. Shay was such a bug. She wondered why she even told her anything concerning guys. Felecia had casually mentioned that she thought her piano instructor was sort of cute. She never suspected that Felecia would take that and run with it.
          “Oh c’mon, you have to admit, you talk about him a lot.”
Okay, so maybe she did a bit more then mention him casually, but she still didn’t total the number of times Shay mentioned Jase.
          “He wasn’t there this week.”
          “So you couldn’t obsess over him.” Shay murmured, handing the cashier her money for the dress. Felecia decided she better not comment, if she was talking about Joel more than she should have then it would stop there. She would no longer talk about him.
          “So what’s this jungle fever thing about anyway,” Shay asked giggling. “I guess you like some cream in your coffee, huh?”
          Felecia tried wiping the embarrassment off her face. “No. No, stop it, Shay. It’s not even like that.”
          “It’s not? Look at the way you’re blushing.” The cashier handed Shay her dress, bagged and on it’s hanger. Felecia glared at her, still a little queasy. She didn’t know she was that obvious.
          “Look,” Shay stared at Felecia gravely. “I’m just teasing you. I don’t even care that he’s a different race.”
          She stood close to Felecia. “I think you should go get him. Ask him out.”
An exasperated sigh escaped Felecia. “No, because I don’t like him like that.”
          It was a good thing she hadn’t seen Joel since their first lesson. Shay would have probably insisted on meeting him the second time around.
          "I thought you were going to ask Marco.”
They walked towards the exit together. “Marco had other plans,” She told Felecia opening the door for her. “And, besides I couldn’t turn down a date with Jase.”
          Somehow that name had been brought back into their conversation, even when Felecia had tried to elude it by talking about Marco.
          “Oh, and that reminds me.”
Felecia laid her dress in the back seat of her car. “Jase invited me to a party tonight, and he asked me to bring a friend so…” Shay raised her eyebrows.
          She waited on Felecia to answer as they returned to the car. “Yes. No. Maybe?”
Felecia didn’t want to go out that night. She needed some time to relax; more importantly she needed some time to get things done.
          “I’m only going to stay for about an hour.” Shay remarked, as they left the parking space in front of the boutique.
          “I don’t know.” Felecia answered, frowning. “I don’t have anything to wear.”
          “Oh, we will find you something to wear.” Shay quickly responded. Somehow Shay must’ve mistaken Felecia’s silence as a yes.

A few hours later, Felecia found herself at Shay’s house trying on skirts, and tops. She was baffled that her mother agreed to let her spend the night at Shay’s. It was simply uncharacteristic of her; normally she had Felecia under lock and key.
         “What do you think I should wear?” Shay glanced at herself in the full length mirror mounted on her bedroom wall.
         “I think you should wear clothes.” Felecia answered. You see, she wasn’t as enthusiastic as Shay about the party that night. She was afraid to tell her friend; but she would have much rather been practicing the duet she and Joel were working on.
         Felecia remembered how disappointed she was when the music school called and told her that Joel was sick and as a result her lesson was cancelled. Felecia was really anxious to prove herself that week; she had virtually mastered every one of the sheets he’d given her.
         “Hello!” Shay shouted, jostling Felecia out of her thoughts.
         “God, Felecia, it’s like sometimes you get in your own little world.”
Shay held up an article of clothing that looked more like a ragged cloth than a tank-top, and asked her what she thought of it.
         “I think if Jase really likes you he won’t care what you have on.”
Felecia had never seen Shay be so selective about what she wore. She must’ve really been hoping to make an impression on Jase. Felecia just wasn’t quite sure what it was yet.
         “You don’t get it, Felecia.” She threw the shirt in her hand down. “I want him to notice me.”
         Felecia was afraid she might give her new guy Jase the wrong idea in such an outfit. Shay wasn’t a sex-kitten, she was intellectual and lively, more than that, she was a normally modest girl.
         “I think you should wear this.” Felecia held up a shirt that was one-sleeved and made of stretchy material. It wasn’t too flashy or revealing.
         “Well I kind of like this.”
When they both decided on their outfit, they quickly left Shay’s house and made their way to Jase’s neck of the woods.

         Just as Felecia expected the party was cramped and crowded, the music was loud and the air was thick and smoky.
         As soon as Felecia found a minute to breathe fresh air, some asked her to dance. She smoothed out the wrinkles in the black skirt she’d borrowed from Shay, and glanced up at the stranger. He was tall, and unidentifiable under the hazy light in the room. Felecia couldn’t see pass the blur of darkness in front of her.
         “I don’t really feel like…”
She strained to try and recognize the figure in front of her. “…I don’t want to dance.”
         “Of course you do, Felecia.”
Felecia grew tense, she didn’t know this person. He didn’t look familiar at all, well, at least in the darkness.
         She moved away from the figure, and when she did she quickly realized just who the person was. She rushed through the crowd and found Shay talking to Jase.
         “I think it’s time we leave.”
Shay pretended she didn’t hear Felecia at first. She was talking to Jase, the same Jase who had snarled at Felecia when they were first introduced.
         “Shay, Can we leave, please.”
Shay moved Felecia over and spoke to her. “We just got here.”
         “Anthony’s here.”
         “I know.”
Felecia eye’s pleaded with Shay. She couldn’t take the thought of being there with Kevin’s conniving best friend watching her every move.
         “Okay, Felecia. Just give me a minute.”

         She walked back over to Jase and they continued talking. Felecia decided she would get as far away as possible and went outside to catch her breath. She was so freaked out. Thinking about Kevin and Anthony really got her sad, it reminded of all the things that had gone wrong that year.
         Felecia had decided whenever she thought about those two, she would block it out as quickly as she could and think of something pleasant. She sat down on the porch and let her mind wander. She thought about Joel. It was okay to think about him, because no one knew but her.
         Felecia tried to remember their first lesson. She thought back to the music and how beautiful it was. She thought back to their conversation. Needless to say, she had been listening jazz all week. It made her think of him.
         What scared her was how fast she had become so infatuated with Joel. She had convinced herself that it was probably because he was so friendly, and maybe she was taken by his kindness. Whatever it was she was feeling, it was necessary that she put that aside and focus on learning what she needed to.
         She had practiced ‘Minuet and Trio’ close to four dozen times that week. The rest of her sheet music she had thoroughly practiced as well. It had been awhile since she dusted off her ‘Modern Course for the Piano’ notebooks, but she did so that she could brush up on her sight-reading. She loved the challenge of it. The music really tested her skills.

         Felecia was startled out of her pleasant thoughts when she heard the distant sound of classical music. At first she thought her mind was playing tricks on her. Then when she got up and walked a little ways down the street, she realized this was real music. What scared her was the song sounded so familiar; it sounded like the song in her dream. In fact, it sounded almost identical. Felecia froze in place. Was this a sign? Why was this song haunting her?
         “Hey, I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Felecia turned around to see Shay standing with her purse in her hand. “Let’s go. I can’t take it in there.”
         Felecia let out a sigh of relief, and began walking towards Shay’s car. She was glad she didn’t have to listen to that song anymore.

         Felecia was glad when they finally returned to Shay’s house. She decided then, the party scene was no longer for her. It had become unappealing after a while.
         Shay and Felecia both got into their pajamas and got ready for bed. It was necessary that they spend an hour talking before tiredness finally wrestled them to sleep.
         “Have you ever had the same dream over and over again?” Felecia asked Shay.
         “Yeah,” Shay answered lying upside down on her twin sized bed. “I use to have this dream where I was stranded in the middle of the desert with an empty water bottle in my hand.”
         Felecia laughed. She leaned against the side of Shay’s bed. “I think I may be going crazy.”
         “I think so too.” Shay told her. Felecia flung a pillow that was close by at her friend. “You’re crazy in love.”
         “Oh, goodness,” Felecia pretended she didn’t hear her Shay’s last comment and continued, “I keep having this dream about these pianos.”
         “We’ll its only right.” Shay told her. “You love to play the piano, so naturally you think a lot about it.”
         Felecia looked over at Shay and nodded her head, “But there’s this song, in my dreams. I keep hearing it places.”
         “Okay,” Shay’s expression changed. She looked completely freaked out. Felecia was freaked out too, only she was becoming use to the feeling. “That’s spooky.”
         “It is. It’s very scary.”
         “What do you think it means.”
         “I don’t know.”
Shay leaned over the bed and looked Felecia in the eyes. “Maybe someone’s trying to reach out to you.”
         “Who could it be?” Felecia immediately asked. She couldn’t believe what she was saying. “Okay this sounds crazy. It’s probably all in my head.”
         “Hey you never know.”
Felecia made a pallet next to Shay’s bed with her down comforter and blankets. She surrounded herself with pillows. “Are you going to be able to sleep?” Shay asked laughing.
         “I don’t know now. I’m a little scared.”
         “Look at it this way; you could be having nightmares about zombies, or something.”
         Felecia was glad about that. Her real life was basically a nightmare already. So far her Senior Year had started off not-so good, and then there was always her non-existent relationship with her mother. She was simply thankful that the piano was her solace.
         “So are you really through with guys or what?”
Felecia laughed at Shay bringing this up clear out of the blue. “I think I am.”
Shay glared at her. “You know, all guys aren’t pains in the rear like Kevin.”
         Unlike Shay, Felecia wasn’t even concerned about the prospect of having a boyfriend. She was more concerned with how she was going to buff up her piano skills with hopes of getting a music scholarship. Shay was simply boy crazy. Felecia, on the other hand; was thoroughly convinced that there were better things to worry about than boyfriends.
         “I’m not too sure I’ll be able to sleep anyhow.” Felecia told Shay, as she rolled over on the semi-soft layer of blankets beneath her. “I would normally put on some music. It’s what makes me sleepy.”
         “Did you ever think that might be the reason you dream about pianos?”
Felecia had never considered that as the reason because the songs simply weren’t the same. Lately, she had played jazz music to help her sleep, but they were nothing like the two pianos she heard in her dreams.
         “Well will just talk for the rest of the night.”
Felecia glanced at her sideways. “Well, as long as it’s not about Jase.”
         “Are you jealous?”
If she were jealous she would’ve at least admitted it. Felecia may have been a little envious but it wasn’t for what Shay had.
         “At least I can admit that I’m crazy about Jase.”
         “What does that mean?”
Shay didn’t answer. When Felecia repeated the question she still didn’t reply. She knew exactly what and who she was talking about, she didn’t think she was in denial.
         After about an hour of staring into the darkness, Felecia would drift off to sleep. That night she dreamt two pairs of hands, playing a duet. In the distance she could hear laughter, as the hands constantly moved. It was Felecia’s first dream in weeks that did not include the sounds of music.

Play By Heart (Chapter 4)  (E) The story of a girl who loves to play the piano. #881538 by BestWishes