"I really enjoyed dinner," said Stella when Anton had deposited an almost comatose Tesla on the window seat cushions. She wondered if she could kiss him again, but decided against it. She needed to stop her heart from running away with her, and so she just smiled up at Anton, "dinner and wonderful company."<br/><br/>When Anton had said goodnight and left, she sat down at the piano and let her fingers run over the keys finding them in a Ludovico interpretation which seemed to play her heart.<br/><br/><div class="bbMediaWrapper">
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</div><br/>Tesla, blinked and stretched out, going back to sleep, letting her have her time to herself. Stella tried to analyze her feelings, how she felt about Anton was clearly not just neighborly, wasn't mere friendship. But was it right? He had endured so much, was it right of her to make herself part of his world? He had given no indication of reciprocating her feelings. Was this Harry all over again?  Harry because of whom she had moved to this city, this State? Her music became more insistent, more staccato, building into a crescendo which rolled through the rooms, making the floor vibrate before softly fading just to resume again. How did people without music manage she wondered.<br/><br/>It was only when a rap on the floor from above came that she stopped playing. "Sorry Ms. Cavannagh, she hollered, and closed the lid over the ivory keys which had allowed her to pour her feelings into sound.<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>She woke early the next morning to Tesla loving on her, purring loudly as he rubbed his big head on her. "Good morning cat," she murmured sleepily before getting up to drink a large glass of water. The dinner from the previous night still made her thirsty. She was meeting the bassoonist at noon for ice cream at the Plaza. Just a friendly get together, they had said when she agreed to go out with him. Just to go and listen to a concert in the park. Now that she had spent another evening with Anton, she was even more reluctant, but maybe it was just what she needed to stop herself from thinking about that man in the apartment below her.<br/><br/>She pictured him still in bed, maybe Lics curled up with him. Was he a boxers only guy? Smiling to herself  she shook her head to dislodge the image.<br/><br/>"If he likes me, he knows where to find me," she said aloud to Tesla who had begun to beg for breakfast. "It's not like I live far away."