Jason typed in his number to Nate's phone. “Yeah, I can’t wait.” He smiled as he handed back Nate's phone.
Angsty one-on-one?
Once Nate got his phone back he took a quick picture of Jason while he was smiling and put that in as Jason's contact photo. He smiled to himself as he looked at the photo some more.
Jason noticed Nate smiling at his phone. “What’s so amazing on your phone that you get this big of a smile? Do you have a girlfriend? Well a new one, after the one you broke up with and made a song about…” Jason rambled on about the last part, getting quieter as he spoke.
"What, no. I don't have a new girlfriend or anything. I um…I was looking at the photo I took of you…you just looked so happy…" Nate stumbled on his words a little and hid his face in his hands again. "Sorry, I didn't mean to…I hope I didn't…oh god, this is why I play drums. We never have to talk to people." He laughed, still unable to find the words he wanted.
Jason nodded, understanding. "Oh, I'm typically a happy person. Can I take a picture of you? I mean it's only fair…"
"I mean…yeah you can, but I'm not sure how good it's gonna be because I'm so not photogenic, but fair is fair." Nate laughed and smiled for Jason's picture.
Jason shook his head. "No. No, you can't pose. It has to be all natural." Jason made grand gestures with his hands. "I have to catch you in the act of smiling. It makes anyone look photogenic."
Nate laughed and struck another silly pose to try and make Jason laugh too. "How's this?" He asked with a goof grin.
Jason shook his head. "I got to catch you by surprise. So let's continue talking and then I'll take a picture of you at a random time."
"I dunno, I think these poses are pretty great." Nate joked, but he sat back down to continue talking with Jason. "So what are you doing in the band room this early in the morning?"
Jason shrugged. "It's quieter. It's also not filled with people seeing each other for the first time since last school year. And if it was empty I might be able to practice my singing or rapping. What about you?"
"Practicing my drumming for one of our songs before our band practice after school today. I can't quite get one part yet so I figured I'd give it a few more attempts." Nate responded.
“Can I hear it? I mean if you don’t want to it’s fine.” Jason sat back, removing his arms from where they were resting on the drums.
"I mean, you can. It just won't sound exactly right without the rest of the instruments to play along with me." Nate laughed and picked up his drum sticks to begin playing.
Jason scooted the chair back a foot. He watched attentively as Nate played.
Nate focused only on his drumming and the rest of the world faded away. In his mind, no one else was there, it was just him and his music. Once the song ended, Nate held that position for just a moment, breathing heavily as the adrenaline rush from playing began to wear off once again.
Jason smiled as he watched Nate. Once Nate finished Jason stated clapping. "That was really good. Even if there were no other instruments."
Nate snapped out of his trance when Jason started clapping. "Um…thanks." He smiled sheepishly, "It still needs some work, but it's starting to sound better."
"Well it sounds good to me. I would really like to hear it when it's all done." The bell rang and Jason looked at the clock. "I guess it's time to go to class…"
"I guess so. Where are you headed to first?" Nate asked, hoping that maybe they'd have a few classes together.
"Here. My first class is band. I find of slightly weird." Jason shrugged, sitting back in the chair.
"Me too. What instrument do you play? I don't remember seeing you in band last year…" Nate thought aloud.
"Piano. I didn't do band last year because I took choirs instead, but this year I wanted to try band." Jason nodded as he spoke.
"Piano? Are you gonna join jazz band too? Our jazz band needs a new piano player." Nate grinned, thinking of how great it would be to see Jason in two of his music classes.
Jason pointed at Alex. "That was also another reason. The music teacher had to hunt me down. Apparently I'm the only student in the school that knows how to play piano."
"Well, you're the only one who can play piano well at least. I know we have quite a few classical musicians, but they can't play jazz music." Nate stated, thinking about the pianist from last year who was classically trained and couldn't play jazz music at all.
Jason pictured someone trying to play te piano classically but to jazz and laughed. "I like to learn the piano version of like all the songs I listen to. That can range from a slow ballad to music from my home country to 90s rock."
"That's a lot of music to have learned. Maybe sometime you could play something for me?" Nate asked, hoping to get to spend more time with Jason outside of school as well as at school.
"I forget most of the songs a couple weeks later." Jason laughed. "But I do know a few off the top of my head." Jason looked around. "I've never actually been in the band room. Where is the piano?"
"It's actually still in the choir room I think. They just haven't moved it back after their rehearsals this morning." Nate looked around too, thinking about where it might be.