just breathless.

She’s at an event with her parents. She’s a last minute performance, subbing out the singer who decided last minute that she didn’t need the job or anything and eloped with her pianist. After tuning her instrument for the 5th time, she checks her watch and sees there’s still 17 minutes and 2 seconds until she has to go on. She roams around backstage, watching the other acts prepare. There’s a group of 20-somethings stretching and probably dancing for the event, a man staring into his hat -which she assumes is a magic thing-, and some other instruments here or there. She’s not even sure what the event is. It may or may not be a benefit dinner (for maybe the Red Cross’s disaster relief thing or maybe for the Make-A-Wish foundation or something of the sort) with some side entertainment.

He’s there, being the emcee of a benefit dinner for the Men for Women Now movement (a breast cancer awareness thing). He runs a hand through his hair and curses the coin he decided to flip with his sister. She gets the easy job of greeting and serving food all because of a stupid penny and its stupid choice to land on heads instead of tails. He sighs, walking over to find Justin, his friend who decided, “Hey, why not?” and became his co-emcee.

She makes her way to the restroom. She finds the women’s restroom, but the line is long and extends to another hallway. She checks her watch (13 minutes and 46 seconds) and is absolutely sure she won’t make it. She contemplates asking to cut as she walks to the end of the line because she really really has to go. When she turns the corner to get to the end of the line, she sees the men’s restroom. It's tucked way in the corner of this dead end hall and there’s no one in the hall besides a few ladies waiting in line and the door is directly behind them so she cracks open the men’s restroom door.

“Are you ready?” he asks. The other boy is fixing his bowtie in the mirror. He smooths his eye brows and ruffles his hair. “Yeah, dude. I just gotta hit the loo.” The brown haired boy follows the blonde to the restroom. “Dude, you do realize that I can go to the restroom by myself?” The brunette gives the blonde a “you-know-what-happened-last-time” look. “Dude, I won’t run away this time. I swear.” The brunette rolls his eyes and follows the blonde anyways.

She peers in and she catches sight of the stalls and the urinals, where, gladly, no one is. She lowers her voice to a fake masculine voice, which sounds ridiculous seeing as her normal voice sounds like she hadn’t even gone through puberty, and yells, “Yo! Anyone in here? This is the janitor. I need to clean the restroom.” Only the sound of the fan is heard. She sighs in relief and takes the “being cleaned” sign off the back of the door, opens the door and hangs it in front of the door.

When he gets to the bathroom, just his luck, it’s being cleaned. He stares at his watch (3 minutes and 53 seconds) and taps his foot impatiently. The blonde puts his arm on the burette’s shoulder. “We’ll make it, buddy.” “No, we won’t, Justin.” The brunette gets deep into his rant and fails to notice the shocked expression on the blonde’s face. The look merges into a slight smirk and there’s a twinkle in the blonde’s eyes.

She scurries her way out of the restroom as she checks her watch (9 minutes and 29 seconds) and the door hits something hard. The thing obviously moves because the second time she pushes the door, it opens. As she steps outside, her jaw drops and she’s frozen. He’s standing right in front of her and his close-ness is scaring her. His back is turned to her but he’s talking to someone else and she can tell it’s him. She manages to sneak her way past him, not avoiding the boy he is talking to however. He gives her a look and she sends back a pleading look that asks him to keep her secret then scurries off.

“How’s about you just go first and tell the audience the truth, that I went to the loo. Then, you can just start without me. I won’t be more than a minute or two.” As the blonde is talking, the brunette sees something flash past and disappear around the corner. “Sure, man,” he says, absentmindedly. The blonde walks past the other boy, takes the “being cleaned” sign off the door and walks right in. The brunette shakes his head because this is very typical Justin. He turns around, making his way to the stage, when he sees a small face around the corner, which is gone when he blinks.

Before going back, she stops and peeks around the corner. He’s wearing a classic black suit with a powder blue dress shirt that manages to make his eyes even more blue, and a skinny white and turquoise striped tie. His hair is worn in a way that looks effort-less but by the way that he acting with his head, she can tell he worked on this “just-rolled-out-of-bed-look” for a good 30 minutes to get it to looks that perfect but totally natural. She giggles, thinking about him standing in front of a mirror, combing his hair for thirty minutes straight. Suddenly, he spots her and she makes a quick escape backstage.

He walks back to the stage, puts on his smile, and shakes the image of the person watching him out of his head. He steps onto the stage and nonchalantly checks his watch (1 minute and 8 seconds early). He beams at the audience and looks down at his index cards. “Ladies and gentlemen, the entertainment starts in 1 minute, exactly when dinner will start being served. Please take your seats now.” He scans the crowd, looking for his co-emcee (47 seconds). He sighs and begins his talking, “Hello and welcome to the Men for Women Now’s benefit dinner. My co-emcee is ‘in the loo,’ so I’ll be starting without him,” he pauses a bit as he spots Justin running towards the stage and checks his watch (15 seconds).

She sits backstage, next to her case. She takes deep breaths when she hears a voice coming from in front of the curtains. It’s him. She watches the other acts practice and get their routines down to a T. She fidgets, pulling at the hem of her dress; taking her shoes off and putting them back on; just anything to take her mind off her stage fright. She closes her eyes and does more breathing exercises. That’s when she starts paying attention to his voice. That soothing, wonderful voice. There’s a light laugh and she can’t help but smile. And then, all of her stage fright washes away.

“There he is! My wonderful co-emcee, Justin Thyme. Hey, Justin, not climbing out the restroom window this time?” There’s a light laughter from the stage as the blonde steps on stage. He walks to the mike and says, “You see, that was Andrew here trying to make a joke because my name really is ‘Justin Thyme.’” There’s a laugh that spreads throughout the crowd. “O-kay! Our first act was supposed to be Natasha Hamilton, but she couldn’t make it tonight, but we a wonderful musician here today. She’s won a few music competitions, but this is her first time preforming for real. Everyone give a warm welcome to Roxanne Finch!”

She takes one deep breath and carries her instrument out onto the stage. The spot light is on her, and it’s blinding, and everything is not fine. She slowly gets her violin out of its case and plucks each of the strings lightly to make sure it’s tuned absolutely perfectly. She lifts the instrument and moves towards the mike. She pulls it back to make sure she doesn’t get carried away and fall off when playing. “Hi. I-I’m Roxanne Finch, and I’m here to play vi-violin for you today.” Crickets. Everything crashes and falls. She loses the courage to play and gets ready to just leave. That’s when she hears a single clap. Another clap joins so there are just two sets of hands clapping like no tomorrow for her. There are shouts, “Woo! Roxanne! You go girl!” And everyone begins to clap also. “Um, okay then.” She puts the violin to her chin and begins to play.

He can’t believe his eyes when he sees her. She’s on stage with a violin. Her dress is a dark red that ruffles at the bottom. She’s blurry, but he can tell it’s her. He punches Justin in the arm (“Ow!”) and whispers, “That’s her!” “Her who?” “Her!” “The one from the party?” The brunette nods so hard, his head nearly falls off. “No way in --“She begins to introduce herself on stage and it’s silent. Suddenly, Justin claps. “Go Roxanne!” he shouts. The other boy joins him in his antics and shakes his head and laughs when Justin shouts. “You go girl!” The rest of the crowd joins and she begins playing.

But then, she puts the violin down after the first note. “I’m sorry, I had this whole thing and like I just want you all to, just trust me, and try this.” There’s a murmur of confusion. “I want you all to close your eyes. I’m not gonna run away and climb out of the bathroom window or anything.” There’s a light laugh. “So, music can be used to tell a story and that’s what I’m gonna do tonight. So listen to the song and try to imagine the story.” She plays a few notes and talks over her playing, “This story begins in a small town. There are two lovers sitting on either side of a well, making secret communications to hide their forbidden love...”

Her voice fades out as her playing gets louder and louder. He can imagine the two of them sitting and having all this light and airy fun. At one point, the song is so happy, he feels like the warm sum has arrived, tiptoeing up his side, tickling him to the point where he giggles out loud. The mood immediately darkens. The two are caught in their wonderful embrace and the boy is forced out of the town. The girl is told her beloved will be killed if she doesn’t marry a wealthy man of the city and she reluctantly obliges to save her lover. Her lover is let out of jail a few years later. He spots her and her little children running around the very well where the story started. She doesn’t recognize him as he’s grown out his beard. He doesn’t recognize her because he doesn’t want to. And so, the two’s paths have crossed, but both will continue to walk in straight lines. There’s a small intersection where the two were together, but that time is over.

As she finishes playing, the applause is overwhelming. She checks her watch and she’s scheduled for another 3 minutes (and 13 seconds) and starts playing a very fast, fun tune. “Y’all should dance, if you wanna.” She starts dancing alone on the stage, while convincing herself that she’s not scared (“You’re all alone, honey”) and people begin to clap along. She twirls her way around the stage, and when the playing stops, the applause is so loud and there’s that same voice shouting (“We love you Roxanne!” and “Encore!”) She smiles sheepishly, bows, puts her violin back into the case and walks off of the stage.

As she walks past him, he works up the courage and says, “Hi.” She replies with a smile, “Hi.”