Finding Myself

5: Quinn

"Do you ever get a break from learning new things? Or do you even dream about school?" I tease. Riley rolls her eyes at me and chuckles.

Riley walks over to the small piano in the corner of her room and removes a bunch of papers that are laying on top of it. While she does that, I take the time to look around her room. It's super neat, there isn't a single mess except for all the stacks of paper that were on the piano. I guess she was right about not having used it for a couple of years. No wonder, Riley tries fixing it up now before showing me it.

While walking around her room, I notice a rather large terrarium on the floor next to her desk. There is a tortoise inside of it.

"Woah, who's this little guy?" I ask.

"Oh, that's Wally, he's a Mediterranean sour thighed tortoise," she replies.

"Why in the world do you have a tortoise as a pet?" I ask.

"Why are you saying it like that?" Riley chuckles. "He's actually awesome. He's got an amazing personality."

"Okay, whatever you say," I reply laughing.

"I didn't pick him out. I had to take care of him because his owner left," Riley adds.

"How old is this guy?"

"He's around fifteen years old," Riley replies.

"Oh my god. This turtles is almost as old as us!"

"He's a tortoise," Riley adds while chuckling. "Now, leave Wally alone and come over here."

I listen to Riley and she motions for me to sit down next to her on the beach and I do. "I'll teach you the basics, okay."

"We break the piano in chunks, or octaves," Riley begins.

"You have to learn things to play an instrument!"

Riley looks at me in surprise and cocks her to the side to look at me in disbelief. "Yes, obviously. Have you never played an instrument before?"

"Nope," I reply.

"Don't they make you play instruments in like fifth grade though?" She asks.

"My school did not do that," I reply.

"Oh okay. Well since you don't want to learn, I'll just play something simple and you play the exact same keys after me. How does that sound?" Riley asks.

I nod my head and Riley begins. She presses a few keys and then stops. I try to do the same ones that she did, but I forgot the last two ones. I try again, but still can't remember. I try a couple more times and still can't get the hang of it. Riley chuckles at me but encourages me to keep trying. After a while she suddenly grabs my hands and puts them on the keys and puts her hands over mine. She makes me press all the keys in the right order this time.

"Do you think you have it now or do you want to go over it one more time?" She asks me.

Honestly, I wasn't paying attention the first time because all I could think about was her skin on mine. I have goosebumps everywhere and I have to look down so that she can't see me blushing. I should say that's enough learning for today, but I really want to feel her hands on mine again.

"I think doing it with you one more time would be super helpful," I reply. I shouldn't have said that, but I can't help it. My plan is falling apart.

Riley grabs my hands again and moves them to play the correct keys. I can't help but look up at Riley and smile at her. She smiles back and all I want to do is lean forward to kiss her. We are just a few centimeters away from each other and I can't help but look at her lips. I think Riley notices how close we are and we quickly turns to face the piano.

I regain my composure and stand up. "I think that's enough learning to play piano today. How about you play your favorite song. I really want to hear you play," I tell her.

She nods and starts to play a song as I walk around her room again. I have to stop in my tracks and listen to Riley though, she plays so beautifully. Like, wow, I wasn't expecting her to be that good. The beginning is so soothing and it picks up as she continues. The music starts to overwhelm me and impact me to my core that I have to close my eyes and feel every melody.

She is really good. She's amazing. I don't understand why she ever stopped playing.

When I open my eyes, the first thing I see is a picture frame. I walk to it and pick it up. It's a picture of Riley and her parents when she was younger, but there is also someone else with them. A boy.

"Who is this boy in the picture, Riley?" I blurt out.

Riley instantly stops playing the piano. She looks over at me and notices what I have in my hands. Riley just stares at the frame for a few seconds before getting up to walk over to me. She reaches for the frame and I had it to her. She stares at it for a few more seconds before putting it face down on her desk.

"Don't worry about it," she finally says. "We should get back to studying," she adds and walks out of the room.

Oh shit. I fucked up.

I need to fix this. So, I quickly run down after her and before I can apologize for asking, we both hear the front door open.

"Riley, we're home," her parents yell.

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Author note: I couldn't wait until next week to share this chapter with you guys. Hope you enjoyed it.

Also, yes Edison from Atypical helped me create Wally and also the fact that tortoises live a very very long time.

Who is your favorite character so far? Mason, Quinn or Riley, ect?

Who is the most interesting character to you as well?