I'm Terribly Clef-er at Puns || For Lilac~

Although the sounds of his violin rang vividly through the halls and out through the open windows for anyone to hear, he knew very well that these part of the hallways didn't lead to anywhere entirely important - and he couldn't be bothered by the people passing outside, so the young man would be able to play as much as he pleased without disturbing anyone who couldn't afford it. Music sheets were scattered in a disorderly fashion all over the floor, but they didn't have to be all neat and in tidy order for him to understand it. The songs he was playing were already memorized by his fingers. At most, he'd give a quick half-minded glance to pieces of paper before going on as he was.

He hadn't touched his instrument in so long, it felt like some sort of relief to be able to do so again, and you could tell from the warm smile on his face that he was quite enjoying himself. There were very few things at that moment that could make this evening better, one of which was possible wondering around at that time to hear his song.

Despite having been at the school for months and being overly involved in pretty much everything, Verona still found it extremely easy to get turned around on the huge campus. You see, earlier that day Verona had made plans with an extremely attractive new kid that she would meet up with him at the computer labs. Truth be told, Verona didn't exactly know where the computer labs were, or if Beata even had a computer lab. But as the brunette walked down the hallways with peeled eyes, she knew one thing was for sure. She heard music. Beautiful, enchanting music. It engulfed all around her, and just as she was about to walk away from the sound, she spotted a lone white sheet of music sitting at the end of the hallway. And you know what they say, curiosity killed the cat.

She approached slowly, each step leading her closer to the sweet sound of the violin and the mysterious sheet music. Verona had never been a fan of classical music, but this music was not so bad. Actually it was pretty cool that someone here could play an instrument so well, especially to her, who had no musical inclination whatsoever. When she made it to the end of the hallway and had picked up the sheet music, she peeked down at the page's contents. To her it was a big jumble of lines and swirls and circles, but whoever it was making this music probably needed it.

Verona peeked her head around the door and couldn't help but let out a defeated sigh and shake her head. Ah, she should have known, she had hear people talk about him being a really good musician but she hadn't really expected him to be this good. Slowly but surely, Verona stepped inside the room and was surprised that Jace hadn't noticed her yet. She had no intention of frightening him, but when he finished his song Verona erupted into a series of loud claps, slightly crumpling the piece of music in her hand. "Wow Blondie," she said with an impressed look on her face. "I heard you were good, but I didn't know you were this good." A smug smile then grew on her face as she approached him, looking down so that she wouldn't step on any of the sheets of music spread around the floor. With a swift movement, she pulled a chair out from under a table adjacent to him, and sat down. "So what else can you play?"

Jason has been so lost in his music, it'd taken him a few moments even as she started clapping to notice that she was even in the room - or so close to him, as a matter of fact. He blinked his eyes open, glancing at her and pulling his bow and strings apart, letting his hands fall to hit side. He couldn't help but stare at her for a few moments, completely caught off guard as he struggled to find something to say. "What are you doing here?" The words finally find their way out of his mouth as he watched her slip past him and unto a chair nearby. The Autumn clearing his throat, sticking his bow in his violin hand and rubbing the back of his neck, a crooked smile growing on his face. "I'd thought you'd've known by now that rumors never do any justice."

The young man took a large step over his music sheets and to the table she sat at, turning around and leaning against the edge, so he could rest and glance down at her. He suddenly looked down at her, trying to recall what exactly were all the instruments he could play. "Viola," he said, not that there was much of a difference between the viola and his instrument of choice. Jace wondered for a moment if she knew there were any at all. "Cello, guitar, and the ever challenging kazoo." He smiled mischievously down at her. "My family is just a little musical oriented." His father played the piano. His mother both played the guitar and was a top-notch singer. And since both he and his brother's gifts both depending on their instruments, the two of them breeze through life trying out as many different ones as they could - though obviously, Jason had stuck to a pattern, aside from the damned kazoo. "What about you, Sweet Pea?"

Verona crossed her legs and flipped a strand of long brunette hair over her shoulder. "I heard some music in the hall and thought, 'wow that music sucks'," Verona answered in a joking voice. "I'm joking, but I do think you dropped this in the hallway." She looked down at the wrinkled paper in her hand, before offering it to him with a raised eyebrow. Verona would be lying to herself if she said that she was still here because she heard nice music. Actually the only reason she was still here was because of Jace. It was anything serious, but she had to admit that lately she had been thinking about him a lot. Ugh. It was annoying. I mean here she was, with an extremely attractive boy waiting for her to show him around, but Verona knew she wasn't going to meet him. And it was all because of Jace. Stupid Jace and his stupid music, and his stupid, atractive face, and his stupid... nice lips, and... Whoa, Verona needed to get herself together. Jace may have been a pretty good kisser and all, but he was not going to win this. Oh no, Verona wasn't going to let him win this.

"Oh I can tell," Verona said, looking around the room at all of the clutter, an attempt not to look him in the eye. Suddenly, a soft breeze blew in from the window and swept a few loose pages across the floor. It was a mediocre breeze, but it was still enough to cause her to shiver and instinctively wrap her arms around herself. "I can't play anything," the autumn girl admitted, shifting around in her chair to avoid a sharp piece of plastic that had been poking her in the butt. She had taken piano lessons and would've been really good if she had actually tried, but admittedly she only took them because she thought that the teacher was cute. Suddenly reminded of her sixth grade crush, Verona looked back up at Jace with a cocked eyebrow. "But, I'd always love to learn."

Jason scoffed, almost looking deeply hurt for a moment there, a crooked grin on his face. "You live to hurt me, don't you?" He sighed melodramatically, shaking his head. He gave the paper in her hand a curious look, taking it for himself and holding it up. Ah, it'd been the music sheet he was missing. He had thought it was stuck behind another paper or he'd left it in his room somewhere. The Autumn nodded to her, tossing it on the ground by the others, not noticing the few that tried to ride the wind away.

He wasn't surprised that she didn't, no offense to her, but he noticed her confusion as she stared down the music sheet. A sly smile grew on his face, "I think I could teach you a thing or two, if you want." He said, pulling up his instrument again. "I'mma need you to stand up for me though, Beautiful." There was no point is subtle remarks or little gestures anymore. Jace felt like a bit of a vulture.

"Don't take it too personally babe," Verona mused towards the blonde, a smile escaping from her lips. "You're just too much fun to mess with." Her genuine smile shrunk into a flirty smirk as she drummed her fingers on the plastic chair, each finger making a soft tapping noise as it made contact with the old green chair. Her eyes moved down from his eyes down to his lips and all the way to his hand. She watched as he released the paper from his grip and it floated down to rest peacefully on top of its counterpart. Maybe it was the perfectionist in her, or maybe she had a slight OCD tendency, but the brunette had a sudden urge to scoop up all of the clutter and make sense of it's order.

And so she forced her gaze away from the mess and back up to Jace. "You know, I might have to take you up on that offer..." She responded with a nod and with Jace's command the girl stood up, making sure to flatten down her dress. "So tell me Blondie, why did you need me to stand up?" Her question were brief and punctured the otherwise, still room.

He watched her eye the paper as it floated down gently to the ground alone the mess of it's other pages. For a few moments, Jason wondered why on earth she was so intrigued by them, when to her they were nothing more than a bunch of lines and dots on scattered pieces of paper. The Autumn figured she'd been used to little messes like this by now, but didn't think too much on it. He honestly couldn't hold back a smile as she went along with what she was told, for once - it made things so much easier when she wasn't so stubborn, he thought. Maybe he was finally getting through to her? If so...

"If you wanted to learn, we could start right now." Jace said simply, setting his actual violin down on the chair gently and coming up behind her. "I just work best from a first person perspective. You don't mind, do you?" His sly playfulness was clear on his smile, wrapping his arms around her and looking gently over her shoulder, he took her hands and placed the bow in her fingers.

The soft chirping of birds carried inside, it's music as sweeter than anything Verona had ever produced herself. But she didn't seem to mind, after all she was about to learn now wasn't she? And Jace seemed like he was pretty good, so she figured after today she couldn't say she had never played an instrument. And then the girl felt Jace's arms around her, but she didn't swoon or anything because at the moment she was sincerely interested in learning an instrument. Yeah right, I'm only kidding. Verona actually rolled her eyes, but a small smile fought it's way onto her face. She was a little take off guard, although she figured she should have probably expected it. "Are you sure you're not just looking for another excuse to touch me?" Verona joked, her eyes looking down at the bow being placed into her hands. "Although, I'd say you've gotten enough action this week." Only that time she wasn't exactly joking. She was Jace's roommate, and despite his best efforts she had totally seen a girl leave his room in the morning. I mean what Jace did wasn't her business, but she hoped he didn't think he could just sleep with her that easily if that was what he was after.

Jason laughed under his breath with very little shame. Maybe it was something along those lines, even if he'd never admit so. Besides, she seemed to mind just as much as he did, very little that was. "I don't know what you're talking about." The Autumn near sang, holding her a little closer. The smile on his face had stayed until she had finished, drawing back in confusion then. "Wait, what...?" Jace asked, genuinely confused. If he had gotten lucky the past week, you would think he would've remembered.

Verona was almost a little shocked at his reaction and was unsure of how to respond. Was he trying to pull something over on her, or did he seriously not know? Verona took a step away from him, turning to look him in the face. Her smile was gone and she raised an eyebrow, "Jace we're roomates," She said with a small shake of her head. "You don't seriously think you can have a girl spend the night with you and I not notice, right?" Another breeze swept in from the window, and the girl rubbed her arms with her hands in a lame excuse to keep warm. Her choice in wearing her light blue dress wasn't the most genius idea she had today.

He made no move to stop her from pulling away, though still kept a loose grip on her waist, his golden gaze staring her down - confused. And then it clicked. She was talking about Evelyn. That was nothing, though. All she did was sleep in his bed, ... In his shirt... But they were just trapped in the storm. Looking back on it, though, it did have to look bad on his part.
The smile grew back on his face. "I didn't care to think about it," he shrugged, seeming suddenly non-chalant. "Is there a problem?" He noticed her shivering and started to move to offer her his jacket, though he'd doubted she'd take it now. she looked hella fine in that dress, tho uwu

Verona just stared at him, her mouth slightly gaped and then she slowly started to shake her head. He was so unbelievable.

She remembered waking up, and shuffling out to make coffee in nothing but her pajamas. The coffee had just started to pour, when Verona had heard Jace's door click open and not wanting him to see her in her night gown, she had scurried back into the room. Now, through her years of gossipping she had become an expert of hearing things through the walls. But today something was off, not only had she heard her roommate's voice, but another, a girl's. Coming from his room she might add. Verona remembered immediately being disgusted, he had just done it in the room right next to her. And she remembered a slight sinking feeling she had felt too, disappointment? Jealousy? She wasn't sure. Out of sheer curiosity, Verona cracked open her door and peeked outside, sure enough there sat a pretty girl with short hair and in Jace's shirt. UGH.

The flashback was brief, but had the same impact and Verona continued to stand there. She wanted to move away from him, but his hands rested on her hips and kept her in place. It was constricting. "No of course not," Verona challenged, staring at the boy and attempting to keep her face cool and unreadable. Her eyes studied him and narrowed accordingly, and her arms clutched tighter across her chest. "I'm just a little surprised that's all." Verona moved her glance to then stare at the indention's on the plastic chair next to her, and tried to stay cool. He wasn't going to win this, she wasn't going to let him win this.

Jason was honestly finding it more and more difficult to fight back a grin. It was a big misunderstanding, but it was more than enough to throw the game into his favor. And it came out of nowhere too. He didn't know she was there. Hell, he'd knocked on her door that night just to see if she was. If this was how it was going to be, though, there was no way he wasn't going to run with it.
For a moment, he recalled Evelyn on the couch outside their rooms. He was looking for a bag for her shirt and socks, since she'd left them soaking wet on the bathroom floor. That had to have been when Verona had seen them.

The Autumn laughed under his breath, "I don't see why. Is it eating you up that badly, Sweet Pea?" He smirked, watching her arms cross protectively over her chest. Jace wasn't an expert at reading people, but that much was obvious. "It was nothing, though I was sore in the morning." He near-sang, technically not lying one bit. With the run through the rain and the floor being harder than he anticipated, his body didn't thank him in the morning.

"I'd hardly say it's 'eating me up'," Verona countered, her voice breaking into a slight defensiveness. She really had to get a grip, now was no time to get all emotional, right now was war. Any slight chink in her arm would lead into a fatal blow and Verona wasn't ready to lose anytime soon. The girl took a deep breath before continuing with a slight grin, "As much as you may wish, I'm not obsessed with you Blondie."

And then, that little shit had to go and say another thing that caught Verona off guard. Really Jace? Sore? The girl caught her breath and had to cough to keep from choking on her own spit. "Ha. Ha." The girl retorted, shaking her head and pulling away from Jace completely. "Well you have fun with that Blondie, there are some frozen peas in the freezer if you need them." She was in slight disbelief, and she seriously didn't want to believe he had slept with some random chick and... wait a second...
A memory from the dance resonated in her head, she remembered Jace leaving her to go talk to some girl. Verona had never gotten a good look of the girl, but it was the same flash of brown hair, the same general size. She was seriously so stupid, Verona mentally kicked herself for not realizing it before. She didn't want to believe it, but she knew she had no reason not to. It was clear that this girl wasn't just some random girl. It honestly hurt a little bit.

Verona stared at him for a few moments longer, slowly closed her eyes and turned away. She walked over to the window and using all the might she could muster, slid the window down so that it was nearly closed, but she couldn't quite get it closed all the way. "Well, was it worth it?" She finally inquired, looking over at him with a raised eyebrow and a calm face.

Jason held back another laugh, invisioning the old bag of frozen peas in the freezer, ready to cure whatever sore ailments of his that he had had. If you thought about it, they weren't needed, though. His Sweet Pea was already giving him the cold shoulder. /badumtsh. im sorry im tired "I'll keep that in mind, thanks." He mused, watching as she tore herself away from him - walking to the window and slamming it shut. Or trying too, anyways. Oh, yeah. She was pissed off.
"You know what I think?" Jason mused, taking a few steps closer towards her, fiddling with his bow carelessly in one hand. "I think you like me a little bit more than you'd want to admit." He shrugged.

His gaze matched hers as she turned to face him. Was it worth it? To buy a girl some coffee and sleep on the floor for her for the night, but then have his Queen believe he'd slept with her instead? Now that he had the moment to think about it, he wanted to win - badly, but not like this. It was amusing, but left an uncomfortable feeling behind. He wasn't sure why he felt bad. He shouldn't, right? Jace literally wasn't doing a thing. "Can't say." He answered earnestly.