A Life of Music

Chapters

The Life of a Struggling Musician
The DJ
At First Sight
The Concert
After the Show
A Day on the Town
Decisions to be made

The Life of a Struggling Musician

The Life of a Struggling Musician

It was another normal Friday night in the sprawling borough Manhattan, especially in one of the local bars, where a young woman in a grey suit with a pink bow tie and long black hair warmed up to play her set for the night.

She took a long look around the bar. All in all it wasn’t a bad looking place; definitely not the worst place she had performed at lately and it was one of the few bars in this part of city that had a stage for live performances. The room itself was rather large, with some paintings on the walls to help lighten the atmosphere, or at least at one time it did. The paintings were old and, like most everything in the bar, the colors had started to fade from most of them.

She then took a hard look at the bar itself, it needed some work. The counter was old and beat up from long years of use, and there was a slight smell of something stale in the air. The floor was old, worn, and beat up, it was made with hard wood that once shined with a lustrous glow, but now it had faded with age and was stained from many spilled beverages.

The young woman took one last look around and counted the number of customers. After a few seconds she counted eleven, her shoulders slumped. “Not near as many as I was hoping.” Octavia thought to herself as she reached up and adjusted the tuning of one of her strings.

Once she was sure that she was ready, she started into her set. She played through her first song and came to a soft meditative end. When the song came to an end she paused and waited. After a few seconds a few people in the bar clapped lethargically. She let out a heavy sigh.

“This is going to be a long night.” She thought to herself with a slump of her shoulders.

But being the professional she was, she continued to play through her set, which consisted of a wide array of songs from many different styles, while trying to stay away from the more classical music. She had long since learned that classical music didn’t go over well in places like this. What she found did work was a mixture of smooth jazz and easy listing. These may not have been her favorite styles, but she still found some joy in playing them.

Once she was done playing through her set she got up and gave a short bow, which was greeted by another round of lethargic applause. “Can one person clapping be called applause?” She thought as she picked up her prized cello and went back stage, which looked worse than the rest of place.

It was a small cramped space with barley enough room for handful of people. The room was sparsely furnished with two couches, which constricted the small room even more, and in one of the corners was a small desk with a half broken mirror above it. By far the worst part was the smell. The room had shag carpet, which had the adverse effect of trapping the smell of bands from the past that had sampled too much of the bars liquor or decided to get in a quick puff before their performance.

Octavia made a mental note to always breathe through her mouth while in this particular room. She made her way over to the couch opposite the door and opened her cello case and gingerly deposited the instrument into its proper place. Then she did the same with the bow and closed all four latches and locked the case with a small silver key, you can never be too careful.

Just as soon as she was finished she heard the door open, she quickly stood up and turned around to see the owner of the bar. He was about six foot two, and had broad shoulders. He was in his late fifties, which was made clear by the large patches of gray in his once brown hair and the deep set lines on his face. He was also a rather large man around the middle with a belly the extended several inches in front of him. He stood with his arms crossed in front of him looking down at the smaller girl in front of him wearing the same perpetual frown partially hidden by his bushy beard that reached down to his chest.

“Well here’s your pay for the night.” He said gruffly as he produced an envelope from his shirt pocket and handed it to Octavia.

Octavia gently took the envelope and opened it; she quickly flipped through the small stack of one’s and the single five dollar bill finding that it only came to twenty dollars. Octavia frowned as she looked up at the bar owner, “I thought we agreed on forty dollars a night not twenty.”

“I said I would pay you forty if you’re playing doubled the number of customers, which it hasn’t.” He replied with shrug of his shoulders. “You’re lucky I paid you at all, you barley brought in anybody.” Which wasn’t exactly fair, Octavia’s playing did bring in a few extra customers on weekdays, but he’d never tell her that.

Octavia looked down and nodded her head. There really wasn’t anything she could do about it. The bar owner had refused to sign any kind of formal contract, so all she had to go off of was word of mouth when she agreed to play here. The owner nodded his head and left through the door closing it slowly behind him.

Octavia stuffed the envelope in her pocket and turned around to pick up her instrument case. She had gotten used to this kind of treatment in recent months. It was the same song and dance everywhere she went. She picked her cello case up with ease, after many years of carrying the heavy protective case she had grown used to its weight.

She turned walked out the small room and into the main room of the bar and made her way over to the counter and took her usual seat at the end closest to the door and hunched over the bar.

“What can I get yah?” The bartender asked while he wiped down the other end of the bar. He was a very kind person in his late thirties; he was clean shaven, fit man of about average height. He had a fatherly look about him, which fit well considering he had a pair of sons back at home.

“The usual is fine Eddie.” Octavia responded with a slight smile tugging at the edge of her lips.

“You got it, one brandy with three cubes of ice, on the house of course, for your lovely playing.” Edward said with a light chuckle while he prepared the beverage. Edward laughed at his own jokes often and even more at other peoples jokes, it paid to be friendly in Edward’s line of work. When it came to his job Edward was one of the best in Manhattan, not that he would brag about it.

Octavia finally smiled in earnest as she took a slow drink of the amber colored drink. “Thanks Eddie, so did I get any tips?”

“As a matter of fact you did.” Edward said as he reached into his apron and pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it to her.

Octavia took the money and placed it in the same pocket as the envelope and smiled. “Thanks Eddie, you’re the best.” Octavia said before she took another swig of her drink

“Well that’s what they keep telling me.” Edward said with a smile. “So any luck getting some more gigs?”
Octavia sadly shook her head.

Edward nodded, “I hear the recent recession has been pretty tough on unsigned musicians.”

Octavia nodded in agreement as she downed the last of her drink. “Well I’m going to get going. Thank you very much
Eddie, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Octavia said as she got up and reached down to pick up her instrument.

“You be careful out there.” Edward said as he waved one last farewell.

Octavia nodded and pushed her way through the front door and out into the main streets of the city.

As soon as she was out on the sidewalk she changed her grip on her instrument from holding it by the handle at her side, to holding it with both hands in front of her, almost like a shield to protect her from the world around her.

Even thought it was late the streets were still filled with cars, and the sidewalks were strewn with people.

Once she had a firm grasp on her beloved cello she started walking briskly towards her apartment. It was about a fifteen minute walk at the brisk pace she was going. She made it to her apartment building with no major incidents, except for occasionally bumping into somebody and quickly apologizing.

She relaxed her tense grip on her instrument case and reached into her pocket and fumbled around trying to find her keys. Once she found them she quickly unlocked the door and went inside.

Once she was inside the apartment building she let out a pent up breath that she didn’t realize she was holding. She made her way down the main hall making sure not to make any noise knowing that most of the other residents were already asleep, or didn’t want to be disturbed.

She made it to the elevator and waited. It was a nice looking apartment building, not luxurious by any means, but it was clean and well kept.

Octavia looked up as she heard a slight ding and the doors to the elevator opened. She stepped inside and pressed the slightly faded number three and waited.

After a couple of seconds the doors closed and she felt the slight movement of the elevator rising. She taped her foot as she patiently waited for the elevator to stop on her floor, silently hoping that she wouldn’t run into anyone on the way.

The elevator made a ding and she looked up and smiled as the number on the display read three. The doors opened and she stepped out and turned down the right corridor and walked past the few doors till she came to hers. Room thirty two it read on a gold colored name plate with black lettering

She slid the key into the lock and turned the nob and walked into her apartment with a relieved smile.
It wasn’t very big but it was cozy, from the door to the window of the living room was about forty feet, with a kitchen and a few cooking necessities, a microwave, a sink, a refrigerator, and a table top range.

The walls were decorated with pictures of Octavia at different concerts and recitals over the years of her young life. Near the window was a nice looking couch and a small coffee table covered with books and neat stacks of sheet music. Across the room from the couch, was a small TV sitting on a short table with a small vase next to it, sadly sitting without any flowers in it.

Across from the kitchen was a small closet that was almost empty, and next to the couch was a door that led to Octavia’s bed room, a small ten by ten room with several more pictures placed on each wall.

Octavia walked over to the closet and stored her cello inside before closing the door. She walked across the room into the kitchen and looked around in the fridge to find something to eat. She frowned slightly as she saw how bare she had let the fridge get…again. Octavia sighed as she closed the door.

She walked over to one of the cabinets and pulled out a half empty box of cereal and a bowl. She poured some of the cereal into the bowl then put the box back. She paused looking down at the cereal and then shrugged before she grabbed a handful and popped it in her mouth.

Once that was done eating she put the bowl in the sink, and walked into her room and yawned. She pulled the money out of the envelope and dropped it into a jar on her night stand.

“I still need to make seventy dollars by Tuesday or I won’t even be able to pay my rent this month.” She thought as she frowned.

She let out another yawn and quickly got ready for bed and slipped under the sheets. She glanced over at her night stand and reached over retrieving an old picture of her and her parents at her first recital performing with them.

Her father stood on her right holding a conductor’s baton in one hand his other hand resting on his young daughters shoulder a very proud smile on his face. He was a tall, clean shaven man, with jet black hair and striking blue eyes. He was wearing a light gray suit with a pink tie.

On Octavia’s other side was her mother beaming with a matching smile, one of her hands resting on Octavia’s other shoulder, and in the other she held a violin and bow. She had a very kind face that had no blemishes or wrinkles. Her hair was the same color as her husbands, but her eyes were a dark pink. She was wearing a sports jacket that matched her husband and a matching skirt that went past her knees.

Octavia, was in the middle, and had a nervous smile on her face holding between her hands her large cello bow, wearing an almost identical outfit to what she was wearing earlier.

She looked down at the picture with a longing look in her eyes. She touched her right hand to her lips and then placed her fingers first to her fathers, then to her mother’s lips.

“Good night mom, good night dad. I…I love you, and…and I miss you.” She said out loud as tears started to flow down her face while she hugged the picture fiercely.

After a long while her tears stopped and she placed the picture back on the night stand next to the jar. She turned off the light and turned over to face out the window. She took a long deep breath before she laid her head down on her pillow and soon she drifted off into a deep sleep.

The DJ

The DJ

A few miles outside of Manhattan in the late afternoon the next day

“Yo, Andy how long till we get there?” yelled a young woman with two shades of blue hair, and stunning ruby red eyes.

She was in her mid-twenties, and she had a well-built slim body. She wore a white tank top that went half way down her stomach, and grey jeans with a tear in the right knee, and a pair of light purple sunglasses on top of her head.

“We’ll get there in a few minutes Vinyl, keeps your pants on.” Andy said with an annoyed huff as he walked into the main room of the tour bus.

He was about the same age as Vinyl, with an average build. He had blonde hair that was cut short and spiked slightly. He wore a regular white tee shirt and blue jeans.

Vinyl sighed and fell back over onto the couch she was sitting on; the tour bus was very spacious, made specifically for the comfort of traveling long distances. There were a few couches and chairs placed along the walls for people to relax in. Each wall was decorated with posters of big venues that Vinyl had recently DJ’d at.

“Hey what’s with the long face Cuss?” Andy asked as he sat down on the couch opposite of Vinyl.

Vinyl looked over at him and sat back up. “I don’t know I’m just bored, really really bored.” Vinyl said as she looked over at one of the many pictures of her posing provocatively.

“Is that really all that’s bothering you?” Andy asked, looking straight through her facade.

Vinyl eyes winded slightly and she turned her head to face him. “Am I really that obvious?”

Andy shrugged his shoulders. “Well I am your manger, and I’ve been your favorite cousin for a bit longer. So come on tell me what’s really bothering you?” He asked with a look of genuine concern.

Vinyl looked at him and nodded. “I really am bored, but I guess more than that I feel…” She paused trying to find the words. “I feel tired, and alone. I miss being a normal DJ back in Vegas.”

“What about the crowds, they’re all here for you.”

“Oh shut up, you know better than most people that that’s a load of crap! The crowd is there as long as they like you, the second I do something wrong they’ll turn on me.” Vinyl said her voice rising in volume to the point she almost came out of her seat.

Andy flinched from the rising volume in Vinyl's voice. He then unconsciously started to sit farther back in his chair slowly getting farther away.

“Sorry, I got a little carried away there.” Vinyl said as she sat back and let her heart rate slow down.

“I didn’t know you felt this way about it.”

“Yeah neither did I.” Vinyl said as she looked out one of the windows. “I guess I’m just feeling all alone out here, with no one that really cares.”

“What am I, chopped liver?” Andy said as a sly smile started to spread across his face.

Vinyl glanced back at him before reaching down and grabbing a pillow from behind her and throwing at his face.

“Yeah I guess you count for something.” She said as she resumed her position feigning innocence.

Not expecting the throw, the pillow collided with Andy’s face and stayed in place for a few seconds before falling off onto his lap. He glared at Vinyl through slitted eyes.

“I guess I just miss the feeling of having people who are here because of who I am and not what I have done.”

“Did that letter from Lyra have anything to do with this?”

Vinyl’s eyes widened in surprise and she quickly opened her mouth to deny it, but after a second thought she closed it. She knew that Andy would be able to see through the lie. “Yeah, I guess it did.”

“I thought you said you were happy that she found a new girlfriend, and they looked really happy together in that picture she sent.”

“I am, and they make a cute couple, but…I just wish it was me.” Vinyl said as she looked down, and fidgeted restlessly. “Is that selfish of me?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Andy said as he sat back and threaded his fingers together in front of his face as he tried to collect his thoughts. “You’ve been under a lot of stress with this tour; I thought that letter would do you some good.”

Vinyl nodded her head slowly in understanding.

“Don’t let it get you down. So what if Lyra wasn’t the one, there are plenty of other women out there. Who knows maybe you’ll find the right one here in Manhattan; this is the city of love after all.”

Vinyl looked up at him with a small smirk. “I think you have Manhattan confused with Paris.”

Andy smiled slightly and shrugged his shoulders. He noticed the bus was starting to slow down and he looked out the window. “Well it looks like we’re here.”

“Great, the shows not tell tomorrow night right.” Vinyl asked as she quickly got up and stretched.

“Yeah, why? Are you planning on going somewhere?”

“Yeah, I need some time to unwind. So I was going to go find a bar and have a few drinks. You got a problem with that?”

“No, not at all just be careful, and don’t wear your shades. It’s a dead giveaway of who you are.”

Vinyl nodded in agreement, took off her signature glasses, and handed them to her cousin. After that she went over to her room in the massive tour bus and opened her wardrobe and glanced through it.

After a few minutes of looking she found a white zip up hoody with blue stripes up the arms. She pulled it off the hanger and slipped it on, and looked at herself in the mirror and turned to see both sides of it. She frowned a little before she zipped the hoody up to her chest.

“Perfect.” She said to herself before she turned on her heal and made for the door. She made her way through the rest of the bus and stepped out the side door.

She stopped and took in a deep breath of the outside air. It was mid-autumn and there was a slight chill in the evening air. She loved this time of year, when the world seemed to be readying itself for the deep sleep of winter, where everything seemed to move just a little bit slower.

“A pretty stark contrast to the way things in my life usually are.” Vinyl thought to herself with a small smirk. Then she shrugged philosophically, people always seemed to want what they didn’t have, the grass being greener and all that.

She took a long, slow look at her surroundings; it was a pretty nice part of the large city, with most of the large sky scrapers off in the distance of the city proper.

Once she seemed to have her bearings she took some time to glance over the club she would be playing at for the next few days.

It was very typical of the clubs she had been playing at over the last few months. It had a very new age look to it, with its bright neon lights directing the outside walls to help draw the eye. Very few of them were on at the moment; she guessed that the rest would probably be turned on later when the club opened

Once she had a good chance to look it over she nodded her head in approval. She then glanced over at the small crew she had unloading her sound equipment. She knew that this club probably had a decent set up, but she liked to use her own equipment when she performed.

She then glanced over at Andy who had changed into a more business casual outfit, and he seemed to be having a friendly conversation with who she guessed was the club’s owner. That was one of the things she hated doing, and for some odd reason one of her cousins favorite things to do, which is one of the main reasons she hired him in the first place.

Andy had a certain way with people that Vinyl didn’t, and she was grateful to have him around for things like this. She had heard horror stories from other musicians about what could happen if you didn’t have a good manager.

She shook these thoughts from her mind as she noticed that Andy was walking over to her. “So everything still on for the show?” she asked with slight tilt of her head.

“Yeah, I got everything hashed out in the contract and the owner said he’s excited to hear you play.”

“You mean he’s excited to see how much money I’m going to bring in for him.”

Andy nodded before he grinned widely at her. “Yap that’s about the size of it. So you headed off?”

“Yeah just wanted to make sure that everything was squared away before I left.” Vinyl said before she turned on her heals and started walking away.

“You have your cellphone on you right?” Andy called after her with a slight frown.

Vinyl turned around and pulled the device out of her jeans pocket. “Yes mom, I have it right here.” She said in a mocking tone before she smiled and turned back around.

Andy shook his head before he shrugged his shoulders and turned to make sure that there weren’t any problems with unloading all the very expensive equipment.

Several minutes latter

Vinyl had walked a good twenty minutes from the club and was finally in the main part of the city, she looked at some of the nicer bars that she passed and considered making one of them her stop for the night, but each time she would pass one, she would continue on with a small shake of her head.

The last thing she wanted was for one of her crazed fans to recognize her and want to talk her ear off all night, or worse. She thought with a slight shudder. After another few bars she finally saw one that caught her attention.

It looked a lot older than most of the other ones she had passed, and it also seemed well past its prime. The paint was pealing in some places, and in others the paint had been touched up with a slightly wrong color. She took a hard look at the sign that was hung over the door slowly swinging in the wind.

“Big Pete’s Tavern.” She said out loud to herself as she took one last look at the old building. “Sounds perfect.” She said before she opened the front door. As she entered she was hit by a mixture of strange sensations, the smell of stale alcohol hung heavily in the air, mixed with the pungent smell of tobacco smoke and sweat.

As she had guessed there was a good chance that none of her fans would be here, based on the average age of the current patrons.

Aroused by the sound of the door opening some of the patrons looked up to see who the new comer was, and after the initial surprise of it not being someone they recognized as a regular they soon lost interest, none of them wanting to bother, or be bothered in some cases by the newcomer.

Once inside she took a quick look around, and after a few seconds of searching she found what she was looking for. She quickly made her way through the large room and sat down on an empty stool at the bar.

“Well howdy there stranger what can I get ya to drink.” The man behind the bar asked with a kind fatherly smile as he lifted a glass of the rack and cleaned it with his rag.

Vinyl gave the man a polite smile as she looked up from the bar. “A gin and tonic if you’ve got it.”

“Comin’ right up.” He said as he walked over and grabbed the necessary ingredients and started mixing the drink. “So what brings you to our little slice of heaven?” The man asked with a slight raise of his eyebrow.

“Oh, I was in the neighborhood and I needed to unwind a little and this seemed like a good a place as any.” Vinyl said with a shrug of her shoulders.

He nodded slowly as he placed a wedge of lime in the drink and passed it to her. “Here you are the finest G and T in all of Manhattan.”

Vinyl reached out and picked up the glass and took a sip. She was surprised to find that not only was it good it was one of the best she had ever had.

“So how’s it taste?”

“It’s good, it’s really good.” Vinyl said as she took another sip before putting the glass down. “Thank you Mr. …”

“Edward, Edward is my name, but my friends call me Eddie.” Edward said with a smile.

Vinyl nodded before she took another longer sip form the glass.

“So, what brings you here to our fair city?”

“I’m uh…I’m a musician.” Vinyl said with a slight pause as she put her half empty glass back down.

Eddie nodded his head in understanding. “I see, well it just so happens that our live music is about to start.”

Vinyl perked up a little at that bit of information. “Really, I noticed that there was a stage, but I didn’t know anyone would be performing.”

“Yap, she should be out any minute now.” Edward said as he glanced to see if she had come out on stage yet. Not seeing her he turned his attention back to the woman in front of him.

“A female musician, is she any good?” Vinyl asked as with a raised eyebrow.

“She’s the best cellist I’ve ever heard before. Oh and here she comes now.”

Vinyl turned in her seat and looked onto the stage and let out a silent gasp. The young woman that was walking out on stage with her cello held protectively in her hand was beautiful.

Vinyl was almost mesmerized by her grace as she walked to the chair that had been placed for her, and her eyes! Once Vinyl caught a glimpse of her beautiful pink eyes and she couldn’t look away.

“Quite the looker huh.” Edward said as he leaned on his elbows over the bar.

Vinyl silently nodded her head in agreement, and waited for the woman to begin to play.

After she had taken her seat and slowly made sure her instrument was in tune. She raised her bow and immediately started into a slow, quite, relaxing song.

Vinyl took in another deep breath of air as she was enveloped by the sound of the music. “Who is she?” Vinyl asked quietly as she watched the performance in complete awe.

At First Sight

At First Sight

“Her name is Octavia Philharmonica; she was the one of the top cellists in the San Francisco Harmonics Orchestra a few years back.” Edward said with a glance in Vinyl’s direction.

Vinyl slowly nodded her head and continued to watch without saying a word until Octavia had finished playing her first song. She probably would have continued staring, except that the lack of applause brought her out of her trance.

Octavia waited for only a few seconds then continued on into her next song, a slow meditative piece with an easy to follow melody.

“Wait, did you say that she was a cellist in the San Francisco Harmonics?” Vinyl said as she spun around in her seat.

Edward nodded his head once in reply.

Vinyl regarded him closely to make sure he wasn’t lying to her, once she was convinced she frowned slightly and folded her arms in front of her chest. “How did such an amazing cello player like her end up in a dump like this, no offense?” Vinyl asked realizing that she was possibly talking to the owner of the bar.

Edward smiled and chuckled slightly. “None taken, but to answer your question I don’t really know for certain. She hasn’t talked with me about it, besides it’s not my business to pry.”

Vinyl nodded her head slowly as she thought about what he had said.

“Although, I have heard a few rumors about what might have happened.” Edward said as he leaned closer to Vinyl his voice lowering as he went.

Vinyl leaned in closer and waited for him to continue.

“From what I’ve heard her parents were in some kind of accident while she was performing, and that she was so distraught when she found out what had happened, she quit the very next day.”

Vinyl nodded slowly as he looked from the bartender to the beautiful young woman playing a soft quite song.

“But as for the reason she came here to Manhattan, I don’t know, but if I had to guess it has something to do with getting as far away from her past as possible.” Edward said before he straightened up and picked up a small glass and began to wipe it off.

Vinyl nodded again and drained the last of her drink and pushed it over to Edward to fill it up again. “So how much does she make playing at a place like this?” Vinyl asked with a raised eyebrow.

Edward took the cup and started to mix another drink. “She’s pretty lucky if she makes twenty dollars a night.” He placed the finished drink in front of her and continued to wipe the glass he had earlier.

“That’s it, how is she supposed to live on that, does she make any tips?” Vinyl asked with a concerned look on her face.

“Yeah she makes tips even though it’s not very much. Maybe ten dollars on a good night, which isn’t very often, as you can tell this place isn’t exactly full.” Edward said with a small frown.

Vinyl reached into her back pocket and pulled out her wallet and pulled out two green bills. “Well then here, the twenty is for my drinks tonight and feel free to keep what’s lift from that, and the other is for her.”

Edward looked at the two bills his eyes widening a little at the sight of Mr. Franklin’s face looking back at him from the printed money. “I’m sure she’ll be happy to have this.” Edward said with his kind smile.

Vinyl returned the smile, before taking a sip of her newly filled drink. “Good, I hope that will help her out some.”

Edward nodded before placing one of the bills in the small lock box behind the counter and slid the other into one of his apron pockets. “Are you planning on sticking around and talking to her?”

Vinyl smiled and nodded her head before taking another sip. She then turned around in her seat and leaned against the bar and enjoyed the music that the beautiful woman on stage played.

After thirty more minutes passed Octavia finished playing her last song of the evening got up and bowed. She then quickly turned and went out the side exit of the stage and went into the side room. She went over to her cello case and very carefully stored her beloved instrument inside it. She turned and let out a heavy sigh. If the owner wasn’t here that meant she wasn’t getting paid tonight.

“Wonderful,” She said out loud her voice dripping with sarcasm and contempt.

Octavia turned back and grabbed her cello case before she collected herself and went out the door into the bar.

Octavia briskly walked across the floor watching each step trying her best to not make eye contact with any of the regular patrons as she walked. When she was only a few feet away from the bar she stopped suddenly, as she saw somebody in her usual seat and what was more surprising was that it was somebody she had never seen here before.

In front of her sat one of the strangest looking woman she had ever seen, but even so Octavia couldn’t help but think that the she looked attractive. Octavia closed her eyes and shook her head to clear those thoughts from her mind and sat down one chair away from the strange woman.

“Excellent job as always Octavia, can I get you anything to drink?” Edward asked with his usual smile, his voice breaking the small silence beginning to fill the room.

Octavia’s head came up suddenly and she tried to collect her thoughts before she answered. “Um…yes the usual would be fine Eddie.” She finally got out with a small sheepish smile.

“You got it, one brandy comin’ right up.” He said as he pulled a small glass from the shelf behind the bar. “So got any plans for the rest of this weekend?” Edward asked as he finished pouring the drink and expertly slid it the short distance across the bar to Octavia.

“No not really, how about you? Planning on doing something special with your family?” Octavia asked before she took a small sip of her drink.

“Yap, the wife and I are going out on a date tomorrow. I’ve been planning it for a while now, it also happens to be our ten year wedding anniversary.” Edward said with a bit of pride in his voice.

“Congratulations,” Octavia said with a kind smile before she lifted up the glass and took another sip. As she sat the glass back down she realized that she had forgotten to ask him something. “Oh did I get any tips tonight perchance?” Octavia asked not being able to hide the hopeful look on her face.

“As a matter of fact you did,” Edward said as he reached into his apron and pulled out a folded up bill and handed it to Octavia.

Octavia took the bill and unfolded it, her eyes growing as big a dinner plates as she took in the sight of Benjamin Franklin and the number one hundred printed in all four corners. She sat there staring at the piece of paper in her hands. Once she was sure it was real she looked up at Edward.

He didn’t say anything only giving a small nod in response.

Octavia looked back down at the bill before a puzzled look came over her face and she looked back up at Edward the silent question obvious on in her eyes.

Edward continued not to speak and only darted his eyes over to the side twice.

Octavia followed his eyes and once again noticed the strange woman setting just a seat away.

The woman took a slow sip of her drink before she turned slightly and seemed to notice Octavia for the first time. She sat the glass down and smiled politely, “Hi, my name is Vinyl I really enjoyed you’re playing tonight Mrs...?”

“Octavia, my name is Octavia. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Octavia said with a slight bow of her head, before she stuffed the one hundred dollar bill into her right front pocket.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Vinyl said with a nod in reply, after a few seconds Vinyl raised an eyebrow and sat back in her chair and seemed to start studying Octavia. “Do you mind if I call you Tavi for short?”

Octavia blushed slightly and looked away not being able to keep eye contact. “I…suppose that would be alright.”

“Awesome thanks Tavi.”

“You’re welcome, and thank you for the generous tip. Money has been kind of tight recently, and I’m glad you enjoyed my playing tonight.” Octavia said graciously as she was once again able to make eye contact.

“Hey don’t worry about it; we female musicians need to look out for each other.” Vinyl said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“Oh, I did not realize that you were a musician, what style of music do you play?”

Vinyl leaned back in her chair trying to find a good way to explain. “I’m a DJ, but I don’t play other peoples pre made beats, I make up my own and mix it up with whatever sounds I think go with it on the spot depending on how I feel it should sound.”

Octavia nodded slowly, “That’s a very…different style of music than I’m used to. Is it a very popular style of music nowadays?”

“Oh yeah totally, as a matter of fact I’m on tour right now playing some of the biggest clubs in the nation.” Vinyl said with a cocky smile.

“Well I would love to hear you perform sometime.”

“Actually I’m playing a show tomorrow at the Neon Plaza if you want to come by I’ll have them put you on the list of VIP’s.” Vinyl said with a large smile as she put her elbow on the bar and leaned over placing her head on her closed hand.

Octavia looked away as she seemed to think the invitation over, after a few seconds of careful deliberation she nodded. “Why not, I don’t have anything going on tomorrow, what time does the show start?”

“Awesome, I’m pretty sure it starts at seven.”

Octavia nodded before she looked up at the old worn out clock on the wall and frowned slightly. “Oh my, it’s almost midnight, and I need to get home before it gets too late. So I will see you tomorrow?”

Vinyl nodded returning the slight frown until a wide smile spread across her face. “Hey do you mind if I walk you home?”

Octavia’s face reddened slightly as the blood rushed to her face. “I…suppose that would be alright, if you have the time I wouldn’t want to be a bother.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Vinyl said as she stood up and motioned for Octavia to lead the way.

Octavia got up and nodded before she reached down and picked up her cello case and held it in front of herself. “I’ll see you next week Eddie, I hope you’re anniversary dinner goes well.” Octavia said with a slight bow in the bartenders’ direction.

“I hope so too, have fun you two.” Edward said with a large grin and a small wave of farewell.

Octavia made her way to the door of the bar and out into the chilled night air, with Vinyl following close behind.

“So how far from here do you live?” Vinyl asked as she stepped over to the side so that she could walk next to Octavia.

“It’s about a fifteen minute walk.” Octavia said as she started walking towards her apartment building.

The pair didn’t talk much during the short walk to Octavia’s place, every once and a while one of them would steal a glance at the other quickly turning away when they thought that they would be noticed.

“Well here we are.” Octavia said as the two stopped in front of her apartment building. “Thank you for walking me home.”

“Hey no problem, so I’ll see you at the show tomorrow night?”

“Yes I’ll be there.”

“Awesome, well I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Vinyl said with a big smile.

Octavia returned the smile and walked up the three steps, opened the door and maneuvered her and her instrument’s way into the building before closing the door.

Vinyl watched until Octavia was inside before she turned and started back in the direction of the club and to where she hopped the tour bus would be parked.

Octavia let out a happy sigh and started to walk down the long hall when suddenly she was shoved roughly against the wall. She let out a gasp of surprise as a man roughly grabbed her arms and held her in place.

He wasn’t a very big man only being slightly above average height and build, with a small beer gut protruding from his middle. He had short brown hair and matching eyes that had a dull light of inebriation in them. He was wearing a white stained tee shirt and ripped blue jeans.

“Hey there beautiful what you doin’ out so late?” He asked with a heavy slur, the smell of alcohol thick in his breath.

“Anthony let go of me, your drunk.” Octavia said as she tried to break free of the man that she now recognized as one of the other residences of the apartment complex.

“Hey now that’s not very nice I just want to talk to ya.” Anthony said as he held her firmly in place.

“I don’t want to talk I just want to go to bed so please let go.”

“Hmm, I like the sound of that lets get going then.” He said as he roughly started trying to pull her towards his door.

Octavia tried to struggle out of his grasp, but he was too strong for her. Her eyes started to widen as she began to panic clutching the instrument case more firmly in her hands when she heard the front door open.

“Hey jackass she said no!” Vinyl half yelled as she strode quickly across the floor to confront the man.

“Oh yeah and what are you going to do about it.” Anthony said as he turned to face Vinyl. “You’re just a...” He got out of his mouth before he was suddenly interrupted by a vicious right hook that Vinyl swung into the side of his head, connecting with a meaty smack causing him to release his firm grip as he staggered from the impact before he fell backwards in a heap onto the floor unconscious.

Octavia looked at the unconscious man stunned then turned to look at Vinyl, who was shaking her bruised hand in the air. “Well I’m defiantly going to be feeling that one tomorrow, are you OK?” Vinyl asked looking Octavia over to make sure that she wasn’t hurt in any way.

“Yes I am thank you, but I must ask where did you learn to do that?”

“Muay Thai kick boxing, it’s a workout routine that my cousin and I do in the bus every other day.” Vinyl said as she threw a few mock punches in the air.

Octavia smiled slightly at the mock show before giving Vinyl a puzzled look. “Vinyl why did you come back? I didn’t scream or anything did I?”

Vinyl blushed slightly and scratched the side of her nose nervously. “I uh…kind of forgot to ask you for your phone number.”

“Oh, I see…well uh here you go.” Octavia said as she pulled her cell phone out of her front pants pocket and handed it to Vinyl.

Vinyl took it and quickly dialed her own phone number and hit call. She reached into her own pocket and pulled out her cell phone and frowned when it didn’t ring. She took a quick look and realized she had it on silent, and for the first time noticed that she had four missed calls and eight texts from Andy. “Well he’s not going to be too happy with me when I get back.” Vinyl whispered quietly to herself.

“Is something wrong?” Octavia asked noticing the frown on Vinyl’s face.

“Huh, oh yeah everything’s fine here’s your phone back.” Vinyl said as she handed Octavia back her phone. “So I’ll still see you tomorrow right?”

Octavia took the phone back and nodded.

“Great just come to the back door around six thirty and I’ll tell security to let you in. Well then I guess I’ll see you then.” Vinyl said before turning around and walking toward the door.

“Wait what about him?” Octavia asked looking down at the fully unconscious form of Anthony.

Vinyl turned and looked down at him before she looked back up and gave a shrug. “Leave him, his drunk he won’t remember anything and I don’t think anyone will care, they’ll probably just think he passed out.” Vinyl reasoned before she turned and continued towards the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow Tavi.” Vinyl said with one last wave.

Octavia waved back as the front door closed behind Vinyl. She took one last look at Anthony and gingerly stepped over him and made her way back to her room.

Later At the Tour Bus

“Where the hell have you been!” Andy yelled when Vinyl shut the door to the tour bus behind her.

“I told you I went out for a drink.” Vinyl said defensively, “I wasn’t gone that long.”

“It’s almost one a clock in the morning!” Andy retorted loudly his worry still boiling over into anger.

“OK, look I’m sorry I got a little side tracked saving Tavi.” Vinyl said as she crossed her arms in front of herself.

“Wait saving Tavi, who’s Tavi?” Andy asked his flaring anger suddenly diffused.

Vinyl went on to tell him the events of the night and how she had met the cellist.

“So then I punched the guy in the face and I came back here.” Vinyl concluded with a tilt of her head.

Andy nodded slowly taking everything in. “Well I do suppose he did deserve it, so is this Tavi coming to the show tomorrow?”

“Yep I just told her to come to the back and I’d have security let her in.”

“Good, I think I might like to meet this Octavia woman, she sounds interesting.” Andy said as he stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“Hey! I call dibs! I saw her first, but I do think you’ll like her. She’s pretty cool, for a classical musician.” Vinyl said with a smile.

“Alright fine, well it’s getting late and I’m going to go hit the sack. See you in the morning, Vinyl.” Andy said before he let out a loud yawn and plodded along to his room.

“Sure thing Andy,” Vinyl said before she went to her own room and fell into bed, falling asleep only seconds after she making contact with the soft fluffy surface.

The Concert

The Concert

BEEB BEEB BEEB…

Octavia let out a loud groan as she reached over and hit the snooze button on her alarm for the third time that morning. She rolled over, trying to go back to sleep, when she was hit in the face by a stray beam of light through her window. She shut her eyes tighter trying to keep the intrusive sun out of her tired eyes, but it was no use the sun wouldn’t stop its relentless shining and after a few more seconds of trying to sleep. Octavia relented and sat up in bed. She reached up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before shaking her head hoping to help clear the fog in her mind.

She looked outside and smiled slightly at the sun shining brightly overhead. For some odd reason she could tell that this particular Sunday was going to be a good one, especially since it was her day off. After a few more seconds of sitting in bed she threw the covers off and sprang to her feat.

“Well if I’m going to have this day mostly to myself I might as well get some composing done.” Octavia said to herself out loud before she padded her way out of her bed room and into the living room.

She quickly made her way over to the couch and sat down. She looked at her cluttered coffee table and stretched her fingers in anticipation; she picked up a half-finished piece of sheet music and started writing.

Composing was one of Octavia’s favorite things to do, and even though she didn’t have much time to devote to it, on her days off she would sit for hours and write out complex sequences of notes and dream of the day that a large orchestra would play her music for all to hear.

After what felt like only an hour of writing she stopped and smiled at the neat little stack of paper that sat in front of her. She nodded her head in approval and frowned slightly at the lack of light. She looked outside and to her surprise noticed that the sun was starting to set.

At that moment she heard a slight buzzing sound and looked down at the table to see that her phone was vibrating and the front screen was illuminated in an alert. Octavia reached down and picked up her phone and read the text that was displayed on the screen.

“Hey Tavi I’m looking forward to seeing you tonight! <3 Vinyl.”

Octavia smiled slightly at the text before she looked closer at the numbers at the top of the screen saying that it was six thirty. Octavia blinked twice, slowly realizing something was wrong. Suddenly her eyes grew huge and she jumped off her couch and ran as fast as she could into her bedroom to get dressed.

Six forty-five at the Neon Plaza

Octavia took a brief moment to look at the large club with a puzzled look on her face. She had never been to this side of town before, let alone this particular club. She looked around at all the bright lights flashing different colors trying to garner the attention of potential customers, which while she thought the place was gaudy at best, she had to admit there was a rather large crowd gathered at the front entrance trying to gain entry.

Once Octavia had become slightly more familiar with her surroundings she made her way towards the back of the building, trying her best not to bump into anyone along the way. Behind the building she was surprised to see two large men with black shirts that had white letters that said Security and dark sunglasses standing in front of a large door. After looking at them for a minute she timidly walked toward the two of them.

“Hey lady what do you want?” One of the two large men said in a commanding voice that made Octavia jump slightly.

“Um… well I was told to come back here and that someone would let me in.” Octavia said with a tone of uncertainty.

“Yeah right, get lost if you want in your going to have to go in the front like everybody el..."

“Hey Tavi I’m glad you could make it,” Said a voice from behind the guards. The two men turned and looked before they quickly moved out of the way to reveal Vinyl wearing her usual get up walking out quickly between the two of them. “These two weren’t giving you any trouble were they?” Vinyl asked before giving the two guards an icy glare.

Octavia let out a sigh of relief before shaking her head in response.

Vinyl turned back to Octavia and smiled warmly. “Good glad to hear it, well come on there’s somebody I want you to meet.” Vinyl said as she started to lead Octavia into the club, taking a brief moment to shoot a cold glance at both of the guards before disappearing into the building.

The two guards watched as the doors closed before looking at each other and letting out a pent up breath of relief.

Octavia tried to take in the inside of the building as best she could, as Vinyl quickly led her to a door a little ways down the long hallway.

“Well here we are, I give you my green room of the night.” Vinyl said before she reached out and gave the door knob a slight twist and pushed it open.

Octavia took a step inside and her eyes grew large. While the room wasn’t actually green, it was a very clean white with two couches a few recliners and two nice sized coffee tables each with a bowl of fruit, a few bottles of water and some other miscellaneous items that Octavia didn’t recognize. Finally she noticed that setting in one of the recliners was a man reading a newspaper.

Andy folded down his newspaper and looked up at the two new arrivals and nodded his head in a greeting before giving them a kind smile.

“Sup Andy how are things going?” Vinyl asked as she made her way inside and plopped down on one of the soft couches.

“Well I got the stage all set up how you want it, the lights are all working and set up how you wanted, and I took the liberty of setting your booth up how you like it.” Andy listed off as he folded the paper up properly and set it on one of the nearby tables. “By the way, I’m Andy Vinyl’s cousin and manger. Please excuse my client for being rude and please come in and make yourself comfortable.” Andy said as he made a motion with his hand bidding Octavia to come in.

Octavia nodded and stepped inside before softly closing the door.

“And please excuse my manager for being a know-it-all prick.” Vinyl said as she stretched out on the couch and laid her head down on her hands.

Octavia blushed slightly and sat down in the other recliner. “I’m Octavia it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“So you’re the famous Tavi that Vinyl has told me so much about.” Andy said before a sly grin came across his face. “She’s pretty and polite; I think you could learn a thing or two from her Vinyl.”

Vinyl scowled at Andy, which he only returned with a smile. “Yeah, like I said, Andy is a complete know-it-all prick.” Vinyl said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and turned away.

Andy shook his head and glanced over at Octavia. “So, miss Octavia why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself.”

Octavia blinked in surprise from suddenly being included and gently reached up and scratched her chin in thought. “Well there really isn’t much to tell. I play cello at a local bar, and I compose music in my spare time.”

Andy nodded his head in response. “Yes, Vinyl told me that much. What did you do before the bar gig started? Have you always live in here in New York?”

Vinyl quickly flipped over onto her stomach and intently looked at Octavia.

“Oh well no, I grew up in San Francisco. You see my father was the conductor for the San Francisco Harmonics Orchestra and my mother was the first chair violinist.” Octavia explained with a slight reminiscent smile.

“So you’ve spent your whole life around music?” Vinyl asked with a as she propped herself up on a small pillow.

“Well yes I suppose I have. My mother taught me how to play all of the string instruments, violin, viola, bass and cello when I was very young. But after I learned to play all of them I fell in love with the cello, its meditative sounds, and the way it moves the soul.”

“But didn’t your mother want you to play the violin like her?” Vinyl asked with a tilt of her head.

“At first yes, but after a while she decided to let me choose my own instrument. I practiced six to eight hours a day after school and I loved every second of it.” Octavia said with a happy sigh.

“Wow eight hours a day. No wonder you’re so good Tavi.” Vinyl replied with a big grin.

Octavia returned the smile and blushed slightly at the compliment. “As a matter of fact at the age of fifteen I auditioned and became the youngest member of the Orchestra my parents were in.”

“Oh my, a member of the San Francisco Harmonics Orchestra at fifteen, that has to be some kind of record.” Andy said with a raised eyebrow and a thoughtful smile on his lips.

Octavia nodded her head in reply. “Yes it was, and those were the three happiest and most stressful years of my life. Until the accident…” Octavia suddenly trailed off and looked down at her folded hands in her lap, her happy expression suddenly changed into a mixture of grief and pain.

Vinyl and Andy both glanced at each other before turning back to the sad girl sitting in front of them.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Vinyl asked the question that was on both of their minds. “What happened?”

Octavia let out a heavy sigh and thought about what she should say. She had never told anyone the full story of what had happened and she wasn’t even sure why she was considering telling it now, but for some reason she felt like the time was right and that even though she had just met these two she felt like they really did care.

“It happened about a week after my eighteenth birthday. My parents were on a trip to Europe to set up a possible concert in Paris, when the taxi they were in was hit by a drunk driver. They were rushed to the hospital but there was nothing they could do, and they both died from their injuries shortly afterward.” Octavia said before she stopped as a few fresh tears fell down her face and landed on her hands.

Without missing a beat Vinyl jumped up and quickly walked over to Octavia and wrapped her arms around Octavia in a comforting hug.

Octavia tensed up at the sudden contact but once Vinyl gave her a slight squeeze Octavia let the dam break and pushed her head into Vinyl’s chest and continued to cry softly.

Vinyl gently rubbed Octavia’s shoulder and whispered comforting words into her ear to help try and calm her down.

Andy looked at the two with a pondering frown on his face piecing together all that he had just learned. On habit Andy looked down at his watch and swore to himself. He looked back up at the two girls and shrugged philosophically. “The crowd can wait, Octavia needs someone right now and I’m not getting in the way.” Andy thought to himself as he leaned back in his chair.

After a few more minutes Octavia was able to calm down and she started wiping the tears off her checks. “Thank you Vinyl, I really needed that.”

Vinyl smiled and waved her hand. “Ah it was nothing, besides what are friends for anyway.”

Octavia looked at her and blushed slightly before she smiled back.

“Not to be a buzz kill but aren’t you forgetting something Vinyl?” Andy asked from his spot tilted all the way back in his chair with his hands threaded together behind his head.

Vinyl looked at him confused for a brief moment before she caught a glimpse of the clock on the wall. “SHIT! I’ve got to go I’ll talk to you after the show Tavi.” Vinyl yelled as she ran over to the table grabbed her sun glasses and then ran out the door.

Octavia blinked in confusion as the door slammed behind the sprinting DJ.

“Sorry to cut that short, are you OK?”

“Yes I think so, but is she going to be okay? I mean in my experience it’s never a good idea to keep the audience waiting.”

“Don’t worry she’ll be fine,” Andy said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Tell me Octavia have you ever been to a dub step concert?” Andy asked while raising a questing eyebrow.

Octavia shook her head which brought about another smile from Andy. “Well then you’re in for a treat.” Andy said as he lifted himself up out of his chair and made his way over to the door.

Octavia took the hint and got up and started to follow him through the back halls of the club dodging a few stray stage hands and other workers as they made their way to their stations. Even though they looked different than what Octavia was used to, it all felt so familiar in so many ways, they continued down the halls till they came to the side of the stage.

“Alright good we haven’t missed anything yet; it looks like they’re just about to bring her out.” Andy said as he took a quick look around from the left side of the stage.

Octavia looked around and let out a small gasp as she saw how many people were in the building, the floor was packed full of people all of which had some type of glowing stick somewhere on them, and then she noticed the bar off to the side was also full of people ordering drinks and enjoying the small show that the three men behind the bar made of making their drinks.

Before she could say anything to Andy, a voice came over the sound system. “Ladies and Gentlemen are you ready!”

The crowd responded in a wordless roar of cheering.

“Well then let me introduce to you, the one, the only…DJ PON3!

The crowd once again erupted, cheering loudly as a slow, continuous thumping bass started coming through the speakers as the lights on stage started to turn on and flash in time with the beat as if from out of nowhere Vinyl seemed to appear behind her tables and started to add different sounds to the beat with her keyboards.

At first Octavia wasn’t enjoying it much but after a few minutes and after Vinyl started adding in some complex riffs into the mix. She started too really like it and she even started bobbing her head in time with the music.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK?” Andy had to yell so that Octavia could hear him over the music.

Octavia looked at him and nodded her head a wide smile spread across her face. She wasn’t sure why but she was really starting to like this style of music.

Octavia looked across the stage at Vinyl, her hair was almost glowing as she bobbed her head and pumped her fist in the air. The whole crowd mirrored her actions and cheered in loudly in excitement.

All at once Octavia found herself being caught up in the music and her heart swelling with a wonderful feeling for this woman behind it all.

Much like Vinyl had felt the night before when she was listening to Octavia in the bar, but was it just the admiration of another talented musicians work or was it something more?

Author's Note

Sorry it's taken so long I have had a lot of things come up and hopefully well be able to come out with more faster

After the Show

After the Show

“Ahhh” Vinyl let out a very content sigh as the water pouring from the shower head cascaded down her body, washing away all of the strain from her muscles after the show.

All things considered it had been a really great show. The crowed was great and happily went along with the flow that Vinyl went through great pains to orchestrate.

And best of all Tavi was there and from what Vinyl had seen every time she took a quick second to glance over at the side stage where Tavi and Andy were standing, she had seemed to be enjoying the show.

With a quick turn of her wrist the water ceased and she stepped out of the shower, grabbed a nearby towel, and started drying herself off.

On the other hand Vinyl had to hand it owner of this place; he went all out. It wasn’t every day that the clubs she played at had a full bath and shower facility for the entertainers to use after they played.

After taking some time to get dressed and looking herself over in the mirror to make sure she looked alright. She made her way out of the bathroom and down the long hallway toward the clubs green room.

When she rounded the corner she caught a glimpse of the club owner smiling and laughing jovially; quickly making his way down the hall in the other direction that she was walking, and of her cousin chuckling to himself as the door to the green room closed behind him.

Vinyl smiled and made her way over to the door and threw it open. “Hey sorry it took so long I had to take a quick shower, the sweat smell was getting to me.” She said as she made her way over to the empty seat on the nearby couch and plopped herself down.

“Yes I’m sure it was.” Octavia said with a small smile on her face as she set down the paper that she had been reading while waiting for Vinyl.

“Hey Tavi, so…did you enjoy the show?” Vinyl asked as she leaned in a bit closer, a small amount of nervousness in her voice.

Octavia leaned back in her chair and put a delicate finger to her chin in thought and let out a pondering “hmm…it wasn’t exactly the kind of music I usually listen to.”

Vinyl deflated slightly at the thought that Tavi might not have enjoyed herself.

“But I thought it was rather fun, and yes I did enjoy myself very much, thank you Vinyl.” Octavia said with a genuine slightly mirthful smile.

Vinyl’s smile brightened as Andy began to laugh loudly.

“Wow Octavia that was a good one you actually had her going there for a minute.” Andy got out just as a fluffy projectile slammed into his face.

Vinyl shot her cousin a dirty look while disparately trying to suppress the slight blush on her face. But her frown was quickly replaced by a large grin from the subtly sweet sound of Octavia’s laughter.

Andy had a matching smile on his face after recovering from the unexpected projectile. “So Vinyl, you and Octavia planning on hitting up the waffle house a few blocks down the road?”

“If Tavi is up for it.” Vinyl said as she gave Octavia a questioning glance.

Octavia once again placed a finger on her chin to think it over before giving Vinyl a smile that made her heart throb faster. “Sure why not.”

“Awesome, are you planning on joining us Andy?” Vinyl asked with a quick glance at her cousin.

“No I have some things to take care of and then I think I’ll go get a drink before turning in.” Andy said giving a dismissive wave of his hand.

“Well suit yourself; Come one Tavi lets go.” Vinyl said as she leapt up out of her seat and started making her way over to door.

Octavia quickly gathered herself up and after offering a good night to Andy made her way through the door that Vinyl was holding open for her.

Sometime later at a local waffle house

“So Vinyl I was wondering something?” Octavia asked looking up from the menu in her hand.

“Yeah what’s up Tavi?” Vinyl asked quirking an eyebrow.

“Why a waffle house of all places? I kind of figured that you would want to go to a bar or something.”

“Well yeah most people would think that, but after a concert I’m so jacked up on adrenalin that I just want to sit down in a peaceful place and unwind you know. So what better place than a 24 hour waffle house. They have good food; a relaxing atmosphere, and to top it all off no last call. So what’s not to love?” Vinyl said as she counted the reasons off on her raised hand.

Octavia’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Well when she puts it like that it makes a certain amount of sense.” She thought to herself before looking back down at the menu.

“Annddd,” Vinyl dragged out. “Who doesn’t love breakfast for dinner?”

Once again Octavia gave a small nod, having to concede to Vinyl’s seemingly flawless logic.

At that point the waitress, a nice looking middle aged woman with blonde curly hair came up to their table to take their orders.

After the waitress had jotted everything down on her notepad and started back towards the kitchen; Vinyl leaned forward and placed her elbows on the table. “Hey Tavi can I ask you something?”

“Sure Vinyl what’s on your mind?”

“Well I was just hoping that maybe we could get to know each other a little better you know?”

Octavia blinked a few times in surprise. “Um… Of course, what do you want to know?”

“Well what do you like to do for fun?” Vinyl asked resting her chin on top of her closed fists.

“Oh, well I like writing music; reading cheesy romance novels, you know that kind of thing.”

“Cheesy romance novels?” Vinyl asked with a devious grin.

Octavia let out a sigh pretty sure she knew what was coming. “Yes I like to read novels where two people find each other and fall deeply in love with one another."

“Ah, that’s really sweet.” Vinyl said with a big grin, resting her head on her right hand an almost dream like look in her eyes.

Octavia raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You’re not going to make fun of me?”

Vinyl let out a snort of laughter. “Why would I make fun of you for that? What’s wrong with liking a cute romance every once in a while?”

Octavia blinked in surprise. “I must admit I wasn’t expecting that.”

Vinyl simply shrugged her shoulders and smiled. “What can I say I’m a little quirky.”

“So what about you Vinyl, what do you like to do for fun?”

“I mostly like playing video games; watching stupid movies, dancing, and hanging out with friends whenever I can.”

“Really what kind of Video games do you play?”

“Mostly I like playing FPS’s and old school arcade games.”

“FPS’s, what are those?” Octavia asked with a slight tilt of her head in confusion.

“Ah not much of a gamer yourself I take it?”

Octavia shook her head. “I did play a few board games with my family and an arcade game from time to time.”

“Well it stands for first person shooters; most of the time you play as a solider running around and killing bad guys, and completing certain game objectives before your opponents do.”

“Well that sounds…interesting.”

Vinyl shrugged her shoulders. “It’s mostly just mindless fun to help kill time between stops.” She said with a smirk.

Octavia returned the smirk right as the waitress made her way back over to their table with their food.

As they began to eat, the two sat in a comfortable, companionable silence. Every once in a while they would steal small glances at each other but would quickly look away before they got caught. Witch inevitably would cause the other to notice the sudden movement and in return would give the other a small knowing look before returning to their meal.

“Well I must say, this may not have been what I would have chosen, but it wasn’t half bad.” Octavia said with a genuine smile at Vinyl.

“See what did I tell you? You simply can’t beat breakfast for dinner.” Vinyl said returning the smile with a confident smirk.

The pair sat and talked about the show; how the tour was going and other smaller topics that came to mind, and before they knew it an hour had passed.

“Well as wonderful as this night has been, it seems to be getting rather late.” Octavia said after she took a quick look at the clock hung over the front door to the waffle house.

“Yeah you’re right, so can I walk the fine lady home?” Vinyl asked with a slight raise of her eyebrow adopting a gentlemanly sort of ascent.

“My quite the gentlemen aren’t you.” Octavia joked with slight shake of her head. “I would be very grateful kind sir.” She said with a slight bow of her head.

Vinyl let out a loud snicker of laughter, before quickly regaining her composure and rising from her seat and bowing before her lady extending a hand towards Octavia to help her out of the booth the two had been sitting in.

Octavia blushed slightly before reaching out and taking the offered hand and sliding her way out of the booth.

“May I walk you home tonight my lady?” Vinyl asked with her now familiar trademark smirk.

Octavia simply nodded in agreement before Vinyl lead the way out of the restraint and in the direction of Octavia’s apartment.
Several minutes later

The two approached the front entrance to the large apartment building and stopped before awkwardly turning to face one another, neither being quite sure how best to say goodbye.

“So I hope that you had a good time tonight?” Vinyl asked as she halfheartedly kicked at the ground, her eyes staring at the sidewalk.

“Yes I had a wonderful time Vinyl, and thank you for listing to me about my parents.”

“Hey what are friends for?” Vinyl asked with small shrug and her usual cocky grin.

Octavia returned it with a smile and nodded her agreement.

“So uh… I guess I’ll see you later?” Vinyl asked looking up through her bangs.

“Yes oh course, I’ll see you later Vinyl.”

The two continued to stand there for a few more seconds before an idea popped into Octavia’s head, and before she could think too hard about it she leaned in and gave Vinyl a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you again Vinyl.” Octavia said before she quickly ran into the apartment complex, a slight blush on her cheeks.

Vinyl was taken aback by the sudden kiss and just stood there staring after the tall cellist long after she had disappeared from sight. Once her mind had finally processed what had happened, her blank expression was replaced by a slightly goofy grin.

Once she got her bearings she turned on her heel and started the short walk back to where the tour bus was parked, smile on her face the entire walk back.

Back at the tour bus a short walk later

Vinyl was still smiling when she opened the door to the tour bus and made her way inside skipping up the few steps.

She took a quick look around and noting that all the lights were turned off she guessed that Andy was probably already in bed.

So as quietly as possible, she tiptoed her way to her room and slowly opened the door before slipping inside.

Once inside she changed into her pajamas and fell over backwards into her bed. She let out a content sigh before drifting off into a deep, restful sleep.

A Day on the Town

A Day on the Town

The next morning

Vinyl woke up the next day feeling refreshed. She sat up stretching her arms above her head and let out a loud yawn. After a bit more stretching she got up out of bed and made her way over to the door and threw it open.

Andy was sitting in his usual spot in the living area of the tour bus, eating a piece of toast while watching the news on his phone.

“Good morning Vinyl did you sleep well?” Andy asked without looking up.

“Yeah, great actually,” Vinyl said as she quickly walked past him and made her way over to the small kitchenette and put a slice of bread in the toaster.

“How did your date with Octavia go last night?” Andy asked with a mischievous smile on his face, as he glanced up from his phone.

“It went pretty great actually.” Vinyl said leaning against the counter top. “We mostly just talked about stupid stuff and hung out. Although she did give me a kiss on the cheek after I dropped her off at her apartment.”

“Ooh is that right. Well it sounds like it did go pretty well then.”

Vinyl smiled and nodded her head in agreement before snatching the toast out of the toaster and took a big bite as she flopped down in her usual spot on the couch.

“I still have no idea how you eat your toast dry like that.” Andy said with an exasperated shake of his head.

Vinyl just shrugged her shoulders and started to chew slowly and made mocking sounds of pure bliss. This elected Andy to give her a rude jester before looking back down at his phone. Vinyl just continued to chew away, a smile of triumph on her face.

After a few more minutes of silence Andy put his phone away and leaned back in his chair. “So no shows for the next few days, what are you planning on doing with your down time?”

“I was planning on hanging out with Tavi if she’s free.” Vinyl responded popping the very last piece of her toast in her mouth.

Andy nodded his head slowly in acknowledgment, though a slight frown had creased his brow. “Well then if you’ll excuse me I’m going to take care of some business in town.”

Vinyl waved a farewell already mostly ignoring her cousin too busy typing out a text to Octavia.
Octavia’s apartment

Octavia’s was sitting on her couch casually flipping through the large stack of sheet music seeing if there were any that she might need to brush up on during her down time; when her phone started buzzing.

Octavia glanced over and snatched her phone off the table already fairly sure who the text would be from.

“Hey Tavi are you free to hangout today?”

Octavia smiled, she was right it was a text from Vinyl.

“I suppose I could find some time in my schedule for you.”

After a few seconds of waiting her phone buzzed again with another text from Vinyl.

“Great I’ll be there in a few minutes:)”

“Alright see soon.” Octavia sent back before jumping up from her seat to get dressed.

Out in front of Octavia’s apartment complex half an hour later

“Hey Tavi!”

Octavia turned her head and smiled seeing Vinyl marching down the sidewalk towards her, hand waving above her head to get her attention.

“Hello Vinyl.” Octavia greeted as the DJ made it up next to her.

“Wow Tavi, I knew you’d look good in jeans.” Vinyl said making a suggestive waggle of her eyebrows.

Octavia rolled her eyes and gave Vinyl a playful shove.

To be fair Octavia did look good. She was wearing slightly more casual attire then usual, her grey suit jacket had been replaced with a short sleeved button up white shirt and her usual slacks replaced with a pair of blue jeans that hugged her lower half tightly.

Vinyl took in Octavia’s new look admiringly. While she herself was wearing much the same outfit that she usually wore. What could she say, why try and fix perfection?

“So Vinyl are you planning on gawking at me all day or did you have some type of plan for today?” Octavia asked her arms folded in front of her chest and a bit of a sly smirk on her face.

“I don’t know, gawking is kind of fun.” Vinyl said with a lecherous grin.

“You are a terrible flirt you know that?” Octavia asked with another eye roll.

“Yeah I’ve been told that before.” Vinyl replied with a dismissive wave. “But to answer your earlier question, I do have a plan for us to do today.”

“Well aren’t you full of surprises.” Octavia said voice full of sarcasm. Which elected Vinyl to stick her tongue out at her. Octavia only smiled, “So I suppose you should lead the way then.”

Vinyl nodded her head in agreement and started walking down the sidewalk in the same direction she had come.

After a good ten minutes of walking Octavia decided to ask the question. “Might I ask where it is we are going?’

“Tut-tut Tavi that would be ruining the surprise.” Vinyl said with a wave of her finger in the air.

Octavia sighed and shrugged her shoulders in resignation of the fact that she would just have to wait and see.

After walking a bit further, Vinyl came to a stop in front of a large blank looking building with a sign that depicted two guns firing in a cross of different colored laser beams.

Vinyl looked over at Octavia expectantly. “So…what do ya think?”

Octavia stared at the sign with her fore finger and thumb resting on her chin contemplating. “Well I never have gone laser tagging before.”

“Then this is the perfect opportunity to start.” Vinyl announced before throwing the doors open and striding inside.

Octavia watched and gave a slight shrug of her shoulders as she followed after Vinyl.
Later outside

Outside about an hour later

“Well I thought that was quite enjoyable.” Octavia said with an almost triumphant smile, her steps being followed by the slightly louder foot falls of an annoyed looking Vinyl.

“You just got lucky.” Vinyl complained as she crossed her arms in indignation.

Octavia just turned towards Vinyl her grin still on her face. Though Octavia did have to admit, Vinyl’s statement was probably an accurate one. The two had been placed on opposite teams and it just so happened that Octavia’s teammates were very helpful in giving the newbie tips on how the game worked and how to aim the rifle.

While Vinyl’s team was almost useless, being some of the most inaccurate shots Vinyl had ever seen. And to make matters worse for Vinyl, Octavia’s team consisted of mostly regulars of this establishment.

So at the end of the day, poor Vinyl really didn’t stand a chance.

After looking sourly at Octavia’s smile for a few minutes, Vinyl finally decided that this outcome was probably for the best and started smiling herself.

“What’s next on our agenda today Vinyl?” Octavia asked with a slight rise of her eyebrow.

“You’ll just have to wait and see.” Vinyl replied with a playful note in her voice.

Octavia nodded her head in acceptance and folded her hands in front of herself, following close behind Vinyl towards there next destination.

After several more minutes of walking down the busy streets of New York. The pair started to hear the faint sound of music coming from a huge two story building covered in several blown up pictures of famous musicians and many different depictions of instruments of every style of music.

“This is supposed to be the biggest music store in the city from what I’ve heard.” Vinyl said as the two stood in the parking lot.

Octavia nodded her head slowly in acknowledgment.

“Well no use standing out here when all the awesome stuff is inside right?”

Octavia shook her head a bit to clear it. “Yes of course, let’s go.”

The two made their way up to the large glass double doors and each pushed one open.

The sight inside was breathtaking. There were instruments everywhere, thousands of them lining every wall. Some of the more prestigious instruments were locked up in display cases almost more like show pieces than actual items for sell.

There were even some older instruments suspended by hooks hanging from the ceiling.

The two musicians stood in stunned silence for almost a full minute, before they turned to face one another beaming with matching smiles.

The pair walked around staring at everything like two kids in a candy store. Each taking turns to point out different items that caught their eye.

After a few minutes of mindless wondering they found themselves in the DJ section of the store.

Vinyl was glancing around hardly taking enough time to register what she was looking at before turning to look at something else.

Octavia just stood by and watched with a content smile, enjoying the sort of childlike wonderment that was evident on Vinyl’s face and in her mannerisms.

Vinyl walked around the area spending a good deal of time testing each piece of equipment she passed, frowning at the equipment she didn’t like and smiling wildly at the equipment she did like.

After almost half an hour she finally realized how boring this must be for Octavia, not knowing what most of this stuff was or what it did. So she sheepishly made her way back over and apologized profusely.

Octavia shrugged and smiled, “It’s no problem Vinyl, it just gives me an excuse to look over more things in the orchestra section.”

Vinyl nodded in agreement, and after a bit of searching they found the orchestra section on the second floor.

Now it was Octavia’s turn to look around wide eyed and Vinyl’s to watch Octavia enjoy being surrounded by the instruments she loved.

While Octavia was looking around she spotted something that caught her eye. She bent down to stare at a beautifully hand carved cello bow.

It was a deep rosy red color, with carved shapes of musical notes on the handle with an intricate pattern of swirls down the entire length of the wood. It was sitting in a hardwood case that was made of the same wood as the bow itself.

Vinyl noticing the long pause Octavia had taken; so she went over and looked down at the beautifully crafted bow in the case letting out a low whistle in appreciation.

Octavia continued to stare longing for another few minutes before letting out a defeated sigh as her shoulders slumped in resignation. After one last look she stood back up and started walking over to see something else around the room.

Vinyl watched on and frowned a bit at the sad look in Octavia’s eyes before looking back down at the bow and the price tag next to it.

“May I help you madam?” A man asked almost seeming to appear on the other side of the counter.

Vinyl was about to say no when a thought struck her. “Yeah as a matter of fact I think I’ll take that cello bow if you don’t mind.”

“Ah excellent choice madam,” the man said before unlocking the display case and retrieving the bow and its case.
“That will be…” The man was cut off by Vinyl waving a gold credit card near his face. The man blinked a few times before smiling and taking the card from Vinyl and swiping it through the nearby machine.

“Thank you for your purchase madam.” The man said after putting the case in a bag along with Vinyl’s receipt and handing it over to her.

Vinyl thanked the man and after walking around a bit trying to find Octavia, found her looking over some of the violins that were hung on the wall.

“Hey Tavi still looking?”

“Actually I’m pretty much ready to go whenever you are.” Octavia said never taking her eyes off of the violins.

Vinyl rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Well I guess I’m ready.”

Octavia nodded slowly, before finally turning and following after the blue haired DJ.

“Vinyl, what’s in the bag?”

“Hmm, oh just a little something I picked up.” Vinyl said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Octavia shrugged and followed Vinyl as she held the door open for her to step out of the store.

As they walked out from under the stores awning, they saw that the sun was begging to set and the day was coming to a close. The afternoon sky was painted in a beautiful array of colors. Shimmering in bright pinks and purples with splashes of orange and gold mixed in-between.

The pair paused and looked up in wonder at the breathtaking seen before them.

After admiring the sky for a good while Octavia looked over at Vinyl. “Well I suppose it’s getting pretty late.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Vinyl said before letting out a content sigh. “So can I walk you home?”

“Yes Vinyl, you May walk me home.”

Vinyl rolled her eyes and started heading off in the general direction of Octavia’s apartment. “Whatever miss smarty pants.”

In front of Octavia’s Apartment Building

Night was just setting in when the two made it back to Octavia’s Apartment, the street lamps were just kicking on to light their path for the last few steps.

“Thank you Vinyl for the wonderful time today.” Octavia said as she slowed to a stop.

Vinyl blushed a bit and shrugged her shoulders. “It’s no biggy, besides I should be thanking you. If not for you I would be stuck in the bus by myself or in a boring ass meeting with Andy.”

“Well thank you all the same Vinyl.” Octavia said with a soft smile and a small nod of her head.

Vinyl returned the smile and nervously scratched the back of her head, noticing the bag that she had almost forgot she was holding. “Oh hey Tavi this is for you.” Vinyl said extending the bag towards Octavia.

Octavia blinked a few time in surprise before reaching out and taking the bag from Vinyl and opening it up to see what was inside.

When she saw the long wooden box she instantly knew what was inside. Her eyes grew wide and she let out a small gasp, as she slowly reached in and withdrew the box from the bag. She reached with trembling fingers and unlatched the container opening it to reveal the beautiful hand crafted bow.

She looked up at Vinyl wide eyed, almost in a state of shock. Vinyl just returned the look with a nervous smile.

“Vinyl…I, I can’t accept this.”

“Sure you can, it’s no big deal. And I could tell that you really liked it, so I thought why not?” Vinyl said with a shrug.

Octavia stared at Vinyl for a few seconds before looking back down at the bow, tears starting to spring to her eyes. “Vinyl, I…I don’t know what to say.”

“Like I said it’s no big deal Tavi.”

Octavia sniffled a bit and nodded her head slowly. She then made up her mind and closed the case and took a few steps closer to Vinyl before lunging at her and kissing her hard on the lips.

Vinyl’s eyes grew huge at the feeling of the sudden kiss. But after only a second she closed her eyes and melted into the blissful feeling and started kissing the cellist back.

Octavia continued the kiss until the two started running low on oxygen. Only then did the two take a step back, both breathing hard.

“Thank you so very much Vinyl.” Octavia said breathlessly, face as red as a tomato.

Vinyl still panting only nodded her head in acknowledgment, matching blush on her own face.

Octavia composed herself and nodded one more time before quickly walking toward the front door.

“Hey Tavi,” Vinyl called after Octavia causing the cellist to stop and turn back. “Will you be free to hang out tomorrow?”

Octavia blinked before smiling widely and nodding her head. “Until I have to go play at the bar I’ll be free.”

“Great, then I’ll see you tomorrow.” Vinyl said with a smile, flashing Octavia a quick double thumbs up before turning to make her way back to the tour bus.

Once Vinyl thought she was far enough away, she started cheering loudly. Hooting and hollering while almost dancing down the sidewalk.

Octavia, clearly hearing the noise Vinyl was making through the screen door almost skipped happily to the elevator.

Vinyl made it back to the tour bus in record time. She was on cloud nine and nothing was going to bring her down.

She skipped up the few steps and flung the door to the bus open before stepping inside. She walked the short distance to the living area where her cousin was sitting in his usual spot a contemplative frown on his face, his elbows on his knees and his hands folded in front of his face.

“Hey Andy what’s up?” Vinyl asked with a wave as she made her way over to the small kitchen.

“Vinyl, we need to talk about you and Octavia.”

Decisions to be made

Decisions to be made

“What do you mean?” Vinyl asked with the beginnings of a worried look on her face.

Andy looked up at her trying to find the best way to say what was on his mind. After a few moments of contemplating he decided that
the direct approach might be best. “It’s great that you and Octavia are getting along so well, but in less than a week were going to be moving on to the next town on our tour. How are you and Octavia going to continue this relationship of yours?”

“I, uh…” Vinyl stammered out. To tell the truth she really hadn’t thought about what was going to happen when they moved on to their next stop on the tour.

“And on top of that we wouldn’t be coming back to New York for six months at least.” Andy said with his hands spread wide. “Are you willing to try another long distance relationship like that?”

Vinyl blinked a few times before slowly walking over to the couch and sitting down.

A thick silence hung in the air for what seemed like hours. Andy sat back silently and let Vinyl sort through her thoughts.

After what felt like an eternity, Vinyl’s head shot up. “Wait a minute, what if we had her perform with me?”

Andy blinked a few times before raising a questioning eyebrow. “Come again?”

Vinyl’s eyes lit up as she started piecing together a plan. “Yeah, she could play as my opener, or better yet what if she and I were able to play together?”

“Wait a minute there Vinyl.” Andy said as he threw his hands up trying to get Vinyl to slow down. “Would that even work? I mean your two styles of music are so different, are they even compatible?”

“I…I don’t know, but it’s worth a shot isn’t it? I mean if it did work it could be revolutionary.” Vinyl said bouncing with excitement.

Andy sat back and thought it over. After a few minutes of contemplating he realized that Vinyl had a point. If it did work it would be pretty revolutionary. “You know you might just be on to something Vinyl.”

“You really think so?” Vinyl asked a little surprised to hear Andy agree with her.

“Of course, if you two could make it work and make it entertaining. There’s no telling what could happen.” Andy said now smiling at the thought.

“So what do we do now?”

“Hmm, will you be seeing her tomorrow?” Andy asked as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Yeah I was planning on hanging out with her until she has to go play at the bar why?”

“Good, bring her by the club. I’m going to see if we can use the stage while there closed tomorrow to see if your little idea will work.”

“Alright sounds like a plan,” Vinyl said excitedly. “Is there anything else I should tell her?”

“Just make sure she has her cello, and make sure to bring you’re A game.” Andy said as he looked up from the message he was typing out.

Vinyl smiled widely and nodded her head in agreement. She could barely wait for tomorrow.

Early the next day

BEEB BEEB BEEB… “Ugh,” Octavia let out a disgusted groan as she reached over and shut off her alarm.

After a few more minutes of stretching and groaning Octavia started going through her morning routine.

In the middle of drying off after her morning shower much to her surprise she heard her phone going off. She quickly made her way over and picked it up to see who could be calling her this early in the morning.

Even more to her surprise, she saw Vinyl’s number displayed.

“Well you’re up early.” Octavia said as she put the phone up to her ear.

“Maybe a little,” Vinyl replied with a small chuckle. “Hey Tavi could you do me a big favor?”

“I suppose so Vinyl, what do you need me to do?”

“I need you to get you’re cello and some of your favorite music, and meet me at the club I played at the other day as soon as possible.”

“Uh…sure I’ll be there in about thirty minutes.”

“Awesome I’ll see you then Tavi.” With that the Vinyl hung up and Octavia stood there staring down at her phone.

“I guess I better get ready.” Octavia eventually said to herself as she made her way over to her dresser to get dressed.
Half an hour later

Octavia stood outside of the front entrance to the club with a perplexed look on her face. The club appeared to be closed as far as she could tell, there certainly wasn’t anyone inside and the lights were all off.

“Hey Tavi over here!” Vinyl yelled from the side ally, as she waved her hand over her head trying to gain the attention of the cellist.

Octavia turned from the front door and waved back at Vinyl as she made her way over.

“Well here I am just like you asked.” Octavia said with a soft smile.

Vinyl nodded her head with a smile before she turned on her heel and started making her way down the ally, waving a hand beckoning for Octavia to follow her.

Octavia quickly followed after her as the two made their way to the open double doors in the side of the building.

They walked down the lit hallway in silence the only sound being the soft sound of Vinyl’s sneakers and the clicking of Octavia’s concert shoes.

After a few minutes of weaving their way through the back halls of the club they made it to a short set of stairs that Octavia knew led up to the main stage.

Octavia looked in slight puzzlement as Vinyl skipped up the steps and walked behind the curtain. Octavia continued to stand there trying to piece together what exactly was going on when Vinyl’s head poked back out of the curtain.

“You coming Tavi?” Vinyl asked with an excited smile on her face.

Octavia simply nodded her head before walking up the short steps and going behind the curtain that Vinyl was holding open for her.

When she stepped onto the stage she was even more confused. Sitting on the stage was Vinyl’s DJ equipment just where it had been the other night but right next to it was a chair with a music stand in front of it.

“So what do you think?” Vinyl asked as she stepped up next to Octavia.

“Um…What am I supposed to think?” Octavia replied, her voice full of confusion.

Vinyl looked over at Octavia in confusion and titled her head, when a loud voice came through the monitors. “Did you forget to tell her what we’re doing here Vinyl?”

Understanding dawned on Vinyl’s face and she slapped her herself in the forehead. “I might have forgotten to mention it yeah Andy.” She said sheepishly.

Octavia looked at the back of the room and saw Andy standing behind what looked like a sound board shaking his head at his cousin.

“So what’s going on here?” Octavia asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Well I was kind of hoping that you might want to play some with me.” Vinyl replied with a smile, motioning over to the center of the stage.

“Oh,” Octavia said as realization finally dawned on her face. Octavia nodded her head and started walking over to the center of the stage.

Vinyl gave her cousin a thumbs up as she followed after the cellist and got behind her tables.

Octavia looked down at the music stand and noticed that there was also a wireless adjustable microphone attached to it. She nodded and placed her music folder on the stand and sat down in the chair.

The chair was surprisingly comfy Octavia noticed once she was situated. She then sat her cello case down and used her key to open it up. She smiled softly at the beautiful instrument and the brand new bow as she picked them both up and started plucking the strings to cheek their tuning.

“Hey I see your going to be using the new bow I got you.” Vinyl said with a smile as she picked up her head phones and secured them on her head.

“Of course, it would be a shame to not put it to use Vinyl.” Octavia said returning the smile.

“So are you ladies ready.” Andy asked through the monitors.

“I’m ready whenever you are Tavi.” Vinyl said as she lifted her pink sunglasses up and placed them on her face.

“Right, do you need to know what song I’ll be starting with?”

“Nah, just play and I’ll figure something out.” Vinyl replied with a wave of her hand.

Octavia nodded and started playing a soft flowing melody that slowly rose and fell, a melody that just seemed to draw the listener in to a sense of calm. Octavia began to close her eyes and allowed the melody to lead her as she continued to play.

Vinyl nodded her head slowly to the beat, and after a few seconds of contemplating she reached over and tapped out a simple drum beat on her drum machine that complemented and helped carry the pace of the song.

Octavia started to slowly nod her head along with the drum beat.

Vinyl bobbed her head slowly and started to add small little sounds here and there to add to the ambiance and feel of the music.

Octavia opened her eyes in surprise and looked over at Vinyl. Vinyl returned the look and gave her a small thumbs up. Octavia smiled and started to add little extra notes as well making the song sound more full.

Vinyl smiled widely and started adding more and more different sounds. Keeping the ones that added to the music and quietly removing the ones that didn’t.

After a while Octavia came to the end of the song and Vinyl faded out all of the sounds that she had added until a thick silence filled the room.

The two musicians turned to look at each other and both smiled brightly.

The silence was replaced by the sound of one man applauding. The two looked to the back of the room and saw Andy standing behind the sound board clapping his hands together and smiling.

“Wow that was awesome Tavi.” Vinyl said as she pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head.

“Thank you, you were pretty incredible yourself.” Octavia said with a slight bow. “Would you like to play another?”

Vinyl reached up and placed her glasses back on her head. “You bet I do.”

The two continued to play song after song together. They played songs of all types and speeds. They moved between each song easily becoming accustomed to the way the other played. At a certain point Octavia and Vinyl switched roles, having Vinyl start the song and Octavia adding to the song wherever she thought was appropriate.

After a few hours the two came to the end of another song. Octavia let out a content sigh. “Well that was a lot of fun thank you Vinyl.” Vinyl nodded her head in agreement.

“You two sounded great.” Andy said as he climbed the few steps to the stage. “So Vinyl are you going to ask her now?”

Octavia raised an eyebrow and turned a questioning look at Vinyl.

“Uh…Yeah so um Tavi, Andy and I were wondering if maybe you would like to play with me tomorrow and join me on tour?” Vinyl asked as she nervously rubbed the back of her neck.

Octavia’s eyes grew wide and she quickly glanced between the two of them. Andy gave her a small smile and a nod, and Vinyl gave her a hopeful grin.

“I…I don’t know what to say. I…I think I need some time to think about this.” Octavia finally got out.

Vinyl visibly deflated but Andy quickly nodded his head. “Of course take all the time you need. I know this is a big decision to be made.”

Octavia nodded her head in thanks and glanced down at her watch. “Well thank you very much I had a really great time, but I have to get going.”

“Alright,” Vinyl said a little dejectedly. “Hey like I said I have a show tomorrow do you think you can come at least?”

“I don’t know Vinyl give me some time to think about it.” Octavia said as she quickly got all of her stuff packed and ready to go.

Vinyl nodded her head and helped Octavia get her stuff together.

Once she had everything in order Vinyl and Andy led Octavia out of the building and the three said their goodbyes.

“So do you think she’ll do it?” Vinyl asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

Andy shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, she might. Just give her some space and time to think it over.”

Vinyl nodded her head and let out a heavy sigh of defeat.

“Hey don’t worry about it. Like I said just give her some time and will find out one way or the other soon.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Vinyl said finally looking and catching one last glimpse of Octavia before she turned a corner.

Latter at Big Pete’s Tavern

Octavia let out a heavy sigh as she stepped out of the green room. She weaved her way through the maze of tables until she was able to make it to the bar.

Edward smiled at her and inclined his head. “Hi there Octavia you sounded good as always.”

“Thank you Eddie, how are you tonight?” Octavia said as she pulled up a stool and sat down in her usual spot.

“Oh same old same old, nothing really interesting happenin’ around here, how’ve you been doin’?”

“Well…” She considered lying and saying she was fine and that not much was happening with her, but something told her that she should just tell Eddie the truth. “It’s been quite the week so far to tell you the truth.”

“Really, well let me get you the usual and you can tell me all about it.” Edward said as he reached down and produced a small glass.

Octavia nodded and rested her head on her hands and once again started thinking over Vinyl’s offer. But before she could get too far into it Edward placed her drink in front of her.

“Now, why don’t you tell me what’s been goin’ on?” Edward asked with a smile as he rested his hands on the bar.

Octavia sighed and nodded her head. “So it all started after I talked to that blue haired girl…”

Octavia went on to tell Edward everything that her and Vinyl had done over the last few days. How the two had talked on the way back to her apartment, about hanging out with Vinyl and Andy before her show, and how great of a time she had with Vinyl on their day on the town.

And finally she told him about Vinyl and Andy’s offer to join them on their tour.

“Well that is quite the tale.” Edward said leaning back and nodding his head thoughtfully.

“So, what do you think I should do Eddie?” Octavia asked with another heavy sigh.

“I don’t know, but I think I know the question that you should ask yourself.” Edward replied as he leaned in a little closer.

“And what’s that?”

“Is there any reason that you shouldn’t go?”

Octavia stared at him and blinked a few times. Then the full meaning behind that question set in.

“Why shouldn’t I go? Is there anything keeping me here? Would things be better if I went?” She quickly went through and mentally answered every question in her head and smiled. She now knew what she would do.

“Thank you Edward you’ve been the best friend a person could ask for.”

“Ah, don’t mention it it’s the least I could do.” He said with a slight dismissive wave of his hand.

Octavia giggled slightly and leaned in and kissed him on the check. “All the same thank you again.” She said before getting up and quickly grabbing her cello case and almost jogging out the door.

Edward just smiled and nodded his head as the door closed behind Octavia. “Just another good day on the job,” He thought to himself as he went back to wiping down the bar.

The next night at the Club

“The show starts in about twenty minutes, you ready Vinyl?” Andy asked as he looked up from his phone.

Vinyl was splayed out on the couch of the green room staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah I guess so.” She said with a heavy sigh.

Andy opened his mouth to try and encourage her when there was a tentative knock on the door. “Who could that be?” Andy asked out loud as he got up and answered the door.

Vinyl lazily looked over and nearly jumped off the couch when she saw the grey suited woman walk in. “TAVI!”

“Hello Vinyl, I hope I’m not too late?”

“Of course not, you’re right on time as a matter of fact.” Andy said as he closed the door behind them.

Octavia made her way over to the other couch and sat down.

“So does this mean that you’re going to join us?” Vinyl asked hopefully almost bouncing in her seat in joy.

Octavia just smiled and nodded her head. “As long as you still want me along, then yes I would love to come with you.”

Vinyl squealed with delight and tackled Octavia in a big hug.

Andy smiled and shook his head. “Ladies, the show is going to be starting soon. So you both should probably get out there.”

“Oh yeah right, you ready Tavi?” Vinyl asked as she leapt up and grabbed her shades.

Octavia stood and straightened out her suit. “As ready as I’ll every be.” She said as she followed Vinyl out the door and grabbed her cello case.

Vinyl reached her hand out and grabbed Octavia’s free hand. “So now that you’ll be coming with us, does that mean that you’ll be my girlfriend?” Vinyl asked with a coy smile.

Octavia tilted her head thoughtfully. “I don’t know you can be a bit annoying sometimes.”

Vinyl gave her a pained look causing Octavia to smile. “Oh I suppose so.” She said as she gently squeezed Vinyl’s hand.

Vinyl’s smile stretched from ear to ear as the pair made their way towards the stairs that led to the stage.

Octavia didn’t know what the future might hold for the two of them, but she knew as long as she had Vinyl by her side everything would turn out alright.

The End