Sitting In Traffic

Chapter 8- New Places and New Faces

Riley's nerves ate at her the entire next day. She had practiced non-stop after she dropped Alex back off at her apartment, and decided not to even look at the sheet music the rest of the day. She was rushing around Arthur's house nearly an hour before the event with him standing in the kitchen watching Riley's every step.

"The clocks ticking" Arthur said, making Riley's heart drop when it rang through her head in Noah's voice.

"I know it is" She said, grabbing her phone and keys off the counter. "How do I look?" Riley asked him, feeling his hand in hers, getting her to do a small spin so he could look at her entirely.

"Pretty as always" He's said, giving her a small kiss before walking her outside to the car.

Arthur opened the Ferrari's door for her as the sun shined down on the both of them. Riley stole a long kiss before getting in the car, not wanting to leave him when things finally went back to normal between the two of them. He leaned in, pressing harder before Riley pulled away with a smile forming across her face.

"What time will you be back?" He asked, keeping the door open when Riley got situated, moving the seat back to where she likes it.

"Around midnight I believe" She told him, "Maybe sooner I'm not sure how long it'll run to"

"But you don't have to stay for the full thing correct?" Arthur asked, listening to the cars engine as it turned on.

"No but I was invited to," She said, "I'll stay for the majority and then head out"

"Okay" He said, letting go of the door when Riley grabbed the handle, "Good luck"

Riley closed the door, are started heading off. She had her phone reading off the directions through the cars speakers as she drove down the streets of Monaco excitedly. Riley had a small pit in her stomach that she had been trying to ignore the whole car ride there. She couldn't figure out if it were nerves, or something else bothering her. But she tried not to pay it any attention.

She got stuck in traffic on her way there, which made her relieved leaving the house early. Riley pulled into a large buildings lot, parking in front of the valet stand. She gave the man her keys in return for a small ticket to get her car back at the end of the night.

Riley headed up a row of steps towards the buildings doors. She was greeted by a young lady, who couldn't have been older than 16 with a clipboard in hand.

"Can I get your name?" She asked Riley before letting her in.

"Riley Stowan" She told her, "I'm the pianist"

Riley waited for her to check her name off before walking inside. She spotted Toto fairly easy, he was standing next to the stage with someone who was the same height as him. He had hair that was just above shoulder length and was wearing a tux. Riley wasn't sure if she should've walked over to them now, but she didn't have another option.

Toto saw her coming, and made her presence known quickly.

"Perfect timing Miss Stowan" He said clapping his hands together, "Nicolas was about to do a short round of rehearsal and then you're next"

"Great" Riley nodded with a smile, assuming the guy stood next to her was in fact Nicolas.

"I'll leave you guys to it," Toto said, "And when you're done, Susie had you seated next to Lewis" He told Riley walking off to find something to do.

"How did you end up so lucky" Nicolas said with a very thick Australian accent. "I got seated next to someone completely random and you get 7 time world champion, well it should be 8"