Walk My Way

Even on her worst day, writing music had always been Azalea’s means of escape. She could lose herself completely in the squiggles of the music notations and the sound of her guitar – or keyboard – depending on her mood on that particular day.

Today, she felt like playing the keyboard so that was how she found herself sitting on the stool in front of her electronic keyboard, pressing the white and black keys to the tune she had composed a few days prior. She was so lost in her music that she didn’t hear the sound of the front door opening and slamming shut, Jasper’s voice calling out her name.

“Lea!”

She snapped up from her concentration, her finger placed on the middle C note as Jasper stood on the doorway of her room. He looked breathless, his face red and frantic.

Azalea removed her hands that were hovering above the keyboard and shot her brother an inquiring look. She remembered Jasper acting odd before he went out a couple of hours ago. “What’s wrong?” she asked, watching as Jasper entered the room and took a seat on her bed.

Jasper’s eyes were wide, his mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to find the words to speak. Obviously, he was distraught over something, the girl assessed, and turning on her stool to face the boy fully. She waited patiently for him to just tell her what had happened.

“Luke…” he half-whispered but she still caught the name that fell from his lips. Upon hearing that familiar name, Azalea immediately got up from her stool and sat next to Jasper, wrapping a comforting arm around his shoulder. “Luke and the band… they’re here…” Azalea’s arm tightened around him.

She remembered how broken Jasper was the day Luke left and she also knew well how much he was still struggling to pick up the pieces now despite the cheerful face he tried to put on.

“Ashton called. Said they’d moved here. Lea… he’s here,” he sounded hysterical.

Azalea was bad at confronting emotional situation so it was quite awkward since she didn’t really know what to do or say. So, she just rubbed her palm up and down Jasper’s upper arm, hoping that the small gesture would comfort the boy.

“What now?” she asked, uncertain.

Jasper took in a deep breath, wiping his face a few times and shook his head. “I don’t know. I… I need to be alone,” he finally said, getting up. Azalea’s arm fell from his shoulders. Without saying anything more, he left the room and Azalea just watched her brother’s retreating figure with concern. However, she knew it would be pointless for her to keep pestering him to talk about it since she was useless at consoling people in distress.

With a sigh, she turned back to her keyboard and did what she knew best.

She started playing.

-

“I’m ending today’s class here. Remember to submit your assignment by next Monday, before 5 pm or half your grade will be cut. Enjoy your week,” Professor Connor said, earning a round of grumble from the students all over the lecture hall. There was a hint of a smug smirk on her face, making Azalea who sat in the front row to roll her eyes. Of course the professor would think this as an entertainment, giving the students an assignment that worth half the grade just a few weeks into the term.

Great, she thought sarcastically, gathering her notebook and shove it into her bag along with her pencil case. She watched the other students hoarding towards the door and decided that she didn’t want to have to push her way through just to get out. So she waited for everyone else to exit the hall before getting up.

“Miss Davenport,” the professor called, stopping her as she started to stand up. The brown haired girl shifted her attention towards the middle-aged professor and walked towards the older woman. She was still seated on her chair behind her desk and Azalea stood awkwardly in front of her. “I heard that you’re quite a talented musician,” she started.

Azalea felt herself blush at that as she hung her head slightly. The older woman smiled kindly, a hundred percent different smile than she wore earlier. She took out a piece of paper from her briefcase and held it out towards Azalea. The girl accepted it and read the writings on it. “We’re hosting a music festival to collect extra fund for our music program each year. Why don’t you join us?”

Azalea stared at the registration form for a few moments. “I’ll think about it,” she finally said, smiling politely. Folding the paper in half, she carefully slid it into her bag and excused herself. “Have a nice day, Prof.”

When she was out of the building, Azalea quickly made her way towards her new favourite place outside her room, the coffee shop. She entered the shop and immediately took her seat on one of the tables next to the big window overlooking the street.

The coffee shop was unusually quiet that afternoon which Azalea welcomed whole-heartedly. There was only one other customer besides herself at the moment; a man in a black trench coat and shiny, leather boots. He left after he got his order, leaving her as the sole customer in the shop.

She sat back on the plush cushiony chair picked up her copy of P.S. I Love You. The book was worn out and battered, a clear sign that it had been read too many times to count. She opened it to the page she had marked but she wasn’t really reading.

There were too many things on her mind; Jasper’s news about Luke, her classes, the assignment and the school music festival. She was so deep in thought that she didn’t notice a group of boys entering the coffee shop.

She however was pulled off from her trance when there was a sudden loud commotion forming at the front door of the coffee shop. From where she sat, Azalea looked out through the window and frowned to see a mob of teenage girls were gathering at the front door.

“What’s with the commotion?” she asked Phoebe that was replacing new sugar packets on the table next to hers.

Her new friend looked up towards those teenage girls and shrugged as if it were a normal occurrence. “Yeah… the boys are here. They always come here whenever they’re free,” Phoebe answered which served to confuse Azalea even more. What boys? How come they were able to create such a chaos?

She didn’t have long to ponder too long when suddenly a figure of a very familiar face came into her line of sight. She felt her jaw drop as the boy snaked an arm around Phoebe’s waist and placed a chaste kiss on her lips.

Azalea felt her chest tightened at the scene in front of her. She couldn’t really breathe.

While thinking on Jasper’s feelings about Luke being in the same city, Azalea forgot that it also meant Calum was here. And as if fate was trying to make fun of her, here he was, kissing her new friend and smiling in adoration towards the curly haired girl.

Azalea didn’t think she could stand being there any longer so she picked up her book and bag before standing up, totally ignoring the questioning look Phoebe shot her. She needed to get away.

As she was about to make her way towards the door, she accidentally walked into someone and when she looked up, she came face to face with Luke. It took him a couple of seconds but the moment he recognised her face, Luke’s eyes widened. “Lea…?” he voiced softly. She could hear Ashton swore behind Luke as he saw her as well.

She didn’t say anything. Instead, she kept her head hung low and made it her mission to reach the door in record speed. As soon as she opened the glass door, the sound of girls screaming filled her ears which she tuned out as she waded her way through the mass of bodies and wanted to run away as far as she could.