With a dramatic sigh, Rose stomps back to her textbooks. She studies a whole bunch of languages—at the moment, she’s focusing on Italian and Mandarin—and her tutors bury her in exercises for them pretty much every day. And, given I practice piano just about that often, Rose figured we could do those things together up here and snatch some extra time together. She insists the piano doesn’t make it hard for her to concentrate, and so far she hasn’t complained, so it’s part of our new routine now.

Honestly, these late-night hangouts are my favorite things in the world. Rose dresses down for them in a way I never used to see, in yoga pants and oversized sweaters and even the odd pair of sweatpants. And even though I’m pretty sure they cost more than the most expensive thing in my whole wardrobe, there’s something so normal feeling about it. Like we’re an old married couple doing our chores in the living room after a long day.

Usually, we stop by my room afterward to hang out for a little while before bed. Usually, Rose can wait. But usually, we’re out of here by this time of night.

“I’ll finish soon,” I tell her, and she brightens right up. “Just let me play this through from the top, okay?”

“Okay, sure.”

I go to play the same tune I’ve been working on for the last half hour, but I think Rose’s restlessness rubs off on me, because suddenly the thought of hearing that one more time—and stumbling over the second half yet again—makes me want to snap my fingertips off.

So, instead, I wrap things up by playing an old faithful, a song my fingers know better than my mind does. Maybe a part of me wants to show off for Rose, the way she showed off when she took me skating. And so what if I do? I want her to be impressed by me. I want her to admire me.

I don’t think I’ve wrapped my head around the outlandish fact that she likes me just yet.

All those feelings, the excitement and the awe and the hope, come out easily through this song. I don’t miss a single note of it—I haven’t in years—but it’s hands down the most I’ve ever enjoyed the tune. It used to be pensive and pretty. Now, it’s a song about falling hard for someone you used to think would never see you as anything but a friend. The tempo’s faster now, and it swells where it used to pull back, and I even bring the melody up an octave for part of it.