No Place I'd Rather Be PV Elena Jones Finished

Elena realised Min-seo hadn't dropped her hand when they entered the Rehearsal room, and the blue haired girl didn't really want to let go, so she decided instead to wait until her friend realised, or until she needed to actually play an instrument, either one worked. So instead she considered, viola was her original plan, but flute might work too. She'd let the other girl decide, but probably suggest viola, it was a perfect moment to use the instrument, and she used it in for an audience in way too long, who knows, she might even be a bit rusty. Probably not. Definitely not, she played it almost daily.

"Well, I was going to play my viola, but I can also use my flute, my fiddle, or I can try some piano, I'm not to good at piano though, if I'm being honest you probably want me playing one of the first two. Fiddle is fun but I think for this the viola would be best." Elena thought through her music library, "I learned to play Rather Be a couple of weeks ago, if you'd like that. Otherwise I can play Havana or Tears, whichever one you'd like I guess."

"Well, I was going to play my viola, but I can also use my flute, my fiddle, or I can try some piano, I'm not too good at piano though, if I'm being honest you probably want me playing one of the first two. Fiddle is fun but I think for this the viola would be best." Elena thought through her music library, "I learned to play Rather Be a couple of weeks ago, if you'd like that. Otherwise I can play Havana or Tears, whichever one you'd like I guess."

Min-seo smiled. "If you were originally going to play the viola, then why don't you stick with it? I would love to hear it." Min-seo said. "And No Place I'd Rather Be would be amazing. I love that song." she looked down at their hands. Oops. She was still holding her hand. She slowly let go, not really wanting to, but embarrassed. "Sorry, you need to play an instrument, I should've realized sooner. I am so oblivious sometimes,"she said with a small blush of embarrassment. She really didn't notice and was really embarrassed. She sat on the piano stool, and played a few notes on the piano for no reason, actually.

"It's alright Min, I forgot to let go too, and it's fine. I would've eventually let go when I realised, probably. It was nice anyway." Elena realised she was rambling and decided to go do something else to distract herself, like find sheet music, and make sure everything was ready. Important things like that.

"Rather Be it is! I'll double check the sheet music, hold on." Elena strode over to her viola case and opened it, she pulled out the instrument and looked through the sheets of paper underneath. She finally found it hiding under a copy of Four Seasons In One Day and pulled it free, "So, do you play any instruments."

Elena hummed the tune as she read the music, it looked like she'd be fine without it, but even then she was sort of nervous. Elena really didn't want to screw up, so she dragged over a music stand and slotted the music into place. Her bow was exactly where she left it, so that meant no bow hunting. Hehe, bow hunting.

"So, are you ready?" Elena drew her bow along to check if it was still tuned, it worked! No awkward retuning for her, that was good.

"It's alright Min, I forgot to let go too, and it's fine. I would've eventually let go when I realized, probably. It was nice anyway."

Min-seo blushed a bit. It was nice? Hm? She looked down.

"Rather Be it is! I'll double check the sheet music, hold on."

Min-seo smiled and nodded, and watched Elena look for the sheet music.

"So, do you play any instruments?"

Min-seo smiled and nodded. "I play the piano, and I sing if that counts as music. My Godfather owns one of those huge grand pianos, and he taught me how to play. I think I was, maybe 7 or 8. I love the sound of it. I just love music in general. Sorry, I'm rambling." She said quickly. She watched as Elena looked for the right materials to start playing. She got everything in position and grabbed her bow which was right beside her.

"So, are you ready?"

She heard Elena play one note to see if it was tuned. She smiled and nodded.
"As ready as I'll ever be." she said, still smiling. She sat back down on the piano bench and flared out her dress so it didn't get wrinkled.

Elena smiled, “I hope you like it.”

She breathed in and started to play the music, the melody flowed from her viola and she had to stop herself from doing her usual jumps and spins. This was for Min, so it would be better to just stand and play, although she wished she could sing at the same time. Maybe Min-seo would sing, that would be nice. For now though Elena would just take comfort in the rhythmic movements of the bow over the viola’s strings.

The dancing she used worked better with the fiddle than her viola anyway, although it would be fun with a faster song, if Min wanted some more music then maybe Elena could play Tears or Baby, the Clean Bandit versions of course. Not the wreck made by that kid everyone liked for a good decade there. She still had her fiddle too, and most of Lindsey Stirling was written for ballet. That could work too.

So Elena kept playing the tune, most of the time she had her eyes closed, choosing to feel the music instead of reading off of the sheet. Eventually she opened her eyes and looked at Min-seo, wondering if she liked it.

Elena beamed at Min-seo, her voice was absolutely breathtaking. The sound of her voice echoing through the Rehearsal Room was beautiful, and the idea that she was singing along to Elena’s music made the blue haired girl oddly happy. It was nice, to do something like this, Elena got this feeling like she was soaring, truly free. Although she wasn't quite sure why something as simple as this was causing it, she must have a virus or something. Elena hoped she hadn't spread it to Min-seo, probably not since she didn't have any other symptoms.

The music was fast enough that Elena's arm started to get sore, she should've stretched before starting, it had been way too long since she last did this much playing. Usually she slowed it down a bit so she could practice hitting the notes in the right order, normal speed was getting a bit difficult. She could work through it though. It couldn't be too hard to just finish playing a single song.

As Elena hit the halfway mark she finally started to spin and dip her viola as a way of dancing. It felt better to move while she was playing, maybe it would even invite Min-seo to join in.

Elena's smile widened as Min-seo spun around her, she would've laughed but the comforting weight against her neck reminded her that wasn't really much of an option. Min's voice echoed through the room, beautiful and light. To Elena, in that moment she wasn't just a princess, she was an angel. Spinning through the room in a ballet dress with the stormlight reflecting through the window. Every single part of the moment was perfect, and Elena tried to catch the images in her mind forever, nothing could ruin this for her.

Min-seo managed to nail the high note, which was honestly amazing as Elena had trouble with singing that high. Damn her high alto voice. She could sing Melanie Martinez and most male singers. Even though she had never told anyone, she actually liked punk rock best. In fact she was planning on getting more punk style clothes over the break, she was hoping to come back with a shorter haircut and some more leather, although she hoped it wouldn't be too over the top to some of her friends. Min-seo and Alan were gentle souls, but they maybe needed a punk rock friend, someone a bit more of a rebel to protect them.

They were at the last refrain of the song, so close to the end.