Don't Stop The Music

- eighteen -

Esther found herself cursing, once again, how short her stride was, especially in comparison to Robin, whose long legs were easily propelling him up the hillside. She was still not entirely sure why exactly they were going up here in the first place: Robin had sprung it on her out of the blue.

She'd wanted to stay and help backstage for as long as she could – they'd progressed in leaps and bounds in the last two weeks, but there were still two or three costumes to be made and one of the set pieces had broken off in the last few days, currently held together with duct tape. Eli was exhausted, the dark circles under her eyes betraying how much she'd been working to get them this far, and since Esther and Robin had finished their set the night before, after pulling a spectacular all-nighter at his place, she figured the least they could do was stay and help for one more night.

But Robin was insistent, and the secretiveness in his face, coupled with the look of someone who is slightly too pleased with themselves, made her curious. So when the school bell rang, the two of them had set off, heading towards Robin's house.

Now they were halfway up the hill right at the edge of the city, slightly west of the roads where Robin and CC's houses were. There were no houses in this area; just long fields drowned in skinny grass and wildflowers, edged gold with the dying light of the sun.

Robin reached the top of the hill first and waited, hair slanting across his face in the breeze, until Esther struggled up beside him. The tiredness from last night hadn't hit her yet; she figured she might have drunk enough energy drinks to keep it off until she got home.

"We're here!" Robin said, shrugging his backpack off his shoulders and stretching his arms above his head.

"This place is amazing," Esther said, still panting a little. The sunset seared the sky a brilliant pink-red, bright and beautiful at the horizon and feathering out into softer, deeper blues and purple further up. Below them was the city, sprawled out beneath them like a playground of lights, miniature and delicate.

"It's my favourite place in the city," Robin said.

"I can see why," Esther nodded. She'd never been up here before – it was too far out from her house and not en route to anywhere. She wanted to bring her piano and laptop here and compose music in the light of the stars and the city, drenched in the night.

"Anyway, d'you wanna know why I brought you up here?"

"Still trying to figure out, but it's leaning towards some kind of creepy cult ritual," Esther deadpanned.

He grinned, and pulled open his backpack, making a show of rummaging around inside it before pulling out a tablecloth, unfurling it over the grass with an overzealous wave of his arms. Following it was a bottle of sparkling grape juice, a baguette cut into thick slices, strawberries, grapes, a box of mince pies, a packet of malteasers, and, to top it all off, a Tupperware box filled with homemade cupcakes.

"Frankie made the cupcakes," Robin said, catching her staring.

Esther was stunned. "You were carrying that around in your bag all day?"

"My shoulders are killing me," Robin admitted, laying everything out over the tablecloth.

"I don't believe it. What's all this for?"

"I wanted to do something, to celebrate. Come on, sit down."

Esther shook her head, still marvelling, and sat down cross-legged to him as he poured the juice into two glasses and handed one to her. He tapped the rim of his against it, letting the tinny clink resound into the silence. "To us, and the set that will definitely blow minds at the show tomorrow."