Jason began to wish he'd taken the subway uptown when he began his long walk from his car towards Juilliard School of the Arts. Must be a packed house tonight. He followed the signs to the auditorium and bought his ticket, making it just in time when the tone sounded for the audience to take their seats. As the band began to tune in for the show to begin, he scanned the rows of the talented musicians. His breath caught when he saw a petite girl with a lovely heart shaped face seated to the grand piano. Those glasses, that light brown hair pulled back in a neat formal bun when it should be messy with a pencil through it, and he'd know that beautiful face anywhere.
Kelsi! he thought to himself, remembering that she had also received a scholarship for Juilliard. He looked again at the program and saw her name credited at the bottom, lead composer. How had he missed that?! She was obviously doing remarkably well in her program if she was composing at this level already. As the show began, the cast flew on and off the stage in a what Jason would only remember as a blur because once again, that beautiful pianist had completely mesmerized him.
The cast bowed at the end of the show and waved their hands through the traditional applause of the musicians and crew. When Kelsi bowed from her seat along with the band, she could swear she heard a sharp whistle from somewhere up in the balcony. Someone obviously liked the music. As the lights came up and the audience began to leave, she went about tidying up her music and chatting with her bandmates.
"Hey, playmaker," a voice called softly behind her. She straightened in surprise as an old memory flashed through her mind and turned sharply to see Jason Cross standing at the edge of the band pit leaning over the brass railing. One look at his kind smile and she was hit with the memory of his embrace as he helped her sink the one and only point she'd ever scored on a basketball court.
"Jason?! Oh my gosh!" She ran up the stairs of the pit to give him a polite hug, quickly noticing how much he'd changed and yet stayed the same since high school. His smile was the same, his laugh was the same, but he felt a bit leaner and stronger than he had the last time she was in his arms. "What are you doing here?"
"I saw the poster for the show and that Ryan was in it, I was hoping to catch him and say hi, but I wasn't expecting to see you too. They wrote your name way too small on the poster!" His happiness at seeing her was more than obvious from the sparkle in his eye and smile on his face.
"I'm glad you came, it's so good to see you! I didn't know you were in New York too," she said with a quizzical look at the coincidence since she didn't know where a lot of her classmates had ended up after East High.
"I'm doing an internship at the Stock Exchange as part of my third year at Berkeley College, I'm studying finance."
"That is so great!" she exclaimed, though it was hard to hide how surprised she was since it had seemed that he had only just graduated by the skin of his teeth. "I'd love to hear all about it! Actually, the three of us, me and Ryan and his girlfriend Tammy, were going to go for a coffee after the show tonight, want to join us?"
"I won't pass up the chance to catch up with you guys, but I don't want to intrude."
"Well I'll be damned! Jason Cross?!" Ryan's voice rang out from the stage as he ran down the side steps to meet them in front of the pit. He rushed up and wrapped Jason in a huge friendly hug that made Kelsi laugh from the tangible energy of this mini East High reunion. "What are you doing here?! Since when were you in New York?"
"I'm in my third year of financial studies, and I'm working an internship in between terms at the Stock Exchange," Jason replied.
"No kidding, that's awesome! Did Kelsi tell you we're heading out for a coffee?" Ryan asked as Tammy walked up beside him and he put his arm around her shoulder to receive her kiss on his cheek.
"Yeah she mentioned it," Jason gave Kelsi a glance and then extended his hand to Tammy, "you must be Tammy?"
"Indeed I am, pleasure to meet you, Jason," she replied, taking his hand in a gentle handshake.
"Come for a coffee with us, Jason," Ryan piped up, "we've gotta catch up on all this time after high school."
"Sure I'd love to," Jason answered, stealing another glance at Kelsi who smiled back.
"I'll just get my mess here cleaned up and I'll meet you guys out front," Kelsi said.
"Yeah, we won't be long getting cleared of costume, see you out front," Ryan said as he took Tammy's hand and headed backstage again. Jason took one last look at Kelsi tidying up her music and swore he saw a little spring in her step, probably the same one he had as he headed for the door.
The night air was cool for the and the city hummed with its usual uptown energy as Kelsi pushed through Juilliard's glass doors and took a quick look around for Jason, hoping he hadn't gotten lost on the huge campus. It had taken her a while to get used to it herself, but she quickly located him sitting on one of the benches that lined W 65th Street. He saw her making her way over to him and jumped off the bench with what seemed like a nervous energy.
"Hey, there you are," he said, "great job tonight by the way, it was great to hear you play again." Kelsi blushed, caught off guard by the compliment.
"Thanks, it's been a long road to pull it together but the whole crew did great." Jason looked over her shoulder and saw Ryan and Tammy making their way through the doors.
"Ah! there's the rest of the gang," He waved to get their attention and they made their way over to join Jason and Kelsi at the curb.
"Well where to?" Ryan asked, "I think there's like three Starbucks within a block every direction."
"Nah none of that overpriced rubbish, let's pop round to Maman on Columbus, it's just a block that way," Tammy chimed in and turned to lead the way to the independent coffee house. Kelsi followed along with Jason by her side and stole a couple shy glances his way. Her mind whirled back to the years they had spent in high school together, the classes they shared, the summer job at Lava Springs, the final show at East High, but above all she couldn't get the feeling of his arms around her at that one game out of her mind. She found herself dreaming about being wrapped in his arms again when she was suddenly pulled into them as a cyclist whizzed past them. Jason had managed to grab her shoulders and rip her out of the way and out of her daze.
"Geez, what the heck?!" she exclaimed loudly over her shoulder as the cyclist flew by without so much as a glance behind him.
"That was close," Jason said, pulling her instinctively close to his chest as though he needed to protect her, "you okay?" Kelsi eased away from him and blushed heavily.
"Yeah, thanks." She hadn't been hit by a bike, but she was far from okay.
Maman on Columbus St. hummed with a different energy on a quiet Monday night as the group made their way through the door. The usual bustling brunch crowd and afternoon chatter had been replaced by a sense of peaceful solitude. The faint scent of freshly brewed coffee mingled with the sweetness of pastries, creating a warm and inviting aroma. The four friends ordered their drinks and settled into a booth, Ryan took a seat with Tammy, leaving Jason and Kelsi to slide into the same side together.
"Great show tonight guys, felt like old times, you guys running the musicals at East High," Jason started off, eager to say something to make it seem as though he had actually watched the show. He knew he had his eyes on Kelsi the whole time, but he didn't need them to know that. The conversation carried on like no time had passed, except the years of details that they all needed to recount. Ryan told of all the dance injuries he'd suffered, Jason rambled a bit about his stock exchange job, Tammy justified why she wanted to come to Juilliard instead of RADA, and Kelsi rounded out the conversation with her struggle she was having with the songs for the winter show.
"You probably shouldn't come to that one, Jason," she said taking a sip of her tea latte, "it's not likely to be my best work."
"Don't beat yourself up Kelsi," Tammy replied, playing with the string of the tea bag that still sat steeping, "it'll be great."
"Come on, Kelsi," Jason chimed in before downing the last swig of his black coffee, "its your music, can't possibly be bad." She blushed at the compliments of her friends and took another sip of her warm drink.
"We'll see I guess." she sighed. Ryan swirled up the hot chocolate that had settled at the bottom of his mug and glanced up at a clock on the wall.
"Shoot is that the time?! We better get going, baby, I almost forgot we had that Skype call with your family tonight," he said nudging Tammy towards the outside of the booth.
"Pretty sure it's tomorrow night, love." She gave Ryan a confused look as she was pushed off the seat.
"Nope, I'm sure it's tonight, I'll see you tomorrow at rehearsals, Kelsi, great to see you again, Jason," he said as he reached out to shake Jason's hand. With that, he put his hand on the small of Tammy's back and guided her out the door as she issued her goodnights over her shoulder. When they had exited and cleared the coffee shop, Tammy turned sharply to Ryan.
"What the bloody hell was that?!"
"Shh shhh," Ryan hushed her hoping they hadn't been heard, "Jason is totally digging being with Kelsi again, I wanted to give them some time alone, see if those old sparks fly again." Tammy let a devious grin creep across her lips.
"Ah playing the matchmaker I see. Guess we'll have to use it as an excuse to get home for a shag then," she replied with a wink. Ryan wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek.
"Don't I love it when you talk British to me."
Back inside the coffee shop, Kelsi and Jason sat in a moment of awkward silence now that they had just been left alone.
"How about you?" Jason asked to break the silence, "any other plans tonight? I don't want to keep you if you've got to run." Kelsi sipped her latte and looked at the clock.
"Not for me, I don't have to be at rehearsal till ten tomorrow, you?"
"I usually go to bed late, for the lack of sleep there's always coffee," he replied with a chuckle and nudged his empty mug. Kelsi smiled at him, she'd forgotten how much she liked this guy. His simple humour, kind heart, killer smile, everything she remembered about him from high school came flooding back to her. Only, he wasn't the same guy from high school. He had quickly turned into a man with a budding career who somehow still had time to hit the gym from the look of his strong chest mostly concealed under his coat.
"So what made you go into finance?" Kelsi asked.
"Well, thanks to Miss Darbus, everyone knows I barely graduated, but that was because of all the other courses, sciences, history, but my business course went oddly well. I took an elective too that was about personal finances, money math instead of algebra, and it all made so much more sense to me." He paused to slide his empty cup around. "It was the one class I did really well in so I did a bit more research and decided finance was the route for me."
"On route to that first million then, huh?"
"Nah, might happen one day, but honestly I just love it, and I want to help people with their finances when I get out of school. Help them build a better life by being smarter with their money." He was surprised how easily his hopes and dreams slid off his tongue as he shared them with Kelsi. There was definitely a sense of comfort and ease here with her. "And where do you see yourself after Juilliard?"
"I don't know yet," she replied with a shrug, "music is my life, and I'm grateful for the scholarship, it'll help me get out with less debt so that maybe I can open my own music school back home."
"You're headed back to Albuquerque?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I think so, aren't you?" she retorted with a slightly surprised look.
"I don't know, I love the city life here in New York, don't know if I can head back to the suburbs." The mention of their hometown brought up another long conversation about how their families were doing, old memories from high school, and lots of laughter about all the ruckus they had raised as teens. After wiping away a few tears of laughter at a hilarious story Jason told about the shenanigans of the basketball team, Kelsi looked back up at the clock and realized it was getting pretty late.
"This has been a lot fun, Jason, I'm really glad you came out tonight, but I think I'm going to have to call it a night," she said as she moved to slide out of the booth.
"Shit, you're right," Jason muttered as he looked at his phone and saw 10:38 on the display, "and I've still got to drive downtown." Kelsi glanced at his phone and was about to ask him for his number, but she waited to see if he would ask her. As if on queue, he flicked to the contacts app and pressed the plus sign in the top corner.
"Here, can you put your number in? I'd love to know when that winter show is on or maybe we can all do this again sometime." She pushed down the butterflies in her stomach and casually took his phone.
"Sure, that sounds nice," she said as she typed her number in. They took their empty mugs to the counter and headed out the door. "Where did you park?" Kelsi asked as she snugged her sweater tighter against the surprising chill of the night air.
"Oh way down W 65th St, parking was murder tonight, either way I'll walk you back." Jason started to lead the way back towards Juilliard and Kelsi smiled that she had another quality about him that she really liked to add to her list. What a perfect gentleman.