Symphony

Chapter Twenty-six

It was late noon in the college, and Al and Kenneth were working on a composition together in the practice room. Lectures were done for the day, so the building was quiet since most people had left. Al was currently talking to Leonardo who'd come in a few minutes ago to talk to him before he headed for his orchestra's practice. The two talking left Kenneth to watch them idly from his position behind his piano.

Kenneth c****d his head to the side as he observed the two with mixed emotion. On a normal day, he would have yelled something inappropriate to make the two feel uncomfortable, but today was different. Watching the two interact and share a brief kiss before Leonardo left the room made Kenneth realize that he'd been harboring a form of emptiness for a while that he couldn't explain.

"Kenneth?" Al called out, making Kenneth come out of his thoughts. The dark-haired man let out a sigh as he ran a hand through his long hair before responding.

"Oh, do you want to continue now?" he asked Al, watching as the pianist bit his bottom lip.

"If you want. Are we still practicing?" l asked, and Kenneth just sighed again before playing a string of keys in succession. The music from them filled the room but evaporated just as fast. The room then went quiet, and none of them said anything until Kenneth eventually spoke up.

"You're dating Leonardo, aren't you?" he asked, and Kenneth watched as Al's mouth opened partially in what seemed like shock. The blind man bit his bottom lip, c*****g his head to the side as he tried to think up a response.

"Something like that," he eventually said, making Kenneth sigh.

"So, you two aren't dating?" Kenneth asked as a confused frown made an appearance on his face. Al nodded.

"Well, not quite," Alejandro said in response.

"But you two seem to like each other a lot. You even kiss. You both know you like each other at least," Kenneth said as he rested his head on his raised hand. "Can I ask you something?" he added after a brief amount of silence.

"Sure," Alejandro shrugged, giving Kenneth the go-ahead. The room went silent again as Kenneth tried to recollect his thoughts so that he would ask his question properly.

"How do you know if someone might share your feelings?" Kenneth eventually asked, making Al turn his head towards his voice. "I think I've left enough hints, and I'm not sure if the person knows what's going on or if they're just ignoring me," Kenneth explained before letting out a small laugh. It didn't ease the tension in the room like he had thought it would, rather it made things more awkward since his laugh came off as self-deprecating and low.

"I don't want to call you a terrible person, but..." AL trailed, leaving the end of his sentence in midair.

Kenneth laughed, pushing strands of his hair behind his ear. "But I can be terrible, right? That's what you wanted to say." He smiled, watching as Al nodded before rearranging his bangs. Kenneth had been terrible to Al when they'd shared the same master. Kenneth was even worse then.

"Yes," Al spoke up. "Yes, that's what I wanted to say."

The room went quiet again, and Kenneth soon started to feel frustrated with the awkwardness. I mean, I know I'm not a wonderful person, but I'm not that bad. He thought to himself as he began to press the piano keys in front of him in quick succession, creating music to fill the void.

"If what you mean by dropping hints is taunting the person then they probably just think you're annoying," Alejandro said, just high enough for Kenneth to hear over the music he was making by playing the piano. Kenneth paused his fingers on the keyboard's keys before turning his gaze to Al.

Taunting.

That had been, in fact, all he had been doing to James.

"Oh," was the only thing that Kenneth could say before he cursed under his breath. He then heard a small chuckle from Alejandro, making him turn to find the pianist covering his mouth with his hand.

"I guessed as much," Al said before shrugging. "Your method won't work — like, at all."

"So, what will?" Kenneth asked, making Al c**k his head to the side.

"We're talking about James, right?" Alejandro asked, making Kenneth blink in shock as his face grew warm. He looked at Al with a confused look, wondering how the pianist had figured it out.

"He is the one who has been on the receiving end of your taunting recently," Al said, answering the question Kenneth had kept in his mind.

"Oh," Kenneth muttered, biting his bottom lip as he pressed a string of keys again. He wasn't sure why Alejandro knowing was making him nervous. He never usually was.

"Tell him directly, or invite him to an outing or something," Al suggested. "Though, James is more concerned with his studies, so I'm not even sure that would work either," Al added, making Kenneth sight.

Kenneth wasn't even sure if James would be willing to go anywhere with him. James could barely tolerate his presence.

"Don't worry about it too much. I'm sure things will work out," Alejandro said, pulling Kenneth out of his thoughts. Kenneth looked over at the pianist, scoffing before he put his regular attitude back on.

"Let's work on the composition," he said, trying to shift the topic of the current conversation. A chuckled, but he agreed and the two continued with their practice. When they were done Esterphina came up to help Alejandro out of the room and out the building, while Kenneth stayed behind in the practice room thinking in the silence.

He thought about his future, and he thought about James and whether the cute redhead would have a place in it — he wanted James to be in it. He had never felt the way he was feeling before, but if there was one thing Kenneth feared, it was rejection. He didn't want to be rejected, so he wondered if he should even try.

"What is wrong with me?" he asked himself before chuckling a bit. Never in his life had he been this worked up, and especially not over someone. The feeling was new, and it scared him a bit. He had always been the one with the upper hand — the one who didn't care about feeling, but here he was, panicking over the fact that he might just receive a no.

Kenneth finally got up from his wooden stool behind the piano. He looked around a bit, before heading out of the room. He went to his locker downstairs and sorted out his things before picking up his saxophone case. He then started to make his way out of the building. The halls were empty, and most of the lights had been turned off since the school hours had ended hours ago.

A smile made its way to his lips when he was walking down the stairs and heard the sound of a sax being played nearby—probably in the abandoned lecture room.

He's still here. Kenneth thought to himself as he smiled fondly. He could picture James behind the closes doors of the abandoned room he usually practiced in. He didn't let himself think about it too much though, and he soon continued on his way until he left the college's building.