The Art of Living

[21] But My Guitar...

Ellie shook her head a little when she caught herself thinking that. She had to focus on the important things, and to keep herself from thinking stuff that would mess up her mind. She lifted her camera, the one with the tele lens and took a couple of pictures of Brian. Not because it was necessary, but because she wanted to capture that moment, his beauty.

Not taking her eyes off him, she walked a bit further into the room because she wanted a different angle. But because she was so distracted by Brian, she accidentally bumped into one of the chairs that had been set up for the audience. That in turn, made the entire row of chairs move a little which startled Brian so much that he messed up the melody and stopped playing. He looked up and furrowed his eyebrows, grabbing the neck of his guitar.

"Oh crap," Ellie cursed and glanced up at Brian. "I'm really sorry, I didn't want to disturb you."

"Ellie?" He asked and stepped closer to the edge of the stage. "What are you doing here?"

Ellie ran a hand through her hair and held up her camera, slightly embarrassed. "I wanted to see how this is built up so I know where to go later and so on.. I got a little distracted by you, and.. yeah. Sorry. You're just really really good, I didn't know that. I'm.." She shook her head a little, stopping herself before she told him too much of what had really been going on in her head. He didn't need to know that. "I got distracted and bumped into the chairs. I'm sorry. Keep playing, it was really beautiful."

"You liked it?" He started to play a gentle melody again, a slight teasing smirk playing on his lips. "You're a little late."

Ellie raised her eyebrows surprised. "What? I'm not late. What are you talking about?" She didn't look away from him. Even if he was not playing the way he was before, he was captivating her attention easily.

"Well, we said we would meet at five. And now it's... past six." He looked at her, his expression unchanged, and started to play a soft melody again.

She chuckled a little at his challenging expression. What was he doing? "You said you would meet at five to set up and for the soundcheck and so on. I'm always set up and I don't need to soundcheck, so actually I'm early. Now, keep playing or you're the one who'll end up being late." Whatever he was doing, she liked it. She smiled at him, a genuine smile which only grew when she could see Brian smiling wider as well.

"Fair enough.. In that case, since you're early and you don't want me to be late, would you care to help me with something?" He was still looking her, an amused twinkle in his eyes

Ellie had started to fix the row of chairs and looked at him again. "Help you with what?" For some reason she really liked this, being alone with him, talking to him. A little teasing here and there.

Brian paused playing again and walked a little closer to the edge of the stage. His voice was a little more serious, but his expression was still the same, amused by what was going on, and at the same time happy about exactly that. "You could give me your opinion. How does it sound? Is it too loud or too quiet? Of course you have to imagine the rest of the band playing on top of that. And then, is it balanced?"

She nodded and rubbed her hands together. "Alright, I'll try my best. Go on and play."

He shook his head, making his curls dance a little. Which was rather adorable, as Ellie had to admit. "Oh no, no. You have to walk around to see how it sounds in different places. If you hear differences between the different places you have to tell me."

"Okay, sure, but you know I'm just a photographer?"

"Yes, but you're smart so you can do this. Just trust your ears." He smiled at her and started to play again, shifting his attention from Ellie to his guitar again.