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[sub][color=lightgray]Collab with [@TootsiePop] & [@NeoAJ][/color][/sub]
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[indent][color=3caea0]"If I wanted Neil Peart, I’d play myself. Now come along. ”[/color]  Diana gestured her drink toward the path that led to the music building, before leading the charge. [color=3caea0]"We should leave the scene of the crime. Don’t need some snitch to tattle and get the whole school in trouble solely because one kid made a show of strength using the art of vandalism.”[/color]  

As she casually strolled, Dee decided to forcibly stick her free hand in her bag. After a couple of crinkly plastic noises, she pulled out some gummy bears and shoved a handful in her mouth. [color=3caea0]"Btdubs, if you’re hungry I got a mini fridge in the studio. Feel free to help yourself to whatever. Yo, want some gummies?”[/color] When she got to the question, she had already stretched out her hand, offering her acquaintance candy. The best kind of brunch. 

Kieran held his hand up, respectfully rejecting the offer of candy. [color=87b5eb]“I’m good. No processed sugar until the off-season. That’s the rule. Although talk to me in May if you got a bag full of Starbursts.”[/color] 

He had never been in this area of the school before. Music was his family’s area of expertise, but not his own. His father was notorious back home for his ability to shanty with the best of them, and his sister initially moved to Toronto with the hopes of putting her performing talents to work on the stage. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much use for dancing at a rental car company. For Kieran though, learning to play an instrument was what you did if you didn’t have anything else to show off at parties, and Kieran’s body did most of the talking on that front.[/indent]
[hr]
[indent]Using her key card, Dee rubbed it against the reader. Her card was a golden yellow color, unlike everyone else’s which were plain white. When the car reader turned green, she grinned, [color=3caea0]"Bitchen’.”[/color] Kicking the door, she took a second to get into position to hold it open with her back and directed Kieran inside, [color=3caea0]"Please, by all means, you first. And look at that, [url=https://www.soundproofstudios.com/wp-content/uploads/Lake-House-Studios-48.jpg]front and center[/url]. Drums.”[/color] She waited for him to respond, and as he did so, she closed the door behind her. 

The place certainly looked impressive. All that extra university money had to go somewhere, Kieran supposed. Still, it surprised him all the same. It seemed like this new traveling companion of his had some sway he didn’t know about. Of course, it made sense if she came from money. Those kids seemed to be able to get away with anything while it was the scholarship kids who took the brunt of the punishment. Still, it couldn’t be held against Dee. At least not at this stage. [color=87b5eb]“Yup. Can confirm. Those do indeed be drums.”[/color]

[color=3caea0]“I’m headin’ to the lounge and [url=https://wsdg.com/wp-content/uploads/Lake-House-Studios-52.jpg]recording zone[/url]. Kinda’ in desperate need for a red bull. You want a gatorade or something? I don’t know what your athlete diet is or whatever, but I’m sure I got some form of it somewhere.”[/color]

[color=87b5eb]“I won’t say no to a Gatorade,”[/color] Kieran confirmed. [color=87b5eb]“Orange if you got it, but I’m not too picky. As long as it’s not grape. Grape-flavored anything is terrible.”[/color] He plunked himself down on the stool in front of the drum set, and tried to adjust things to his height. He had little experience with the drums, aside from watching his cousin keep half his house awake with his own version of the solo from Beast and the Harlot. Suffice to say, it didn’t go well on any front. 

A few minutes passed and Dee was out of the room with two drinks in hand, having already tossed her tea away to replace it with pure energy. [color=3caea0]“Heads up!”[/color] She threw the closed gatorade (orange) drink to her new friend, not really taking note if he was paying attention or not. Once she was sitting down at the piano stool, she pulled the tab’s ring off and immediately guzzled down her guilty pleasure. When she finished the drink in its whole, she belched out a loud burp (very unladylike) and then chuckled, [color=3caea0]“‘Cuse me. Now dude, you gonna hit some drums or do you want to share your feelings on this morning’s assembly?”[/color] 

Kieran raised an eyebrow at Dee’s behavior upon re-entering the room. He easily caught the Gatorade bottle thrown at him. That was a paltry test of his abilities. However, losing a belching contest before he even started. That was an eye-opener. Maybe it made sense. Dee didn’t exactly exude the same ladylike qualities as say Mac or Lottie. So far, it almost seemed like she was just one of the guys. And that was cool. Nothing wrong about that.

[color=87b5eb]“I think that water fountain took the brunt of my feelings,”[/color] he said as he picked up the sticks. [color=87b5eb]“Just sucks that I could be thrown off the team for something I had no part in doing.”[/color] He tentatively tapped on a couple of the drums just to try and figure out what sounds they made.

[color=3caea0]“I wouldn’t worry too much.”[/color] Dee too took a moment to diddle with the instrument in front of her, doing a quick crescendo on C scale, followed by an immediate decrescendo. Simple and basic. [color=3caea0]“I know that’s probably not something you want to hear, since based off your reaction, it [i]clearly[/i] hurts you more than others. But has it happened yet? Has anything [i]really[/i] happened?”[/color] She looked over to him, giving him a look that expressed ‘worrying is a waste of time’. 

[color=3caea0]“We literally just got a slap on the hand for acting our age. At most, your coach may bitch, but getting kicked off? Ha. If you’re a star player, they need you. For that big rep they care about so much. This probation thing won’t even last a week. The perks of going to a privileged school. Getting a rise from this is just feeding into their bullshit. When really? They could care less. You care more than they care. They were doing this grand gesture to make a statement. Not thinking about any of us individually.”[/color]  It was obvious that Dee was a loquacious girl, or someone that is more alone than not, so when she is near someone she has a lot to say. 

While she didn’t mean to give Kieran an ear full, Dee did think he was a good guy and it would be tragic if he lost all that pretty hair of his because of unneeded stress. No one thinks more about you than yourself and worried thoughts are notoriously inaccurate. It’s like walking around with an umbrella, waiting for it to rain. There was no point. Just get lost in the moment, and try to cherish the little things that matter. Bad things happen. That’s life. But if the school chose to wipe out their whole junior class because of a stupid party, that spoke more on them than their students. Whoever snitched on them was not thinking straight, probably on her period or something because Dee couldn’t imagine a guy being this petty, but the school’s reaction? That was hilariously dumb. A big fucking dumpster fire.  

Kieran let out a sigh as he started to tap with a little more fervor, trying to combine the sounds from the drums in a way that could at least be considered some kind of rhythm. It wasn’t going to match what Dee produced on the piano with just a few strokes, but he wasn’t a complete stranger when it came to producing a beat. There were many long days in a classroom that were spent tapping in time to some random song that worked into his head. 

Besides, she was probably right. It would look really bad if a school just dropped an entire year of students over a party. It probably wasn’t even legal in the first place. It was just a scary thought to lose out on an entire season of hockey because two people got in a fight. Since he was now the legal drinking age in the States, there was no going back to junior, and it would be harder to get into another university without explaining why academic probation was followed by expulsion. So it was best to go along with Dee and think about how it was a hollow threat that would quickly be dismissed, especially if the coaches went to bat against the admins for the athletes.

[color=87b5eb]“So… you think I should just take some whacks at this and you try and plink out a tune? Or am I just gonna be a lost cause at this?”[/color]

[color=3caea0]“Nah man, you’re not a lost cause. My parents are.”[/color] She cheesed, before giving him the spark notes version of drumming for beginners, [color=3caea0]“Focus on the hi-hats, snare, and bass. I’m sure you got an idea of the basics based on what I’ve heard so far. Hi-hats, think of it like snapping or tapping your foot to a song you’re really into. Generally we subconsciously snap to quarter notes.”[/color] Dee snapped her fingers, while she explained to him how to give her a basic beat, [color=3caea0]“Have them evenly spaced and to make it easy, count 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and-1-and-2-and-3-and-4. Hit the hi-hat twice per snap. Add the snare drum with the 2 and 4 and the bass on counts 1 and 3. The bass drum should be right in time with the hi-hat. If you need me to show you, I will. Now, give me a beat, choose the speed, and I’ll match you.” [/color] Turning to the piano, she placed both of her hands to the keys and patiently waited. 

[color=87b5eb]“All right, but I saw that movie Whiplash. You throw a chair at me, and I’m out of here truer than anything, eh?”[/color] Kieran slightly stuck his tongue out as he prepared to go Miles Teller on the situation. He started tapping his foot in order to get a feel for how heavy he had to go to get the bass to sound out. He didn’t want to totally drown out Dee, since she had a better ear for all of this. He actually had to go harder than he expected on the snare in order to hear what he wanted out of it, but he didn’t want to break anything. That probably wouldn’t look good either. Once he figured out how hard he wanted to hit the things he could hit, he started to try and factor in his other foot to work in the cymbals. It was harder to coordinate all these separate movements than it was trying to skate. Skating was all about fluidity, keeping the motions balanced in order to glide with maximum efficiency. Here, Kieran just felt like he was flailing a bit. He looked over towards Dee, to see if things were going well enough that she felt she could play something to his wild movements.

Not looking at him once to confirm his change in pace or his fumbles, Dee closed her eyes, focusing on the sound he was giving her. Music was like an external heartbeat and through the vibration, she let that decide what notes she would touch. Seemingly without effort, she produced music, complimenting his fragmented drumming. The sound was like waves filling holes in beach sand. When he picked up in tempo, she helped elevate the spirit and move the room, as if it were meant for a dance party, and when he slowed down, she lowered the tidal waves to a relaxing calm.

Diana Valentine wasn’t just playing to play. The music pumped through her veins, as she somehow magically kept in time with his drums (even if he was simply winging it). This was Dee’s talent. The one thing she could call her own. What she loved about music was that it wasn’t here to save her, or him, and could never, but it inspired the person playing, strengthened them, to save themselves. 

Sure, they weren’t making a breathtaking melody that you’d see at a grand orchestra. Still, she enhanced his limiting skills to showcase the parts in him that mattered. He didn’t suck. With practice, he could get better, but that wasn’t the point of this session. The point of this session was to get him to live in the moment and allow him a chance to express his emotions through every tap, rat-a-tat-tat, and bang he did. She’d be the tsunami to wash away his worries and together, they’d make music. It was that simple.  

She wasn’t moving. Kieran got nothing as he glanced at Dee just living life at that piano. That’s what it felt like to him. Nothing else mattered but the music, and the fact that she wasn’t turning around meant that he must be doing something right. It felt better than just turning to the bottle or turning to punch something. This felt way more productive. He had no idea what song they were playing, but it was nice to just play without feeling like there had to be an end goal for it. It felt freeing, and for the moment, Kieran was happy to lose himself in it.

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