Kyle woke up rather late Sunday morning, feeling inexplicably thankful that it was the weekend and he didn't have any classes to teach today. He was supposed to meet up with his manager Reg for lunch in about two hours to talk about a BBC news spot that was happening at the Academy on Monday, so he figured he might as well get up and ready for the day.

Kyle pulled himself out of bed and went into his en suite to take a shower. As he stood and let the warm water rain down on his body, his thoughts (as they often did lately) immediately went to Stephanie.

He closed his eyes, letting his head tip back as thoughts of her swirled around his head and steam began to fill his bathroom. His dreams had been filled with her last night - so much so that he almost had a hard time distinguishing the real Stephanie from his dream version of her. In his dreams, the two of them were alone in his bedroom, and her passion was unmitigated; she kissed him fiercely, tugging on his hair and moaning in pleasure as Kyle nibbled her neck. He ran his hands along the smooth skin of her naked waist as they tumbled together onto his bed...

Kyle shook his head, clearing it of his highly erotic daydreams. The real Stephanie had told him last night that she wasn't ready for a relationship yet, particularly because of some arsehole who broke her heart a few months ago. He appreciated her honesty with him, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed. It had been so long since he'd felt any sort of connection with a woman, and finding a girl like Stephanie was one in a million.

She admitted that she liked him too, though, so he supposed that was a start.

He had told her he wasn't going to give up, and he planned to stand by his word. Feeling determined, Kyle turned his shower off and grabbed his towel, drying himself off and thinking of Monday, when he would most likely get to see Stephanie again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stephanie woke up bright and early on Monday morning, hearing Lydia bustling about in the other room. Stephanie had agreed to go to the Royal Academy with her this morning, so she dragged herself out of bed, yawning sleepily as she shuffled into the bathroom.

All of yesterday, Stephanie's mind had been filled with Kyle and their kiss on the sidewalk. While she had told Kyle that she wasn't ready for a relationship at the moment, she couldn't deny the warm and fuzzy feelings that filled her chest whenever she thought of the way he had kissed her, or the way he had squeezed her hand and told her that he wasn't going to give up. Just the memory of that caused her heart to flutter in her chest and a smile to break out across her face.

I don't know if I want him to give up on me.

That thought nagged at Stephanie as she started brushing her teeth, but she tried to ignore it. Suddenly, she heard Lydia call after her from the other room:

"Steph, hurry up!" Lydia yelled, her voice sounding muffled behind the closed door. "We have to go soon if you want to catch Kyle before his class this morning!"

Stephanie rolled her eyes with a grin. She of course had told Lydia what happened between her and Kyle when he had walked her home Saturday night, and Lydia seemed beside herself in delight. However, she was appalled when Stephanie told her she had turned him down when he asked her out on a date. Stephanie had been firm about her decision, and now Lydia seemed to make it her goal in life to get her friend together with Kyle Lancaster.

"You can go without me," Stephanie called back, running her toothbrush under the faucet. "I'll just come by later."

The door to the bathroom burst open, causing Stephanie to jump. "Not going to happen, Steph. I'm bringing you to the Academy this morning if it's the last thing I do," Lydia said firmly, marching forward and grasping Stephanie by the arm.

Stephanie squealed in surprise as Lydia pulled her roughly out of the bathroom, causing her to drop her toothbrush on the floor. "Lydia! What the hell?!"

"We're finding you an outfit to wear for Kyle," Lydia insisted, yanking her toward the closet. "Something that's cute and casual... he'll notice you, but it won't look like you're trying too hard. Come on, you must have something."

"I'll just wear one of my usual outfits," Stephanie said firmly. "It'll be fine, Lydia."

"Oh, alright," Lydia conceded, turning toward her friend with a grin. "But now that I know you're getting dressed, I expect you to be ready to go in fifteen minutes. No excuses!"

Stephanie opened her mouth, but Lydia immediately turned around and ran out of the bedroom. Stephanie stared after her for a moment before shaking her head in exasperation, realizing what her friend had just done.

You win this round, Zebrowsky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Royal Academy was surprisingly crowded this morning as Stephanie and Lydia walked through the front doors. Dozens of people milled around, a lot of them looking older than most of the students who usually went here.

"What's going on here?" Stephanie asked Lydia, who shrugged.

"Not sure. There might be a performance happening today that I hadn't heard about," Lydia suggested.

The two of them walked down the corridor toward the main auditorium, where a small crowd of people seemed to be gathered near the doorway. Stephanie noticed a lot of them wore jackets and shirts bearing the BBC insignia, and professional-looking people with black earpieces and headphones were talking to each other.

"Ooh! Are we going to be on telly?" Lydia whispered to Stephanie, looking excited as she gazed at the people around them. Stephanie snickered.

"Looking for your fifteen minutes of fame, Lydia?" she smirked, and Lydia gave her a commiserating look.

"Two of my colleagues are world-famous musicians. When is it going to be my turn?" Lydia asked seriously, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Stephanie couldn't help but laugh.

The two of them squeezed their way through the crowd of people into the auditorium, where a group of Royal Academy students were gathered near the front by the stage. The reason for the media attention suddenly became clear to Stephanie: Kyle was on the stage, standing near a grand piano, where a young Asian woman was playing a Prokofiev piece for him. Kyle interrupted her performance every few seconds, giving her tips on fingering and musicality.

Some of the BBC people were standing around with cameramen and photographers, moving around the stage to get different angles of Kyle teaching the girl. All the students and spectators were gathered behind the cameras, watching the proceedings with obvious interest.

"Looks like Kyle is being featured on the news or something," Stephanie said, gazing at the stage.

"I didn't realize this was going on," Lydia said, glancing around at the other students with an excited glint in her eyes. "The cameras might be here all day. Do you think classes might get canceled?"

"If they're only here for Kyle, then they will likely only be here for the duration of his masterclass," Stephanie pointed out. "Probably only a few hours at most."

"I guess that's true," Lydia sighed, conceding, as she checked her watch. "I need to get to my first class right now, then. I'll see you later."

"See you."

Lydia left the auditorium, leaving Stephanie standing there alone, holding her violin case. Stephanie figured she should go and find an empty practice room soon, but decided to stick around for at least a few more minutes - she had never gotten to see Kyle teach a class before, and she wasn't sure if she would ever get another opportunity.

Kyle had been reading his student's sheet music over her shoulder before glancing up toward the crowd of people. He met Stephanie's gaze, and she blushed as he smiled at her, lifting his hand in a wave. Stephanie couldn't help but smile and wave back; out of the corner of her eye, she saw a few students looking between her and Kyle, clearly having noticed their interaction, but she ignored them.

"This is great Kyle," one of the BBC producers wearing a headset smiled, gesturing to one of the cameramen as he stepped onto the stage. "We got some excellent footage of you teaching, but now we'd like to get a few shots of you playing piano. Would that be alright?"

"Sure, I s'pose," Kyle agreed. The female student promptly gathered up her sheet music and left.

"If it's possible, could we also get some shots of you playing with someone?" the producer continued, looking eager. "Perhaps a violinist?"

He was clearly angling for getting Chloe to play with Kyle, which was not lost on the other man. "No, I don't think so. All the students here are for piano, not violin," Kyle pointed out.

"Perhaps we could go and find someone," the producer pressed, looking eager. "I'm sure there must be someone. Another teacher, perhaps..."

Kyle glanced back over at Stephanie, and he raised his eyebrows. "Actually, I think I might know of someone."

Stephanie blinked in surprise, and she realized what was happening a moment too late as Kyle hopped off the stage and began walking up to her. She could only stare at him, all too aware of everyone watching them.

"Hey Stephanie," Kyle grinned as he approached. Stephanie immediately shook her head.

"No, Kyle," she said firmly. "I'm not playing with you on camera."

"Oh, come on – it's not difficult," Kyle insisted, his eyes glittering as he gazed at her. "And you're an exceptionally talented violinist. I would be honored to play with you."

Stephanie couldn't help but feel flattered by his compliment, but it didn't change her resolve. "I've never performed in front of cameras before, Kyle. What if I screw up? Also, you and I have never even played together."

"What piece have you been practicing?" Kyle asked, ignoring her protests.

Stephanie blinked. "Um... for the past week I've been practicing Mozart's Concerto No. 3 First Movement, but that's not -"

"Perfect," Kyle interrupted, grinning widely. "I know the accompaniment to that quite well, and I think people would enjoy listening to us play it. What do you say?"

Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 1st Movement

Stephanie felt her whole chest deflate, and she glanced at the people around them, most of whom were watching her and Kyle with rapt attention. "Do I have a choice?" she asked miserably.

"You'll do wonderful," Kyle assured her, and he took her hand in his own as he gazed into her eyes. "I have complete faith in you. Just focus on the music, and block out everyone around you. It's just you and me."

That thought didn't exactly ease Stephanie's anxiety, but she nodded at him all the same. Kyle smiled before leading her down to the stage, his hand still in hers.

"Brent - Stephanie here has agreed to play Mozart's Concerto No. 3 with me," Kyle said to the producer once they were on the stage. "Stephanie Ryan, this is Brent Anderson, producer for the BBC."

"Hi, nice to meet you," Stephanie said politely, holding out her hand for him to shake. Brent shook it, looking a bit disappointed Kyle wasn't going to be playing with Chloe, but also seeming mildly interested in who Stephanie was to Kyle.

"Pleasure meet you too, Stephanie," Brent said kindly, turning back to Kyle. "Alright, then... want to get set up, and we'll start in about five?"

"Sounds good."

Kyle led Stephanie over to the piano, and he sat down at the bench while Stephanie stood only a couple feet away by a music stand, setting her violin case down and taking out her instrument and sheet music. Her heart pounded a furious tattoo in her chest as she prepared herself for what she was about to do - she felt like she was back at university performing in front of her peers all over again.

Stephanie stood back up with her violin in hand, and she met Kyle's gaze. He smiled and winked at her, and she couldn't help but smile slightly back, feeling a bit more at ease.

"Are both of you ready?" Brent asked after a few minutes. Kyle and Stephanie both nodded, and Stephanie perched her violin on her shoulder, readying herself.

"Wonderful," Brent said, gesturing toward the cameraman. "And... action!"