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There was a knock on the door, but April didn’t hear it. She was lying on her bed, eyes closed, humming along to the song that was playing in her headphones. She smiled to herself once the chorus started. She felt a strong desire to dance around in circles to the beat of the music. She wanted to be taken by her hand and spun around until she was dizzy. She didn’t think that the lyrics of the melody delivered that same happy, good feeling, but the chorus certainly did. In all honesty, April hadn’t really been paying attention to the lyrics. She could sing along with the words but she didn’t really know the meaning of them. She could easily look it up but she didn’t want feeling of the song to change.
April opened her eyes to find Ram peeking through the doorway. “Oh, shit,” She said, throwing her headphones off. “Sorry, I didn’t realize what time it was.”
“It’s all right,” Ram smiled. “Your mum let me in.” He walked over and jumped onto her bed beside her. She smiled and kissed him. “What were you listening to? “He asked, looking over at her phone.
“Pulaski At Night,” She said, handing Ram his phone.
He pressed on the home button and looked at the album cover. He shrugged his shoulders. “Never heard of it.”
April laughed and he smiled. “That’s such a surprise,” She said sarcastically. She handed him her headphones and he put them over his ears. She started the song over and played it. April rolled over onto her side and watched as Ram listened to the song. She anxiously a waited for his stoic face to change at the sound of the chorus. His raised his eyebrows and nodded his head. “It’s nice, isn’t it?” She said.
“Yeah, it is,” He said, taking the headphones off.
She unplugged the headphones and tossed them to the end of her bed. She looked at Ram and kissed him one more time. “I’ll start getting ready,” She said, not moving an inch. Ram chuckled and April smiled. “Give me a few minutes,” She said. She sat up and so did Ram. She tied her shoes, put on her denim jacket, and the two left for dinner.
xXx
“Do you play that song?” Ram asked before taking a bite of his salad.
April’s brow furrowed and she covered her full mouth with her hand. “What song?”
“The one we were listening to earlier.” He snapped his fingers a few times, trying to remember what it was called. “Oh,” He did a victory snap. “Pulaski At Night.”
“Oh, no,” She shook her head side to side.
“Why not?” He wondered. Ram didn’t love folk music as much as her and he has never played an instrument in his life, but he loved April playing. She was great at it. Despite some of his disinterest in the genre in general, he could listen to her play it. She was passionate about it and he loved that about her. He admired it as well. He knew what it was it was like to be passionate about something.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I probably will eventually. Right now I’m working on some other songs, so I would like to finish those first before I do anything else.”
“Are you writing anything?” Ram smiled at her, eyebrows raised in excitement.
“Yes,” She said. April felt the corner of her mouth quirk up into small smile. Her voice sounded a bit nervous to her. Probably because she was nervous. Ram has seen her play a few times before but he hasn’t seen her play one of her own songs. No one has. Well, actually, her mom has, but no one else outside of that.
Ram pursed his lips. “Can I hear any of it?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not finished yet.”
“Okay,” Ram backed down, knowing that that was a no.
April was confident in her skill and she was confident in playing in front of other people, but she always got nervous when it came to her friends. Maybe that was because Charlie confused by it, Tanya thought that it was for white guys, and it wasn’t quite Ram’s thing. Matteusz, well…April actually couldn’t place where Matteusz was on it. Ram was so supportive of her and he was so sweet and eager to hear her play, but she knew that it wasn’t his kind of music, so it made her a bit nervous to play in front of him, because what if he didn’t like it?
“How was practice this morning?” She asked him. He has heard about what she loves, now it was her turn to ask him about what he is passionate about.
He shrugged his shoulders and chewed his food. “It was okay. Not much happened.”
“How’s the new coach?” She asked. Coal Hill hired a new football coach a while back and Ram said that he was fine. He hasn’t said much about him other than that.
“He’s cool. Better than Coach Dawson.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. He’s not a dick.” Ram paused and swallowed his food. “I mean, he pushes us and stuff, but he seems to really care, you know? Like we could go up and talk to him if something's wrong, and he'll be really understanding about it.”
April scrunched her face up for a second. Coach Dawson never really came up after he was taken away by a dragon. April knew that Ram didn’t like him but he never really told her why. She took if that he pushed his players without really supporting them. Her face relaxed and she said, “That’s good.” He nodded in agreement.
Both of them took a bite of their food, rendering them quiet for a moment. Out of the corner of her eye, April saw a familiar face standing near their table. April almost spat out her food she was so caught off guard. She wiped her mouth with her napkin and smiled. “Hey,” She said.
Ram looked over his shoulder to find a girl standing behind his seat. She looked to be about their age and was about April's height. She had fair skin and red fiery hair. She waved at April and came closer to their table. “Hi,” She said.
April turned in her seat, not quite sure whether to stand up or not. “How are you? What are you doing back in town?” She asked.
“I’m good,” She said, with a bright smile on her face. She tucked her hair behind her hair. It was much longer than it was when April last saw her, but April also hasn’t seen her in about a year, so it wasn’t all that surprising that it grew out. “Yeah, um, I’m just visiting some family members for the weekend.”
April nodded her head. “Oh, Ram this is Karen, Karen this is my boyfriend Ram,” She introduced the two of them.
“Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just saw you when I walked in and thought I’d say hi real fast before ordering.” She turned to Ram and held her hand out. “Nice to meet you.”
Ram smiled at her and reached out his hand to shake it. “Nice to meet you, too,” He said.
“Well, I'll leave you two to your date. It was so great seeing!” Karen said, slowly backing away.
“It was great to see you, too,” April said. Then Karen turned around, walked away, and got in line to order.
April turned back to the table and returned to eating.
“Is she a friend of yours?” Ram asked. He didn’t recognize her from Coal Hill, but there were many students at Coal Hill that Ram didn’t know, so it was plausible that she went and he just didn’t know.
April put her sandwich down and put her hands in her lap. “She’s my ex,” She said.
Ram made an ‘oh’ kind of face and briefly glanced between April and Karen. Her hands felt sweaty in her lap. She looked down and realized that she was picking at her cuticles. She clenched her fists, trying to stop. That was an old habit that April didn’t want to pick up again. Sometimes she would pick too much at it that it would bleed and it would hurt for a week or so.
After what felt like forever, Ram shrugged his shoulders, and said, “Okay.” Then he ate a bite of his salad.
April didn’t realize that she had been holding her breath until he said that. She was sure that Ram was going to be fine with it, but still.
Ram pursed his lips like he knew what he wanted to say but was considering whether or not he should actually say it. After a brief moment of thinking, Ram said, “Can I ask you a few questions?”
She nodded her and slowly said, “Yeah, sure.”
“How long have you known that you were – “ Ram dragged on the last word, waiting for her to finish it.
“Bisexual,” She completed.
“Okay. How long have you know that you were bisexual?” He raised one finger. “And how long were you together?” He raised a second finger.
“I don’t really know,” She said in response to the first question, shrugging her shoulders while doing so. “I think a part of me had always known but it didn’t really hit me until I had gotten with Karen. And we were only together for a few months. After we had gotten together, her mum got a new job, and they had to move. We broke up shortly after she left.”
“You tried long distance?” He asked and April nodded her head.
“Yeah, we tried, but it didn’t last long. I think people can make long distance work but it just wasn’t us.” April was always up for trying long distance but sometimes it just didn’t work. That wasn’t because of the distance it was because those two people weren’t meant for each other.
Ram fell silent for a moment. Slowly and quietly he said, “Does you mum know?” She nodded her head. “Okay, can I ask you one more question.” His voice was serious and low as he was speaking. April nodded her head again. “Can I ask why you never told me?”
April shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't in the closet. She came out as bisexual to her mum before her first date with Karen. “I don’t know. I never really thought about it, if I’m being honest. I’ve never intentionally hidden it from anybody. I’ve just been me. Does that make sense?” Ram nodded his head. “You are okay with it, aren’t you?” She asked, wanting to make sure.
“Yes,” He said, sounding like it was such an absurd idea for him not to be. He scooted off the bench and went around to her side. He wrapped and arm around her shoulders and brought her in for a hug. He kissed her cheek and her forehead. “I am still very much in love with you, April,” He said.
She smiled. “And I love you,” She said, wrapping her arms around his waist. She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment, letting all that intense but quick anxiety drain out of her. She closed her eyes and breathed, all she could hear was Ram’s breathing and the mutters from all the other customers. She lifted her head and kissed him once more. She slowly let her arms drop from his waist and Ram let go as well.
He scooted out from her seat and went back to his side so he could sit across from her. She took a large bite of her sandwich, suddenly feeling a lot hungrier than she had been earlier. “Hey,” She started, “You know, what would make me really happy?” She smiled a bit.
“What?” He asked. A little smile tugged at his mouth. His eyes were bright and a bit amused. Probably because he had a little idea about what she was going to say.
“If you got me some ice cream,” She said, body shaking as she laughed a little.
Ram lowered his head, hiding his smile, then he nodded his head. “Okay, fine.”
April bit down on her lip, thinking about that song she had been listening to earlier. The lovely chorus was stuck in her head. She liked how it made her feel. Weirdly enough, the song kinda reminded her of the dance scene between Jack and Rose in Titanic. It was weird because April has only seen that movie like one time and it was about four or five years ago. She shrugged her shoulders to herself, brushing off the time that had passed. The song reminded her of many scenes from many movies, not just Titanic. April couldn’t recall all of them, she just knew how she pictured the song in her head if it was a movie.
xXx
“How do you think you did on Quill’s exam,” April asked, shoving a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.
He shrugged his shoulders. “I dunno. At this point, I think it can go either way.”
April nodded her head. “Me too.”
Her stomach twisted at the thought of either one of them failing. They had studied so much and so hard for that exam, and she has never felt so uncertain about something. Usually when April took an exam, she walked away knowing how she did. She was smart, she did her homework, and she studied, she usually left exams feeling like she did pretty well. That happened in everything but Quill’s class. April was pretty confident but never in that class. She wondered if it was Quill’s goal to ruin the esteems of teenagers.
“Do you wanna go back to my place?” Ram asked. “We can watch a movie, or something.”
April nodded and smiled. “Or something?” She repeated the question to him.
“Or something.” He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
‘Well, let’s see,” She said. “What would we watch?”
“Whatever you want to watch,” He said loudly, trying to speak over the ice cream that was in his mouth.
“I don’t know what I want to watch, that’s why I was asking you.” She knew that she had been thinking about Titanic earlier, but that movie was too long and too depressing. That was the main reason why April hadn’t watched it again. She would have to be bored out of her mind to watch it.
Ram hummed, probably trying to think up a movie or tv show. After a few minutes of him eating ice cream and humming, he finally said, “I can’t think of anything.”
April laughed. “Okay.”
xXx
Long story short, they ended up going back to April’s house. April shrugged off her jacket and tossed it on a chair. Ram shut the door behind him, and he asked, “Hey, can we listen to that song again?”
“The one we were listening to before we left?” She questioned in return. She untied her shoe laces and put her white shoes in the corner of her bedroom. Ram nodded his head and took off his jacket as well. “Yeah, sure.”
She took her phone out of back pocket of her jeans and jumped onto her bed, which Ram quickly followed. The two lied down on their backs, heads next to each other, but bodies draped across opposite sides of the bed. April wanted to roll her eyes it was so cheesy. They looked like the movie poster of literally every romantic drama ever made. They looked like The Fault In Our Stars poster. April was certain that there were more posters like that one but she had seen so many that she had forgotten them.
“I wanna take a picture,” Ram said, holding his phone up above them.
“Oh my god, no,” April laughed. Sometimes she wondered if Ram did things like this just to tease her. It was hard to tell. He could be really sappy and cheesy at times, but April loved it.
“What, why not?” Ram turned to look at her. He was smiling but he was confused as well.
April sighed and stared at him fondly. “Nothing. Take the picture.”
They both smiled up at the selfie camera and Ram snapped a few pictures. April rolled over onto her stomach so she could get a better look at the pictures. They were cute. “Can you send those to me?” She asked.
“Of course,” He said, and she kissed his cheek.
“You realize we look like every romantic movie poster ever, right?” She rolled over onto her back and waited for Ram to send the pictures.
“Yeah, that’s why I wanted to take it,” He said. Ram chuckled and April jokingly rolled her eyes at him. “I like them.”
“I like them, too,” She said quickly. The pictures slowly popped up in her messages and she saved them all to her camera roll.
After that, she found the song and played it out loud in her bedroom. She closed her eyes and listened to the music play above her head. She recited the notes in her head, knowing when they were going to come, and anticipating the sound that would come after it. It was slow. The beginning was so slow, but it kept April excited for what was to come.
“Would you like to dance?” Ram said.
April opened her eyes and turned to look at her boyfriend to see if he was serious. He appeared to be dead serious. She smiled and nodded her head. They both simultaneously hopped off the bed and moved some of the furniture back to give them a little more room. Neither one of them were great at dancing so it was bound to be a little messy and clumsy. Ram took her hand just in time for her favorite part to start.
We’re starting over…
They locked arms and ran around in a circle. It was so cheesy that April thought her heart was going to explode, but it was sweet. After a few circles, Ram brought her in and picked her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tightly while he spun the two of them around. She was laughing and he was, too. Once that part ended, he put April down, and the two try to recover from all the spinning. Both of them ended up falling down, but it was okay. It was hilarious. They were both laughing while the music continued to play. They probably sounded mad to her mum. All she could probably hear was weird, hysterical laughing coming from her room.
They found each other out of the dizzy haze and held each other close.
Damn, what a date it had been.