You realised the clothes you had been putting up were Mozart's. It made sense. The foregin language, the fancy clothes, the chest. You felt nervous for some reason. You had only met him once and it was a neutral, even somewhat positive manner. Yet you still could feel your heart beating faster, you felt your breath hitch a bit. He seemed to be speaking with your boss about something, probably about the house. You didn't know where to go. If you went out of the hallway he would see you and you'd end up doing something embarrassing, and at the same time, you couldn't stay in this room forever. You saw the servant steps across the hallway. When he wasn't looking you decided to walk over and go to the third floor, where you could wait it out until Mozart left or you had to complete another task. When he wasn't looking you walked swifty out and to the servant stairs. It made one loud creek and Mozart looked up, but luckily saw nothing. You quickly yet carefully climbed the stairs to the third level. The stairs were very steep and small, if you weren't careful you could fall down and be severely injured.You had heard stories, some that could be an outline of a horror movie, of servants in the 1800s falling down the steps and dying. It scared you, but it was just part of the job. When you reached the top you came to a clearing. There were three rooms, the one in front of you was a place where the servants slept, on the right was a reading nook, and on the left was a large closet, where extra clothes used to be held.
You went into the reading nook. It was a small room, it was a hexagon and had an eight foot ceiling. One every wall there were books. It was very dusty and the air was heavy. Very rarely did people ever go up to the third floor. From the window you could see out across the lawn and over a couple of miles. The sun was out and very bright. You opened the window because it was very hot and stuffy in the nook. As soon as you opened the window you felt a brush of mild wind in your face and it ruffled through your hair. The sun was bright in your face and it felt good. You figured you'd be productive by dusting and maybe a bit of light reading. After all, you hadn't read a good book in a while. You started off by dusting off the top of shelves and the books. After finishing some light dusting and deciding that it looked better, you pulled out a book.
It was an old, leather bound, book. It was very thick and had that distinctive old book smell that an old professor would have. You opened it up and it read "CLASSICAL MUSIC THEORY, VOL. 1" You knew nothing about music, especially classical music. You loved listening to music but that's about where your interest in music ended. You looked at the notes at the beginning, it dealt with different instruments, different composers, and theories. Just from the notes you could tell you probably couldn't pronounce most of the words in the book. After all, you were an accounting student, not a musician. You wondered that maybe you should give it to Mozart.
You thought about it for a while, but you thought that he probably knew most of this and you didn't want to make anything more awkward than it needed to be. You wondered when your boss would call you and you'd inevitably have to talk to him. You knew it was childish to try and avoid him, but you felt very shy around new people. You put the book on the table in the corner, just in case. You then went down stairs, after all, you couldn't stay in the attic forever.
You went up to your boss and asked what she wanted you to do. She told you to make dinner, for three people, and for it to be ready by 6pm, and that you, your boss, and Mozart would be dining together. You found it odd that you'd be invited but you didn't think too much about it. You went into the kitchen and began on the steak. You planned to just have steak, bread, and a cherry pie. You had been told you were a good baker and also at cooking. It also was enjoyable to you. You enjoyed domestic house work.
You started on the pie crust. You put in flour, chilled butter, cold milk, and a pinch of salt. It was by far the easiest way to make crust, in your opinion. After that you started on the bread. You planned on making garlic bread, it was a simple and fast recipe. You then turned on the oven, it was a rule of yours to always heat up the oven early. After seasoning the steak you put it in and put the cherries in the pie crust. You laid the thin layers of crust on top of the pie and put it in. You then began to knead the dough for bread. One of the things you disliked the most was the feeling of flour on your hands, but the taste of bread was always worth it.
When everything was cooked you laid the food on the table and the plates. You put out the fine china, with blue flowers and swirls on it. It was only used when your boss told you to, but you decided it'd be better just to put it out, just in case. When you looked at the clock it read 5:50 pm, ten minutes until dinner began.
You heard footsteps and turned around, almost tripping on your own two feet. It was him. He stood, stagnant. He was wearing a red jacket, and was smiling at you. You felt your stomach drop, and your heart beat almost out of your ribcage. You realised he was a handsome man. You didn't expect him to be so early, most guests at the Vaile Mansion were late to things.
"Hello, Miss L/N, I see we met again." He said.
You didn't respond, instead you just slid him his food and sat down without a word. You didn't know what to say to him. You didn't want to be rude by not replying, yet you were scared you'd just make the situation even more awkward.
"I'm sorry if I scared you, I didn't mean to." He said, looking at you.
Still you didn't respond. You were at a loss for words as if your brain was having a seizure. You just kept your head low and blushed as if you were a tomato in Texas.
"I'm sorry." You said, thinking that that was the best answer, still keeping your head down.
"What for?" He asked.
"I don't know." You said.
"Are you going to eat, you look like you could use it." He said, prompting you to hold up your head and look into his eyes.
"Uh, I don't think I will, I think it'd just be better for me to leave, and go do some more dusting." You said, already getting up.
"Oh, no! Please stay, I've been a little lonely since I arrived in Missouri." He said, excitement in his voice.
You slowly sat back down and looked at him. He could tell you were obviously nervous. You felt his eyes on you, without even having to look at him. When you took a closer look at him, you could tell he was missing a bit of his right ear and he was very pale. He had an unusual handsome persona to you.
"Please eat, you really need it." He said, looking at you.
You picked up a fork and began to eat. You were a little uncomfortable eating in front of a stranger, for some reason. You two ate in silence, Mozart somewhat aware of your shyness, but still he wanted to get to know you.
"I'm going to leave down. I have to go home. It was nice to see you again, Mr. Mozart." You said, leaving the room before he could even respond.
Mozart sat in silence. He supposed he'd just have to work a little harder at getting her to open up.
As you walked home, you felt guilty. You knew it was very rude, especially towards a guest, and especially a foreigner, to just walk out and not let him respond. You hoped he didn't take it too personally, or thought you were a bad person.
