~Tahlia.

Five days after my second visit to Brewer's with Keene to listen to Declan's lovely playing, I found myself poised to indulge in another musical treat, albeit an unconventional one. After much negotiation with the musicians' guild, my father had come to the conclusion they were unable to meet our standards, despite the act their very purpose for existing was to provide us with musicians who lived up exactly to our expectations.

A discussion between myself, my parents, my brother Benjamin, and our band director had ensued, in which we had came to an unusual arrangement. Instead of auditioning them in private, we would gather a handful of potential candidates and have them perform a song or two with the band in order to evaluate who played along best.

We'd ended up with five candidates. Per my request, my father called up Declan to audition, and a player each from Keene and Benjamin's respective circles of friends also agreed to try their luck. The other two, our director apparently gleaned from his own connections.

At any rate, I sat down in the auditorium in the downstairs of our mansion and smoothed my dress in my lap with my palms, excitement growing as I anticipated what would essentially be a musical competition for a spot in the prestigious Paige band. Keene and my father sat down on either side of me and unbuttoned their suit jackets as they did so. My mother and brothers took up the rest of the row, and a few guests I had no acquaintance with, but had been invited by my mother, settled in seats behind us.

Before long, the director came onto stage and announced the procedure he would be using for the audition. Each saxophonist would play one uptempo original piece to test their technique and sight-reading skills, and one more sentimental tune to put their phrasing and musicality itself on display.

The first player frankly reminded me of a raccoon, with the mischievous expression in his beady eyes, as well as his stocky physique. The tenor saxophone appeared a large instrument in his hands, due to his own size. I also observed his silvery instrument sparkled in the light, almost blindingly at times.

But appearances were the only remarkable aspect of the man. I found his playing predictable, almost pre-calculated. There was nothing to openly object to in his performance; it simply failed to impress me either. When he slunk off the stage at the end of his turn, I nearly feared he would actually steal something due to his suspicious manner.

Next was the second saxophonist from our director's circle, and he left a significantly stronger impression in my mind. He constantly switched between the alto and tenor saxophones, having brought both on stage, which did grow to be an old trick after a while, but I nonetheless found it interesting. Overall, he performed well, but I wasn't left with too much to say about him.

Benjamin's recommendation followed. This lady saxophonist did play exceptionally well, with a lovely sound and choice phrasing, but when she came to the slow tune, which was full of long notes, she sounded to have great difficulty in sustaining her tone for the required duration. That wasn't the most egregious flaw I had seen that night, but it did stand out.

Fourth was Declan, who I predictably had been excited to see. He outdid himself on his slow tune as I expected he would, creating so much beauty with very few notes, and sustaining his full sound for much longer durations than the one preceding him had. However, he stumbled many times on his uptempo tune, barely playing the outline of the melody and also clearly struggling through a solo at the demanding speed. He walked off the stage at the end with a graceful bow, but clear disappointment on his face.

And finally, the man Keene had suggested stepped on the stage. He sported black hair as full on the crown of his head as it was on his chin, and his eyes hid themselves behind sunglasses. He played an alto, and his performance in almost all respects excelled Declan's. This man kept right up with the challenging tempo, reading the unfamiliar music perfectly on the spot and improvising masterful lines over the solo section. He also offered an amazing performance over the slow tune, interspersing improvisational phrases between those of the melody.

Altogether, he showed himself to be an exceedingly great player, though even still, his performance didn't stick with me as Declan's did. For what reason that could be, I couldn't put a finger on.

At any rate, the concert was over, so as the lights overhead brightened, I rose and sucked in a deep breath. My father leaned down to my ear and informed me the director would make his way down to us to discuss the selection of players in a moment, which I nodded to. However, I decided to get a quick breath of fresh air, so excused myself and stepped outside.

When I set foot outside, I was first hit by the lovely fresh air directly following a hard rain, before that was snatched away by the acrid odor of a cigarette. I glanced to my right and spotted the female saxophonist from earlier, leaning against the building and smoking. She glanced up with hardened eyes and gave me a nod I didn't at all appreciate. I turned from her and found Declan against the wall on the other side of the door, polishing the bell of his instrument. With a smile, I headed over to him.

Declan glanced up upon hearing my approach, and his light blue eyes brightened upon recognizing me. "Hello, Miss Paige. Good to see you."

"You too!" I chirped, "How are you feeling?"

He shrugged. "Not the greatest. I really messed up in there."

"It wasn't all bad. I quite enjoyed the first one you did."

"Well, if it wasn't all bad, that also means it wasn't all good."

I laughed lightly. "You can't fixate on the negatives like that, Declan. Even though you didn't play perfectly the whole time, your performance was still one of my two favorites of tonight."

"Which one's the other one?"

"The one who played after you, with the alto."

"He really knows how to play." Declan said with a hearty nod, "I'm surprised I haven't heard him anywhere, or even heard of him."

"Well, from what Mr. Abrams tells me, he's quite the perfectionist. Even though he could be out there making a name for himself, he still locks himself away for hours on end every day to iron out his playing. This is his first time auditioning anywhere."

Declan's eyes widened. "I can't really see why a man of his abilities would think he has so much to work on. I can only dream of playing like that."

"I suppose we all take greater notice of our own flaws than others might. I seldom enjoy my own paintings anywhere near as much as my family does. Every errant brush stroke stands out to me like a sore thumb, yet nobody else can notice them even if I point them out directly."

"You do make a good point." Declan remarked with a thoughtful nod. "What do you like to paint, then? Just curious."

"Mostly landscapes. I'd like to get better at capturing faces on canvas as well, but there's just something elusive about people that's difficult to properly portray with pigment alone. I'm probably not making any sense."

"No, I know exactly what you mean. At least ... I think I do. It's one thing to accurately put all the features down, but to make it look as if there's a soul behind those eyes, that must be hard."

My lips parted in surprise. I hadn't even told the man what aspect exactly I had been struggling with in my art, yet he addressed it directly as if I had.

"You speak as if you have some familiarity with art yourself." I said, "Is that true?"

"Not at all." Declan replied with a chuckle, "Not painting, at least. I guess as a musician, I am an artist of sorts, just with sound instead of color."

"That does make sense. Both are avenues to express creativity, just very different mediums."

"Exactly. Well, maybe I'll stop being so hard on myself if you cut yourself some slack as well, Miss Paige."

I returned his playful grin with one of my own. "It's Tahlia. And is that a challenge, or an ultimatum?"

"Who knows?"

My eyes narrowed, but face remained lighthearted. "I'd better head back inside, but I must thank you for the conversation. You are an insightful man."

"It's a pleasure to talk with you as well. You're much the same."

"Thank you. Good evening." I said with a dip of my head.

Declan returned the gesture. "Good night to you too."

I made my way back inside with an inexplicably wide grin on my face, which I contained with a concerted effort once I'd come into the main seating area of the auditorium. Listening to Declan's musicianship was a pleasure, and so was speaking to him. I couldn't even put a finger on why, but I very much wanted to ensure he was able to stay around.

* * * * * 

A/N: A round of auditions and a nice outside chat later, here we are! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if you did, don't forget to vote and comment! 😁

I don't have much to say here, so random question! Is your mail or your email inbox more full of trash? 😂

(For me, I think it's pretty even? Maybe that's just my impression since my garbage emails are kinda scattered across several accounts, where I only have one physical mailbox, but yeah. I guess that means I have more useless emails coming in. Anyways. 😂)

Anyways, have an amazing week, and I'll see you in next week's update!