The Piano Man

VIII. It Started Out as a Feeling

"A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other...Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever." Dave Matthews Band

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VIII. It Started Out as a Feeling

Sophie nervously tucked her loose hair behind her ears as she approached the stage. She didn't know why she was so nervous. It wasn't as though this was the first time that she was singing in the pub.

Although, this was the first time in a very long while that she was singing with a piano man, and not just as CD playing the music in the background for her.

Noah caught her eye as she climbed up on stage, and he offered her a reassuring smile. Sophie smiled back at him, before she turned her back to him and adjusted the microphone, switching it on.

She cleared her throat, and the attention of all the patrons turned to her. It was very much a full house, and she deliberately avoided looking over to Beck and his mates.

"Good evening, everyone, and thank you so much for joining us here tonight at the West End Piano Bar," Sophie welcomed, her voice surprisingly steady considering how her heart was hammering. "My name is Sophie, and the talented musician behind me is Noah, our new piano man. We hope that you enjoy the music." She turned her head and gave Noah the cue, and Elaine Paige's signature tune began to play.

"Midnight not a sound from the pavement. Has the moon lost her memory? She is smiling alone. In the lamplight, the withered leaves collect at my feet. And the wind begins to moan."

Sophie sang as clearly, and as beautifully as she could muster, and the room was silent as they listened to her. When she started to sing, the nerves melted away, and she felt the loudest, and the most powerful that she ever could be.

It was hard to think of a professional actress in a theatre only a few doors down was performing the same song in Cats and being lauded for it, while Sophie sang in a pub for minimum wage. She put in as much passion and effort to the song as any other Grizabella would.

"Touch me!" she cried. "It's so easy to leave me. All alone with the memory, of my days in the sun. If you touch me, you'll understand what happiness is. Look, a new day has begun."

As Noah played the final note, Sophie opened her eyes, and remerged from her mind as the sounds of applause and cheers sounded from around the pub.

Sophie looked back to Noah and he was beaming at her, clapping as well while he shook his head, almost in disbelief. Sophie grinned, laughing, as she bowed.

"Do you know 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina"?" she asked him.

"Yes, ma'am." Noah chuckled and he turned back to the piano.

***

Sophie sang her favourite from Evita before finishing up, and making Noah take a bow as well. She then hurried off stage, thanking the customers for their compliments as she passed them, and quickly claiming her note pad and pen again.

"You sound so good every week, Soph," Beck said slightly slurred as he came up behind her.

Beck placed an arm around her, and Sophie quickly shrugged him off. "Thank you," she said tensely. "Keep your hands to yourself. You're sloshed."

Beck rolled his eyes. "Why can't you be nice to me?" he whined, beer on his breath.

Sophie hatedthe smell of beer on a man's breath. "Letting you touch me is being nice, is it?" she challenged, raising her eyebrows. "Bugger off, or I'll have Tony toss you out."