The Maestro | RusAme |

Seven

Roderich had taken weeks to convince Amelia to join him in going to this concert. He knew she'd made a good decision when she finally gave into his pleading.

Tonight at eight, he told her. He was going to pick her up before, and they were going to be at the local performing arts center at 7:30 so they could get their seats. He said it was vital that she go. She didn't want to go because she knew it would be a classical concert with an orchestra and because he was dating someone, but eventually she caved in, agreeing to go with him.

He didn't tell her why she just had to go with him. She knew that his girlfriend didn't want to go with him, was busy or mad at him, and doesn't like classical music much either, but this seemed very suspicious.

Amelia was sitting on the couch grading papers for school for a couple of hours, then realized she needed to get ready to leave.

Being a minimalistic and functional girl, she wore her flats and a dress, with shorts underneath. As far as makeup, she would use powder for her oily skin, fill in her lighter brows, and wear a modest amount of lip color and mascara. Hair was something that didn't concern her, so she wore some clips to keep it out of her face since it always falls out when she pulls it up.

She had a bit of time to get some food with Gilbert.

"So, you said you play until 10 tomorrow?"

Gilbert nodded. He enjoyed their smalltalk, but he wished they had more in depth conversation, even if they didn't actually want a full on romantic relationship. This only led him to think of how happy she was with Ivan.

It's accurate to say her and the Russian acted like an old married couple when they were together. They were good for each other, but Amelia refused to believe that. There is only one time Gilbert can think of when he asked her about how she felt about Ivan.

She had basically told him that Ivan was too good for her and that she felt like she brought him down. So she let him go.

Gilbert felt bad, because really, Amelia had done more harm than good by dumping him. It was obvious that Ivan was hardened by this, and wasn't exactly the same afterwards.

They just continued to talk and eat until there was no more food on their plates. Into the sink the dishes went, and in the living room Amelia spent the rest of her time. Until Roderich came knocking at the door of her apartment.

"Why did I agree to this..." Amelia muttered as she approached the door. Roderich stood at the door, in a classy shirt and slacks. He pushed his glasses back up his nose, and gave a nod to Gilbert who peeked out of the small kitchen. Gil waved, and continued what he was doing.

"I'll bring her back in one piece!" Roderich joked, earning a guffaw from the kitchen.

Amelia walked out with Roderich, closing the door behind her and waving at her roommate. "I'll see you later Gil!"

-∆-

After taking a good ten minutes to park, Roderich walked into the performing arts center with Amelia on his arm. They went in and sat down near the front of the stage.

Amelia hummed in contentment. "You got some pretty decent a seats.."

Roderich gave a curt nod in return. "Yeah, I guess I did." He shrugged, but he wasn't going to tell her where he got the tickets from.

Or rather, who he got the tickets from.

They sat for fifteen minutes talking about kids in their classes. Some were weird, some were troubled, some were smart, etc. It was funny though, hearing about Natalia from Roderich. He said she was promising as an oboe player, but she liked to talk about her brother whenever someone lent an ear.

"That's funny, she rarely peeps in my class..."

Roderich explained why. "She takes all of her work seriously, but when she's in my band she lets loose.. That's what most kids tell me." He shrugged.

Amelia nodded in understanding. "Yeah, she usually gets awesome grades on all her assignments. She's a wiz, man."

"I know." Roderich noticed people being seated. "They're getting ready to play, so listen carefully." He instructed.

Amelia rolled her eyes jokingly, but tried to be respectful. She saw a particularly tall man sit down that made her double take, but a woman sat in front of her right as she was about to take a good look at him. She couldn't see him anymore.

She thought she was just imagining things, so she dismissed this.

"Who's playing tonight?" She whispered.

"The community orchestra. They always pick a random guest to play with them, so I don't know who's playing a solo after they do the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture." Roderich replied.

She shrugged. Sounded "romantic". What bull shit was this dude trying to pull? She couldn't tell what would come of this, but all she knew was that Roderich was one of two things; He was either the sneakiest and most conniving person she knew, or the worst at dating...