Chapter Text
Waltzes
That’s what your whole gig was tonight, just pure waltzes. While they weren’t your favorite thing to play on the cello, it was too high paying to let down. You finally got to the venue, a majestic castle that was breathtaking just from the sight. “What rich old geezer lives here who loves classical music that much?” You thought as you were stopping by the gates unloading your instrument and stand from the car.
“Y/N good to see you made it, looks like we have the whole crew here now” yelled the first violinist from your small orchestra. ”Hey, sorry about the wait I got a bit distracted with just how massive and beautiful this place is” you said feeling bad knowing that you were the last to arrive.
You were taken aback when you saw a beautiful woman in a white dress and a black hat coming your way. The way her hips swayed and by god her curves made your legs like jelly. It only got worse as you heard her rich velvety voice. "Why thank you my dear, I try my best to make this the most pristine castle you’d ever see” she said looking with pure confidence. You were left there too stunned by her beauty to speak as you felt her golden gaze stare into her soul. "Why yes, thank you once again for letting us in and playing for you Lady Dimitrescu, it truly is an honor, isn’t it y/n?” the violinist said nudging you to say something and to stop being so shy. “Wha- I mean yes it truly is an honor to be playing for someone such as you my lady, may I ask what is the occasion, all I was told is that we would be playing waltzes until 9pm” you say finally trying to compose yourself in front of the goddess in front of you. ”Well you see I am having a family ball if you would, as well as some investors from my company who are joining us as well, I know it must seem unusual in these times to have balls with waltz dancing but I do love the music and wish to have balls here and there” she said smiling at you.
You could tell she meant every word of it and when she brought up the word waltz you swore you saw a twinkle of light in her eyes to show just how much she truly did love music. You nodded and followed the lady of the castle with your violinist. Once you saw the interior you were awestruck. It all felt like something out of a fairytale or even an opera. Standing still in a hallway the lady called for you but you were too distracted by the beautiful paintings to notice. ”Ah I see you enjoy my self portraits” The lady said behind you giving you a bit of a shock since you didn’t even notice she was being you. “Your the artist?!?!? My lady your skill is quite incredible, you truly do capture your own beauty in these pieces” you say blushing slightly hoping that you didn’t overstep by calling her beautiful. “Why thank you my dear but in all honesty I see something even more beautiful in front of me” winking at you “Best we be on our way, can’t be letting you set up late” leaving you with your mouth agape, shocked by the fact that she flirted with you.
You finally get to the hall and are in otter shock that she had an entire opera hall/ball area. This truly felt like this place had to be something from the nutcracker or swan lake. You get to your area, and pull out all your music. Tuning up to make sure the Romania snow and cold didn’t leave your cello all out of tune (god did you hate turning the pegs). Luckily everything went fine and you didn’t have to use the god awful pegs, thinking about how Lady Dimitrescu would probably have a fine time tuning a cello since she seemed so strong. Beautiful, strong, pretty, gorgeous, there aren’t enough words to describe such a woman. You had always been a hopeless romantic and dreamed of finding a woman who would love you more than the stars in the sky but had been out of luck for years now. It seemed like every relationship you got into only lasted 3 weeks before they lost interest in you or you just didn’t see a future with them. Not to say you saw yourself marrying the woman but you couldn’t deny the obvious interest you had for one another or so you hoped. While daydreaming you heard the conductor tell everyone that they had 10 minutes before it was time to play.
You went backstage to cool off only to find 2 young women, no less than 15. “Oh sorry I didn’t mean to disturb you two” you say closing the door only for a foot to stop you. “No it’s quite alright, we just don’t want to go to the ball. Our mother is obsessed with these things but we don’t wanna have to wear stupid dresses and heels while have to seem high up for people we don’t care about. Please don’t tell our mom we’re in here, she’ll kill us if she knows we’re skipping on her ball” the brunette said holding your wrist with a desperate look. “Oh so your Lady Dimitrescu’s kids, I was wondering who the people in the portrait were. Ummmm, I’m only a cello player and she is technically my boss for the night but if she doesn’t ask me where you two are then my lips are sealed, deal?” you say holding out a hand to shake. The brunette thinks about it for a second but decides to shake. “NOOOO WHY DID YOU AGREE NOW SHE’S GONNA TELL” said the redhead behind her now frustrated to no end. “Daniela,if she wanted to, she could be like all the other bitch ass maids who tell on us and be going to mother right now, just the fact she decided to make a deal proves she’s chill” said the brunette with her hands on her hips, annoyed at her sister. “By the way, i like your shirt, I love The Cure” looking at the one the brunette called Daniela only to see her face turn to shock. “WAIT, A CLASSICAL CELLO PLAYER LISTENS TO THE CURE????” she says jumping heading over to you now holding your hands. “I mean, i don't just listen to classical, I only play it cause while I do enjoy it a bit, it’s good side money. Besides that I listen to all sorts of music, jazz, punk, electro, indie, name it and I probably have some sort of interest in it” you say laughing at Daniela while seeing she’s now slightly embarrassed at how excited she got. Looking down at your phone you realize 10 minutes have passed and say “OH SHIT” before rushing out of the room, leaving the two teens confused but mildly happy they met you.
When you make it back you relax since they hadn’t started. You waited a good minute until your conductor came out, baton ready for you all to play. For the first piece you all started with the Kaiser Waltz which made you semi nervous since there was a small cello solo in there but you had practiced it well and knew you were going to nail it. Going through the piece you felt an intense stare but you couldn’t tell from who until a minute into the piece. Lady Dimitrescu had been staring from afar with a wine glass in one hand and leaning against the bar. You could tell she was staring right at you with an intense glare but not because she was upset but because she was intrigued, you could tell she knew your small solo was coming. You played the two measure phase with delicateness and love which you hoped was carried and was for her to understand. You knew she had to be able to know and understand the language of music and understood the expressions of music. Once the piece was done you looked up from the music in hope to see her and lock eyes but when you looked, she was gone. She had move to talk to a blonde woman, she looked familiar and that’s when it hit you, she was the 3rd woman from the paintings, she must have been her 3rd daughter. You look around a bit more and unfortunately see Daniela and the brunette you never got the name of in full puffy dresses and heels looking quite bored but semi happy when they locked eyes with you. Thank god they knew you didn’t rat out on them.
As the night progressed you mainly focused on the music, stealing glances at the lady of the castle here and there but nothing too obvious. Your orchestra was playing quite well but you knew that since all the practice you had all made as a group with even outside sectionals to make sure everything was perfect since Lady Dimitrescu was paying you all so much. The night continued with pieces from Strauss, Tchaikovsky, even some Rosas. Finally what felt like a brief moment was your 3 hours at which your orchestra was done and had to leave the stage for the pianist to now do their waltzes. The lady made everyone applaud for you all before leaving and seemed very enthusiastically clapping, hopefully happy with the performance. While backstage you all were quietly congratulated and started to pack it all up until you hear the door open, there she was in all her glory. “That was quite beautiful my darling, you truly do have love for your work, I could tell the way you move with the music and the dilibertness of your attacks.” she says holding out your check while smiling sincerely staring into your eyes. Slightly getting lost in her valley of gold you take the check “Thank you my lady, this night was truly fun, this is my favorite gig I have ever done, nothing will top this, not even if I were to play for a president”. “Why thank you, I was thinking cel mic, if your not busy for the rest of the night, would you do me the honor of having a drink and maybe a dance with me?” she said, holding out her hand hoping you would take it and follow her. By the gods you truly had to be in a fairytale, she wanted to dance with you? Out of everyone one there she had her eyes on you? You were just a plebian, a pedestrian, a commoner compared to her, you were awestruck but took her hand immediately. “You have no idea how much I dreamed of this” you said as you both semi ran to the bar, giggling like highschool girls.
You weren’t really a wine drinker and luckily she took no offense to it, you drank an old fashioned while she continued drinking another glass of wine. “So tell me draga mea, how did you get so infatuated with music” she said, taking a sip of her wine while staring with compassion and what felt like love. “Honestly, my parents, they both were big into collecting CDs and music so it just kinda ran in the genes, however in all honesty while I do enjoy classical, it’s not all that I play, in fact my main thing isn’t even performing, I’m actually a composer” you say rubbing your neck unsure of how she would react. “Why dear, you must play one of your pieces sometime, if it’s from you, I just know they must be lovely. Also if we are to be honest, classical isn’t exactly my go to genre either, I was actually a jazz singer for a short period of time. She said rubbing her hand up and down your arm. This woman was going to be the death of you. “My lady you must sing for me sometime if I am to play for you one of my pieces” laughing slightly starting to feel a bit tipsy now from the drinks. “Alcina” she said, putting down her glass.
“I’m sorry?”
“Alcina, you may call me by my first name now that we know each other a bit better now draga”
she said holding your hand now. “y/n” you say starring in her golden gaze. You feel yourself leaning up getting close enough to kiss her now. “I believe it’s time for our dance y/n” she said cupping your face now which got you out of your daze. “Ah yes of course, our dance, how could I have forgotten” you say moving to the dance floor. “In all honesty Alcina, I’ve never danced to a waltz before” you say as she sets you both in position. “Do not worry your beautiful little head draga, just follow me and all will be well” She said raising both of your arms.
She couldn’t have been more right. Once you got into it, all was well and good. You were both dancing to Chopin waltzes and it all felt unreal. The music, the laughing, the woman, it all felt like a fantasy or a dream you hadn’t awoken from yet. After around an hour later the music was finished and the ball had ended. You were now in a library talking with the woman, holding hands talking about all and nothing. “Draga why don’t you stay the night, I would hate to have to send you out in this snow” she said caressing your face. “That would be wonderful Alcina, in all honesty I’m also not in the best condition to drive right now” still slightly buzzed from all the drinks the both of you shared. “Don’t you worry about a thing cel mic. I’ll take care of it all, even you” she said leaning in even closer to you.
“Do you swear”
“Oh I promise with all my heart Draga”
“Then kiss me”
And she did, you weren’t sure if it was because you were still drunk but it felt like the fireworks that all stories say kisses are supposed to feel like. It felt magical and it was magical. “Alright you owe me five bucks now Cass” Daniela said to Cassandra the brunette from earlier. “Damn it, I thought they were cute when they were dancing but I didn’t think they would kiss so soon” she said, handing the money to her sister. “What’s going on here?” said the blonde behind them “Nothing Bela” they both said and scurried. “Uh-huh” she said, looking through the peephole to see her mother kissing the woman who she had been dancing with earlier. “Well as long as she’s happy” Bela said now walking away to give you both privacy.