The food is in front of them but they do not eat. Instead, as he stares at the pink and yellow sky created by the concealment of the sun by a cloud, he tells her the story.
"My next door neighbour, since I was a little kid, was this guy named Keith. We became, basically, best friends. We both loved music and I took violin lessons while he learned to play the piano. And then, when we were thirteen--you're going to laugh--we sort of realized that we liked each other. As more then friends. You're not laughing." He looks at her only for a moment and then looks back at the clouds which are steadily consuming more of the light.
"Anyway he taught me how to play the piano and we fell in love at some point and he made me the violin for my birthday, and we wrote that part for the Chopin together because it was his favourite and he wanted me to be able to play it with him. And then two weeks after my birthday, my fifteenth, he got into an accident. Some drunk driver hit him. And I miss him so much and every time I hear or play that piece or look at or listen to a violin I think of him." He glances at her face again. He realizes he has said a lot very quickly. He cannot read the expression on her face.
"Listen, I still like girls. And I love you."
"Daniel, isn't this something you could have told me sooner?"
"There's more. After he, well--that's when I got into drugs and alcohol and stuff. And what I also did was have a lot of really bad relationships. My longest I think was a month. And the reason I didn't tell you any of this was because you were different. I didn't want to do anything to mess this up. Oh yeah, and Ashley, by the way, is Keith's older sister. And how did you end up conspiring with my brother to try to get me to play?" He needs some sort of confession from her to even things out.
"I came over in the morning," she says. "You weren't awake so I told him why I was there. And then afterwards, when you left to have breakfast, he told me about Keith. But he left out the part where you two fell in love."
"He doesn't know. Nobody did. Ashley didn't either. The violin part for the Chopin we had written was hidden in his house. I was talking to her when I went to get it and I let something slip so now she knows. I know I should have told you all of this but it's not that easy. I don't even know how I managed it just now. Are you hungry? Because I'm starving."
He takes a bite of his food, which has gone slightly cold, but he is glad he can do something with his mouth other than talk. She takes a bite as well and then puts down her sandwich.
"The only thing I want to know is that if you still love, him, so much, then how can you feel the same way about me?"
"Trust me. I do." He smiles at her. Reluctantly she smiles back at him. He pushes the plates of food away from them so that he can lean closer. She does not, like he has done so many times, turn her head. She allows him to come near. She allows him to taste her lips before she opens her mouth to let him in. Their tongues touch and their lips meet and she questions him no more.
He feels good about the fact that she knows the truth about him, about his life before he met her. One of the commandments enters his head: thou shall not lie.