Music to My Ears

Deidre’s POV

I took one last look in the mirror and smiled. It’s my first performance of my new piece, Czardas, and I’m so excited to play. It also helped that a bunch of the guys came to the show tonight. I smiled and flexed my fingers out and back, just to stretch them out one more time.

I left my hair down for the performance, and decided to wear a unique dress that I found while shopping. It was a peachy nude gown with a plunging neck line, but it didn’t reveal much (probably because I didn’t have much to reveal). I fluffed my hair around my shoulders one more time before of the stage crew guys came to my room and nodded. It was time for me to play.

I walked to the side of the stage and waited for the conductor to come backstage and the orchestra to situate themselves before my solo.

The conductor walked off stage, and I watched as the outer violins also walked off stage so that the stage crew could set up for my performance. Almost all of them wished me good luck, except for my bestie Jia, who just shot me a glare.

The conductor pulled me aside from the chattering violinists and told meto relax and just play it like I’ve been rehearsing it. I nodded and smiled. We shared a smile before noticing the violinists walk back on stage. When they were, I shook out and rolled my shoulders to stretch out and relax once more.

The stage manager nodded at the conductor, and we smiled at each other before walking on stage.

I smiled widely as soon as I stepped on stage, and looked toward the box seats where I knew the guys would be sitting. I sent a wink their way and smiled before shaking Jia’s hand – the usual thing for a soloist to do before they perform. I nodded at the oboist for an A so the orchestra and I could tune. (truthfully, my violin was perfectly in tune since I arrived at the Symphony Center a few hours prior, but hey, who knows what could’ve happened). Once we were all tuned, I turned to the conductor and nodded with a small smile. I moved my hair to my right shoulder so it wouldn’t interfere with my playing and closed my eyes as I heard the orchestra play the opening notes.

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I changed into a cocktail dress for the meet and greet, which was held after the concert in the ballroom. My back was to the door, and all of a sudden a pair of arms wrap around me causing me to squeak in surprise. I turned around and found Jon smirking at me.

I smacked his chest. “Don’t scare me,” I mumbled as he laughed and picked me up and twirled me around in a circle. We were both laughing as he set me back down. Once he did, I put a hand on his cheek and pecked his lips.

“Dee, you were amazing.” I smiled at the compliment. I grabbed his hand and tugged him out of the dressing room.

“I gotta go to the meet and greet before they come looking for me,” I said.

Once we got upstairs, I walked into the ballroom with my fingers intertwined with Jon’s and was greeted by another thunderous applause and cheers.

I blushed and smiled widely. I nodded. “Thank you so much,” I said. Once the applause died down, people came up to talk to me, and Jon squeezed my hand and nodded toward his group. I nodded and smiled and continued to talk with the orchestra patrons as he walked away.

“Miss O’Kelley, you were amazing tonight.”
“That dress was gorgeous.”
“I’ve never heard that piece played that way and that well before.”

I took all of the compliments to heart and thanked them individually, shaking their hands and thanking them again.

“Deidre, can I speak with you, please?” I looked over and saw Ricardo Muti – the CSO’s new director. I nodded and excused myself from the group of patrons.

I walked over to him and said, “You wanted to speak with me?”

He smiled and nodded. “The office just received a call from the London Symphony Orchestra, regarding you.”

I gave him a puzzled look. Why would they call about me?

He smiled and proceeded to tell me that because of my musical talent, they wanted to feature me in their upcoming world tour this summer. My eyes widened and I felt my jaw drop.

“Wha-what? Why would they pick me?” I asked.

He chuckled and praised me of my leadership, musical talent, integrity and humbleness, and told him that there will always be a place at the CSO for me. “The tour is only for the summer, and you’ll return to the CSO for normal rehearsals and such in the fall.”

I nodded silently and I saw Jon give me a puzzled look out of the corner of my eye. “Mr. Muti, that’s amazing. I will definitely consider it,” I answered him.

“Good. No offense Deidre, but it’d be foolish for you to turn this opportunity down. The front office will email you details soon. Great job tonight, by the way. I’ll be seeing you,” we shook hands and he walked away.

I stood in that same spot for a minute or two with my mind reeling about this opportunity.

It’d be foolish for you to turn this opportunity down.

How will I tell Jon? Should I tell him?

Yeah. Duh.

Or should I wait until I know for sure about it? I don’t want him to worry about me – he has to worry about hockey.

I felt someone touch my shoulder and turned to find Jon looking at me confused. “Deidre, what’s wrong you?”

I smiled and shook my head. “Nothing, absolutely nothing.”

He nodded, obviously not believing me. “What did you boss need?”

I chuckled and answered, “He just wanted to congratulate me on the concert.”

He nodded and stuck his hand into his suit jacket. He pulled out a rectangular box and handed it to me. “Happy two months,” he whispered in my ear. I smiled and pecked his lips. “Open it,” he said.

I opened the box and found a beautiful pearl Tiffany bracelet. “Jon, why did you buy me this?” I asked incredulously. He chuckled as he took the bracelet and fastened it around my wrist. He kissed my wrist and told me, “Because I thought of you when I saw it, plus you don’t wear much jewelry when you perform. Is it so bad that I wanted to buy you something?” I blushed at his statement and gave his lips a chaste kiss.

“I love it, thank you. I have a gift for you at my apartment,” I told him.

“Why did you get me something?” he mocked. We laughed as I smacked his chest. He tugged on my hand and took me toward the group of Hawks.

Patrick Sharp, Brent Seabrook, and Corey Crawford all had their girlfriends with them, and Patrick Kane kinda stood awkwardly to the side. I waved. “Hey guys, thanks for coming. You look great,” I joked. They all laughed and started to talk about how great I played.

“Hey, wait a second, I don’t think we’ve been introduced to your beautiful girlfriend Jon! How long have you been going out?” Patrick Sharp’s wife scolded Jon. He looked sheepishly at the floor before mumbling two months. All three girls promptly smacked his arm and yelled at him. The guys and I were laughing as the scene unfolded.

“I’m Abby, Patrick’s wife,”

“Sylvia, Crow’s girlfriend,”

“Emily, Brent’s girlfriend,”

They all said as they gave me a hug. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“Wait, Jon, has she been going to the games?” He looked at the floor sheepishly again and nodded as we all laughed in anticipation.

“JON WHY HASN’T SHE SAT WITH US BEFORE.” Abby yelled at him.

“Does anyone want a drink? I sure want a drink,” Jon mumbled as he quickly walked away from the group. We laughed even harder as Abby followed him to the bar.

We made small talk, and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked that way to find no one, and heard snickers from the group. I raised an eyebrow and looked over my other shoulder to find Andrew standing there smirking.

“Andrew! How are you?” I hugged him.

“You were great,” he whispered in my ear. When we pulled back, I noticed a girl standing with him. I raised an eyebrow at him and introduced myself.

“I’m Deidre, Andrew’s friend,” I said as I shook her hand. She smiled at me and said her name was Julia. “Nice to meet you Julia, we should sit together at a game or something. Grab my number from Andrew and we’ll set it up,” I said with a smile. I wanted the girl to feel comfortable around these crazy buffoons.

Jon came back with two flutes of champagne – one for me and one for him. I smiled and thanked him. Everyone had flute of champagne, and Andrew made a toast. “To Deidre, with all the best of luck to her and her music career!” The group cheered and took sips of their champagne.

How did I get so lucky with this group? It’s too good to be true.