-1 year later-

James and I were unstoppable ...

We traveled all over the U.S. with Meredith and my mom, hoping from stage to stage. At first it was hard, getting to know each others tempo and finding the right way to blend. But by the time we had our first concert at the Colorado Rockies national park we had found it. Whatever 'it' was.

But now was the day of the nationals, the day we had been practicing for day and night for what had been a few months.

We were a great team, the two of us. From concert to concert until the day of nationals came. The song we had chosen was Clair De Lune primarily because it advocated for our strong suit which was emotions. We were good at making people feel stuff through our songs, through everything we did.

And that was the plan. We wouldn't be like every other couple on the stage, we would play so that they felt what was going on. So that it became a journey, much like the months of him were.

"Are you feeling okay?" Meredith asked and I blinked, coming back to his senses and turning to her, who was looking down at him with a smile.

"I'm fine. Nervous but fine."

"No matter what happens, know I'm proud of the two of you." She gave my hand a small squeeze while I smiled. They hadn't talked much over the past hour, though they had been in a rush.

"Thank you."I smiled before turning to look at James, who was finishing up a phone call with his mother.

He looked at me and I gave him a sad smile that I returned. I could only understand what he was going through. This was a very important night and his whole family was thousands of miles away not able to be here.

I could only hope that I was enough out there, staring into the dark abyss with nothing but the strings tying us together. Keeping us from falling apart.

"I love you too," James said before hanging up and sliding the phone into his pocket.

"Did you turn it off?"

"Why would I?" James asked, looking ahead to the stage where two people sat in front of the audience, playing Liebestraum No. 3, 'Loves Dream'.

"Because... because what if it goes off?" I asked and James looked amused by this.

"It's on silence."

"But it still buzzes," I pointed out and James raised his eyebrows, apparently still not getting the point.

"It does," He agreed.

"Doesn't that distract you?" I asked. I could recall one of my first concerts, which would have been back in elementary school, when my small flip phone had spent the entire time buzzing in my pocket. Multiple mistakes had been made and afterwards I had been scowled heavily by my mother and sent to my room. Without dinner.

"I think you're overestimating how often it goes off," James said with this new undertone of playfulness that he was apparently using now, "Not many things can distract me, anyways."

I averted his eyes when James looked at me as if I was one of the things that could.

"Would you like me to turn it off?" James asked, and I was about to say no but James had already withdrawn his phone from his pocket and switched turned off. "There".

"Uh- thank-"

"Next for your tonight is-" began from the stage and I swallowed, glancing down at my shimmery dress nervously.

"Hey," James said, his voice soft now as I chewed on my lip. "We're going to do great".

When James said we're it took some of the pressure off of me, making me relax just a little as a hand was placed in the small of my back and gently lead me forward onto the stage.

James looked completely at ease, walking onto the stage until stopping short of the grand piano, and looking towards me. I gave him a short smile and, unlike our previous performances my breaths were even and the lines of my face soft, rather than sharp with worry.

I quickly sat at the piano bench, letting my fingers brush over the ivory keys before looking up at James who's index finger of his left hand traced the scroll of his expensive instrument absently. There was something there, I had decided. Something beyond physical attraction that I couldn't quite explain.

Perhaps it was the way we played tougher after all this time, how we could read one another. How our souls intertwined when we payed, our passion. Everything.

Lately, when James directed smiles at me, my heart beat faster for more reasons than that James was extraordinary. I felt like only one thing could cause the dull ache in my chest even after James looked away.

Feelings.

Though it had been a while since I had caught feelings for someone, the feeling of falling in love was unmistakeable.

James smiled dazzlingly at the crowd and adjusted his music stand. He was looking handsome that night, wearing a light grey dress shirt with the collar turned down. And then I realized that James was looking back at me, smiling softly as if he knew that I was thinking about him.

Pink lips mouthed "are you ready?"

And I nodded shortly, lifting my hands gracefully and setting them on the keys. My mind was racing, already five steps ahead and thinking of what to do, of what key to play at what time with what amount of pressure and body language. I could see it all, the entire layout floating before me and all I had to do was reach out, to start it with the press of a key. And then it would begin.

So I did.

Breathing in sync, we began, immediately agreeing on a tempo that was somewhat faster than usual, but neither seemed to have a problem with. Quite the contrary. We were actually performing much better at this speed and I wondered why we hadn't before.

Once again I found myself fascinated not only by the boy in front of him, but by his talent. As the song came to a slow I continued whereas James stopped, knowing very well that all eyes were on me.

I looked up to find James staring at him, shaking his head when I caught his eye. Not faster. Nodding absently, I moved my hands down the piano, breathing in and out, letting my eyes fall closed before I applied pressure to the white keys, playing the cord.

My hands moved at the speed they normally did for this peace, my fingers moving over the keys in familiar ways as I kept my eyes closed, feeling the music rather than just playing it. Two measures before I was to cue James back in, I opened my eyes, looking directly at James who was doing the same in return, seeming dazed.

My heart beat faster and my hands almost faltered. Almost.

Typically by this time James would have his violin up on his shoulder and bow on the string, ready to play.

But he was just watching me, his eyes glassed over. A measure before he was supposed to play his note.

I raised an eyebrow at James and that seemed to be enough to pull him out of his trance because he moved quickly, getting into his typical position, turning away from me to his music, only a beat before he was to begin playing.

Every other time they had played this song, I closed my eyes after James first note until he had to cue the other again, but this time my eyes didn't fall shut.

They couldn't.

Not with James looking at absolute peace, his eyes half open and mouth slightly parted as he played, his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to focus on both finger placement and vibrato speed. It was the face of someone who loved what they were doing. For the first time, I saw no hatred in the way that James played, just a slight hesitation to love it completely.

It was easy to see the exact moment James hesitation disappeared, to recognize the softening of his features into complete submission to the instrument, letting it play him just as easily as he played it. James had stopped thinking, I could tell, and just started playing. His eyes shut, not needing the music on the page to tell him what to do anymore.

It was a beautiful sight and I couldn't help but to watch it until the adagio before he had to look down at his hands for the allegro. I tried my best to not get distracted by the awe that was James Fletcher for the rest of the performance, falling miserably every time I was given the opportunity to look.

Playing the last note of his final song, James turned his head towards me, violin still under his chin as he nodded slowly and I lifted my hands off of the keys.

The entire concert hall was quiet for a total of two seconds before it erupted in applause and James smiled easily before looking to me. We shared a brief moment, just looking at one another, before James turned back to bow and we were ushered off stage.