“What about you?” Kirsten locked eyes on me. “All I really know about you is you’re Vanessa’s stepbrother and you play a mean guitar.”
I briefly gave her my life story, growing up with a single parent, having to integrate our two families as teenagers, how Vanessa and I had never been close owing to the age gap and differing personalities, and moving out a couple of years ago to go to university in Kingston.
“And you don’t have a girlfriend, obviously, otherwise you wouldn’t be sleeping with Laura.”
“I’m not ‘sleeping with Laura’,” I pointed out. “I slept with her once, and I wish I hadn’t.”
“Oh?”
“It was a hookup at a party. It was fun, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t realize she had feelings for me the way she had, otherwise I’d never have done it. It was a heat of the moment decision.”
Kirsten nodded. “Laura crushes very hard and very easily. She comes on very strong. A lot of guys are intimidated by that.”
“I wasn’t intimidated, I just didn’t think through the consequences of sleeping with a girl who a major crush on me. And to answer your question, no, I don’t have a girlfriend. I’ve been single since last fall. Do you have a boyfriend?”
She shook her head. “I broke up with my high school boyfriend before moving away, because I didn’t want to do long distance. I never really looked for a new one. Boys are too big of a distraction. When I’m in Boston I need to be focused on my playing and my studies. There’s so much competition out there, and silly me had to select an instrument that so many other people also play. I couldn’t have played the sousaphone or the harp, oh, no. I had to pick the one instrument with more competitors than any other.”
“That sounds… kind of sad, actually,” I said sympathetically. “Do you get to blow off steam like tonight every now and then?”
“I haven’t in a long, long time,” she answered. “Tonight was really good for me. It reminded me why playing music is fun. When you’re practising for the sixtieth hour that week with no end in sight, you sometimes question why you do it.”
“You don’t play in any bands in Boston?”
“No. I wish. I don’t have the time.”
“So no boys and no fun music.” I suddenly felt a little sorry for her. “Is it all worth it to you?”
Kirsten responded by getting up and going to the baby grand piano. She sat down and started playing a rendition of Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 in E-Flat Major. Her playing was not just technically perfect but was also full of soul and longing. I moved over and sat beside her on the piano bench, in awe at her genius on display as she played.
When she finished, I gently applauded. “Beautiful.”
She looked at me, her deep blue eyes full of emotion, and in that moment, inspired, I leaned in to kiss her, holding back, waiting for a sign to either press on or to withdraw. When she closed her eyes I knew she was mine, and then our lips touched. I kissed her, again, slowly, gently, electricity passing between each other’s bodies.
After a moment she pulled back, sighing with pleasure.
“I can see why Laura likes you,” she said, her voice cracking slightly.