And Then There Was You

"Louis, may I have a word?" Mr. Wilson, his orchestra conductor asked him as he was packing his instrument up after class the next day. Liam eyed him curiously from his place across the room. Louis shrugged at him, indicating that he didn’t know what was going on. He nodded and followed him to his office, wondering what he wanted to talk about. "You did very well today." He commented, making Louis blush.

"Thank you, sir." He said, trying to contain his smile.

"You're my most promising student, you know." He commented, sitting in his desk, leaving Louis awkwardly standing in the doorway

"The London Symphony Orchestra has had their eye on you since you were young. With your graduation just around the corner, they're getting eager."Mr. Wilson picked up a packet from his desk, holding it out for Louis to take. Louis stepped forward and took it, scanning his eyes over the cover. His jaw dropped to the floor. Cello Concerto in B minor. Antonín Dvořák.

"Are you-" Louis started, having trouble forming his words. His heart was beating in his ears and he felt dizzy. He never go used to this feeling.

"I think you're capable of this piece, and I think you deserve it. I know a concerto seems daunting, but you’ve done it before. And I’m sure your teachers can make exceptions for the amount of time this will take. You won’t fall behind.” Mr. Wilson started.

"Oh my god. I need to sit down." He said, lowering himself into a chair slowly.

"They want you to be the soloist. They've been watching you all this time. You're a prodigy, Louis. You've known this for years. Everyone else has known this for years.” Mr. Wilson laced his fingers over his desk.

"This is-I don't even know what to say. They want me to play Dvořák? They want me to play a concerto by Dvořák as a soloist?" Louis sputtered, still in shock.

"All three movements." He nodded seriously.

"I just don't understand why people want me..." Louis said lowly, not lifting his eyes.

"Louis. You born for this. You're a legend in the classical music industry. Players can have technique, but you have something almost no one has. Something no one ever gets to experience. You have true, honest to god talented."

"I just...I never understand why they want some kid to play for them. It just never makes sense to me.” Louis said, running his fingers over the music gently, considering the offer. “I haven’t really performed as a soloist for a long time.”

“You have plenty of time to brush up. Please don’t take time to think about it. Just say yes.” Mr. Wilson said, his smiled threatening to break his face.

“I…” Louis trailed off, still staring at the print. “Yeah. You’re right. I’ll do it.”

“Great! Because I already told them you said yes. The conductor wanted to meet you to formally invite you, so I told them you would stop by at three.” Mr. Wilson said smugly, glancing at the clock. “Of you leave now, you’ll make it to the symphony hall in no time.

“Thank you, sir.” Louis said, not surprised that Mr. Wilson knew what his response would be. “This is… This really means a lot to me.”

“You’re welcome, Louis. Not go.” He said, waving the astonished young man off. Louis smiled rushed from the office to gather his things. He clutched the music to his chest for a moment, as if someone would try to steal it. He packed his things up in a hurry, carefully slipping the music into his backpack so it wouldn’t be compromised in any way.

“Lou!” He heard Liam call to him as he pushed out of the classroom. He stopped and smiled tightly at Liam. “What was that about?”

“Oh. Uh, he was just…telling me to uh…get my bow restrung. Said my tone was not the best today.” Louis stumbled over a terribly constructed lie. Liam blinked, as if he was decided if he should believe it. Louis shifted nervously.

“Okay. That’s unfortunate. Just more money to spend, eh?” Liam chuckled, patting Louis on the back. “Hey I was heading back to my place. Want to come? We could hang out and you could strategically run into Harry.”

“I would love to, Liam. But I have to run. I have…I have to go. So, I’ll see you.” Louis said, backing up quickly. Before Liam said anything to him, he was headed towards his car. Liam could do nothing but stare after him in confusion. In his haste, he tripped over his cello case multiple times. But he couldn’t help that he became an uncoordinated monkey when he was excited.

_-_-_-_-

Louis pulled open the door to the symphony hall slowly. The cool air from within rushed past him, making him shiver. He stepped inside, his converse sneakers looking out of place against the plush carpet. He pulled at his t-shirt, suddenly feeling very out of place. His eyes scanned the décor hungrily. In a moment of vanity, he imagined the place was packed with people, telling him how incredible his performance had been.

“Louis Tomlinson?” A deep voice said from behind him, startling him.

“Hello, Mr., Tomlinson. I must say, it is a great pleasure to meet you. I’ve been a fan for years. My name is George Simpson, I’m the maestro of The London Symphony.” The older man greeted Louis with a smile and extended his hand for a shake.

“Please, call me Louis.” He said, giving the conductor a firm handshake.

“Louis, of course. Come with me.” He motioned to Louis. He followed without complaint, still in awe of the building. He was lead into the theater, which looked very large and empty. A shiver ran down his spine at the magnificence of it. “I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you accepted the invitation to perform with us.”

“I’m honored that you invited me. The London Symphony is where I fell in love with classical music. I heard Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah performed here. After it was done, I turned to my mother and told her I wanted to play there someday. The rest is history I suppose.” Louis said. He followed Mr. Simpson up the steps to the stage, so that they were overlooking the entire room.

“Thank god you chose the cello. Who knows where we would be without a prodigy like you?” Mr. Simpson said with a chuckle. Louis felt his cheeks get warm at the compliment.

“Please, I’m hardly a-“ Louis started, shaking his head modestly.

“I’ve been taken with you since you performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City. I was there. Gosh, that was so many years ago! How old were you?” He interrupted, giving Louis a hearty pat on the back.

“Um, I was eight years old, sir.” Louis said, scratching at his neck.

“Any child that is asked to perform at Carnegie Hall is surely a prodigy. Embrace it.” He said seriously. Louis blushed and looked at the floor.

“I’ll try.” Louis said, smiling slightly. “Thanks.”

“Look at this place, Louis.” Mr. Simpson said, motioning to the theater with a flourish. “You have no idea how brilliant you are. You truly have a gift. It’s not your honor to play with us, Louis, it’s our honor to play with you.”

_-_-_-_-

"Did you know that Louis is a prodigy?" Harry said to Liam. The two were lounged in the living room, attending to various homework responsibilities. Harry had been on his laptop silently for the majority of the day, so Liam was surprised by the sudden comment.

"What?" Liam said, taking his eyes from the paper he was trying to write.

"Louis. He's a prodigy. A child prodigy. A musical prodigy. He has his own fan page and everything." Harry said, not taking his eyes off his computer screen.

"Louis?" Liam asked, slightly confused.

"Yeah. Louis. I googled him." Harry said with a nod. Liam smirked at Harry's admission. Harry blushed when he realized how creepy that sounded. "I was curious, okay?"

"Sure." He said with a big grin and waggled his eyebrows suggestively at Harry.

"Liam! Stop grinning at me." Harry warned, his cheeks turning red. Liam laughed and didn’t stop with his cheesy grin, much to Harry’s dismay.

"Okay. I'm sorry. You goggled your boyfriend and-ooof." Liam's sentence was interrupted by Harry punching him in the stomach.

"I googled him, like any rational human being would." Harry sent a pointed look at Liam. He just scoffed at patted Harry on the head. "And I found all this stuff about him being so amazing. He played at Carnegie Hall when he was 8. He recorded on a record with Hillary Hahn when he was 10. Did you know that he attended two semesters and Julliard when he was 16? He has been featured in several symphonies as a soloist all over the world. His first was when he was 17! Can you even imagine, being featured as soloist in world renowned orchestras?"

"Wow. Hillary Hahn is like…my idol. That's really amazing. Who even knew?" Liam said, scooting up close so that he could get a better look.

"How could he be this famous and you not tell me?" Harry groaned, scrolling through the many comments devoted to how incredible Louis was.

"I didn't know! He doesn't talk about it. And it's not like I randomly Google people." Liam said cheekily, winking at Harry.

"Liam. He has a fan page! What kind of classical musician has a fan page? My chances with him were slim before. Now he like, a fucking god or something. He could have his pick of gorgeous guys who are accomplished musicians. Why would he want the awkward weirdo who listens to music all day?" Harry said, waving in his hands at the screen in front of him.

"Harry, you're not an awkward weirdo." Liam said sternly, rolling his eyes.

"I googled him! I am a weirdo! Weber hardly had a proper conversation and I'm stalking him on the Internet. I guess I'll just have to join the 'Louis Tomlinson Appreciation Group' on Facebook and follow him as he woos other famous handsome guys with his dumb cello." Harry grumbled and bit his lip. Liam genuinely felt bad that Harry felt so down on himself about it. He didn’t know where Harry got the notion that he wasn’t a great catch, because he is.

"Harry, enough with the dramatics. I've told you multiple times that Louis is interested." Liam said firmly, swatting at Harry’s arm.

"I'm just...not good enough, you know? He may be interested now but when he gets to know me he'll realize that there isn't a lot to me, and he'll bail." Harry sighed, as if he had it all figured out.

"You are hopeless, Harry.” Liam said, dragging himself off the couch.

“I’m realistic.” Harry corrected, closing the laptop and setting it aside.

“No, I don’t think this has anything to do with realism. You like him, and that freaks you out. Because now you have to put yourself out there and come down from the clouds you’re always lost in. You’re just freaked out that you don’t want to be alone.” He accused, pointing a finger at his best friend.

“I think you should be a psychologist or something. You’re so perceptive of my emotions, Li.” Harry retorted, throwing another punch at Liam. Liam dodged that one and laughed at Harry.

“Whatever, H. It’s your life. I’m just saying.” Liam gathered his schoolbooks and started heading towards his bedroom. “Anyways, I have to get to work.”

“Hmm. Me too.” Harry sniffed, closing the laptop and moving setting it aside. He unfolded himself from the couch and headed toward his room, his shoulders slumped.

“Harry.” Liam called out to him from his doorway.

“What?” Harry responded, lifted his head slightly.

“If you’re worried about not being a good enough musician for him, just play him that song you’ve been working on. You’ll blow him away. I know you will.” Liam said earnestly.

“Whatever.” Harry scoffed, shoving into his room without any further acknowledgement of Liam.