The Maestro | RusAme |

Twenty-Five

It was Friday, finally, and Roderich decided to give Ivan a call and see how he was doing, making sure to act completely oblivious and see what Ivan would have to say.

"Hello?"

Roderich could tell by his tone that Ivan was expecting him to call. "Hey, Ivan. How's it going?"

He received an unsurprising answer to his question. "Oh, I am fine."

"What happened?" Roderich asked all-knowingly.

"How do you get something bad out of 'I am fine'?" Ivan asked exasperatedly.

"Because I know you, you never talk about anything unless I bother you about it. Tell me, are you really fine?" He asked, trying to sound concerned.

Ivan gave him the real answer, sounding greatly saddened. "Well, my suspicions were justified. Gilbert told me he saw Yan cheating..."

Roderich continued to put on a show for his unfortunate friend. "Man, I'm sorry to hear that. Look, I know we're dudes, but if you want to talk I can listen. It's not like we don't have feelings."

Ivan laughed, "I wish we did not. Life would be so much easier."

"So do I, but it's all part of the human condition. Don't go cold on me, you're the only truly genuine person I know," he said honestly, then mumbled, "besides Amelia..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, I was talking to Elizabeta."

"Oookayyy... Anyway, I took everything and left and I am with my family until I can get a new place in or around town."

Roderich had a suggestion. "Well, if you don't mind living in an apartment complex, I'm pretty sure that the one by the elementary school is renting. They have some comfortable flats and the people there are nice. I know one of the kids that was in band has family there, but I can't think of who else..."

Ivan shrugged, "Maybe... What street is it on?"

"Phoenix Avenue-"

Roderich was interrupted by Ivan, who was probably choking on his own spit while realizing that Amelia lived there. He kept running into her around town, and he knew if he was going to live somewhere it would be as far away as possible from her. He recognized the light, airy feeling in his chest when they'd bump into each other; but as soon as he remembered he would never have an opportunity to find someone like her again, his heart would plummet and he would clammer up and become extremely shy. He only could hope someone like her who had just an ounce more respect for him, because he knew that he would only scare off any other girl that wasn't Amelia. Or even Yan, or just any girl that was confident or aggressive enough to approach a man like him.

"Hey, Earth to Ivan! Are you okay?!"

Ivan had managed to get so caught up in his thoughts that he completely forgot he was on the phone. He cleared his throat after his bout of coughing, and answered Roderich meekly. "I am, I just uh... I saw my sister do something weird and it surprised me?" He tried to come up with an excuse, sounding unsure. He decided he needed to cut their call short, telling him he had to leave for the store.

"Okay... Alright good luck with finding a place, for now try not to let your sister keep you hostage. See you." Roderich hung up, knowing why Ivan didn't seem to like the idea. However, it was probably going to be one of his only options, knowing how small the town was and the limited housing in the area. Roderich decided he needed to get them to hang out with each other for Ivan to warm up to Amelia.

-∆-

Amelia sat in her room after school while Gilbert obsessively cleaned their living space, practicing guitar and trying to sing along. She could feel that she was getting better, and was starting to find that her fingers were comfortable and knew where to go, and her strumming was confident, but that her voice was not very sure of where to be. Despite having listened to the song and being able to sing or play along, she found it was even more difficult to do it by herself, let alone impossible if Gilbert tried to harmonize with her.