The Piano Man

XXVI. Your Song

"He who sings scares away his woes." Cervantes

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XXVI. Your Song

"Nope, I didn't like that run. Do it again," Noah ordered, his voice coming through the headphones that she was wearing.

Sophie was standing before a microphone that she had turned around to face the wall as she couldn't look at him as she sang the song. The first time has been wonderful. But Noah hadn't liked it.

Sophie had never received any sort of criticism before, constructive or otherwise. She had a terrible habit of taking things personally, and she tried her best to make her mind understand that this was Noah's song.

On the handful of auditions, she had been on before she had fallen pregnant with Maddie, she had been one of five hundred other girls, and the casting directors had barely said anything to her before waving in the next actress.

Noah had turned on his perfectionist mode. He reminded her of the first time she had ever seen him at the piano in Pete's at the beginning of October when he was blocked, and nothing was working for him. He was frustrated.

And Sophie was the cause of that.

It didn't help that she couldn't read music or minds.

This song was to be played at the end of the film, when the main characters were boarding a ship to emigrate to America. It was a song of hope, a song of seeing something just out of reach, and taking that final leap to grab a hold of it.

Sophie took a deep breath and nodded for him to start the music again. The opening piano melody began, and Sophie started to sing.

She had barely made it through the first verse before Noah interrupted her again.

"Softer, Sophie," he instructed curtly.

Sophie clenched her teeth together and pulled her headphones off, hanging them up on the stand. She turned around to look at Noah through the glass and said, "I don't know how else to sing!" she exclaimed. "I'm a theatre singer. Maybe you need someone more versatile." Really, she was more like a pub singer.

He did have Vanessa bloody Marino living down the hall from him.

Noah's facial expression softened, and he held up his finger, indicating for her to wait a minute. He then got up from his chair and ducked out of his bedroom. He returned a few moments later with Vanessa.

Oh God, that had been a sarcastic thought. Was he really going to replace her? Not that she'd blame him as she obviously wasn't understanding how he wanted this bloody song to sound.

Noah opened the door to the studio and he and Vanessa entered. She was wearing a matching spandex yoga outfit, with a crop top that showed off a perfectly toned stomach. Sophie had never felt frumpier or more untalented.

"I'm going to play the piano live," Noah told her, "just like I did at Pete's when we performed together. Vanessa's going to handle the recording for us."

Vanessa looked between them, and no doubt could see the intimidated expression on Sophie's face as she tried pathetically to mask it. She fished her phone out of her bra and flicked through it until she found what she wanted. "I send this video to every new cell phone I get," she explained, "to remind me of the nicest producer I ever worked with." She flipped her phone around to show Sophie a video of what looked like some grainy security footage of a studio.

Vanessa was at the microphone, and Noah at the controls. Vanessa was singing, and Sophie recognised the song immediately. It had been on the radio while Sophie was doing her GCSEs. It had put Vanessa Marino on the map.