"Do you have any instruments in the house?"

Natasha nodded. "Why? Do you play? We have a piano, flute, guitar, and a ukelele."

Amethyst raised her eyebrows but simply said, "Piano please."

Amethyst studied Natasha as she followed her down the hall. The girl's posture was far from perfect and she looked beyond tired. Amethyst wondered why she put so much pressure on herself, but then they reached a door with a plaque that said 'Music' on it and all thoughts left Amethyst's head. She looked around with a mix of shock, awe, and disgust as she stepped into the room cluttered with instruments. Amethyst quickly rearranged her face into just shock and awe when she caught a sight of Natasha's worried expression. Instead of giving Natasha a lecture about how badly her instruments were organized, she burst out with, "I thought you only had four!"
"Um, I only play four," Natasha clarified. "Well, three and a half. I just started learning piano."

Amethyst again said nothing of Natasha's comment and walked around the room, examining each instrument. The room was filled with everything from a clearly new grand piano to a dusty violin. It was a musician's heaven. Amethyst found herself wandering toward the wall of string instruments as Natasha watched.

"Can I - wow." Amethyst couldn't help herself. Like she did with Natasha's homework, she picked up a violin, feeling like she she was in a trance. It was a little on the large side but it would do. She picked up the bow and played a few notes, surprised by the high quality of the sound. Suddenly she seemed to realize what she was doing and set the violin back down.

"Sorry," she muttered once again. Why did she keep messing with Natasha's personal property?

"No, it's okay." Natasha smiled a genuine smile. "You're a great musician."

Amethyst just shook her head. "That wasn't the reason I wanted to see your instruments." She gently pried the piece of sheet music Natasha had just finished out of the girl's tight grip and set it on the open piano. She readjusted the seat, then sat down and began to play.

The song started out soft, then rised into a crescendo before coming back down. Again and again, the tune seemed to get happier, then sad. Amethyst moved her entire body with her fingers as she played and Natasha found herself swaying along as well. It was just too beautiful for anyone to resist.

A couple minutes later, Amethyst finished the song with a bang that fizzled out slowly. She sat back and smiled.

"That was beautiful," Natasha said softly.

"That was your song," Amethyst replied, standing up. "Now, where's the bathroom? If you don't mind, I'd like to freshen up from the plane ride," she lied. Not that Amethyst was much of a liar, but desperate times called for desperate measures, right?

Natasha pointed her to the bathroom and Amethyst waited in there until she heard Natasha start practicing some speech, then headed back into the music room. This time, instead of playing, she picked up a cloth sitting on the windowsill and got to work

Once the dust had been removed from all the instruments, Amethyst began putting them in the correct cases. Amethyst made a mental note to ask her mom to ship some of her old cases over for these poor instruments. She was closing the lid of the grand piano when Natasha appeared in the doorway.

"Amethyst! What are you doing here?" She asked. A key was in her right hand, so Amethyst assumed that Natasha had, thankfully, forgotten to lock up when the last left.

Amethyst opened her mouth, then closed it as Natasha took in the room.

"What did you do?" She asked slowly. Amethyst bit her lip.

"I'm really sorry, I know I shouldn't have messed with all these instruments but I just felt so bad for-"

"Amethyst, thank you!" Natasha cried. And before Amethyst knew what was happening, Natasha was hugging her like they'd been best friends since kindergarten! Amethyst smiled shyly as they pulled apart.

"You're not mad?"

"Mad? No way!" Natasha shook her head and laughed, then calmed down a little bit. "So tell me Amethyst, what was that part about you feeling bad for the instruments?"

Amethyst turned bright red and they both laughed.

Thoughts on Amethyst? Is Natasha secretly a musician? Does the Summerville family hoard instruments? Learn more from a sneak peak into the girl's journals!

~ writesthetic