Symphony

Chapter Twenty-four

Al was happy. It was the happiest he'd ever been in his whole life. It had been about a week since he and Leo had shared their kiss, and they had shared many more over the course of the past couple of days. Al could not describe the feeling that was attached to the action of locking lips with Leo. It made his heart swell, and his mind fog with happiness and lust.

Esterphina had even noticed that her brother was happier and brighter. His music was also softer. She never asked Al anything about it, however.

He pianist was presently in the practice room with master Rutherford. Leonardo wasn't with them today. He had to take the orchestra members through an all-day practice for an upcoming event.

Al was practicing on his own, testing out strings of keys pressed in succession with varying strength. Mater Rutherford hummed from the other end of the room and was probably sitting behind his desk sorting out documents or reading a magazine. It was late noon, and the cool weather coupled with the sound of tweeting birds on the tree behind the room's window gave the place a nice atmosphere.

"Alejandro," Master Rutherford called, making Al pause playing the piano, leaving his fingers in an odd standby over the keys.

"Yes?" he answered, turning his head towards the master's voice. He knew it had to be something important judging from Mr. Rutherford's tone and the way he used his full name.

"I have something to talk to you about," the master said in response as the sound of turning paper dotted the sentence he'd left on standby. "It's about an orchestra — a well-known one based in France," the master added, making Al's brows bend in a small frown.

"An orchestra?" Al said as if asking the master to confirm. Master Rutherford hummed in response.

"A scout saw you perform with Kenneth at the contest the other day. It took them a while to find any contact information, but they were eventually able to reach out to me," the master explained, making Al nod to himself.

"Oh," the pianist said in a soft voice. Al wasn't sure why he wasn't excited and breaking down in tears of both relief and happiness. This was what he'd wanted — to be part of an orchestra, wasn't it? If so, he wasn't sure why he felt so empty — so lost and confused.

"They want you to come for a personal audition. Like a try out in a way," the master added as the small, but the obvious feeling of dread filled Al's mind. Al now knew why he wasn't happy. He now knew why he was panicked. The news from the master reminded him of what Leo had mentioned about them probably parting from each other in the next few months. Al had been the one to tell him not to think about it too much, but here he was doing exactly that.

"Al?"

"Yes," Alejandro answered, being pulled out of his thoughts.

He heard the master sigh. "I'll send the details to your sister, how does that sound?"

"That sounds great," Al replied, making the Master hum.

"Al," Mr. Rutherford called out again after a while of silence, making Al turn his head in the direction of his voice.

"Congratulations," the master added. Al forced a small smile to form on his lips, not wanting the master to figure out that there was anything wrong. But all was doing anything but smiling on the inside.

*

"How was today? It's great to see you," Leo asked Al, holding on to the man's hand as he helped him into the hall the orchestra members were practicing in. Esterphina had brought Al over, chatting with Leo for a bit before she said her goodbyes and left.

"Fine." Leo frowned at Al's blunt response. It sounded dull and void of life — very unlike Al. He wanted to ask the pianist what was wrong, but there wasn't much time to do that since the break he'd given the orchestra members were almost up. He helped Al into a seat that was close enough for him to listen to the composition in detail, as well as far enough so that members wouldn't get distracted. Leo then headed off to continue his practice with the group that consisted mostly of first-year students.

When the practice finally came to an end, Leo dismissed the orchestra members, and they cheered, clapping before the went about packing up their instruments. Leo walked down from the hall's stage, heading over to sit on the seat beside Al's. The hall was filled with the sound of the orchestra members talking, and the sound of moving chairs that where being shuffled back into place.

After a while the hall wet quiet since most people had left, leaving Leo and Al alone in the large space that could hold a thousand plus people. When the last student left the hall with their base Leo turned to Al, reaching out for the man's hand before giving it a light squeeze. Leonardo leaned into Al, pressing a kiss to his cheek. He then pulled away, the small smile he'd had on thinning out when he noticed that Al still had the worried look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Leo eventually asked, squeezing Al's hand again. Al turned his face in the direction of Leo's voice before letting out a sigh.

"An orchestra contacted Mr. Rutherford. They want me to audition to join them," Al answered as Leo ran the base of his thumb fingers over Al's knuckles.

"That's good news, isn't it?" Leo asked, making Al sigh again. The pianist bit his bottom lip in thought, not saying anything in response for a while, which made the atmosphere grow tense with silence.

"It's an orchestra based in France."

"So? That's still good news Al," Leo responded. Al opened his mouth to say something in response, but he closed it, deciding against it. What about us? He'd wanted to ask, but he didn't want to come off as clingy or paranoid. It wasn't like they were dating, was it?

"Is that all that's been on your mind? If that's all, don't worry about it. It's a good thing..." Leo continued to speak, but his words faded into the background for Al. The man was talking, but Al had plugged his ears, refusing to listen. He was even somewhat angry. He'd told Leo not to worry about the future — about them, but here he was hoping he would be more worried.

Al was starting to think that he was the only one heavily invested in the small undefined relationship they had built in the past week.