Pull my strings

Beautiful chords echoed down through the hallway, it rang in the girl's ears and made her heart tremble with emotion. Her footsteps followed the press of every chord only to stop at the entrance of a doorway, There was a young man sitting on the piano stool pressing away at the instrument with his eyes closed. She could hear the passion in the rhythm as if his soul was playing itself, he looked rugged as if he was just pulled out of a washing machine. Clapping filled the air. The keys abruptly stopped as his eyes shot open and he jumped up, he bowed down to her and tensed his shoulders. "Please don't tell anyone you saw me!" For a second she felt ready to say she wouldn't but her body decided not to listen, guiding itself to the piano and sitting down on the seat softly. Her fingers glazed over the keys before pressing one, she wondered what it was like to play music from this instrument. The boy behind her sat in another chair tensely, She gave him a smile. She wrote on the whiteboard nearby, 'Your secret is safe with me, I'm Ditzy.' "Liam." She felt the word along her tongue, no sound leaving her throat to which he questioned before reaching for his bag. Her hand grabbed his and she wrote, 'Leaving so soon?' She waited for a reply, Liam could feel it too but he knew instinctively that he had to leave now. Without another word she was left alone in the room, she glanced at the whiteboard. Was it her fault again? Had she accidentally scared him or made him uncomfortable? She could feel the doubt slipping into the corners of her mind before firmly shaking her head, he hadn't said anything horrible so all she knew was he had to leave. She could run after him, find out why for sure and so she did. At first, he was hard to follow and spot especially since he went towards the busiest part of the city, Ditzy almost danced between the coats as she trailed him through the crowd. The top of his head thankfully was easy to find since copper wasn't a colour usually seen. She watched him duck into a little shop, it was a little old-fashioned but shone like a new star in the sky. Violins were displayed in the front, and with a glance up she read in her head, 'Tim's Violins'. As she opened the door the scent of wood and lavender filled the space around her, the inside was a warm cosy glow with instruments of all types, mostly violins and cellos. A grey-bearded man admired the craftsmanship of a bow, his wrinkly finger sliding down the wood and horse hairs. "Hey, Tullio? You have a leak in the storage bas-" Liam stopped mid-sentence as Ditzy met his eyes, the old man turned around to face them both at the counter. "Ah, a customer!" His voice was kind, he sounded younger than he looked. She waved to them both and silence filled the air, the old man Tullio seemed to be waiting for a reply while Liam stared at her. In haste she pulled out her notebook and began writing down into it when finished she lifted it to them so they could read, she had written; 'Hi! My name is Ditzy, I'm a friend of Liam's, I hope you'll pardon my intrusion.' Tullio gave a wide grin, "My dear why didn't you say so! It's very rare that Liam brings any friends with him and such a polite young lady too." She glanced around at some of the instruments before writing and showing another response. 'Thank you kindly, sir, for your words, may I ask who created these wonderful instruments?' "Most of them are now created across the lands and delivered here however you may find some my brother and I handcrafted." Liam cleared his throat, his eyes burning intensely. He reached for her arm and excused himself and her in front of Tullio, pulling her out the back door and whisper-shouting. "What are you doing here!? Are you trying to get me in trouble!?" She scribbled quickly in her book, 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you angry or upset...I just wanted to know why you ran away and if I did anything wrong.' He sighed before rubbing his eyes, he whispered to her as he opened the door and started bringing her back inside. "Don't tell anyone. If you do, you'll regret it."