Da Capo

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Even after Stephanie got back from the British Museum and headed back to Lydia's apartment for the evening, she was still thinking about that half-hour or so she spent walking around the museum with Kyle Lancaster. She couldn't help but be surprised by how pleasant hanging out with him was - sure, he still acted a bit like a snarky asshole, but it seemed more in good humor than anything else. Walking around and chatting with him was actually pretty fun, and she honestly had a good time on what she had fully anticipated on being a fairly boring day trip to a museum.

Perhaps she could actually grow to like Kyle. It would have been nice to have another friend here in London besides Lydia... as long as she didn't accidentally hijack his masterclass again.

So after Stephanie got ready for bed that night, she finally did a little Google research on Kyle Lancaster. She realized she had really underestimated his fame in the classical music world: while the average person probably wouldn't know who he was, he was definitely a well-known name to all the music nerds of the world, particularly the women. Stephanie amused herself for a few minutes clicking through several fan blogs and Pinterest boards made by Kyle's biggest fangirls, which consisted of endless airbrushed photos and video slideshows of him.

Kyle was very handsome, Stephanie had to admit. She figured that his face was what probably contributed to his fame: good looks, a charming British accent, and incredible musical talent all wrapped up in one package. And the fact that he was only twenty-five years old probably helped too. Stephanie couldn't help but feel a bit jealous - he was a full two years younger than herself, and he was already touring around the world and teaching a masterclass! Life was so unfair sometimes, and it was no wonder people wanted to see him paired up with that Chloe Alistair woman: they were like the ultimate musical power couple.

Stephanie ended up finding a few YouTube videos of Kyle performing, and she was completely transfixed. She had never learned to play the piano, but even to her untrained eyes she could tell he was incredibly talented. One of his most viewed videos was when he performed Liszt's La Campenella at the Cité de la Musique in Paris last year. The fast-paced piece was undeniably impressive, and his fingers practically flew over the keys as he played each note perfectly.

Stephanie watched that video multiple times before finding another one, and then another and another. She lay in bed late into the night, the glow of her phone screen lighting her face as she continued to watch videos of Kyle performing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite only getting a few hours of sleep, Stephanie still got up early the next morning and headed over to the Academy with her violin, eager to get some practice in. After settling in one of the practice rooms, she immediately got into the zone as she started to practice; it was easy focusing on her sheet music when inside this practice room, which was a small windowless space with cement walls and great acoustics. Today Stephanie was practicing Beethoven - the man who composed some of the most beautiful pieces ever created, but whom she often struggled with since his music was often so complex and varying. For hours she toiled over one of his concertos, and by noon she was exhausted, though felt she had made some progress. She couldn't help but notice, with some resigned amusement, her bowstring had frayed a bit after all that practicing.

Must've been a good practice session.

Stephanie's conversation with Kyle yesterday suddenly came back to her: he had mentioned that his uncle was a luthier, and Stephanie said she had been meaning to get her bowstring rehaired while in the city. She had already planned on stopping by his uncle's music shop at some point, and now she was resolved to go today before lunch. She didn't really want to practice again with frayed pieces of horsehair hanging off her bowstring.