Velvet Lullabies

Enzo laughed. “Honestly, Luc. She’s lived through so much shit, New York might be the fresh start she needs.

Lucian thought about that for a minute.

Was New York the fresh start that Adelina needed?

Chapter Seven

“Addy?” Theo yelled.

“In here!” she called back. She was marveling over the new piano her father had bought the family. The black body was shiny and smooth to the touch and the white ivory keys made beautiful noises. She had no idea what this magical instrument was or how to make the notes flow together in perfect harmony, but she was mesmerized already. Vinny had immediately written the thing off as dumb, but Adelina was obsessed. She couldn’t wait to learn to play.

???

The piano had always felt like home to Adelina. She found comfort in the ivory keys, her soul pouring through her fingers and the vibrations bringing her to life. The piano played the sounds of her feelings, her thoughts. Every emotion ever felt has been poured into these keys.

Her father bought the piano when she was 6. “Every young girl should have a trick up her sleeve.” He told her. This was hers. She played terribly at first, like most kids, but she practiced daily and soon enough she got the hang of it. By her middle school years, she was playing recitals and that’s when she started to sing. By high school Adelina was could be found during her free periods in the music room. She wrote her first song at 16 and hadn’t stopped singing yet.

Music was her safe place.

Now, she was relegated to a keyboard in the privacy of her dorm room rather than the beautiful one back home, but it didn’t matter much to her as long as she had something to play.

She mostly practiced in the middle of the day when Gemma was in class and most of the dorm was out. He fingers danced along the keys. She had been writing this song for some time. It came and went as inspiration did sometimes. There were days that the words poured out of her and others when she never gave it a second thought.

You entered my life in a golden haze

Revered like a god

But I fell from grace

She spent as much time changing the lyrics as she had writing them. She’d written a lot of songs about her father, about loving him and losing him. Theo, though, he was a different beast. She’d written about the things he’d done to her, but writing about him was harder. She couldn’t find the words to describe him.

I lost myself

In your false prophesies

My religion, your body

“Addy?”

She jumped at the sound of Gemma entering their room, her fingers hit the wrong notes and the keyboard made an angry sound. It was 1:50, she had class for another 10 minutes.

“Sorry, you scared me. I thought you were still in class.”

“Got out early.” Gemma leaned against the bed, taking in the sight of Adelina at the keyboard.

There was an awkward silence. Adelina didn’t normally sing the songs she’d written for others, with the one exception of Max. Especially the ones about Theo, and especially not to Gemma. Gemma was the rare person in her life who called her on her shit. She’d know immediately the song was about Theo and she’d be angry, livid even.

“How was class?” Adelina tried to divert the attention off of her - a plan that rarely failed when it came to Gemma who loved to talk about herself.

“No,” she wagged her finger menacingly. “What was that?”

“What?” Adelina asked casually.

“That song, those words. Who was that about?” Gemma asked, her hands waving around with the

words.

“Nothing, no one.”