The Maestro | RusAme |

Thirty-One

After maybe a week of talking after the day that they got back together, Roderich started bothering them about going on a double-date with him and his girlfriend.

Amelia sat at her desk in the lab, shaking her head at Roderich.

"First concert of the season happens that day, I'm seeing Ivan play with the quartet. Sorry, but maybe the weekend after?"

Roderich laughed, "More like the weekend never," he sat at a desk across from hers. "If you don't want to go you can say 'no', it won't hurt my feelings."

"Aw, don't think I don't want to go." She said ruefully, feeling bad for rejecting his third request for them all to hang out. He seemed to not take it too hard, so she felt less bad about the rejection.

He waved his hand in understanding, "No hard feelings. Tell me what days you're free, then I'll arrange something."

"Sounds cool. I'll text you," she told him, the bell ringing. "Have a good rest of your day."

"You too." Roderich said, and left.

Amelia was surprised to see who was at her desk.

"Oh, hi Natalia."

"Hi Ms. Jones." She said flatly, although there was a softer look on her face.

She tilted her head, "What is it? I don't want you to be late-"

"It's okay, I just wanted to say thanks. My brother seems really happy again."

"Oh," Amelia turned red, "It's nothing... You and your family are wonderful."

Natalia smirked, "Thanks, I know. I'll see you tomorrow, have a good day." She walked out of the classroom, her younger friend Lili following behind her and giving Amelia a considerate smile. The comment really made her day...

-∆-

When Amelia made it back home, she knocked on Ivan's apartment door.

"Hey there, how was school?" He greeted as he let her in.

She laughed her pretty laugh, "It was really good. Roderich still wants us to all go out, and your sister talked to me."

"Really?" Ivan asked her incredulously. He wasn't sure she meant Natalia...

"Yes," she answered, "she approached me and she mentioned you seem well."

"That was awfully nice of her... And out of character... Is she maybe ill?" He asked jokingly.

Amelia laughed again, "Only you would know, you lived with her for the majority of your life."

"Yeah..." He trailed off, not really knowing what else to say. Though he was not great at conversation, he felt at peace when he would spend time with Amelia. Her presence alone was enough to put a genuine smile on his face.

She noticed the drop in conversation, but they were comfortable enough with each other to be able to withstand pauses in their discourses, because they were happy enough in each other's company.

She walked over to a shelf, stacked with many CDs that were exclusively classical. There was a mix of ones that were in English, and others in Russian. She'd never seen this many CDs in one place, save for maybe a music store. One stood out to her, however, that was in a bright, translucent green case and said 'CONCERTO' on the side in sharpie. She pulled it out, and looked at the front. Inside was the card from approximately six years ago, with everyone's signatures from their class.

"Haha, look what I found..." She smirked, holding up the CD. Ivan looked up from his seat at his small table, and made a small gasp.

"Oh my gosh, I still have that?" He said cynically, shaking his head, "I don't know how I didn't see it when I was putting that shelf up." He scratched his head.

Amelia sighed, "You have no idea how good you are at your job. You have it pretty easy now, right?" She asked, realizing she didn't know very much about his work. She only remembered how great he was as a musician. Everytime she heard him play, she was totally amazed.

"Not as easy as you think..." He said exasperatedly, getting up and walking towards her. He stood behind her, looking at the CD and resting his chin on her shoulder.

"What do you mean?"

He had to take a few moments to properly form an understandable response, before he told her, "I still deal with my health, and it was hard to keep up with when I was traveling..."

"Oh yeah..." She trailed off, unable to reply. She had almost forgot how he spent almost all of winter break of Junior year in a stuffy hospital room.

Ivan continued, "And there's always a constant pressure for you to be completely perfect. Despite only being a small figure in the public eye, I still feel like I have to look a certain way, or play a certain way, and speak perfect English," he took his chin off her shoulder and leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed, "Making any friends is out of the question... Everything about this makes me feel like I'm on my own.

"Even after everything, I still have a pretty awful self-esteem, to tell you the truth. I felt especially shitty when I was spending time with Yan, but now I feel a more tolerable amount of self-loathing."

"Then how the hell do you get on stage and perform?!" She asked, looking at him like he had a third eye.

"It's hard to explain, I don't really know how..." He shrugged, then rested a hand on the back of his neck.

Amelia shook her head, "Look, don't worry about what other people have to say. The only thing that matters is you and me now."

"I know," he said, "but I can't help but worry. I just want real friends that are going to treat me fair... Not the ones that want something from you or who will judge you. That's all I've had to deal with for my whole life and now that I have my dream job it still hasn't gone away," he huffed, "in fact it might be worse."

"Remember Ivan," she reminded him, "I'm not only your girlfriend. I'm your best friend, and Roderich can help you as well. He always makes sure you're alright."

He nodded, his arms uncrossing and his shoulders relaxing. "Yeah. Besides, you and Roderich were always there in school, and even when I was away back home he would email me. And although we didn't last long then, I can see you being with me for a while..."

"See? I told you, we're here! And you have a supportive family there for you as well."

He remembered his father back in Russia and how he never fully supported violin for him until he came back to visit. He couldn't help but think of how miffed he was by that experience and going back to the place where he was at his lowest point in his life. Well, one of them, at least.

"You're right, of course." He gave her one of his small, coy grins to hide what he was thinking. He was always wary of sharing anything personal with anybody at all, so he didn't continue to speak on the topic.

The young woman could only sigh, asking him jokingly, "What am I going to do with you?"

"I have no clue," he said as he gave a short exhale rather than a real laugh. "I guess I'm going to be your problem for a while. But that's alright, I'm sure you don't mind." He gave her a pat on the back, half lovingly and half sardonically.

They continued their conversation until an hour went by, close to when Gilbert had to leave again to play flute at the jazz club.

"I have to go, you're welcome to have dinner at my place tonight. Love you," she reached up on the tips of her toes to peck him on the cheek.

He flushed at the gesture as he usually does, and accepted the offer. "I'll let myself in after I take care of some stuff around here."

"Alright." She nodded, and left him alone in his flat.