The melody in our hearts (8 page)

“Well, then I only hope I’ll never be on your operating table!”

They both laughed and for the first time in two long years, Valerie felt at ease with the world, at peace with herself, and truly happy again.

An hour and two muffins later, Ryan took her to Berklee, and she felt a sense of déjà vu looking at the building she had seen three and a half years before, when they had walked through that same door, full of expectations and dreams on the day of the audition. Nothing seemed to have changed, and it felt as if it had only happened the week before.

As they walked in, Valerie remembered their first trip to Boston, the day of the audition, and everything that had brought them that far, and took Ryan’s hand, smiling at him as he showed her around. When they reached his room, it felt weird to see another person on the bed next to his, and she almost felt like an intruder in Ryan’s new life, but she tried not to let it show.

“Val, this is my roommate, Kevin. You’re gonna hear the world talk about him soon.” He winked at her and Kevin chuckled. “Kev, this is Valerie, my….”

“Your best friend from Dublin, yeah, I know. I’ve spent the last two years hearing her name!” He stood up and reached out for her hand, curtsying. “Welcome to Boston, Valerie. It’s a real honor to meet you! I feel like I know you already, if you know what I mean!”

He grinned, and she suddenly felt self-conscious.

“Don’t mind him, Val. He’s just a show-off!”

Kevin chuckled and slumped back down on his bed, picking up his book and pretending to concentrate on whatever it was he was studying, but as Valerie looked at him, she caught him looking up from his book, a big grin spread across his face, and she immediately turned away.

He was quite handsome, she had to admit it, with green eyes and wavy, dark blond hair tucked behind his ears. So far, she had met only a few American boys, but they all looked gorgeous to her; maybe it was because they were totally different from the Irish beauty standards she was used to, or maybe it was because they were American and had this weird accent, which made them all seem kind of exotic to her.

She had never cared much about guys when she was in Dublin, but now that she was here, surrounded by all these beautiful boys, she felt as if she understood why Marie liked guys so much.

She thought it was because, when she was still in Dublin, she didn’t have much time to think of anything else except school and how much she missed Ryan. Now that she was with Ryan again, she felt as if her eyes had finally opened.

She was sure she was blushing, so she turned her back to Kevin, pretending she was looking at the room.

“Do you like it?” Ryan asked her, and she nodded.

It felt so weird to be in Ryan’s room with another person in it. They had gotten used to spending days in his room rather than in hers, so they could talk about music and school and dream about what the future would bring. It would never be the same now because he had a roommate and so did she, and they would never be alone again.

Nevertheless, she liked the room – in fact, she actually liked the whole building, the city, and the fact that she was with Ryan again.

“Come, I’ll show you the rest,” he interrupted her train of thought, leading her out of the room. Just before he closed the door behind them, Valerie heard Kevin say, “See ya soon, Val!”

“Show-off!” Ryan said, before closing the door, and they heard Kevin’s laughter inside the room. He shrugged and smiled at Valerie.

“He’s fun, though. He’s an artist, so he’s a bit of a weirdo sometimes, but he really makes me laugh. I’m sure he’ll stop acting like a jerk after he’s used to having you around.”

“Having me around?” she asked, looking at him with a strange expression. “Are you planning on letting me come over much?”

“Aren’t you?” he asked, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. “I mean, you’ve come all the way to Boston just to be near me, and you thought I wouldn’t want to see you? Earth to Valerie, Earth to Valerie – are you there at all?”

She laughed and he wrapped his arms around her.

“You’re silly, you know? Of course you can come over any time you want. When you’re not busy studying, that is.”

“I thought that maybe...you know...we’ve been apart for so long, we’ve grown up, and you have new friends here, like Kevin, for example. So I thought that maybe we wouldn’t be spending as much time together as we used to.”

He turned to look at her and scrutinized her face, wondering whether she was serious; why was she saying those silly things about him not wanting to spend time with her when all he had waited for in the past couple of years had been the day when Valerie would eventually meet him in Boston?

Had he done or said something that had made her think things wouldn’t be the same as they had always been? Okay, he hadn’t gone to see her for a few days, but it was because he had thought she would want to check out the campus and get to know her roommate, just like he had done when he had first got to Boston. But he had never thought about not spending time with her again. If she hadn’t called him today, he would have called her. He had already planned on taking her to Berklee, but he had wanted to leave her some space for a while to get used to her new life.

And now she was getting these silly ideas in her head, thinking things had changed.

“Nothing’s changed for me, Val. You are still my best friend, and I still want to spend time with you, just like we did in Dublin. But you’re right: We probably won’t be spending as much time together as we used to because we’ll be busy studying, especially you, young doctor.” He chuckled and squeezed her a bit tighter, kissing the top of her head. “But I will always want to spend time with you, Val. No matter how busy we are, we will find a way to keep our friendship as strong as ever. We made it with the ocean between us, and we can make it now that we’re only a few blocks away. This is a promise.”

She enjoyed feeling his arms around her again after so long, and she simply nodded, enjoying the warmth and safety he gave her.

When he was sure she had stopped worrying about silly things and was at ease again, he showed her around the common rooms and the rest of the school, and she thought it was the perfect place for him to show his talent and become a great musician, just like he had always dreamed.

Then they left the building and, as they strolled happily down the unfamiliar roads, she thought the world looked so much better when Ryan was with her.

~
Eleven
~

Settling in was very easy for Valerie, with Ryan showing her around as much as he could and always making sure, as if he were her responsible older brother, that she would not put herself in danger.

Just like he had planned, he showed her all the tourist attractions and the places he had come to know so well in the past couple of years, but they couldn’t do much more because he simply couldn’t afford it. His parents had been paying his tuition fees for the past couple of years, and he had used his savings to buy food and basic things. But his savings were almost depleted, and he knew he would need to find a job sooner or later if he didn’t want to be forced to leave.

He didn’t want to ask his parents to pay for all the extras too, since the tuition fees at Berklee were high enough, but luckily his grades had won him a scholarship for the upcoming semester, and this would give them some relief. Even so, he didn’t want to be a bigger burden than was necessary on his parents’ shoulders, so he had decided he’d look for a job that would at least pay enough to buy food.

Once all the sightseeing was over, he decided to speak to his mentor at Berklee, asking him for advice on how to find a job using the skills he had. His mentor said he happened to know just the place for Ryan, and that the manager was an old school friend of his, so it only took him a couple of days to get an interview there.

The place was a jazz club in the Back Bay area; it seemed to be very small from the outside, but it was bigger than he had expected once he got in. Ryan asked Valerie to go with him, saying she was his lucky charm, and he thought he would be asked to play something just like he had done during his audition at Berklee.

But apparently being introduced by his mentor, Mr. Henley, and being a student at Berklee College were the best credentials he could offer, so all he had to do was sign a sort of contract indicating his pay and the nights he was supposed to be playing, and that was it.

When they walked out of the club, Valerie grabbed his arm and grinned like the Cheshire Cat from
Alice in Wonderland
.

“You have a job!” she said, as excited as if she had just won the lottery. “You did eventually end up playing in a bar, like your father said, but this place is definitely not a cheap café in Temple Bar. I mean, it’s a famous jazz club in Boston! I can’t wait for you to start!”

He smiled and wondered what it would be like to play in front of a real audience. Okay, he had played in front of lots of people during their end of the year shows, but they were mainly parents and families of the students, and he had only had to play a song, sometimes two, and in five minutes it had all been over.

But now he would have to play for at least a couple of hours, and he would be alone, with people expecting to hear some good music from a professional. The only problem was, he wasn’t a professional, and he wasn’t sure he was good enough to perform in such a renowned and important club.

When he had asked his mentor to help him find a job, he never thought he would end up in a jazz club in Boston; instead he remembered what his father had told him about playing in a downtown café, barely earning a living. He was starting to think that what people always said about living the American dream was true: Dreams really did come true in America, no matter how impossible they seemed. He had dreamed of Berklee ever since he was a child, when his grandfather used to tell him wonderful stories about the school, and he used to wonder what it would feel like to actually study there. He had never thought it would be possible for him to pursue a career as a pianist, let alone study at Berklee, but there he was now, waiting to start his third year and signing a contract to play in a club in Boston. What were the chances he would ever have become a professional, had he stayed in Dublin? He surely would have ended up playing Irish jigs and reels in one of the pubs in Temple Bar, with tourists drinking Guinness and not paying much attention to him.

Yes, he was definitely living the American dream, and he hoped it wouldn’t be over too soon.

“Come, I’ll buy you a big Cappuccino at Starbucks to celebrate,” he told Valerie and shrugged, wrapping his arm around her. “That’s just as much as I can afford now, at least until I get my first paycheck!”

She laughed and hugged him.

“Oh, well I guess I’ll have to make do until you become a millionaire and can afford to buy champagne!”

They both burst into laughter and, as they walked happily on the sidewalk, Ryan reckoned that Valerie really was his lucky charm, and things could only get better now that she was with him again.

The first night he played at the club, Ryan obviously wanted Valerie to be there, but since she wasn’t twenty-one, he knew this would probably be a problem. So he asked Mr. Henley to speak to his friend and ask him whether he could make an exception just this once. After making Ryan promise that she wouldn’t drink, he agreed to let her in.

Ryan was glad Kevin had gone home for a few days to celebrate his birthday with his family because he knew Kevin would have wanted to go there, but Ryan didn’t want Kevin to be around Valerie, especially if Ryan wasn’t there to stop him from flirting with her. He had asked Valerie if she wanted to bring her roommate, Karen, just so that she wouldn’t have to be alone while he was playing; although she didn’t really like the idea of Karen setting her eyes on Ryan, Valerie reckoned it would be weird to be in a club all alone. So in the end she had invited Karen, and they both dressed up for the night, knowing they couldn’t really go to a club dressed in jeans and t-shirts.

It had been a while since she had hung out with a girl and even longer since she had dressed up to go out anywhere with a friend, and she found that it felt nice to talk about things like mascara and eye shadow for once. Karen seemed to have a thing for make-up, and she had a beauty case full of eye pencils, lipsticks, and eye shadow. All Valerie had ever owned were mascara and a black eye pencil, which she hardly ever wore anyway, especially since Ryan had left Ireland. She had never considered herself a beautiful girl: Her skin was too fair, and she had freckles on her nose and cheeks, so she had never bothered wearing make-up, knowing it wouldn’t change anything.

But Karen hadn’t stopped talking ever since she had told her she wasn’t used to wearing any make-up, and she had stared wide-eyed at her as if she had said she had a tattoo on her butt.

“Are you kidding?” she asked, slumping down on her bed and crossing her legs. “I could kill for eyes like yours; with a bit of blue eye shadow and eyeliner, they’ll be even more beautiful than they already are. Here, let me do your make-up tonight.”

It felt weird, as if she was some kind of movie star with a personal make-up artist, but the final result was amazing; she could barely recognize herself when she looked at her reflection, and Karen seemed quite satisfied.