by Shealy James
Parker
The weekend felt long without Maggie around, but it gave me an opportunity to do something I had been waiting to do. Yesterday after Maggie left, I went up to the symphony and met up with Jerry. He let me into one of the rehearsal spaces, and left me alone. For the first hour, I sat in front of the piano just staring at it. Then I held my fingers over the key for a little while. I pressed a key down, and then another one, and then another one, and before I knew it, both hands were pressing keys. Without thinking, I played Fϋr Elise from memory, my mother’s favorite piano tune. Every time I missed a note, I started over like my mom would have made me do.
I played everything I could remember until my hands started to cramp. When I left, I went to Mom’s grave at the cemetery and told her all about it. It was the first time I had ever talked to her grave, but it felt cathartic to play the piano and tell her about it. The cemetery closed at dusk, so I didn’t have much time after my long day in the rehearsal room.
I stopped by the bar on my way home, and saw the band was there. I stayed around for a while and hung out with Sarah. I played a few songs and even sang with the band. I haven’t felt this good in a long time. The only thing that would have made the day better is if I could go to bed tonight with Maggie in my arms.
Maggie. She was at home, three hours away. I felt a pang. I missed her. I saw her this morning, and I missed her? With the exception of her dad being in the hospital, this week had been the best week I had in a while. I didn’t want anyone to know that I was playing yet, but having Maggie here would have been the cream cheese icing on the metaphorical red velvet cake.
A late night text from Maggie came through when I was on my way home from the bar, and we ended up talking late into the night. It seems like time flew by when I was talking to her or with her and the rest of time moved at a snail’s pace, like I was counting the minutes until I saw her again. The entire time I was running this morning, I was thinking of her. Every song that came up on my iPod was one that she liked. I ran past her favorite café and the library where we study and the fields. Everywhere I looked, I could connect something with her.
After running, I went to the Symphony again. Jerry had given me a key to his rehearsal room yesterday, so I was able to play for a couple of hours before I went back home. I knew Maggie was going to be back soon, and I wanted to be home, so we could go study or workout or whatever she wanted to do this afternoon. At exactly three thirty-seven, I heard her car pull in the driveway. I was sitting in the living room reading, well staring at a book about Machiavelli’s politics.
When they came in the house, I closed up the book. “Hey. How was your trip?”
“Good. Daddy seems almost like his old self. He rests more often, which is probably good for him.”
“I’m going over to pick up Becca. See you later if you guys want to do dinner.”
“Sounds good. Bye Max,” Maggie said and then turned back to me. “How was your weekend?” She said as she plopped down next to me.
“Good. Played with the band last night. Sarah was there. She and Billy slept here, and that was not what I needed to hear first thing this morning. I went for a run to avoid them.”
“I ran and swam already, so I’m okay with skipping the workout if you want to go study.”
“Here or the library?”
“Will we actually study here?”
“Probably not.”
“Let me take my stuff upstairs and change into pants. The library is freezing.” She ran upstairs. I packed up all of my stuff and waited for her in the kitchen while I ate cookies and drank a glass of milk.
She came down in jeans and an Emory Soccer t-shirt with her hair in her signature messy knot. She walked by me to get a bottle of water. Between the counter and the island, there wasn’t a lot of space, so she had to rub up against me to get by. I put my glass in the sink, and turned around as she walked by a second time. This time, I grabbed her arm and rested my hands on her shoulders.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” she said and smiled looking up at me with her big, brown eyes.
“Welcome home.”
“Thanks. You ready to go?” She placed the hand not holding the water on my chest.
“Yeah. I guess. Machiavelli is a slow read. Get ready.” She turned around and grabbed her bag from the kitchen floor. As she bent over, I was reminded of the first time I met her. I knew she was special from day one, and now I can’t get enough of her. What have you gotten yourself into, Parker?
“Great. You driving or am I?” She asked.
“Do you ever drive? Shouldn’t you say ‘my car or yours’?”
“Ok. My car or yours?”
“Mine. You guys drove yours to Savannah.”
We made it to the library and found our usual cubicle was open. Most people didn’t start studying until closer to midterms, so we could usually get a particular cubicle or our table on the third floor of the library.
We studied for a few hours before it was time to head home to meet everyone, even Sarah, for dinner. We stopped and picked up some meat and vegetables to grill. We all ate, talked, played cards, and had a good time. I gave Sarah a hard time for that morning with Billy. She laughed and acknowledged the sexcapade proudly. To get me back for teasing Sarah, Max announced that he saw Maggie coming out of my room yesterday morning. She turned bright red and glared at him as if they had already talked about this.
To ease the tension I said, “Yup. Maggie and I are having wild, silent sex. She is an animal in the bed and the shower and on the floor.”
Her jaw dropped to the floor before she slapped me. “We are not.”
Sarah played along. “Wow Mags. I didn’t know you had it in you. I pegged you for a screamer.”
Maggie covered her face. “Oh God. I’m dying.”
“What makes you think she would be a screamer? You haven’t ever heard a peep from my room, and she has been coming in there for the last two years whenever she gets the urge.”
“Really?” Sarah asked.
“NO! Parker, stop.”
“No. I’m only kidding. Maggie hasn’t been sleeping, so she watches movies in my room. Sometimes she falls asleep, and I don’t wake her up.”
“Oh. Damn. I was hoping she was getting some,” Sarah said laughing.
The doorbell rang, and Sarah jumped up. “That’s Billy. Night y’all.”
“Night Sarah,” we all said.
Becca, who was always quiet in groups, waited until Sarah was out of the room before she said, “If you two ever do get together, I think you would make a really great couple.”
And there it was. The awkward discussion neither of us were willing to have right now. I couldn’t look at Maggie, but she handled it gracefully. “Thanks Becca.”
There was a tense silence for a minute before Max said, “Did you really hear Sarah and Billy this morning?”
We all busted out laughing. After that, we cleaned up the kitchen. Becca and Max went up to his room, and Maggie and I sat in the kitchen for a little while trying to finish up a few guided reading questions.
When we finished, I sat back in my chair. “Ready for the movie?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.” Just like that Maggie was back in my bed and my arms for another night.
The next few weeks went the same. Every weekend Maggie went home where her dad was getting better and better, and I went to the symphony and played. Soccer was going really well for both of us. Maggie’s dad was finally able to come up for a few games, which made her really happy. She played much better when her dad was in the stands. I was having the best season yet with little to no pain in my knee, and both Pops and Preston were coming to all of my games now. I had no doubt that I could thank Maggie for that, but she said they wanted to come. I didn’t care either way. It felt good to have them there.
Every night, Maggie and I slept together in one of our beds. We were getting closer and closer, but we never kissed or did anything but sleep. Of course I wanted to
run my hands all over her body and kiss her among other things, but we had made a deal, and I was going to be patient with her while we rebuilt the trust between us. Neither of us ever brought up anything about our relationship. It was October when I decided I was ready to move our relationship forward, but before anything could happen, I had to show her I was good for her and could commit to her. For that, I already had a plan.
Chapter 19
Maggie
It was the week after Halloween and our LSATs when I received the invitation. I woke up that morning in my bed, and Parker was gone. It was an unsettling feeling. I usually woke up before him, but that day he was out of bed and out of the house before I woke up. I was still wondering how he managed to get up without me noticing as I wandered into the kitchen. It was there on the island that I found the invitation that had black scroll ink printed on white cardstock. It said:
You’re Invited
To a solo performance by
Parker Pryce
at
The Atlanta Symphony Hall
Tonight at Six O’clock in the Evening
My hand flew up to my mouth and warm tears stung my eyes. I was shocked. I didn’t even know he had been playing let alone prepared a performance. I was suddenly very excited about what the evening had in stored for us. I assumed this was to everyone in the house, so I showed everyone as they woke up and came into the kitchen. Of course no one else knew how much this meant, but that didn’t mean they weren’t excited to see what he could do.
The day seemed to last forever. Parker was gone the whole day, and I had to force myself not to call or text him. I didn’t want to bother him on his big day, so I kept myself busy working out and shopping with Sarah. We bought new sweater dresses to wear with our new high-heeled boots for the night.
We got our nails done, eyebrows waxed, hair trimmed, and even after all of that it was only three in the afternoon. We didn’t have to leave until later, so I was trying to pass the time with reading, but I couldn’t focus on school or a fascinating romance novel about a damaged college professor and his student. I decided to take a bubble bath to relax and calm down. I shaved everywhere, and soaked for a little while thinking about Parker. It was strange. Before Parker, I never really thought about sex. I never really thought about other people having sex, but I knew it was happening. From almost the moment I met him, sex seemed to be on the forefront of my thoughts. Now that I had spent many nights curled up with him in bed, my thoughts followed an obsessive pattern: school, Parker, sex, soccer, Parker, sex, friends, Parker, SEX! I couldn’t escape it. As predicted, my mind crept back to my dream, and I started to think about what it would be like to be with Parker. I finally admitted to myself I wanted to have sex with Parker Pryce.
As my thoughts continued and became more wanton, my hand wandered under the water and explored my world beneath. I closed my eyes and imagined Parker’s hands on me. Just as things were getting good, I heard my phone ringing. I pulled my hand out of the water and dried my hands on a towel. The caller id said it was Dr. Pryce. Good timing.
I stayed very still in the tub, so he wouldn’t hear the water when I answered. “Hello?”
“Hey Maggie! How are ya?”
“Doing well. How are you?”
“Good. Good. Listen, I was calling to make sure you were coming tonight.”
“I take it you received one of Parker’s invitations as well? We are all going of course.”
“Good. How about I take all of you out to dinner afterwards? I have a feeling that we may have something to celebrate tonight.”
“Sounds great. Is Preston coming?”
“Of course. We are both really excited to see what Parker has up his sleeve tonight.”
“Me too. I haven’t seen him all day.”
“Oh. Hmm…Well, we will see soon enough. See you in a couple of hours?”
“Yes, sir. Bye.”
“Bye now.”
I set my phone back down on the shelf by the tub. Not really in the mood to continue what I had previously been doing and thinking, I drained the tub and got out. I dried off, slathered my body in lotion, and threw on a button down shirt and pajama pants.
“Sarah!”
“Yeah?”
“Will you come and curl my hair?”
“Of course! Can I do your make-up?”
“Sure.”
“Yes! Be right there.”
Sarah came and put my hair in rollers. We sat around my room and chatted about Billy and going home for thanksgiving and whatever else before she finally asked, “So, there really isn’t anything going on with you and Parker?”
“Honestly? I don’t know. We sleep together every night.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Nope. Just sleeping, but we cuddle.” I felt embarrassed saying that out loud. “I mean, we sleep connected every night, but he hasn’t made a move for anything else.”
“Do you want anything else?”
My cheeks heated, and I knew I was bright red. “Yeah.” I said breathless from the embarrassment of the whole situation. “I mean I do, but he knows that I don’t want to just be a hook up, and I know that he doesn’t think that he can commit to a relationship, so that is where we are. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
“A very hard place from the sounds of it. Possibly a blue hard place.” We broke into a fit of giggles. Sexual references, even blue balls, still made me blush, but I could at least appreciate the immature humor in it. After a good giggle and an almost burn of my neck, Sarah turned serious again. “I think you will be surprised, Maggie. Parker likes you. He really likes you. There is no way he is still sleeping around and then sleeping with you in his arms every night. I’m sure that he hasn’t even laid eyes on Alexis outside of the bar since that infamous night. And anyway, how do you know that he doesn’t want something real with you?”
“I just do.”
“You know, if you wanted something more, you could always make the first move.”
My eyes widen in horror. “I could never do that. I know that it may be stupid, but I’m not that girl.”
“Yeah. I figured. Well, let’s make you look irresistible for tonight. Maybe tonight he will feel so good about whatever this big secret is that he can’t keep his hands and lips off of you.” Sarah winked and grinned at me.
I rolled my eyes. We both got ready, and Becca came in while we were finishing up. Sarah fixed her make-up too, and then we went downstairs and found Max, dashing in a black sweater and charcoal grey pants. He had a white shirt and a red bowtie on. He looked so charming, and it was obvious that Becca thought so too.
“You girls look great. Ready to go?”
“Yeah. Dr. Pryce asked if we all wanted to go to dinner afterwards, and I told him we would.”
“Sounds great. Billy and the band are meeting us there too, so let’s get this show on the road.” Sarah chanted. There was a level of excitement tonight that we hadn’t felt in a long time.
“Oh wait!” I shouted and ran back upstairs. I came back carrying a new and bigger jar of good luck coins. Parker had collected so many for me since Daddy had come home from the hospital that I had to get a bigger jar. When I was back downstairs, Sarah smiled when she saw what it was that I had gone upstairs for. “Let’s go!” I shouted unintentionally.
When we were all piled in my car, Max drove us downtown. Parker’s car was in the deck closest to the symphony hall, so we parked near him. Dr. Pryce and Preston arrived as we were climbing out of the car. I waited on them to park and get out of the car to head inside. I felt better having them there since they were the only other ones that knew why Parker hadn’t been playing. Although I had never heard him play, his dad and Jerry had both alluded to how talented he is, and if his guitar playing and love of music was any indication, I could only imagine what was in stored for us this evening.
When we walked in, Jerry the conductor met us at the door. He greeted us warmly and shook Dr. Pryce and Preston’s hands and hugged them like they were old fri
ends. He hugged me as well, “Ah. Beautiful Maggie, I knew we would meet again.”
“Yes, sir. How are you?”
“Wonderful. This is a very special night. Let me show you to your seat. He guided us to the chairs that were set up on the stage surrounding a lone piano. I sat next to Preston, and Dr. Pryce sat on the end. I was glad when Max sat on the other side of me. I needed his calming presence near me while my nerves jumped all over the place.
The band showed up with a bit of a ruckus. They were dressed nice, which meant they weren’t in the punk clothes, and Grady even had a tie on. I thought it was really nice of them to make an effort for Parker. Once we were all seated, Jerry welcomed us explaining that Parker had been up there for the last couple of months preparing for this night. Jerry sat next to Dr. Pryce after he had said his bit, and then Parker came to the stage.
Parker walked out wearing a black suit that looked like it was made for him. His typically unruly hair was combed making him look grown up and devastatingly debonair. His tie was a bright gold giving the image that a light was shining from inside of him. He looked perfect even though he wasn’t smiling. I could tell he was nervous, and my stomach twisted in knots knowing how he must have felt in that moment. I had been restless for this moment all day, and when he sat down at the piano, all the anxiety took over my body. I started shaking and held the jar of coins close to my chest in one arm. Preston grabbed my other hand, and I could feel his clammy palms. He was nervous as well. As much as they fought, Preston loved and admired his big brother. I knew this was a big deal for him and his dad as well as Parker.
Parker’s fingers touched the keys, and his eyes closed for a moment. He took a deep breath and let it out as his fingers pressed down on the keys making the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. He played without sheet music and with his eyes closed. He felt the music and his body moved with it as he played. I felt the music. Tears filled my eyes as I listened and recognized the importance of this moment.