Winter, Year 5, Month 1
Reeve stood at the edge of the stage. People were hurrying all around her but she made a point not to notice. Just as she made a point not to notice the look the backstage manager had sent first her then Kelly when they informed her there would be no wardrobe change.
Her Grammy was gone. It had been passed to an underling as soon as they were off stage. Kelly only paused to make sure that Reeve's would be in her hands, engraved, along with the rest she had won that night, by the time her performance was over.
The lights in the auditorium were up and the crowd was chatting with each other, mingling, while everywhere around the country a round of commercials was playing. A crew was preparing the stage and Reeve watched as they pushed the large piano into place. And then she watched as the string quartet took their seats beside it. Anton's doing, Reeve thought. The two made a small half-moon of space where they then placed a microphone stand.
Reeve held the missing mic in her hands. Kelly had passed it to her, her interceptor from all others.
There was a small flurry of activity and Reeve turned her head to catch sight of Kelly whispering something to one of the security guards standing nearby. Reeve recognized the look on Kelly's face when she met her eyes. An unspoken thank you passed between them.
Jon had tried to approach but been turned away. His attempt to somehow make this night about him had failed. This night wasn't his to celebrate. It was hers.
Anton appeared at her side having left his seat in the crowd. He already had his in-ears in place and gave Reeve a quick squeeze on the shoulder before heading out onto the stage, taking his place behind the piano. The sight was familiar and Reeve's mind latched itself to it, making it her anchor as the lights all around went out and a single spotlight lit up the empty mic-stand.
The hurried energy behind her reached its climax but it only reached Reeve in Kelly's gentle words, whispered in her ear. Reeve placed her in-ears in place at the words "It's time" and stepped out onto the stage.
A large group sat waiting for her. The bottom level of the theater ran to the back of the house, those final seats near the exit impossible to even see. It was somehow bigger than she remembered. She had played before crowds three times this size, recently, and yet this particular crowd made her hands shake. She didn't want to look up at the two levels rising towards the ceiling.
With so many eyes locked on her, Reeve closed her own just as her steps placed her right at her mark. She gave Anton a nod and the music started.
It was low and quiet. It came in soft through her headphones and the only thing Reeve could hear was Anton gentle touch on the piano keys as he played the intro. It wasn't too long before she had to open her mouth and sing. When she did, the words came out on their own, her brain barely even aware of putting in an effort as the song did all the work.
Her voice followed the words, letting their meaning dictate the strength and emotion. It was everything she was feeling within herself at that moment and she couldn't have written a song that fit the situation more.
Her hands stayed wrapped around the mic as she stood in its shadow. All that was missing was a kitchen bar-stool and she would have been in her studio back home rehearsing. It was still Anton at her side behind the piano like it had been during those late nights, only now the mic she held in her hands was hooked up to a sound system and it was sending her voice out into a large room filled to the brim with every important member of the music industry. When she sang this time, it was heard.
As the strings came in and the emotion in the song dared to swell, Reeve's mind let her voice take charge and instead took a quick stroll down memory lane, the same one this song always sent her down.
The memories it evoked weren't hard to find as they were worn from use.
First came that late night in the studio. The city outside the windows was slowly fading into the night, one light after another turning itself off and letting one more star take its place.
Reeve was behind the piano as she was so often during that time of her life. The bench had been worn into a familiar shape and it was the most comfortable place in the room. A notebook lay on the piano and her fingers danced lightly up and down on the keys. They moved as quietly as possible as she wasn't the only person in the room.
Behind her, asleep on the couch only a few feet away, Noah was pretending to be working. He even had his notebook and papers laid out around him. But his head had nodded off to the side over an hour before. His light snores escaped and floated up into the rafters above, the only other sound to Reeve's attempt at songwriting.
They had gone out for dinner and he had insisted on keeping her company while she worked afterward. There was even a vague excuse of needing to work himself. Reeve didn't have to look too hard to see a desire to see her in her natural element where it stood right next to Noah's desire to not leave her just yet, both of them sitting right behind his warm brown eyes.
He had even made coffee while Reeve started to work, his presence and his occasional noises easily becoming a comfortable addition to the room. It was while watching him sleep that Reeve's fingers found the melody she had been searching for. The rest of the song didn't take long to come around after that.
It was inspired by all the times Reeve found herself surprised by this person sitting behind to her, one of the few people who saw her as a real human being. It was inspired by the way he smiled at her for no reason, by the light that took over his eyes whenever it was just the two of them. By the look of concern he wore when crouched down on his knees in front of his dad's chair, by the way he bit the top of his pens when he was concentrating. By the way he had no idea just how important he had become to Reeve and by how content he seemed just to be a part of her life.
He had surprised her the first time they had met. He had put her safety and well-being over whatever else he was doing at that moment. Reeve would find out later that he was actually in that coffee shop to meet with a client. He had missed the meeting to make sure she was okay, someone he didn't even know.
And he kept surprising her, every single day.
It was easy to remember when she had finally surprised him. Reeve felt her lips smile at the memory, her voice going right along with the melody as the strings took over for the second chorus.
It was after dinner at his apartment with his father and he had driven her home just like he had many times before. It was on that night that Reeve could finally put into words what she had felt for Noah for longer than she cared to admit. And was with a breath of relief that he smiled and replied the same. Those three words made up the heart of the song and it made up every moment the two of them spent together from then on. It wasn't said much but they both knew that it floated just above their heads.
And then finally there was the night Reeve showed Noah the song. It had only taken her a few moments to write it and she didn't dare show anyone until Noah heard it first.
He had finally woken up and listened to Reeve when she suggested he head home and get some real sleep. Reeve didn't mention what he had just inspired her to create as she watched him leave, as she smiled as he gave her one last glance before climbing into his car, heading out into the sleeping city.
It was only when once again it was just the two of them in the studio. Her hands shook then too and she couldn't keep her from heart racing. He noticed and took them in his to steady them. He said with genuine enthusiasm that he would love to hear her new song.
Her eyes stayed on her fingers as they found the familiar chords and the words took their time coming to her tongue, the song still in its infancy in her brain. She could feel Noah's eyes on her as her voice filled the air around them. Time froze around the two of them in that moment, the world outside no longer in existence as nothing else mattered but the two of them and that song.
When Reeve finally looked up, she was once again surprised. He was smiling and blinking hard. She didn't get a chance to see whether or not there were tears because Noah closed the distance between the two of them, holding her face gently in his hands and kissed her.
The music in her ears came to a stop and her voice was the only sound coming over the speakers as she sang out the final chorus. Her eyes finally opened and there was only one face she saw in the crowd when she did. The rest had faded from view. There was no question now. There were tears and they were there now as Reeve sang to Noah and no one else.
The roaring applause that came once the song had ended fell on deaf ears as Reeve only heard the song playing over and over again in her mind as Noah stood with the rest of the crowd, clapping at his own pace while those around him cheered and screamed.
Putting a hand to her lips, Reeve kissed her fingertips and it sent it to him. Mouthing a silent 'thank you' that was meant only for him, Reeve had thanked all of the people who had helped get her to where she needed to be, ending the most important.
A/N:
I listened to "The Words" by Christina Perri on repeat while writing this scene so many times that it was my most listened to song last year.
So Alexa, play "The Words" by Christina Perri.