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“I wonder what Guinevere is doing right now?” Arthur mused, looking up from the paper he was writing, although there wasn’t much on his screen.
Merlin rolled his eyes for the tenth time that night. Arthur had been waxing eloquent about Gwen (“Guinevere” was way too many syllables to pronounce on a regular basis) since dinner. “I don’t know, Arthur, why don’t you call her and find out?” he replied.
“Oh, no, I couldn’t do that. She’s probably doing homework like I am.”
Merlin snorted. “You mean, what you should be doing.”
“I’m working, I really am.” Arthur glanced at his screen. “I almost have a paragraph.”
“On a paper due in two days. Nice.” Merlin slammed his book shut. “Why don’t you just ask her out already?” He had asked this question many times before, and now waited for the familiar answer:
“Oh, I couldn’t do that. What if she doesn’t like me?”
“I’m almost positive that she does.” He had, in fact, observed Gwen staring at Arthur and drooling (drooling!) more than once.
“You think so?”
“Oh yes. Arthur, just do it. Ask her out. She’ll say yes.”
Arthur frowned. “How should I do it? Merlin, help please.”
Merlin rolled his eyes again. “I don’t know, serenade her?”
Arthur’s eyes lit up. “That’s it! Perfect!”
“What, really?”
“Yeah. I remember once when we were having lunch, she mentioned she liked this singer. What If I found a love song by her and sing it to Gwen outside her window?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Arthur, you have a terrible voice.”
Arthur grinned. “No, I don’t. And you know it. I’ll just find an instrumental version of the song and sing to it. How hard could it be?” He pulled out his phone and scrolled through Spotify. “Here’s the song, and oh, here’s the instrumental version.” He downloaded them to his phone then turned on his speaker.
Strains of violin and piano came out of it, and Merlin knew immediately that this was the worst idea he’d ever had. He’d been joking when he suggested a serenade. He was going to regret this, so much, because somehow, Arthur was going to drag him into this. “You’re, uh, not going to do this tonight, are you?”
Arthur chuckled. “Of course not. I’ve got to practice first. Memorize the song, you know.” He turned back to his laptop and googled the lyrics to the song. As soon as they were on his screen, he began singing with the singer.
Merlin winced. He got up and pulled his noise-cancelling headphones from his backpack. Then he sat back down and pulled his book to him. It was going to be a long few days.
A week later, Arthur felt confident enough in his ability to sing the lyrics. And even though Merlin had begged him several times to not go through with it, tonight was the night he was going to serenade Gwen. It had been a long week in his noise cancelling headphones.
Merlin was particularly concerned about the parking situation, or rather, lack thereof. Gwen lived in a residence hall on campus, and there was little free parking there. They’d end up with a ticket if Arthur took too long.
That night, Arthur dragged Merlin from the room. He needed a lookout, he’d said, when Merlin expressed his parking concerns. It was with great trepidation that Merlin got into Arthur’s car.
There was, in fact, no parking in the rear of Gwen’s residence hall. Arthur double-parked and bounded out of the car. Merlin didn’t move until Arthur opened his door and grabbed him by the shoulders.
Arthur went tromping off through the garden. Merlin hissed, “Arthur, careful where you step!” but Arthur plowed on, heedless of what he was stepping on.
“That’s her window there,” Arthur said, pointing up to a third-floor window. He bent down and picked up a decent-sized rock.
“What are you going to do with that?”
“Throw it at her window to get her attention.”
“You could break the window!”
Arthur grinned. “Nah, those old windows are pretty tough. They’ll hold.” He pulled his arm back and let it fly. It hit with a thud and ricocheted off the window. “See, I told you.”
But there was no movement from behind the window. Arthur frowned. “Guess she didn’t hear it. I’ll throw another one.” He bent down and picked up another rock then chucked it at the window.
Merlin had to admire his accuracy. He glanced behind him to check on the car. He turned back as Arthur called, “Gwen! Gwen! Guinevere Thomas!” There was a loud screech as Gwen opened the window and poked her head out.
“What? What is it, Arthur? Gwen said.
Merlin watched as Arthur stepped closer and pulled his phone from his pocket. He tapped it once, and the familiar sound of violin and piano poured out. Arthur opened his mouth and began to sing.