band practice. [tink; closed]

With his guitar strapped to his back, Ethan made his way from the Main Building to the George Gershwin Music Wing practice rooms. Izz Tink had decreed that there be band practice, and she usually got what she wanted. She’d text messaged him about ten minutes ago, declaring that she wanted band practice ten minutes later. So technically, Ethan was late. Hopefully Tink wouldn’t be at the practice room yet. She was a girl, and girls liked to look good all the time, right? It took his sisters longer than ten minutes to get ready, so hopefully it would take Tink longer than ten minutes to get ready. Girls confused Ethan. He was glad he wasn’t one.

Ethan looked up to see where he was. He’d only just reached the J.M. Barry Theatre Wing. Sighing, he kept walking. How long did it take to get from the Main Building to the Music Wing? With this question floating around his mind, Ethan decided that the next time he had to go from the Main Building to the Music Wing, he was going to time his walk… and count his steps, just for the fun of it.

He looked up again; he’d made it to the Music Wing. And without tripping, too. That was a new record for him. He passed the Music Library, Music Composition Room, Music Hall, Choir room, and finally reached the Practice rooms. Score! Tink wasn’t there yet. Picking one of the small rooms randomly, Ethan pushed open the door and stepped inside. The door closed behind him, and he made his way over to a chair. He put his guitar on the floor beside him, and removed it from his case. He strummed the guitar for a moment, and frowned. Someone had been screwing with his guitar again. Sighing, he began to tune it, strumming out a few notes every now and then.

After sending Ethan her text message, Izz immediately began primping, though she was pretty much ready already. Exchanging her pajamas for a pair of faded jeans and a slightly midriff-baring t-shirt. Slipping on her brown loafers/slippers, she padded through the hallway, dragging her tambourine with her as well as her guitar slung over her shoulder. (Okay, she couldn't play that well, but she could strum out enough chords to form a song.)

Leaving her uncharacteristically blonde hair down around her shoulders, Isabelle bounced through the hallways, her phone bulky in the front pocket against her skinny hip. Man, why did the music wing have to be so far away? It was about fifteen minutes since she sent the text message, which meant she was kind of late, and Ethan would probably be there already, but no big deal. He needed plenty of time to neurotically tune his guitar, and then tune hers since she was too lazy to learn how to nor care that it was usually fourty cents flat or sharp depending on how she'd been messing with the knobs the night before.

Yawning a little, since it was still kind of early on the day and she still had ballet later in the afternoon, Isabelle turned past the theater wing, blowing it a kiss as she passed, and caught blessedly in her sight the Gershwin wing. Grinning she sped up a little, turning into the long hallway and peeking into practice rooms until Ethan was discovered.

"Oi there, Peter..." she said with a grin as she heaved the door open, slipping inside and closing it behind her. Setting down her instruments, Isabelle leaned over and rested her hand on his shoulder, kissing his hairline in a friendly way before grabbing a chair for herself and lugging it so it was near Ethan's. Picking up her guitar she tried to follow his example, then gave up and set it aside, pulling out her notebook, which she had also brought with her.

"I wrote some stuff over the summer, but I don't know how good it is... I figure we use our old stuff, work up a couple of interesting covers, and have a concert pretty soon to raise funds and get some publicity..." Throwing her hair over her shoulder, Isabelle tucked one long leg over her other and leaned back against the wall, tilting her chin up and looking at Ethan sideways. "Thoughts, Mister Victoria?"

He almost had his guitar completely tuned when he heard the practice room door open and close again. He didn’t need to look up to see who’d entered. He could tell by the way she greeted him. “Oi there, Peter…” He smiled, and she kissed his hairline. The same, friendly greeting that she’d used ever since they’d become close friends. He nodded once in return. “‘Lo Tink”, he said, completely absorbed in his guitar-tuning. An amused chuckle escaped him when Tink tried to tune her guitar. Without saying a word, he placed his own guitar aside, grabbed hers and began tuning it. He knew that’s what she’d wanted in the first place. It was the same thing every time they practiced. Even when they didn’t practice. Tink would always bring her guitar to Ethan to have it tuned.

As he tuned Tink’s guitar, she pulled out her notebook. “I wrote some stuff over the summer, but I don’t know how good it is…” Ethan arched an eyebrow. He had no doubts about Tink’s writing abilities – she’d written practically all of their songs, and every single one of them had been a hit at every gig they’d performed. “I figure we use our old stuff, work up a couple of interesting covers, and have a concert pretty soon to raise funds and get some publicity…” Ethan nodded as he continued tuning Tink’s guitar. He was done by the time she threw her hair over her shoulder and asked him for his thoughts.

He placed Tink’s guitar down, and looked at her. “You know I always agree with whatever you say”, he said, “Makes life a lot easier. You’re easier to work with when things go exactly the way you want them.” He laughed, and leaned forward slightly, his hand stretched out. In one fluid motion, he’d managed to swipe the notebook from her hands, and was flipping through it to see her new stuff. “However, I figure we work some of this new stuff into the set”, he commented, “Just to mix it up a little.”

He handed Tink her notebook back, and picked up his guitar, strumming out a few chords. “What song first, boss?” he asked, a cheeky grin filling his face.

"Mmm, too true... You're a smart one, Peter." Isabelle threw a wink at Ethan, accepting her newly-tuned guitar graciously and beaming thankfully. She really should, as a musician, learn how to tune it, but Ethan was really so much faster at it and better than she! She got bored with it so easily, where as tuning a guitar to him was like an art or something.

"How about... You Really Got a Hold On Me? Just for warm-ups." Isabelle smiled, naming one of her favorite songs as she tucked one long leg under the other and brushed her hair back, singing out a few practice notes.

It was one of her favorite songs, because both she AND Ethan got to sing, and Isabelle loved singing with Ethan. He was usually content to sit there and play guitar or piano or whatever instruments they needed, and didn't usually prefer to sing, but she thought his voice was lovely, and loved to hear it. Clearing her throat she counted off, bobbing a little while Ethan played the brief introduction before moving into her floating and melancholy notes.

"I don't like you, but I love you, seems that I'm always a-thinking of you..." she sang, closing her eyes and knitting her eyebrows together like she did when she sang slowly. As soon as Ethan came in with his echoing part, she fell right back into their pattern, and grinned a little as they moved expertly through the song.

It felt so good to be singing again, to be making music. If there was anything Isabelle loved, it was making beautiful things. Dancing, singing, anything that was beautiful, that people could enjoy, could listen to or look at and say "wow".

The song finished too soon, and as they held out the last chord, followed by Ethan's little doodle on his guitar, and Isabelle slid her eyes open, grinning widely. Clapping for the two of them, she bounced a little in her chair. "Hooray for us, that was so good!" she said, smiling happily, "your pick now..."

“How about… You Really Got A Hold On Me? Just for warm-ups.”

Ethan smiled, picking up his guitar. He knew why Izz had picked this song. She loved this song, because they both got to sing in it. Izz constantly told Ethan that he had a lovely voice, but Ethan preferred just to play the instruments. Izz was the singer in their band. Ethan loved her voice, and he could listen to it all day. He strummed a few chords out softly before starting the short introduction. Izz started to sing, and Ethan smiled slightly. As she got to the chorus, Ethan jumped in with his own little singing part.

Almost too soon, the song was over. Izz grinned widely at Ethan, and clapped, bouncing a little in her chair. Ethan laughed “Hooray for us, that was so good!” Ethan nodded in agreement, strumming his guitar absentmindedly. “Your pick now…” Izz told him, and Ethan thought for a moment, changing his tune every couple of seconds. After a while, the song he was playing turned into an introduction, and he started humming a bit. “Why don’t we play Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?, just for funsies?” he suggested.

Argh, Rach, I’m so sorry it took so long. And I’m so sorry it’s short. x.x Also, everybody in this video dies.