Page 10 of Finding a Melody
“Why?” There was no hiding my confusion.
“Ah, and this is why I like you, my precious naive friend.”
“I’m not naive, just not informed enough.”
“Point taken.” Toby chuckled. “My great-grandmother is from Argentina. I’m like...what third generational? I don’t know how it works or the right term. Anyway, there’s this whole crazy story about how my great-grandma got into the United States. My grandma also used to be traditional from what I heard, but she passed away when I was young. My dad, not so much. My aunt too. They pulled away from that. The most traditional thing we do is probably make our grandma’s empanadas, and I love a good barbecue with all the meats. All the meats.” Toby looked like he was about to drool. “So food. Food is super important.”
“But that girl assumed you knew Spanish and could help her?”
“Funny enough, they do like to try asking me to tutor them. I don’t understand how. I think at this point, it’s some inside joke. I probably didn’t help when I was—” He stopped talking.
“What?” I glanced over at him, noting the redness in his cheeks and how he studiously stared out the window. “You can’t leave me hanging like that.”
“It’s nothing. It was silly.”
“Okay, so what was it?”
His gaze flickered to me briefly. “There was a girl I liked. So in the hall, I sang her a song in Spanish to impress her. It’s the only song I know in Spanish though.”
I fought a smile, focusing on the road, feeling his gaze on me. He was waiting for a response, so I said the first thing that came to mind. “Did it work?”
Toby didn’t respond right away, clearing his throat. “Maybe a little too well. Now they like to ask me to teach them Spanish, not even caring that Argentinian Spanish is different from Spain Spanish.”
I laughed, trying to imagine it. Frankly, it was easy to see. Toby in the halls, circling around his crush, singing his heart out.
“Which song?”
“Aren’t you a curious one?”
I shrugged. “What song won the hearts of all the girls at our school?”
“Color Esperanza.”
I wasn’t familiar with Latin music, so it took me a moment. “Not too familiar with the song. I remember one of Mrs. Odera’s assignments sophomore year was to take a song in a different language and try to translate into English. I think that was one of the songs a student chose.”
“I remember that assignment! She set us all up for failure.”
“But she did make a good point. Language is important in songs and not all songs will translate well into another language or even be able to hold the same meaning.”
We kept talking music until I pulled into the address Seth texted me about halfway through the drive. “We’re here,” I said, leaning forward to look at the restaurant.
“Lunchtime?” Justin asked, leaning forward.
I nearly jumped at suddenly having him so close to me like that. “You’re awake?”
“Have been for a while.”
“You should have said something,” I said, turning more so I could see him.
He shrugged. “Music isn’t my thing. I had nothing to contribute, so I just listened.”
“That sounds...” Toby seemed to take a moment to find the right word. “Absolutely boring.”
“Not for me.” Justin crawled out of my car, leaving me to wonder about what he said.
“He isn’t wrong. Listening to you talk about what you love was fun.” Toby grinned big before hopping out.
I sighed and got out too, needing a moment to spot Seth and Bryan. They were waiting at the entrance already.