"You really have to stop waiting for several hours."

Felix glanced up at Sharon. She had a disapproving look on, her hands on her hips.

"I'll do what I want with my Saturdays, thank you," Felix responded. Sharon rolled her eyes.

"You're spending your days off sitting in a cafe for several hours just because you don't want to play violin alone."

"So? Maybe that's how I want to spend it."

"No one wants to spend their Saturday like that."

"Prove it."

"Fine," Sharon grabbed the arm of a passing customer, stopping them. "Sir, would you enjoy spending several hours sitting in this cafe just so you can play an instrument for, say, an hour?"

The man looked confused, glancing between her and Felix unsurely. "Uh, no?"

Sharon let go of the man, raising an eyebrow at Felix. "See?"

Felix ignored her, smiling apologetically at the man she had grabbed, who now looked incredibly confused. After a moment of staring, he hurried off, disappearing out the cafe doors. Felix let out a groan, rubbing his eyes.

"Why did you just grab that poor guy?" Felix asked. "He had nothing to do with this."

"I needed to prove I was right."

"And you just grabbed a random person for it? Would you murder someone to prove you're right?"

Sharon shrugged. "Depends on what I'm proving."

Felix shook his head. "You're unbelievable."

"So are you. Deal with it."

Rolling his eyes, Felix turned to look out the window. No one had visited the piano all day. He was starting to lose hope that someone would actually approach the piano. Maybe he would have to look elsewhere to perform in public.

"Just go perform by yourself," Sharon said. "You'll do great."

Felix shook his head, turning to face Sharon again. "No, I won't. I'll get laughed at and booed away."

"Felix, no you won't. There's no one at this mall who would even dream of booing you away."

"I'm willing to bet there's several people. Besides, I'm not good enough to do it by myself. I need someone to cover me."

"I have never once seen you mess up. The people you play with mess up more than you do."

"I'd make a fool of myself."

"You're making a fool of yourself by not playing."

Felix shrugged. "Better to be a fool alone than in front of a crowd of people."

"You're hopeless," Sharon groaned.

Before Felix could retort, Sharon's boss yelled from the kitchen, "Get to work, Sharon! I don't pay you to chat!"

"I'm going, I'm going!" Sharon shouted back.

"Better get working, SHARON," Felix said, taking a sip of his coffee. Sharon glared, flipping him off.

"I hope you choke on that coffee."

"That's rude of you to say to a loyal customer."

"Shove it up your ass."

"Already do."

Sharon wrinkled her face in disgust. Felix laughed as she hurried off, shaking her head. He turned to the window, staring out longingly at the piano. If only someone would play it. He thought that covid would have made more people learn piano, but those people clearly didn't visit malls.

As Felix watched the piano, he heard the chair across from him scrape against the floor. He turned to see a pretty, platinum blond woman sitting in the seat. He gave her a wary look, glancing around to see if she had mistaken him for someone else.

"I'm not looking for anyone else," she said, as if reading his mind. "I sat in the correct spot."

"Do I know you?" Felix asked. She smiled.

"No, but I hope to get to know you."

Felix's eyes widened slightly in confusion. He stared at the random woman in front of him in a mixture of disbelief and confusion. She stared back, raising her eyebrow. To her, it seemed obvious what was happening. But to Felix, he had absolutely no idea what was happening.

"What do you mean?" Felix asked slowly. The woman laughed.

"You're pretty cute," she said, and suddenly it all clicked in Felix's head.

"Oh," heat rose into his face as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks?"

"You're welcome?" she said, mimicking his confusion. "Anyways, you come here often?"

"That's quite the corny line," Felix desperately wanted to get away, but had no clue how to get away without being rude. "But yeah, I mainly just wait for people to play the piano."

"You like watching people play the piano?"

"Well, I play violin, and I like playing with people."

"Aren't there better ways to do that?"

"Yeah, but I like the public setting."

"Interesting," She leaned forwards, getting uncomfortably close. "Why do you like the public setting?"

"I like seeing people enjoy my music I guess," Felix glanced around, hoping Sharon was nearby to save him. Unfortunately, she was likely somewhere in the kitchen. Even if she was there, she probably would have just watched Felix, smirking as she watched him flounder.

"That's sweet."

"Mhm."

An awkward silence fell over the table. Felix was leaning back in his seat, trying to politely and discreetly put distance between him and the mystery woman, who was leaning over the table. She was staring at him intently, a small smile on her lips.

"So, I have this party that I'm going to this weekend," she said, tracing circles into the table. "And I need a date. I figured, since you're a cute dude who seems pretty single, that maybe we could-"

"I'm gay!" Felix blurted. His eyes widened in shock at the volume with which he had delivered the line.

The woman's eyes also went wide, likely due to the randomness of the comment. She slowly leaned back, her gaze not leaving Felix. After an uncomfortable amount of silence and staring, she tilted her head.

"Really?"

Felix was unsure how to respond to that. "Yeah...?"

She hummed, nodding. "Interesting. Wasn't expecting that one."

"That I'm gay?"

"You seemed pretty straight."

Felix opened his mouth, then closed it before opening it again. "Thanks?"

She shrugged. "I guess. Sorry about the whole mess up, though."

"It's fine, you didn't know."

"Would you still be willing to be my date to the party?"

"No thank you, I'm good," Felix said politely. "I'm sure you'll find someone else."

"Hopefully," she stood up, pushing in her chair. "Have a good day. Sorry again."

Felix watched the woman walk out of the cafe, disappearing into the mall crowds. That was, by far, the weirdest experience he had ever had. Deciding not to dwell on it, Felix took another sip of his coffee, directing his attention to the piano. He refused to let his brain branch out, using every bit of willpower he had to focus solely on the piano.

For a few hours, the piano remained empty. Felix could only manage to focus on the piano for a few minutes before growing bored, pulling out his phone to scroll social media. More influencers had popped up on his feed, their glorified lives put on display. He glanced at them for a brief moment before continuing to scroll to more important things; such as funny cat videos.

As Felix continued wasting his time on his phone, he heard a piano note ring out. His head snapped up to look at the piano. A younger girl was sitting at the piano, looking to be a young adult or older teenager. She seemed to be struggling with playing, but Felix didn't care. There was someone to play music with.

Felix slapped money onto the table and grabbed his violin case. In one swift motion, he launched himself from the chair while sliding the violin case over his shoulder. He briskly walked towards the piano, attempting to look natural while hurrying.

"Hey, would it be okay if I played violin with you?" Felix asked the girl. She glanced around nervously before nodding.

Felix quickly pulled out his violin and checked his bow. Seeing everything was okay, he put the violin to his chin and looked at the girl for what they would play. Noticing her anxious expression, he took a deep breath, hoping she would know the song he was about to play.

Starting slowly, his bow glided across the strings, notes vibrating from the wooden body. They disappeared into the void of the mall, absorbed into the bodies of those passing by. Some heard Felix's music and stopped to listen. He nervously glanced at the piano player, who was staring at the keys in a panic.

Just as Felix was thinking of stopping, the girl managed to figure it out, playing chords that matched the song. He gave her a reassuring smile, to which she smiled back. Felix turned to face the crowd and forced his muscles to relax, taking the tension out of his music. Feeling the song, he closed his eyes, letting it take over.

On the back of his eyelids, he could picture the visual of the music. Beautiful streaks of pink mixing with splashes of purples. Streams of red that wavered through, followed closely by orange swarms. He was so absorbed in the music that he didn't realize when the piano player stopped playing with him.

The ambience of the mall had completely fallen away. All that was heard by Felix was the notes he was creating. All he felt was the wood of the violin against his hands and neck. The strings against his fingertips. All that existed was him and the violin until the very last note was strung.

As the final note slowly faded, Felix opened his eyes, reconnecting with reality. A huge crowd had formed around Felix, their wide eyes watching him intently. Realizing the song was over, they began to cheer, clapping and hollering.

Felix looked to the piano, expecting to see the girl. Instead, it was empty, leaving him alone. Confused, he glanced around, trying to find her. Looking around, a figure in the coffee shop caught his eye. It was Sharon, flashing Felix two thumbs up. For a moment, he didn't understand why, but as he turned back to the cheering crowd, it all clicked in his mind.

He had just played alone.