Short story

“No, no, no, Rose, with feeling!" Mrs. Jenning moaned in exasperation.
Rose rolled her eyes, yawning with boredom.
"Yes, ma'am." She drawled.
Mrs. Jenning repositioned herself in front of the mahogany grand piano, her long fingers poised on the ivory keys, looking expectantly at her student for the ready signal.
Rose took a deep breath, and a burst of music swelled movingly from the keys, Mrs. Jenning's body swaying passionately with the rhythm. A small smirk tugged the corners of Roses mouth, and she began to sing.
Her powerful voice, a tool she knew how to use so well, sounded dry and unfeeling.
Mrs. Jenning struck an off note, then pounded the keys with her little fists.
"Rose Paqer, that's it. I give up! You used to be my star student, and now you vex me to no end. Please, feel free to explain to me how exactly such a drastic change can come over such a promising, beautiful young lady in only a short amount of time, because I'll never know." She gave Rose a chance to respond, but when she just gazed at Mrs. Jenning with her cold green eyes, her left eyes partially covered by her long, straight black hair, Mrs. Jenning just sighed. "But, until that time, I'm afraid that this is the end of our classes together. I've put up with this for long enough. Please, call me when you have sorted your problems." She looked critically at Rose, closed the piano cover, and stood up.
Rose looked as impassive as ever as she gathered her things and opened the door.
"Goodbye, Rose. Stay well." Mrs. Jenning said cordially, her hands held behind her back, her posture ramrod straight.
"Same to you." Rose replied shallowly. She closed the door behind her, leaving her teacher of 12 years, and walked up the stairs to the waiting lounge.
Rose was mildly surprised to see two boys, obviously twins, sitting together on the sofa, one with a guitar, the other holding a flute. The one with the flute looked up and greeted Rose with a dazzling smile, then looked back at his sheet music. The one with the guitar didn't even acknowledge her entrance.
Rose sat in an overstuffed reclining chair, tucked her feet under her, and took out her iPod. She idly looked at the boys in front of her, and studied them curiously.
They were both very handsome, with a slight build and long legs. They both had shaggy strawberry blond hair, though the one with the flute had his a little bit longer, nearly shoulder length, much more razored at the ends, and the other one's hair was redder.
As though they could feel her gaze, they both looked up at exactly the same time.
Rose met their gazes, first looking at one, then the other, then did a double take on the boy with the flute.
Except he wasn't a boy, she was a girl!
Surprise showed clearly on Rose's face, and the girl blushed a deep scarlet and giggled, embarrassed.
"See, Dom? I told you that I shouldn't have cut my hair this short, and you should have cut your hair shorter!" She said good-naturedly, gently elbowing her brother in the ribs.
Rose looked down, but didn't say anything.
"Yes, Jenny, but we've gone through this before. Sorry, again, but seriously, let it go. If it bothers you so much, start dressing more like a girl and stop taking my clothes." Her brother said quietly, gently strumming his guitar.
Rose had turned down her music so that she could hear them. "Yeah, but I'm just saying-" Jenny started conversationally, but her brother cut her off.
"Yes, you're always 'just saying'!" He said playfully, "But stop so I can concentrate on my music! We perform in just 4 days and I still have to write one more song!”
"Oh! Which reminds me, I have a lyric that I thought you might like." Jenny said, and they both pulled out small notebooks.
His was black and hers was a dark yellow.
"Life's like an hourglass glued to the table, can't find the rewind button." She read musically, and closed her notebook.
Her brother scribbled in his notebook. He looked at Jenny and nodded. "Impressive." He murmured.
Jenny smiled pleasantly, then looked at Rose. "Dominic's the lead singer and guitar player of a new band called Popcorn Disco." She said proudly.
Rose nodded politely. "Cool." She said flatly.
Jenny looked slightly taken aback, but her good nature kept her from taking it personally.
"Jenny, you can come down now." Mrs. Jenning called up, her voice slightly shaky.
Rose looked into her lap.
Jenny looked at her watch. "She's over a half-hour early! Dom, make sure you call mom, ok?" She got up and turned to Rose. "Oh, and nice to meet you....?" she trailed off.
Rose made no gesture to reply.
"Right. See you later!" Jenny called over her shoulder as she bounced down the stairs.
Rose took the earphones out of her ears and put her iPod away, then took a book out of her oversized bag. She settled in for the long wait for her mom to pick her up.
"Good choice." The boy said, looking up and nodding to her book. " I love Oscar Wilde."
Rose glanced up at him, then looked back down to her book. "Thanks." She muttered.
Dominic was surprised by her curt response, but let it slide and resumed his music.
"Come back and realize that I'm not at home," he sang softly, "come back and find out that I've up and gone." He strummed along, sometimes scribbling a note in the book. "And know you won't see me again, and think of how lonely you'll be..." He frowned as he sung the last part, and tried a different note, then another.
Rose looked up. "It should be C, G, D, Em7, then C again, not G." she said quietly, then looked back down at her book.
Dominic looked up in surprise, but tried the progression as she suggested.
It sounded great.
"Thanks!" He said sincerely.
"Don't mention it." she said. "Seriously." she added, cutting him off before Dominic was able to say something else.
He sat back in his chair and studied her closely.
She was very pretty, no doubt about it. She had very delicate features, almost like a doll. Her hair was very straight and black, and hung to the middle of her back.
She peeked up at him from beneath her long eyelashes, and he noticed how beautiful her eyes were, a very icy green.
"I'm Dominic, by the way." He smiled, and she idly noticed that he had a very straight, white teeth.
Her only acknowledgement to his introduction was that she raised her eyebrow.
He waited a second to see if she would respond, but when it was again clear that she had no intention to, he asked, "And you are...?"
She looked up, a defiant glint in her eyes. "Not interested." She said in a low voice.
Dominic was not expecting that, and a shocked little laugh escaped him.
Rose looked up and gave him an odd look. "What is wrong with you?" she asked, showing interest in someone for the first time in a long time, she realized.
"I just really wasn't expecting that answer. It's probably the last thing that I thought I'd ever hear in response to that question." He smiled, his dark eyes sparkling.
Rose’s eyebrows came together in a concentrated frown. "You... are a very odd boy." She said, and he smiled mischievously.
"Thanks." He laughed, and looked back down to his music.
Rose looked back to her book, then suddenly looked up.
"Rose." She said, then looked back down.
"Pardon me?" he asked, puzzled.
"My name is Rose." She repeated, then looked at her book, blushing and angry at herself for some reason.
"What a beautiful name." he said, then looked at her huge bag.
She followed his gaze and wrinkled her nose.
"Looks heavy." He mused to himself.
"It is." She said offhandedly.
He smiled and glanced back to his guitar.
"So, what instrument do you play?" He asked, looking at his notes.
"I don't play an instrument." Rose said.
He smiled to himself, wondering why she was being so difficult. "Then what do you do here?" He asked.
"I sing." She stated, and Dominic could have sworn that he saw her almost smile.
"Oh, so that's how you were able to pick up on the notes for the song so easily!" He observed.
"Yep..." She nodded.
"Hey, do you think you could help me? I have to finish this song like... now, and you have a really good ear for music, so..." He looked so hopeful that Rose felt that she couldn't say no.
"Sure." She leaned forward, and Dominic leaned in to pass her the sheet music.
She looked over the music and hummed it in her head.
Dominic played along on his guitar, then abruptly stopped.
Rose looked up questioningly, and he shrugged.
"I don't know where to go from here. I have a whole other verse written, but I don't know what to do for a chorus, or the notes to the verse." He ran his hands through his hair, and absently tapped a rhythm on his guitar.
Rose studied his song, then suddenly put the music down.
"What, is it that bad?" He asked playfully, but a real question lurked behind the smile.
Rose shrugged. "It's fine. I need to go now." She stood up, and a tear fell from her eyes onto the coffee table.
“Rose... What?"
"Nice meeting you." She said hurriedly, tears starting to fall from her eyes, and tried to heft her bag over her shoulder, but as she picked it up, the strap ripped, and the bag crashed to the floor.
Rose looked at her bag for a moment, then burst into tears and sank to the floor, her hair partially covering her face.
Dominic jumped up, put his guitar on the couch, and went to sit beside Rose.
She huddled into a little ball, and Dominic just sat there with no idea as to what to do.
"I'm sorry." Rosie sobbed into her arm, gasping for breath.
"Shhh, it's ok." Dominic said soothingly, gently rubbing her back. "Just relax." He whispered, and she leaned into his arm.
Not at all sure what to do, he put his arm around her.
She didn't respond at first, but after a moment she leaned entirely into his chest.
They sat there, the only sound was her sniffling breaths and the ticking of the Grandfather clock on the mantle.
"I'm really sorry." She hiccupped.
Dominic smiled into her hair, and said, "It's no problem. Are you alright?"
Rose leaned away from him and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her blouse.
"Yes. Thank you." She tried to get up, but Dominic didn't let go.
"Are you sure you're alright? Would you like to tell me what's going on?" He took his arm off her shoulder and turned to look at her better.
"No. I'm ok. It's just..." She burst into tears again. "My Dad died last week. We were on our way back from one of my concerts, and we were fighting about something. I don't even remember what it was, it was so stupid. Then he looked down at the music sheet that I was showing him, and he swerved into the oncoming traffic. A truck smashed into us, and he was killed instantly. I... I didn't even get to tell him that I loved him." She broke down even more.
Dominic had no idea what to do, but when he went to go hug her again, she recoiled. He sat back and she looked at him through her tear stained eyes.
“Sorry,” she said, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “I just needed to let that out.”
She got up, pushed her bag into a corner of the room, and started the long walk home, humming, alone, and for the first time since her dad died, a little bit happier.