That Summer

Paul was huddled in an oversized chair of the recording studio with an acoustic guitar and a notebook. He had a pen in his mouth as he plucked away at the strings. He wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing, though he was supposed to be writing a guitar part to some lyrics Martin had written about being pushed up against a wall and then misquoting Lord Alfred Tennyson.

He was in his own world. It was twelve noon, bright and sunny out. He could hear John beating away at his drums in the next room and between the loud bangs, only the quiet sounds of his strings could be heard.

Martin was off somewhere, possibly trying to wow an attractive girl in a nearby coffee shop, and Bryan had today off. Paul wanted so badly to be spending the day with Bryan, not because he was one of his closest friends, but rather because he knew that would make him just that much closer to Evangeline.

It had been a whole week since Paul had seen her. Then, this morning, he caught a glimpse of her in the Donahue's kitchen. She had been radiant as ever and the starry-eyed look Paul always adopted when she entered the same vicinity appeared on his face with just as much ferocity as it ever had.

Paul had smiled then, because he always found the corners of his lips lifting in her presence, and he received the expected fake smile that oddly resembled a sneer. Bryan rolled his eyes but said nothing. He didn't feel like fighting a losing battle today.

Evangeline had left for class in silence, without so much as a word to her brother or his friend. It was a farewell that was just as icy as any other she'd ever shown Paul but he was used to this by now, and had spent the rest of the day continuously thinking of Evangeline and all her lovely qualities.

And that was when Bryan randomly showed up.

He walked through the door with his hair pushed back by a large pair of white framed sunglasses. Paul thought he looked oddly feminine but decided to hold back his laughter and simply raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I thought you were off today?" he asked, allowing the guitar in his grasp to rest fully on his lap.
"I am but I got bored and I figured I'd see how you guys were doing," Bryan shrugged in response and took a seat on the edge of the coffee table in the middle of the room.
"How do you have so little of a life that once you get a day off you have nothing to do?" Paul laughed and set his guitar right on his lap.
"Shut up, ass. Everyone else I know goes to college or is busy," he mumbled back as he fiddled with his cell phone.

Paul rolled his eyes in silent amusement and went back to his guitar, deciding to keep mum on the fact that college was definitely on vacation for the summer. He played a few melodies which Bryan listened to and offered criticism on. John entered at one point before leaving because he, unlike Paul and Bryan, apparently had a life outside of music.

"I don't like it," Bryan shook his head.
"What's wrong with that?" Paul screwed his face in confusion at his friend.
"It just doesn't flow. There's no real progression," he shook his head.
"You don't know what you're talking about," Paul concluded with a satisfied smile, as if that were the answer to it all.
"Well that solves the problem," Bryan rolled his eyes. Paul was about to retaliate when he was stopped by the other's phone going off. Bryan only rolled his eyes at his friend's open mouth and annoyed eyes as he hit the accept button. "Yeah?" he asked into the phone. Bryan's face grew less and less annoyed and more and more concerned. "Is she alright?" he questioned. Paul's ears perked up and he looked at Bryan with worry. "Yeah, of course. Yes. I'm on my way now. Bye."
"Who was it?" Paul asked as soon as Bryan had hung up.
"My mom. Evangeline fell during dance class and she's in the hospital."
"Is she okay?" Paul asked frantically, near yelling the question.
"Just a concussion and a sprained ankle but they're keeping her for twenty four hours. They have to make sure she doesn't fall asleep or something for some amount of time," Bryan shrugged.

Paul chewed on his lip ring softly and watched as Bryan shoved his phone and keys in his pocket. To say he was a bit anxious would be a major understatement. He was worried and it didn't take long for Bryan to catch on.

"She'll be fine, man," he assured.

Paul nodded in agreement. But he had this nagging feeling Bryan would be proven horribly wrong one way or the other.

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Evangeline had been demonstrating a perfect pirouette when it happened.

She wasn't quite sure what had taken place, only that one second she was upright and the next she felt gravity pulling her to the ground rather unceremoniously. Her head came in contact with the wooden floor hard, bouncing at first before hitting it again, and her ankle twisted oddly beneath her. And it hurt. A lot.

They took her to the hospital because she wasn't able to walk when she attempted getting up and her nose was bleeding rather profusely.

Fast forward two hours, and Evangeline was sitting on a bed in the hospital emergency room with her brother and parents surrounding her. They'd ex-rayed her leg and her nose had stopped bleeding. The verdict came back rather simply; she had a moderate concussion and a sprained ankle.

When she heard this, Evangeline only rolled her eyes and asked the doctor to wrap her ankle so she could get back to the studio. She had a pas-de-deux class that she could not afford to miss this evening. And that was when Evangeline received the news that would ruin everything for her.

It would be impossible for her to dance, at all, for two weeks.