AN: Welcome to Chapter 5! This chapter's song is "Georgiana" by Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Enjoy!

No. 5: Amy – Georgiana

"What? You're in this class?" Amy asked as none other than Jake Peralta walked in the door, promptly taking a seat down next to her. Today was the first day of the spring semester and Amy had not expected to see him in her World Theatre class.

"Yup! Good thing too, because my grade's gonna go way, way up after I copy all of your answers" Jake said with a wide grin.

"You will do no such thing!" she said, protecting her notes.

"Ahh, you're such a wet blanket. Still, pretty cool we have this together. I was sure I was going to die of boredom if I had to go through this alone. Still a possibility, actually" Jake said, grabbing a disheveled notebook from his trash-filled backpack.

"Are you kidding? How could you be bored? We're going to be reading a bunch of plays from all over the world. What's not to like?" Amy asked, already thumbing through her brand new copy of Uncle Vanya.

"I guess a play is better than twelve chapters of mind-numbing textbooks" Jake begrudgingly agreed. Amy looked over at him while he fished for a pen in his disgusting backpack. She knew he was probably going to be super annoying and distracting, but she couldn't help but feel happy she had a class with him. She actually kind of missed him over winter break, though she'd never tell him that.

There was another person Amy missed even more than Jake, though and that was her piano player. While back at her parents' house, Amy found she couldn't quite calm down anymore without putting on some Beethoven or Mozart. The recordings weren't quite the same. Amy knew the pianists in the recordings were technically more skilled, but she missed the little imperfections. She missed the rawness of his performances and the way she could feel the vibrations from the instrument through the wall and floor. She missed her private concerts.

After Amy had gotten her dinner, she impatiently waited for 9:30 to come around. The pianist was pretty consistent with practicing in the late evening and Amy could normally always find him at 9:30. There were times where she came earlier or later, but never found him. She would wonder if she passed him as he was coming out, while she was coming in, or vice versa. She fantasized about bumping into him, her notes going everywhere, and him, with his strong hands, helping her to pick them up. The classic meet-cute.

Amy smiled to herself, but quickly wiped it away. It probably wasn't a good thing that she was fantasizing about a guy she'd never met. It was just so hard not to think of the possibilities. The whole thing was pretty romantic and Amy Santiago, if she was honest with herself, was a romantic at heart.

At 9:30 Amy rushed over to the Music building, unable to contain her excitement. She walked into the predictably empty lobby and went upstairs. As she climbed the stairs, she was greeted by a song. Her heart skipped a beat.

"He is here" she thought and she half-ran to his normal practice room. It was definitely him playing, but the song was one she'd never heard before, lighter and possibly more modern. Amy wasn't sure. She didn't have too much knowledge of music, despite dating a musician in her high school days.

Amy closed her eyes and listened, a bit of tension releasing in her chest as the melody played on. She really, really had missed this. She took her normal seat on the floor next to the door and sighed, feeling completely at piece, that was, until she saw it.

Amy's eyes widened as she saw a note on the ground in front of the door with ungodly scrawl on it. The sight of the note startled her. She knew this was meant for her because it was presented in the same fashion she presented her notes to him. There's was something about the note that made her unbelievably nervous.

"What if I'm bothering him?" she thought, and he heart broke at the idea. Were her notes too pushy? Had she been stepping out of line this whole time? Amy's heart tightened painfully. She knew she couldn't ignore it, but, oh, how she wanted to. She took a deep breath and read the paper:

Who are you?

Amy almost laughed. Was that it? Still, a part of her worried this wasn't a friendly inquiry. What if he really was annoyed? Amy tried to think positively and replied with a vague response:

I guess you could call me a fan.

That seemed safe enough for now. She felt her stomach do flips as she sent it in through the bottom of the door. She listened to as much of his practice session as she could, but left early.

The next night, Amy came back and found another note. This one seemed to show the writer's personality and intentions a little better.

Cool. Are you more of a roadie or a groupie?

Amy smiled. Well, at least he wasn't humorless. If he was cracking jokes that probably meant he didn't hate her right? She wrote back quickly:

I'm female, if that's what you're asking. Am I bothering you? If I am, just let me know. I'll leave.

Amy thought it would best just to ask him bluntly so she didn't have to keep worrying about it.

The next day she approached the room with knots in her stomach. She saw the note and immediately picked it up. She noticed that was much longer than the others. She began reading:

You're not bothering me at all. I actually wanted to thank you. You kinda helped me figure out some stuff, so thanks. I was wondering if we could talk a little? Instead of just one sentence at a time. I'm getting a little frustrated over here.

Amy blushed. He wanted to talk to her? She had helped him through some stuff? What was happening? She wrote back her reply and decided not to stick around:

I don't think I want us to meet, but if you want, we can send each other notes through the door for a little while. You get here at your normal time and I'll come at mine. Deal?

The next day, Amy could not shake off her nerves. She never expected her piano player to make contact with her. What if he wanted to talk face-to-face? Amy knew she'd probably just act really weird and ruin absolutely everything. Then, there was the possibility of him not meeting her expectations. She had already created this ideal of him, so how in the world could he possibly match that?

"Why did I ever write him that note in the first place?" she asked herself, dread setting in. As much as the entire situation scared her, there was a small part of her that was optimistic.

"Maybe he'll be even better than you thought" her inner-optimist said. It was that thought alone that got her to the music building.

When she arrived, a song was playing and a note was waiting for her at the door. She picked it up:

Deal. I'm gonna practice for a while and then I'll sit right next to the door.

Amy took a deep breath in and wrote back:

Okay, I'm here.

Amy sat down next to the door and let his song ease her worries. After all, what was there to be worried about? She was just going to talk to a guy. It wasn't that big of a deal.

Her rationale didn't stop her from tapping her foot nervously as she listened to the song slow and fade to a stop. After a few seconds Amy could feel the soft vibrations of him stepping towards her. With each step her heart rate quickened. She saw a shadow block light from the thin slip underneath the door, and felt him slide down the same wall she was leaning against. She could almost feel his weight against the wall, almost as if they were touching. She heard the rustling of papers and knew he was writing back. In a moment, he sent her back a sheet of lined paper with his message in the top line.

"Hey"

"Hi" she wrote back.

"Thanks for coming"

"Yeah, of course. That was a really nice song"

"Thanks. I learned it in class" he wrote.

"I probably should have guessed you were a music major"

"I wasn't at first. I was a business major, but it made me want to throw myself into one of the fountains on campus and beg for death"

"Yikes. That bad, huh?"

"Worse. That's actually why I wanted to talk to you. Remember when you wrote me the first time?" he asked.

"Yeah"

"Well, it kind of kicked my ass into finally changing majors. So, thanks" he wrote and Amy felt her cheeks get hot.

"I didn't really do anything"

"No, you did a lot. Trust me" he continued and Amy's blush deepened.

"Why weren't you a music major in the first place?"

"Wellllll, it's kind of a long story, but basically because my mom said 'no'" he wrote.

"Yeesh. That's rough. How'd she take it when you switched?" Amy asked.

"Well, she doesn't exactly know"

"Ahhh"

"I'll tell her eventually. Like…on graduation day" he wrote and Amy chuckled.

"I'd be a wreck if I were you. I can't keep anything from my mom. All she had to do was look at me and she knew I sneaked into my dad's office to play CEO again" she wrote and she could swear she heard him stifle a laugh.

"You played CEO when you were a kid?" he asked.

"Yeah. Doesn't everybody?"

"No. Most human children I know play cops and robbers"

"Well, that's a good game too"

"Cops and robbers is the best!" he wrote.

"You know, your handwriting is shamefully bad. Especially for someone who works with his fingers"

"I honestly feel so attacked right now" he said.

"You 'hornily peel stacked high not'?" she asked, feeling braver by the minute.

"I HONESTLY FEEL SO ATTACKED RIGHT NOW" he wrote in big capitals.

"Oooh. See, that I can read"

"SHOULD I WRITE LIKE THIS FROM NOW ON?"

"No. I feel like you're screaming at me"

"YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF"

"Oh my god"

They prattled on for an hour, both of them doing their best to stifle their laughter. Amy heard him laugh a few times and theorized he probably had a sexy voice. Amy looked down at her watch and was disappointed that it was already so late.

"Hey, I'm gonna go. I have an early class tomorrow" Amy wrote.

"Kay. Want to do this again tomorrow?" he asked and Amy's heart leaped into her throat.

"Sure"

"Cool. You leave first. I'm gonna practice for ten more minutes"

"Okay, bye" she wrote and then quickly slid the paper underneath the door. It came back out fast.

"See ya! Except that I won't…" he wrote. Amy just shook her head and smiled, then headed back to her dorm.

The air was crisp and chilly as she headed down the path that led to the commons. It was cold outside, but her skin was hot. Amy knew the sensation was the pianists doing. She thought of their conversation and she blushed even deeper. Amy was pretty sure that was the equivalent of a first date that went very well. Like, really, really well. She caught herself smiling and it only made the smile wider. She felt giddy. Amy wasn't sure if anyone had ever made her giddy before, but sure as the sun, this guy had made her so.

And he wanted to talk to her again. Her smile got wider. There was no denying it now. The thought might have mortified her before, but now? Now she knew.

She was totally head-over-heels for the piano player.

AN: Crushing it with chapter #5. I hope their written conversation was easy to follow? It was hard to figure out what would be the clearest way to present it, but I think it worked out.

Oh, definitely expect some nerdy play references. It's no accident they're in a Theatre Lit class. Mama's got to put that theatre degree to use.

Next chapter will feature some fun new developments so stay tuned.

Thank you for all your support! I appreciate every single favorite and review. Thank you very much!