Jamie

Backstage

The sky was covered in deep red hues as the two of them exited the building, the cold evening air approached, causing a light shiver down Elinor's spine. Jamie noticed her wrapping her coat a little tighter around her frame, hoping to get a bit more warmed up. Unwrapping his own scarf, he put his scarf on her and adjusted it, only keeping her eyes visible.

She chuckled and elongated her neck a bit to give him more room to move. "Aren't you cold?", her voice muffled under the layers of fabric. 

"I'm okay, don't worry." He smiled at her and went around the car to unock it "It's important you won't get a cold, little one"

Elinor rolled her eyes in pretended annoyance and opened the door, dropping down onto the front passenger seat. Jamie started the car, driving out of the narrow street and reaching a more crowded and wide one. Elinor rummaged around her bag and stopping at a red light, she fetched some gloves out of it, reaching out for Jamie's hands that rested on the steering wheel.

"At least keep your hands warm, you will still need them later.", She leaned towards him, and tried to slip them onto his hands. He stilled, giving in to her touch and watched her. Both her hands were trying to draw the fabric down his one hand, what meant separating his from hers. He felt the loss of touch and stopped her, reaching for her wrist with his other hand to halt her movements.

"D- Don't" he muttered under his breath, putting the gloves aside and holding her hand instead, intertwing his fingers with hers. "This will do." a little smile formed his lips.

Elinor felt a wave of heat running through her body, not able to let out a word- not that she ever wanted to. She squeezed his hand a bit, indicating him to not let go, which he silently accepted. The lights turned green, the streets passed by, and the drive went on, not interfering the two of them in the slightest.

———

It was right before 5 pm when they arrived at Cadogan Hall. Jamie couldn't park near the entrance because of the many visitors that were already in the line, their cars filling every available parking in the area. They went through the back door that was restricted for musicians and staff only, and Jamie guided her to the holding area where the orchestra could pack out and tune their instruments, still holding her hand the entire time.

As soon as they opened the door that lead to their common room, the scent of dusty rosin was in the air and instruments were tuned everywhere, filling the room with the sound of both flat and sharp open strings.

Elinor detected Anna the moment she stepped into the room. In contrast to the all-black wardrobe of the orchestra, she wore a red silk dress that went all the way down, brushing her ankles slightly. Elinor had seen her dress at King's Cross before but it had been covered almost entirely by her coat then. 

She stood with her back to them, occupied with some last minute practicing. He fingers were agressively yet deliberately tapping on the fingerboard  whilst her bow in the contrary, was being light and agile.

"Beautiful finale of the third movement, Winter", Elinor raised her voice a bit, not too loud to not disturb any other musicians but loud enough for Anna to notice them and turning around. She quickly put her violin aside, jumped over some cases that stood in her way and got her friends, noticing what was going on between them before Elinor let go of Jamie's hand to embrace her friend in a quick hug.

"We are so sorry Anna, we just couldn't find any free parking space nearby and had to walk the last 10 minutes to get here." Elinor nestled her chin onto her shoulder in regret.

Anna chuckled, knowing quite well what got them distracted. "It's okay, you are here now after all...I see you guys got closer and get along pretty well.", she mocked, released herself from the hug and whispered into Jamie's ear: „I hope for you that you won't make anything that would hurt her in any way, unless you are desperate to feel my fists."

„do not worry, i won't,...never", Jamie gave her a reassuring smile,looking to Elinor.

Suddenly a man rushed into the agitated room, followed by a sudden silence and attentive faces. He was dressed differently than the orchestra. Beside the dominating color black, he wore a white dress shirt underneath his suit, which let him stand out a bit more. Elinor figured he must be the conductor Anna mentioned earlier, Jonathan.

„Okay listen up, the auditorium is already half-full and it's only a matter of time until everything will be full up, so speed up the tuning and get ready" He looked around and spotted Jamie standing on the other side, still wearing his coat. He walked over to him as the others were occupied with themselves again. „Thank God you are finally here. Quickly pack out your instrument and warm up." , he said, clearly stressed out. He guided a hand through his blond tresses as he turned back around, heading over to the wind players.

„Yup", Jamie said, more to himself. „I left my cello over there, i'll be right back" With that he left the two of them alone and rushed over to where he just pointed his finger at.

Elinor nodded slightly, watching after him from the back. Her thoughts wandered off and it was silent for a couple of minutes.

"You really like him, don't you?" Anna finally said "I know the way you look at him."

Elinor turned her head, surprised at her directness. But then her features softened and she smiled slightly."

"Yes, I think so."

Anna rested one hand on her shoulder in reassurement, "Well chosen, he's a good guy."

"He sure is.", Elinor agreed.

It was then when Jamie waved them over, his cello all unpacked and done. Anna and Elinor followed.

"Do we tune in 440 or 441 Hz?", He asked. "Or could you just give me an A, to align to?"

"441", she said, grabbing her violin "And I can give you an A."

She played her open string as clearly as she could, but it was just too loud for Jamie to hear it properly. He bend down, closer to the point of contact of his bow with the string and twisting his peg like mad. Elinor squatted down next to him grabbed his hand that rested on the peg and oved it aside, placing hers there instead.

"Just continue the bowing, I take care of the tuning.", Jamie a little surprised but then nodded in admiration.

A few minutes later, the cello as perfectly tuned. "Wow, didn't know you are so good at this...got perfect pitch?", Jamie asked, still stunned by what he had just witnessed.

"Indeed, but it's not a big deal actually."

"How come you have't mentioned it earlier?", he smiled, not averting his eyes from her.

"Like I said, it's nothing special.", she insisted "Perfect pitch doesn't mean I'm any better than those who actually put their heart and soul into practicing and improving their abilities. Those are way more admirable than me"

„Not for me"

Elinor felt her face redden, avoiding eye contact in the hope that he wouldn't notice.

„Oh we get it, you two are cute together.", Anna  mocked and pointed at Jonathan who raised a hand to silence the crowd „But I think it's about to begin."

Little by little it fell silent as he began to speak.
„The last few spectators are just about to be let in, then the moderator will start his opening speech right away. So get in line, we will go on stage in a moment."

„I think that means I'll have to leave you guys now.", Elinor grabbed both their hands and squeezed them „I know you guys will rock this, I'll sit in fourth line and enjoy the show 'kay?"

The two of them smiled.
"Thank you", Anna said "You don't know how much this means to me."

Elinor nodded wordlessly and made her way out of the room, going up some stairs and being the last one to enter the auditorium.
It was when she took her seat that the moderator entered the stage.

A/N: This chapter was rather tedious to write. Simply bc I just couldn't find the  favored vocabulary I was looking for to describe the situation .-. Hope you like it anyway tho :3