Heart Strings

Chapter 5: Not My Cup of Tea

At ten in the morning, everyone was in the practice room with their instruments. The first rehearsal was spent by Demetri giving out the pieces for their performance and hearing the groups play four measures on their instruments. That took over an hour itself because there were multiple groups to listen to. First violinists, second violinists, flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, violas, cellos, double bases, the timpani player, French horns, trumpets, trombones, tubas, and the piano.

For the rest of the time, Demetri worked with his orchestra and made them familiar with the pieces and then they practiced one of the songs in depth, for about an hour. "Just so you know, Everett, the way I like to practice is by becoming excellent at a couple pieces at a time, so our focus isn't split all over the place. But I do encourage you to try the other pieces on your own time. There are also private instructors willing to work with all of you on these pieces if you feel the need. But you are probably familiar with most or all of these songs. Now we've done some of them in previous concerts so we'll spend less time on those," Demetri announced to Everett and everyone else. They took a half hour break at two and then practiced until five. Dinner was ready in the dining room for anyone who wanted to stay for dinner, but Hayden remembered his plans with Everett.

Hayden found the wavy haired man, "My agent will drive us whenever you're ready to go. He knows the area almost as well as I do," he said. "I'm just going to quickly change my clothes and I'll be ready. Don't leave without me." Everett's lips curled into a smile before taking off to get changed. Hayden felt his insides squirm and tingle. "What am I getting into?" He said quietly to himself. "I don't know. What are you getting into? It looks to me like you'd like to get into his pants." Chase snuck up from behind. Hayden jumped with fright. "Don't do that to me, dammit Chase!" Hayden scolded. "Sorry, it was too easy. But really, what was with the look you two shared. Is there something going on that I don't know about?" Chase nudged his friend. "No! Goodness, no! I'm just going to show him around San Clemente." Hayden felt the nervousness in his voice. Are my strange, mixed up feelings that obvious? He asked himself. Chase laughed, "Yeah, well when you're ready to tell me about it you will, now excuse me friend, I'm off to get legless somewhere." Chase pushed his glasses up his nose and began walking off. "What does that mean again? I'm sorry, you know I'm not all that familiar with your lingo," Hayden called. "On the piss, hammered, drunk, gone. If I'm lucky, I'll find a hot woman who wants to get it on," Chase called back, making a thrusting motion with his hips. "Dumbass! Just be careful!" Hayden called to him with a smirk. Chase flipped him off, "It's five o'clock somewhere," he said before walking out the door. "Yeah, it's five o' clock here," Hayden laughed to himself.

Everett returned a minute later wearing a long, black, gothic-steampunk trench coat and a tight black vest underneath, held together with metal clips. The fabric of the coat and vest were slightly patterned with dark gray designs and the coat had a silver trim. The collar on the coat was folded down and he wore slim black pants with combat boots on his lower half. His medium length dark hair complimented the trench coat perfectly. "Ready?" Everett asked, tilting his head to the side. Hayden hadn't noticed that he was staring until the man's voice broke his daze. "Y-yeah sorry it's just...I'm not used to seeing people dressed that way in such heat." Hayden's face flushed. "Is it too extravagant?" Everett walked up to Hayden and the young man's heart skipped a beat. "No, it's um, I like it. It looks awesome." Hayden smiled. Oh how adorable! He's turning red! Everett tried not to chuckle at the man in front of him, but he couldn't help it. "Come on, let's go," he said, trying to mask his amusement.

They got into the car and Jason was waiting for them. "Why, Hello there. You must be the new guy, Everett. It's nice to meet you. I'm Jason, Hayden's agent." The lively man turned in his seat to shake Everett's cool hand. "It's a pleasure," Everett brought out his natural warming charm. "Where are we going?" Jason asked the two. "Surprise us with someplace nice for dinner," Hayden said, getting into the front seat. "I like surprises," Everett murmured from behind. For some reason, those words made Hayden's spine shiver with...was it excitement? He took a deep breath to keep his emotions under control. "Hayden you must feel underdressed son," Jason joked playfully. "Oh, you don't even know," Hayden laughed, looking at his slacks and dress shirt with disgust. Everett was grinning in the backseat. They all made light conversation on the way to the surprise restaurant. Jason was asking Everett questions and telling him stories throughout the entire ride. Hayden found out that Everett grew up in New York, not far from Niagara Falls, and that he has a brother who lives in Spain with his wife. His mother committed suicide when he was fourteen and he still has a close relationship with his father. He had been playing the violin since he was eight years old. It's crazy how Jason can just get information out of people like that, Hayden thought. He admired his friendly, down to Earth agent's way with people. A stranger could feel like Jason's brother after spending five minutes with him.