-Sang-

At exactly 6:50pm I was pacing in Nathan's living room. Gabe and Nathan were sitting in the kitchen, leaving me to my thoughts. Victor would be here any minute. I felt amazing in the dress and tall in the shoes. I still am not used to heels so at least all this pacing was giving me some practice. After what felt like a half hour, I looked at the clock, 6:59pm. As if he was just waiting outside for the clock to strike the hour, the doorbell rang at exactly 7pm. I started to run to the door, tripped on my heels and feel onto my knees. Gabe and Nathan ran out to see what the thud was.

"What the fuck happened Trouble!" Nathan had moved forward to help me up. It took a few seconds for me to get my balance back.

"I got excited about the doorbell and tripped. The door! Victor has just been standing out there!" I walked, a little slower than I wanted, to the door and opened it. Victor stood there, with a handful of tulips, moving from foot to foot. He had on black dress pants and matching coat, a white button down shirt and a blue and silver tie that matched the belt on my dress. Gabe thinks of everything. When I opened the door his eyes were looking down at his shiny black shoes, but I saw his eyes sweep up until they locked on mine. The fire inside them was burning bright and I couldn't look away. Finally a cough from behind us broke the silence. I turned to see Gabe rolling his eyes at Nathan, who must have been the one to cough.

"Hi Princess. You look gorgeous. These are for you." He held the tulips out to me. They were purple and white parrot tulips and they looked so springy that I wondered where he got them this time of year. I took them from him and brought them close to my nose to smell. "Thank you Victor, they are beautiful."

Gabe came up behind me and reached around for the flowers. "I will put these in a vase for you Trouble. You two have fun! O and Sang" he paused until I looked at him "don't let Victor say no when they call him up." Gabe winked and then walked back into the kitchen. What did that mean? When who called him up? And up to where?

Nathan opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but instead he just did a small, somewhat weird looking, wave and backed up until he ran into the small table that was by the door. As he was steadying the table, he stuttered out a "bye, see you later" and then quickly followed Gabe. I turned back to Victor to see him smiling after Nathan.

"Well that went better than I thought I could. Ready Princess?" I nodded and followed him out to his car. He opened my door and waited for me to settle into the seat. Once he was settled I asked "what did Gabe mean? About not letting you say no?" Victor didn't answer at first, but looked over at me and just sighed. "Every once in a while, if the owner of the club is there and sees me, he asks if I can play something when the band is on a break. I usually don't like playing in front of people, but for some reason, at this club, I can."

"Maybe it is because your dad isn't there?" I know he doesn't like to play the concerts his parents schedule for him because his dad is so rough with him afterwards.

"Maybe. It may also be because they don't know who I am. The first time I went there I went with Gabe, Nathan, and Luke. The band was on a break and the owner went up to the stage and said that anyone that wanted to play could come up, kind of like an open mic time. I had no intention of doing it of course, but Gabe and Luke practically picked me up and placed me on stage. I played something quick, just wanting to get it over with, but I realized once I was done that it wasn't that bad. The owner came back on stage and asked me my name. I almost gave him my name, but then I thought, what if someone was here that would recognize the name? I didn't want it to get out that I was playing at a little Jazz Club. My parents would have a fit and I would probably never be able to go back. So I told him my name is Nathan Taylor. I go back about once a month, and if the owner is there, he calls me up on stage during the break."

"I love to hear you play. I didn't know you played Jazz though. Do you like to play it?"

"I can play pretty much anything Princess. I do like playing it, classical is really my strength, but jazz gives me something different. It is nice to have a change now and then, especially if I had a really rough concert or something."

We drove in silence for another half hour or so before Victor pulled the car into a parking garage and parked on one of the upper levels. "I hope you are okay with walking, it is only about a block, but it is easier to park here."

I frowned, thinking about my shoes, and my inability to walk in them. Victor followed my gaze down to my heels. "As long as we go slowly, I am still getting used to these and I don't want to fall again."

"Again?" Victor frowned as he looked back up. I retold my embarrassing story as we made our way out of the garage and down the street. By the time I finished Victor was holding my hand and laughing at my story.

"I'm sorry Princess. I don't mean to laugh, but when I was standing outside I heard a thud after I rang the doorbell and I imagined it was Gabe knocking Nathan out so that he would let you leave or something."

"Do you think he would do that!?"

"No, don't worry, I am sure they are both fine. We all promised each other no more throwing punches when it comes to our dates." He smiled at that and opened the door to the building we had stopped in front of. I walked in feeling Victor's hand on the small of my back as he followed me in. The inside of the club was darker than I imagined, with subtle lighting around the walls and focused on the stage at the far end of the room. There were booths lining two of the walls with tables scattered throughout the middle of the room. There was a long bar with two bartenders on the left wall. Most of the booths were full, and about half of the tables were too. People talked and laughed and didn't even notice that we walked in. Victor steered me to one of the open tables, and held the chair out for me to sit. It felt good to get off my feet, and I let out a big breath thinking about how I made it this far without falling on my face. Victor sat down in the chair next to mine and almost immediately someone was standing in front of us asking if we wanted anything to drink. Victor ordered us drinks and a few appetizers to snack on. I felt too nervous to eat, but I should probably have something.

We talked, ate, and listened to the music. It was wonderful and I felt like the night was going too quickly. One of the band members announced that they would be taking a 20 minute break and they all walked off the stage. A tall, thin man with dark black hair that fell to his shoulders hopped up to the microphone. "Good evening everyone! Thank you for joining us tonight. While our band takes a break I have special surprise for you. We have in our audience someone that does not visit us often enough, but every time he does, I make sure to ask him to share his talents with us. Please welcome to the stage, Mr. Nathan Taylor." He started clapping and holding his hands out towards our table. The other audience members were looking around and back to see where he was gesturing. Victor groaned, so only I could hear. I looked at him and saw he had a smile on his face. He looked over at me and whispered "I was hoping he didn't see me. Do you mind sitting here on your own for a few minutes?" I really didn't want to be here by myself, but I knew he couldn't say no now. Plus I loved to hear him play. "I will be fine, you go play before he comes back and drags you up there." Victor placed a small kiss on my forehead before standing up and walking up to the stage. Everyone started clapping as he took his seat at the piano positioned on the side of the stage. He nodded out to the crowd and I saw him take a deep breath and exhale slowly before he placed his hands on the keys. And then, it was as if everyone disappeared. It was only Victor and me there. He kept his eyes on the keys, but not to see what he was doing. His eyes seemed to turn to a fiery glass as he played a lovely, smooth piece that I have never heard before. I have listened to jazz before, but I never felt as connected to it as I do right now. He stopped playing far too quickly and sat there for a minute like he needed to regroup after letting it all go while playing. He made to stand up, but the crowd was clapping louder than before and a few people started shouting "encore!" I saw him look over to me as if he wanted my permission. I was already clapping, but I clapped harder and nodded my head, hoping that was what he was looking for. He sat back down and the crowd quieted down as he started up a second song.

The audience let him come back to the table after the second song and the owner, Joseph, came over to thank Victor/Nathan Taylor for playing.

"I wish you would come visit me more. You could be a regular on the stage you know."

Victor smiled and shook his hand. "Thank you, I will keep that in mind. I have a lot on my schedule right now, but I will try to come more often." Joseph looked at me and winked before moving to another table. A few minutes later, Victor told me it was time to get going. Already?

"It is ten o'clock Princess. You have an early morning with Mr. B. tomorrow too. He will probably put me some boring assignment if he finds out I kept you out too late you fall asleep on the golf course." He laughed at my shocked face – would Mr. Blackbourne really do that?

When we got back to Nathan's house Victor walked me up to the door. This time Nathan did not meet me at the door, that's a good sign right? Victor stood on the door step, holding my hand. He brought it up to his lips and kissed my knuckles. "I had an amazing time tonight Princess. I hope you did too."

"I did Victor. It was an incredible night. It was wonderful to hear you play too. Thank you for doing that."

"You're welcome Princess. It was not nearly as horrible when I knew you were out there listening. I pretended like you were the only one there, and I was playing just for you." He moved closer to me, keeping only a few inches between us.

"It felt like it was just the two of us. I could only hear you play; see you lose yourself in the music. It felt like you were only playing for me. It was beautiful Victor." I moved closer, eliminating any space between us. That was as far as I could make myself go though. I wanted to kiss him, but I started to get nervous again. I didn't need to worry though, Victor leaned his head down and closed his lips against mine. It was soft at first but he released my hand brought his arms around my waist to push us together even more. I pushed back against his lips and opened my lips slightly. Victor took my cue and moved his lips against mine. All too soon it was over and he was pulling his head away.

"Good night Princess. I will see you soon." He brushed his lips against mine quickly and then opened the door to let me in. Once I had stepped in, he smiled and closed the door behind me. I heard the car start up a few minutes later. I willed myself to move forward, but I didn't want to admit that the night was over. I stopped short when I got to the living room. Nathan and Kota were playing Xbox and Gabe was asleep on the couch. Kota and Nathan turned their heads when they heard me come in, pausing the game and standing up.

Kota looked at Nathan and then asked "how did it go Sang?"

I followed his gaze to Nathan and saw that he was looking at me, but he didn't seem angry.

"It was really good. Thank you for asking. I have never been to a jazz club before, and the band was really great. The owner even got Victor to play two songs during the break." Nathan's eyes went wide and then lowered. He eventually smiled and then walked towards me.

"That's great Peanut. I am glad you had fun. I think we should go to bed though, I hear you are waking up early tomorrow." I looked over at Kota and he was smiling too, nodding his head slowly and still looking at Nathan. "I am going to go Sang, I just wanted to keep Nate and Gabe company until you got back." I walked over to his open arms and he hugged me tight. I whispered "thank you Kota, for being here for Nathan." I felt him smile against my forehead and hear his whispered reply "you're welcome Sang. I did it as much for me as I did it for him. I am really happy that you had a good time. If I don't see you tomorrow then I will see you Sunday okay?" I nodded and he pulled away from the hug and left. I followed Nathan to his room and after getting into my pajamas I crawled in next to him. He grabbed my hand and put my finger in his mouth. I found his hand and did the same. I fell asleep like that.