Black Fire

"You guys were really great. I'd love to drop by one of your gigs, I'm sure you bring the house down," Jacob said as he followed me into my room.
I set my guitar case on the bed and sat cross-legged beside it. "I'll make sure you're invited to the next one," I promised. "And I might just have to see if you can join us on stage. What was that keyboard playing back there? I never knew you could jam like that!"
He chuckled as he sat beside me. "I'm really not that good. I only know a handful of songs. I play Can't Help Falling in Love, but not with a lot of...um...what's the word? Flourish, I guess; I play a pretty straightforward version without all the fancy showboating filler. I'm pretty good with Superman by Five For Fighting and Every Breath You Take, but I mess them both up and I really don't do flourish in them, either. I tried to learn Sweet Child o' Mine, but I can't get past the intro."
"Not a bad repertoire at all," I complimented. "Actually, really great."
He seemed to want to say something, but he hesitated. "I, um," he cleared his throat and locked his gaze on the floor. "I can play Clair de Lune and a pretty good interpretation of Greensleeves, too, and Raindrop Prelude - that one trips me up sometimes."
"You play Debussey and Chopin," I asked, astonished. "I mean, no offense, but I just never really thought -..."
"Yeah, well, Mama played piano when she was alive. Clair de Lune was actually my usual lullaby; I don't remember very well, but Dad, Becca, and Rachel used to tell me about it," he explained. "I used to listen to that kind of music sometimes when I was little, then I just listened to it less and less. I started again a couple years ago, and that's when I begun to learn how to play."
"You're great for only having a couple years of practice."
"I already knew how to read music at a basic level - I found sheets of music in a box of her things when I was 10 or 11, and Dad got me a book about music-reading. It came back to me when I started playing."
I was so wrapped up in his story. I was learning something about my brother that I never knew. "Why did you decide to start listening to classical again and learn to play?"
"Some girl," he sighed. "Why did you get so broken up by that song today?"
'Should've seen that coming, Shane.'
"Well, exactly that. I got broken up...with," I replied. "It was just some guy. You don't want to hear about it."
"I'll tell you about my 'some girl' if you tell me about your 'some guy'," he offered. I let a small chuckle escape.
"Okay," I agreed. "There was this guy back in High School. His name was Taylor Brightley and we started going out last year, in February. We weren't friends before; he just came off with some line about noticing me around and having it pretty bad for me, "I explained
"So, I threw him a bone and it turned out I kind of liked him. We kept going out, went exclusive, and I ended up really attached. I trusted him a lot," I said and that upset crack in my voice finally hit. I cleared my throat. "I depended on him a bit, I guess. Well, he ended up just using me and throwing me out like a brown banana peel near the end of this April. That song just made me think about what I thought we had - the good times that I guess were all lies."
"Woah," he breathed.
"When he broke up with me, he said: 'Run along to your home-wrecker mom or, better yet, why don't you move in with your feather-head, cousin-fucking Quileutes, so I never have to see you again, you dirt-skinned little whore,' and left me on the side of the road a mile from my house at 1 in the morning," I explained.
I heard a very shaky deep breath beside me and looked over to see Jacob was shaking, and a low growl could be heard coming from him. "Where is the son-of-a-bitch? I'll shred him!"
"Jakey," I said in an almost-whisper as I wrapped him in a hug. "He's in Wichita fucking Kansas. You can't do anything. And I don't want you to, he's not worth it."
"If he ever gives you any more trouble - h*ll, if he so much as glances your way - tell me. If not for you, then for the honor of your 'feather-head, cousin-fucking' Quileutes."
I sighed. "Okay, for the Quileutes. Just don't get arrested or anything." I gave him a half-hearted sort of smile.
"Agreed."
"Now, I believe you promised to tell me about your 'some girl,' so spill." Some part of me really didn't want to know about her.
He gave a sort of chuckle.

-Jake-

"Well, there was this girl...well, is this girl. It's not like she's dead and gone or anything," I said and couldn't help chuckling again. Dead? Yes. Gone? No.
"She lives in Forks and her name is Bella. I've known her since...god, maybe before I knew you. She was just a rare visitor there for a while, but a few years ago she moved in with her dad. I didn't see her that often at first, but I was crushing from the first moment I saw her all grown up."
She chuckled a little at that. When I shot her a glance she just said, "Sorry. Just kind of cute." I just smiled back.
"Anyway. She had it bad - and I mean crazy bad - for this guy in her school. He was her own age," 'give or take a hundred or so years'
"He was rich, heroic, dangerous," I listed. "Most important to the story, he was really artsy, sophisticated, and he plays piano. I couldn't speed my aging or become rich, but I could take a page from my mom."
She laid a hand on my shoulder and gave me a small smile at the mention of my mom.
"So I learned to play, even working in the kind of classical music he played for her, and eventually I got the heroic and dangerous bit down, too."
"But she stuck with him?"
"Married him last year, then had his kid in the fall," I confirmed and she sort of gasped. "Renessmee Carlie Cullen. I'm the proud godfather."
"My god, Jakey. Did she know how you felt?"
"Extensively," I replied. "Didn't matter. She was never going to leave him. Now she's his forever."
"And he can have her," she concluded. "She chose him over you; obviously she doesn't make very good choices in life. Let 'em have their Happily Ever After. You'll find someone ten times better, and forever is a long time - chances are he'll get tired of her."
She was sort of teasing with the whole 'forever' thing; she didn't believe they'd actually be together forever in a literal sense. But, knowing that they did have eternity to irritate each other made her comment even more helpful. I doubt I could stand Bella for 100+ years.
"Yeah. I guess you're right," I agreed.
"Duh. When am I not?"
In response to that little comment I got her in a headlock and gave her a noogie. "Jakey," she whined. "No fair! Little brothers don't give noogies; they get them." Still chuckling, I let her go. "Jerk," she said with a roll of her eyes, but she was smiling.