#setinvader

The first few scales O’Brien ran through sounded perfect.They were also basic ones he’d been playing since he first started learningsaxophone, so they had to be. When he moved to the more complicated ones, hisfingers kept slipping and he had to play slower to avoid completely butcheringthem.

Sheffield laughed and didn’t try to hide it. His smilelooked perfectly friendly as he looked over at O’Brien, but somehow O’Briencould still feel so much condescension emanating from him. “Are you drunk? Thatwas awful,” Sheffield said. He put his hands on his knees and leaned slightlyforward. “If you’re really the best the band has, I’m concerned.”

“Shut up,” O’Brien snapped, lowering the mouthpiece awayfrom his face. “I was up all night practicing and I’m tired.” He wanted tosmack the smile off Sheffield’s face, but he knew he couldn’t. Sheffield wasthe leader of the orchestra, and if O’Brien picked a fight with him now, thejoint concert between the band and orchestra would never work out.

O’Brien sighed and stretched his fingers, opening andclosing his hands over and over. Both the band and orchestra programs were injeopardy thanks to major funding cuts the high school was suffering from. Theirbest option to save both of them was to put on a fundraiser, and the best wayto fundraise was through a joint concert with a ticket fee. Band was O’Brien’slife, and he was obsessed with getting his part for the concert perfect. Hedidn’t know what he’d do if the program he’d dedicated so much time to suddenlyvanished.

The main song the band and orchestra would play together wasDvorak’s New World Symphony. O’Brien nearly had his part memorized, but he didn’ttrust Sheffield to do the same. He’d heard plenty about him from some youngergirls in the band, and it turned out he was the youngest concert master theorchestra had ever had. He had a ridiculous amount of natural talent, but O’Briendidn’t quite appreciate it. He was born with no talent to speak of and workedhis fingers bloody to get his position in the band.

“Whatever, let’s look over the music,” Sheffield said. Hetook his violin out of its case and sat it on his lap, then ran rosin over thehorse hair part of his bow a few times. He clipped a shoulder rest onto theback of the instrument, then dug his music out of his violin case. When he sat thebook of music down on the music stand, the cold metal made a whining noise anddropped half an inch lower to the ground.

“I know this is simplified, but the violins and violas arestill having some trouble in the fourth movement,” Sheffield said, suddenly actingserious. He flipped to that part of the book and pointed to a few measures he’dmarked with a yellow highlighter. “They sound fine except for this part. Someof them are getting so lost they just drop out entirely.”

Sheffield lifted his violin to his shoulder. “These linesare the worst,” he said, then proceeded to play them. He played slightly slowerthan the written tempo, but he didn’t miss a note. O’Brien watched silently ashis thin fingers gracefully moved up and down the neck of the violin. The musicsounded complicated, but the way Sheffield played it made it look likesomething out of a children’s book. As soon as he finished, Sheffield loweredthe violin and looked back at O’Brien. “That part. Do you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” O’Brien answered. “That’s aproblem with us too. Can we play it together quick? I wanna know how it fits.Reading the score isn’t the same as hearing it.” He had the same part in hismusic marked by a small cat sticker and ‘Talk to Serph.’

“That’s fine,” Sheffield answered, lifting his violin again.“Let’s start on four. One, two, three…”

They played together slightly under tempo, but they fittogether perfectly. O’Brien found Sheffield amazingly annoying for someone soattractive, but somehow they played together like two pieces of the samepuzzle.

“That was surprisingly nice,” Sheffield said, smiling at O’Brienagain. “I wasn’t expecting you to be able to play like that.” He looked back athis music and took out a mechanical pencil, then scratched in some notes abovethe music. “Especially since you can’t even play scales, apparently. How didyou make it to state?”

“I told you I’m tired,” O’Brien snapped, trying to take deepbreaths to avoid tossing his saxophone at Sheffield’s head. “We should organizea joint practice.” He quickly tried to change the subject. “Maybe if everyonecan hear each other, it’ll click in their heads.”

“Sure. How about next Friday morning?” Sheffield suggested. “Neitherof us practice that morning. We can meet for an hour before class starts andsee how it goes.”

“That sounds good,” O’Brien said, writing a reminder forhimself in his music folder. “I’ll let our director know so both of us canfocus on playing.”

“Great,” Sheffield said cheerfully, then started looseninghis bow. He put it back in his case before O’Brien spoke up.

“Are you leaving already? We barely got anything done,” O’Briensaid. “There’s still way more to talk about.”

“I know, but I have another club meeting,” Sheffield said. “Dr.Wilder gave you my phone number, so just text me if you think of anythingimportant.”

“But—“

“But before I go, there was something I wanted to ask you.”Sheffield popped off the shoulder rest and stuck it in a compartment of hisviolin case, then he put the violin inside and locked it. He looked back at O’Brienand smiled again. “Would you like to go out with me?”

O’Brien stared blankly for a moment. “What?”

“I asked if you’d like to go out with me. You know what thatis, right? Or haven’t you been asked out before?”

Immediately, O’Brien got flustered. His face turned red andhe absentmindedly began fiddling with the saxophone keys. “I know what that is,but no.”

“Okay, suit yourself,” Sheffield said, standing. “If youchange your mind, let me know. It’d be nice to grab coffee and talk about musicwith you.”

O’Brien stared at the white tile floor of the band room andchewed on the inside of his lip. He pressed the keys at the top of thesaxophone over and over. He tried to think things over, but his mind was atangled mess and Sheffield was already turning the handle of the door and—

“Serph, wait.”

Sheffield turned around and looked back at O’Brien. “Did youchange your mind already?”

O’Brien forced himself to look at Sheffield and he swallowedhard. “I’ll go out with you, but only if we make sure we talk about thisconcert. It’s important.”

Sheffield smiled brightly. “Of course. We can talk aboutanything you want. Are you busy tomorrow night?”

There was a moment of silence where O’Brien paused to think.“No.”

“Great,” Sheffield said. “Then we’ll go out tomorrow. I’lltext you the details.”

A: Who do you like and Why: hahahhhhhhehhhahHhahahahHAHAHAH ok I'M SORRY but I'm not gonna say.... because they might see this and I don't wanna... make them uncomfortable lmfao but they are cute and I feel really comfortable around them and yeah bye

B: Have you ever been in love? If yes, how many times, and how do you know it was love? n op.e.........

C: Longest relationship you've ever been in, and why did it end? like 3 months lmfao and it probably ended bc I'm gross. we kinda mutually ended it bc he lost interest in me I guess?? lmao

D: Have you ever changed for someone, if yes, how? no....

E: Pretend I'm your ex, what do you want to say to me? idk I still talk to him every now and then and we're friends so it's not really weird? I have nothing to say

F: Have you ever been cheated on? nope

G: Have you ever cheated? fuck no

H: Would you date someone who's know for cheating, if yes why? nope... 

I: What's the most important part of a relationship? that you make each other happy!!!!

J: Do you like to be in serious relationships or just flings? flings are for babies go big or go home

K: When you are dating someone do you believe in going on "breaks"? [ross voice] WE WERE ON A BREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK [I don't think I have enough love experience to say lmao kill me]

L: How many people have you ever hooked up with? zero

M: What's one thing you regret saying or not saying, doing or not doing in a previous relationship? I wish I had been cuter and more interesting and less awkward?? lmao

N: What age do you think is appropriate for kids to start having sex? idk if you're legal and your partner is legal do whatever you want it's not my business

O: Do you believe in the phrase, "Age is just a number?" Why or why not? please don't ask me this question I'm scum that ships ships with big age gaps don';t look at me

P: What about "Love at first sight"? Why or why not? I DONT KNOWWWWW I have never experienced it but??? who am I to say what other people can and can't feel??

Q: Turn on's? I'm ace so I don't really have "turn ons" I guess but uhh... I like tall ppl... and glasses... idc about hair/eye color... if you look like liu yee but act like brian boucher I'm probably in love with you that's it

R: Turn off's? racism/sexism/homphobia/transphobia, "american sniper was a great film" "feminazis" "kamen rider ooo wasn't that great"

S: What do you consider a deal breaker? meninism

T: How do you know it's time to end a relationship? when they won't cuddle with u anymore??? who knows

U: Are you currently in a relationship? If yes, for how long? If no, how long have you been single? I've been single for like 5 years... holy shit.... looking forward to another five years of it..... (no I'm not)

V: Do you think people who have dated can stay friends? absolutely

W: Do you think people should date their friends? why the heck not

X: How many relationships have you had? one...............

Y: Do you think love can last forever? I'm an idiot so yes

Z: Do you believe love can conquer all things? sure

1: Would you break up with someone your parents didn't approve of? lmao no

2: If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice about dating what would it be? "hope u like getting rejected u fucking nerd cause it's gonna happen a LOT"

3: Do you think long distance relationships can work? Why or why not? yes 100% yes I have tons of friends in ldrs and they're gr8

4: What do you notice first about another person? if....... they have glasses........................................