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(Un)expected Emotions

Vinyl

So, a couple weeks ago things got a little awkward between Octy and I. I'm still not quite sure why I took the joke so far, but I can't change it now. Ever since, Octy has been acting funny, and I can't understand why. Did I upset her, and she just won't tell me? I can't shake the feeling that it's something more, though. Oh Luna, what have I done?

Well, pacing the carpet into submission won't help. Shaking my head to get rid of the scary thoughts, I moved away from the clarinet lockers and decided to wait for Octy to come to me instead of waiting for her there. I plopped down on the purple and gray speckled carpet next to the folder cabinet, and waited for Octy to show. In the meantime, I laid back on the ground and closed my eyes. I intended to just rest them, maybe have some complex thoughts about the universe, but I fell asleep instead. I'll chalk it up to losing a lot of sleep over the past couple of days, from being worried about Octy.

A bit later, somebody decided to wake me up by poking me kinda hard in the ribs. That could only be one person. Well, it could be somebody else, but nobody else could get away with abusing me like that. Cracking my right eyelid, I saw black hair and some purple something. Most definitely Octy. Opening my eyes the rest of the way, I saw that my guess was correct. I glared at her and rubbed my side. She sure knows how to hurt a girl. In return, I grabbed her hand and twined my fingers with hers for a few seconds to make her squirm. That'll teach her to be so rude.

After yanking her fingers from my grip, Octy's face flushed red, and she stared daggers at me. I grinned and sat up quickly. A little too quickly, as it seems, because I spent the next thirty seconds groaning and cradling my swimming head. I hate being dizzy. Octy stood up and held out a hand to help me. I took it and hopped to my feet, revisiting my dizziness again. I leaned over and put my hands on my knees to get my balance back.

A few seconds later, I waved Octy off and stood up straight. Running a hand through my already messy hair, I ended up causing it to stick out in probably a billion directions. I think I heard Octy say something about porcupines under her breath, but I could just be hearing things. Probably not, though, knowing Octy.

I wrapped my arms around my raven haired friend and squeezed tightly while she squirmed. I'm a hugger, and I'm just generally really friendly when I'm groggy. I let go when Octy threatened to bite me, and jammed my hands into my pockets, nearly pulling the already low hanging waistband down past my butt. I really need a tighter belt.

"Hey, Octy. 'Bout time you showed up. I was waiting for a half hour before I gave up and fell asleep. How long was I out?" I readjusted my waistband, and slouched back into a tired stance while waiting for Octy to gather herself and respond. She was a little busy looking at... something. I waved my hand in front of her face, and as her eyes focused on my face, she turned red.

"Whatcha lookin' at, Octypus? Something interesting?" She started sputtering, and apparently she was speechless. Well that's weird.

"I... um... it was nothing. Nothing at all. What were you asking me?" I knew it wasn't the truth, but I wasn't gonna bug her. I could've sworn she was looking at my... Nah, she wouldn't be interested in that old tattoo. That's not her style. She'd tell me if it was important. Least I hope she would.

"I complained about how you took so long to get here, and then I asked you how long I was out. Course, you wouldn't really know, would you? Unless you were watching me sleep. That could be a little creepy." Octy sighed and shook her head, used to my usual nonsense.

"You're right, I have no idea. I got here and put my clarinet away, and then I woke you up. Maybe you should check the clock."

"But, I don't know what time I fell asleep. There's no clock in here, and I didn't look at my phone."

"Well, I can't help you. Was there any particular reason you were waiting for me?" It was my turn to be speechless. Why had I waited for her? I can't really think of a particular reason. Well, better make one up real quick.

"I dunno. I was bored, and you're fun to hang out with. I was waiting for you to show up and give me some entertainment." Which wasn't untrue. It was just... not the whole reason. But I didn't want to sound sappy. I couldn't just tell her that she was my best friend, and I was lonely when she wasn't around. I scuffed my shoe against the ground and watched some really interesting dust motes float up out of the carpet. We need to vacuum the room again, looks like.

"Oh, well, if that's all. I'm here now, Vinyl, so I suppose that means you'll be entertained. Couldn't you have simply found someone else to spend time with, though? I'm not your only friend, and I'm sure that Lyra or some other girl would have found your company to be amusing." She peered at me with slight suspicion, and I returned her steady gaze. I waved my hand around the room in a gesture that said 'look around and there's nobody here but us.' I decided a bit of redundancy was in order so that Octy would understand what I meant.

"Octy, in case you haven't previously noticed, there's nobody here. It's too early for anyone to be in the band room aside from the drum majors and the director. We're here just a bit too soon for the swarm. That's why I was sleeping. I've been here since five am, because mom had to work this weekend, and she had to drop me off. So chill out and stop getting your panties in a wad. If I want to wait for you so I can spend all my time with you, I will damn well wait for you. And there's nothing you can do to stop it. You're stuck with me." Having been nodding along at my explanation of why nobody was here, Octy suddenly stopped and stared at me for the last few sentences. Her eyes widened, and I wondered what was wrong. I took a step toward her, closing the distance between us to half a foot.

"Octy, what's wrong? You look funny. What did I say? I'm sorry, whatever it is. Please talk to me." She reanimated from her statuesque state at this last prompting, and placed a hand softly on my shoulder. Gripping me lightly, she stared at me with barely concealed watering eyes. I felt my heart lurch. Why was she acting so funny? Why did I feel funny at the sight of her?

"Vinyl, did you really mean it? You want to spend all your time with me? Why would you do that? Why are you so clingy?" I put my hand on her other shoulder, locking us in a sort of awkward stance and holding her in place.

"I could ask you the same thing, Octy. You've been a lot more touchy-feely lately. Just look at where your hand is." She glanced at the hand that was still on my shoulder. Blushing, she yanked it back.

"Nice try, that's not the one I meant." Her gaze slowly traveled to her left hand, and she found that was clutching the hand that I had placed on her shoulder.

"That's new, Octy. Since when did you hold hands?" She dropped her hand immediately, and went to go hide somewhere and escape. I caught her left arm as she brushed past me, and spun her around to face me. She dropped her head, eyes downcast, and I knew something was up. I felt that awkward pain in my chest again, and I closed the inches between us to wrap her in a soft hug. She snuggled her head into my neck, and I felt something wet begin soaking into the neckline of my shirt through my black pullover. Octy was crying? What the hell? I need to fix this. And I've gotta help her save face. I know it would suck if anyone we knew caught her breaking down in public.

"Hey, shh, it's alright. Octy, why don't we go for a walk in the courtyard? I think maybe we should go find a quiet place out there while you calm down. Okay?" She mumbled her assent into my shoulder, and I grimaced when she clenched my hand tighter. I made it through the initial pain of her joint-grinding grip, and I tugged her along as I made my way through the band room garage door and out to the courtyard. We got a few stares, and Jay looked concerned when he saw Octy leaning on me, but I waved him off and took her out to my usual hiding spot. Crouching down behind the short wall separating us from the view of the world, I helped Octy sit and lean back against the rough red bricks.

"Hey, Octy. Why are you crying? Is it shark week or something? I know girls get kinda moody sometimes during that. Sucks, doesn't it?" She smiled very slightly at my joke, a quick tugging at the corner of her soft mouth, and it was over.

"Octy, will you tell me what's wrong? I can help you. I'm a good listener." She sighed, and leaned her head over to rest on my shoulder. I felt a shiver run through me at the contact, but it might have just been from the crisp October air around us.

"It's not something I should burden you with. It's my problem, and my problem alone. You don't need the sadness." I frowned at her, but she didn't see because her eyes were closed. She shuddered a little, and I managed to slide my arm around behind her and pull her closer to me to share body heat. I leaned my head over and nuzzled hers softly in a sort of calming gesture. This silly girl gets on my nerves sometimes with how bullheaded she is.

"Octy, tell me. I promise you won't hurt me in any way with whatever it is that's bothering you. I promise that I will be here for you no matter what." She whimpered a little and clenched her fists into tiny balls of rigid tendons and thinly flesh covered bones. Her hands were shaking.

"I just can't handle it anymore. I can't lose, not this time. I swear, something always happens just when things start looking up." I soaked in her seemingly nonsensical words, and waited for her to actually tell me. She sucked in a shaky breath of the chill air and curled in tighter on herself. I was near tears myself, seeing my best friend in this state.

"I... Vinyl, my dad has lung cancer. They don't know if they'll be able to cure him or not, because it was already in stage two when they found it. It's been so hard these last few months, not knowing if he'll ever get better. Right now, he's out of the hospital, but he's still got weekly chemo treatments, and I swear it's killing him quicker than the cancer. I just can't... I can't take it anymore." I blinked as the realization of what she had said sunk in, chilling me to the core. No wonder she was always so distant. She was constantly dying inside at the knowledge that her father could be in a casket in a week.

"I... Octy..." Lost for words, I just hugged her tightly while she clenched her hands around fistfuls of my jacket and cried into my shoulder. The bitter breeze wrapping around us only served to deepen the chill inside me. I held her tightly, determined more than ever to never let her be alone again. No matter what, I would stick with her until death would part us.

"Octy, I had no idea you were dealing with this all by yourself. No matter what happens, I'll be here. Don't ever forget that. And don't you ever try to go it alone like this again. We'll get through this together, like best friends should. It'll all be okay, just watch." She sobbed into my jacket, and I held her until she finally stopped several minutes later. Looking up at me with teary, puffy, and bloodshot eyes, Octy was still beautiful. I don't know why I thought so, I just did. But nothing could bother me in this moment, because I was too focused on keeping her together.

"Thank you, Vinyl. I've never met someone quite like you. You act like a jerk half the time, but you've got a good heart. I needed that in my life. I'll stick with you until forever, if you'll have me." And then, she sealed her promise with a kiss. I felt secure the moment her smooth, warm lips met mine, in a way I've never felt before. I knew I should be feeling something wrong about this, but it just felt so right. Her slight weight pressed against me, and I hugged her fiercely, enjoying the smell of her silky hair. Her lips held a hint of peppermint that belied the small piece of chewing gum that was everpresent in her mouth. Octy had a thing about bad breath.

I held her tightly against me for a few seconds more, holding her soft cheek in my hand, and then I pulled back, in depserate need of air. I rubbed her cheekbone with my thumb, and I held her with my other arm. So encapsulated in our own little world, I only came back to the world with the sounds of jeering and catcalls from some of our fellow bandmates. Luckily enough for us, the climate in our band was relatively homosexual friendly, seeing as our director was gay. His boyfriend is really something, let me tell you. I flipped them the bird and went back to gazing at the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. The adrenaline rushing through my system must have been distorting reality, because I swear she was glowing like some sort of angel.

Octy shivered again, and I realized that she hadn't had a jacket on the whole time we were out here. I hurriedly yanked mine off, to the amusement and strip club noises coming from across the courtyard, and made her put it on. Standing up quickly, I held out my hand for her to grasp and pulled her up to stand against the world with me. Armed with only a thin blue cotton shirt and the strength of the love from my best friend, I jogged along the cement pathway through the frigid air to reach the warmth of the band room.

Jay caught sight of our intertwined fingers, and flashed a smile and a thumbs up in our direction. My good friend Tenant nodded knowingly in our direction; he had a knack for knowing things would happen before they did. This newfound relationship would be no surprise to him. Our director Mr. Sharp heard the noise following us from our rowdy bandmates, and looked up in time to smile at us as we walked past to grab our instruments from our lockers. Parting our locked hands only to go to our respective section lockers, we began assembling our instruments and music to start the day.

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