Brynn & Arco- Extra scene 1

Just keep reading! :D Its nothing special but i love writing how these boys are interacting. This is just an average day for them! And it does cut off abruptly, but i might take the time to finish/edit it sometime~ Maybe. Maybe not. who knows. ANyways ENJOY~ <3

BRYNN'S POV

It wasn't just about the small gym in the lounge that had Arco fixated on working out, and it certainly wasn't Arco working out that had me fixated on him… at least not usually.

No, usually it was just about him being him in general. Usually he didn't cause me to cross my legs a little closer in public, squeeze the cup of tea in my hand a little tighter so i didn't accidentally drop it, breathe a little quicker-- as if to match pace with him through the glass separating this tiny corner of the bookstore from the gym. I was feeling good today for the most part; the teacher didn't call on me to answer any ridiculous questions, Emily had skipped class with her roommate apparently due to sickness, and Arco... Arco was smiling at me as i peeked up through my lashes at him.

He was jogging on the treadmill, posture correct from his head to his toes, sweat beginning to drip down his neck and forehead, and the faint sound of his feet keeping beat on the machine. I listened to that, counted the beats, closed my eyes and acted like i could feel that steady staccato rap somewhere deep inside my soul. I blinked up again, breathed somewhat of a sigh, and managed to crack a tiny smile back at him. His broadened.

Arco was slowly becoming the center of my universe, and i hated it.  

He made some kind of odd gesture towards the unoccupied machine next to him, careful not to ruin his momentum. I shook my head, reached for my cup and took a long, relaxed sip. He mouthed “come on” to me then, and i shook my head.

I wasn't exactly one to work out. I much prefered watching him through the glass and waiting for him to finish. Not to mention i had a few sheets of paper in front of me and i was happily placing notes down on it as they connected to the beat. Arco rolled his eyes and then turned his attention back down to the machine. I returned my eyes to my own work and tapped the pen on the table slowly. One...two...three… four… one… two...one...two?

His beat slowed considerably, and i had to look up again, only to see him stepping off the machine and hurrying to grab the bottle of water he had bought about an hour ago. His eyes stayed averted, away from mine until he was completely turned away and gone. I blinked, wondering what had cut his usual twenty-minute run three minutes short. It looked like he was heading for the cork-board filled with hanging room keys to pick his up. I couldn't quite see that far though.

“Hmmph.” I huffed, perching my lips and reaching for my cup again. Maybe he just decided to skip cardio and go back to doing weights (oh thought he had never shown signs of working out obsessively before). I shrugged inwardly, tried to get my brain back on track with my music and found the absent sound of the machine unsettling. Too quiet to work. I tried to imagine the way these notes would sound played through my cello, and wondered if i should shorten a few or wait and see. Hell, maybe i would ask Arco what he thought-- since he was a drummer and all.

“Brynn!”

I jolted forward, scratching a small mark across the bar and frowning instantly. I turned my pen around, realized that i hadnt grabbed the pencil and therefore would not be able to erase it, and made a small annoyed voice at my approacher.

“Rude.” I said towards those icy blue/green eyes. “You’re so loud. You scared me.”

“Aha, sorry.” He pulled the chair out next to me and sat quickly, sweaty towel slung over his shoulder. He sighed. “I hate when i forget my headphones.”

“Why didn't you just go back up to the room and get them?” I suggested. “You still have three more minutes.”

“Ehh.” He wiped his face dismissively, rolling his shoulders forward and stretching his neck. “Sometimes three minutes of running is too much.”

I looked up at him, confused but surprisingly okay with his explanation. He didn't look like he was in a hurry to leave, so maybe he just wanted to spend an extra few minutes here with me? In the quiet corner of this bookstore, and no one else on the other side of the glass to see…

“So what are you working on?” He leaned over the small table and examined the music i had been jotting down. It really wasn't anything spectacular. Twelve seconds of a song, maybe and nothing i wouldn't crumple up and throw away if given a chance to do better.

“Just… writing.”

“Writing music?”

“Yeah, umm… I didn't really get the chance to bring sheet music with me here. So i don't have anything new to play… I figured why not?”

He nodded, still looking down at the notes and… the way his eyes moved i could tell he was counting a beat. I looked away, embarrassed because that had been his beat on the treadmill.

“Are you happy with it?” He asked me after a long moment. I sipped my tea before answering.

“Not really. It’s bland.” I turned the pen over in my hand again, thinking about the way his eyes scanned and took in the music. He hummed something like approval under his breath and reached across the snatch the pencil I had still sitting above my paper.

“Do you care?”

I shook my head, curious to see what he would have to offer this twelve seconds of music i had written. He made some odd line above the clef that stretched towards my first note. “Maybe if you extended your intro? Put in a half note here…”

“You want to speed it up?”

“N--no. Wait a second.” He stuck the eraser end of the pencil between his teeth and hummed some more. “I forget that you're playing a string instrument.”

“Don't change my notes to fit your drums!” I fluttered over his hand, afraid that he would mess it up and i wouldn't be able to tell what i was going for to begin with.

“No, i’m not.” He assured, smiling lightly. “But what if you had a drum beat? Extended your intro to...here” he put a fat dot above my fifth or sixth note. “Or build up to it…? You know what i mean?”

I shook my head. “No. Not really.”

He hung his head in defeat and turned the pencil over to erase his strange little marks. “Aw forget it.”

I scoffed, perhaps smiling just a little. I took my cup to my mouth again to hide it.

“I’m not great at writing music.” He admitted. “Aaron is much better at it.”

“Your cousin right?”

“Yeah.” Arco’s eyes did that funny thing they usually did when he talked about Aaron-- sparkled a little or something. Kind of a sad twinkle that made me think he missed this particular cousin very much. “He has a fairly decent grasp on how to write music. And he plays like… everything.”

“You sound jealous.” I suggested, oh though, he really didn't.

“Nah. I mean… I’d love to be that good at this kind of thing, but it’s not my passion so i probably would let it go to waste you know?”

“But it is Aaron’s passion?”

“Well… as far as i know of it is. He also really loves traveling. And…” Arco broke off in a small chuckle. “Trees. Maple trees. He like’s to photograph them.”

“ONLY maple trees? Or all trees?”

“Only maple!” Arco shook his head as if he still couldn't believe it. “I don't get it.”

I thought for a moment about what this musical prodigy and maple-tree-photographer must be like. He made Arco laugh a lot when they talked on the phone, so he was probably pretty funny. I imagined he looked like Arco, maybe not as fit though-- it was hard for anymore to maintain Arco’s level of fitness.

“Well… some people would think your obsession is strange too.” I allowed. “I don't always get it.”

“What?” He looked taken back.

“The whale thing?” I leaned back in my chair, carefully balancing on the back legs and then setting down the front ones again. “What have whales ever done for you? Why do you love them?”

“They’re perfect in every way.” He shrugged, obviously not prepared to defend this argument further. I laughed then, actually laughed genuinely, because he seemed so matter-of-fact with his reasoning. It was silly.

“You're not just obsessed with whales though, right?” I mused. “You're obsessed with music too.”

“Isn’t everyone?”

“I guess… but not to the point of keeping their roommate up at night because they can’t stop tapping against the bedframe…”

“Oh comon! It was stuck in my head and i had to get it out of my system.” He grinned sheepishly. “It was a good beat anyways.”