Pieces of Love

Chapter 11

Emma

"Here is the Royal Festival Hall. We will be using Hall Seven for tonight's performance," Mr Smith introduced, a well-built man in his mid- thirties with a strong British accent. A giddy smile spread across my face after his statement, happy with the fact that Jacob and I are performing in the hall of my lucky number, seven. For the rest of the morning, we rehearsed, although communication was hard.

"Emma, can you move a metre behind?" I recalled Mr Smith saying but I had responded with a very confused expression. "Right, I forgot," I heard him mutter, pinching his forehead. "Please move three steps behind," he compromised. This is one of the many miscommunication problems we had. Thus, you can see why I was glad that it was lunch.

Jacob and I were meeting Rosa for lunch at one of her favourite restaurants. As we stood by the curb waiting for Rosa to turn up, my cheeks turned red at the memory of Jacob lying down with me yesterday night. Jacob noticed and he asked, "What are you thinking about, Em?"

"Nothing," I mumbled and turned away, using my hair to hide the blush in my cheeks. Seriously, I was only fourteen and I was already sleeping with guys. I hope to death that I'm not going to turn into one of those slutty girls that were so common in cliché high school movies.

"Hey guys!" Rosa hollered as she slowed her car down in front of us and rolled down the window. "Thank god," I muttered to myself, not eager to finish my unwanted conversation with Jacob right now and glad that Rosa intervened. I opened the car door and slid into the backseat, leaving the door open for Jacob to come in too.

"Let's go!" Rosa chimed in, pressing on the gas and racing through the streets on a very fast pace might I add. For some reason, every jerk of the car that made Jacob bump his arm into mine made me flinch away. I know I'm probably overreacting over something as trivial as me sleeping with a best friend who just happened to be a guy, but I did not have any brothers, or siblings for that matter, and have never made friends with any boys before. So this was a first.

Jacob seemed to see that I was uncomfortable with the situation, so he shifted away from me. He turned his gaze to the window but I could still see the look of hurt on his face.

This continued during lunch. Rosa was oblivious and was chatting non-stop. I swear, she could pass off to be Sophie's older sister or something even though they had never met. Their personalities were so similar it was uncanny. After a hearty meal of the traditional British fish and chips, we went back to Rosa's house for a nap, before Rosa drove us back to Royal Festival Hall for the concert preparations.

My mum had gone out during her free time to help me buy a dress for the concert and up till now, I haven't seen it yet. But knowing mum, with her amazing fashion sense, had probably bought me something mind-blowing.

With two hours left till the doors open to the schools, I unravelled the ribbon that was tying the box containing the dress together and gasped at the deep red velvet. I ran my fingers ran through the soft fabric and I fingered it carefully, before completely lifting out of the box. I wasn't a girly girl and was always wearing jeans, sneakers and a shirt. I never wear dresses unless it is absolutely necessary.

This dress, however, looks so inviting that I just want to slip it on immediately and never change out of it. It was a knee-length dress and had ruffles covering its skirt and straps. There was an elaborate fabric rose on the belt and the dress looked absolutely stunning.

I raced to the changing rooms like my life depended on it and quickly shrugged out of my clothes into the dress. I was lucky that the concert hall was heated, if not I'll probably have frostbite due to my bare arms. I tied my hair into a half-ponytail and tripping over my red stilettos, I made my way to centre stage with my violin and bow in my hand. Jacob was already sitting at the piano, looking dashing in a navy blazer, dark blue trousers and a plain white shirt underneath. He was practising one of his solo pieces.

For our repertoire tonight, we decided on three segments: catchy pop songs, classic movie theme songs and popular classical pieces. Obviously this was the section in which Jacob played solo, for the violin isn't the most ideal instrument for twenty-first century jam. At the sound of my heels tapping on the wooden stage, Jacob stopped playing and turned around. His reaction was probably one I will keep for the books forever. His eyes widened in surprise and his jaw dropped in awe, shocked at the fact that I was wearing a proper dress for once instead of my monotone wardrobe of jeans and shirts.

"You...you look amazing, Em," he stuttered, eyes never my body. I felt vulnerable under his penetrating gaze and looked away, muttering thanks in return. I heard the tapping of shoes and felt a hand slip around my waist, pulling me to a sturdy chest, Jacob's in fact. He lowered his lips to my ear and whispered, "I can't believe we are actually doing this tonight." Squeezing my waist before letting go, he grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eye, a dazzling smile playing on his lips.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and tuned my violin, for the sake for something to do. In a few minutes, Mr Smith reappeared and we did a dress rehearsal before retreating to our dressing rooms. Jacob and I shared one and saying that we were nervous was an understatement. We could hear the loud chatter of people as they made their way to their seats. Rosa promised she would come tonight and she would record the whole thing for us.

As seven-thirty rolled in, Mr Smith called us out to the stage. As I stood up from where I was seating, Jacob engulfed me into another hug and his tantalising scent filled my nostrils. I had to refrain myself from taking a sniff of his blazer and instead returned the hug, wrapping my arms around his neck. He buried his nose into my hair before releasing his grip on me.

"Good luck Em," he said and did something that completely took me by surprise: he kissed my cheek. Jacob's soft lips lingered on my cheek for a good five seconds before he pulled away. The intimacy of that moment sent my heart into overdrive and I sent Jacob a nervous smile. Jacob grinned back, but under his smiling façade, I could tell that he was nervous also through his eyes. Without another word, he walked out of the dressing room, motioning for me to follow him.

Let's do this, I thought.