It's only when Amber returns to the dorm that she doesn't know what she said 'yes' to, a crucial piece of information she forgot to ask Henry to elaborate upon stuck in her euphoria.

She momentarily weighs the pros and cons of texting him about it, only to decide, no, he'll just get annoyed once more like he always is. In that constant state of annoyance, how does the guy make friends?

"Maybe you have to pretend to be his fake girlfriend," Amy gasps loudly, eyebrows shooting to the moon at all the wild possibilities running through her head. "Maybe his mom wants him to marry early, and then he has to pretend he already has someone -- that's you, by the way -- and then you have to fend off a jealous ex-girlfriend, and then- "

Her flurry of thoughts are interrupted by a pillow to the head, and Amber scoffs. "Amy, you've been watching way too many dramas in your free time. Are you kidding me? Marrying early?"

Amy hugs the pillow to her chest, a small pout on her face. "It's all harmless speculating. Only you would shut me down in the midst of my drama daydreams, Am."

There's a small chime that disrupts their conversation, and Amber digs through the wrinkled comforter mound atop her to find her phone, squinting at the notification popping up on the screen. She slides open Kakao to read the messages she's received.

[Henry Lau] [11:01 PM] i didn't know you had a kakao

[Henry Lau] [11:01 PM] apparently this app adds in anyone in my contacts so i guess you're included

[Henry Lau] [11:01 PM] don't forget the meeting we have tomorrow, llama

Amber sneers at her phone screen, mentally willing all her bad thoughts towards the violinist, and her thumbs take flight to furiously text back.

[ambrobro] [11:02 PM] llama????who allowed u to call me that?

[ambrobro] [11:02 PM] and also pls as if i'd forget such an important iou, snoopy :-)

"Earth to Amber?" Amy shrilly calls, and the aforementioned young woman groans, shutting off her screen.

"What do you want?"

The vocalist grumbles, tossing back her friend's pillow. "All I want is some time to talk to you after classes and you're off texting someone. You never did that before!" There's a small pause before a smile grows on her face, and Amy exudes a knowing aura. "It's your boy, isn't it?"

"He's not 'my boy,' or whatever," Amber refutes immediately just as her phone chimes again, and she ignores her best friend fully as the older starts belting Sistar19 songs.

[Henry Lau] [11:04 PM] me? owing YOU? don't make me laugh

[Henry Lau] [11:04 PM] llama comes from your dp -- you know, a llama? with your face photoshopped on it?

[Henry Lau] [11:04 PM] and where did snoopy come from??

[ambrobro] [11:05 PM] oh yea huh i need to change my dp

[ambrobro] [11:05 PM] u know.. idk.. u look like a snoopy? just like, ur face and stuff

[Henry Lau] [11:05 PM] you stare at my face long enough to determine i look like snoopy? :P

[ambrobro] [11:05 PM] EW ugh no u weirdo ur cheeks or whatever looks like snoopy

[Henry Lau] [11:05 PM] hahah so you stare at my CHEEKS then. nice to know :o

[ambrobro] [11:06 PM] omg i cant even talk 2 u ur screwing up my words

[ambrobro] [11:06 PM] i didnt mean it THAT way

[Henry Lau] [11:06 PM] it's okay to admit it amber, i'm partly flattered and part weirded out

[ambrobro] [11:06 PM] just go 2 bed i cant deal with u rn henry

[Henry Lau] [11:07 PM] LOL ok then. night amber. see you tomorrow

[ambrobro] [11:07 PM] yea ok nite whatever

It takes a few minutes of staring at the chat she just had with one of the utmost archenemies of the band to come to the realization that... they spoke like long-time friends. Aside from Henry's weird emoticons -- honestly, who even uses the sticking-out tongue emoticon anymore? -- the pair had a normal conversation as if their background and their initial meeting didn't matter, and that in itself is kind of mind-blowing, especially with the known fact that orchestra people are evil little demons.

Her eyes drift to the Chats tab once more, where there's a red circle indicating new messages, and with a frown, Amber taps on it. There's no one else awake at this time that she knows.

[amy th goldfishie] [11:04 PM] CHICKS BEFORE BUT U KNO WHAT

[amy th goldfishie] [11:04 PM] IF UR 2 BUSY FLURTING I WILL GO TO BE D BY MY SELF!! !! !

There are six stickers of various Kakao characters stomping their feet and tossing things around, and with a small laugh, the blonde turns her head to where her friend is lying. A tuft of beige hair sticks out from under the pink duvet, and from the soft breathing sounds, she knows that Amy's fast asleep. The young woman must've been staying up with her to keep an eye on her and go to bed at the same time, knowing that the trumpet player had a tendency to worry herself silly and not fall asleep.

The thought warms Amber's heart. She gently sets her phone on the counter beside Amy's and switches off the lights, lying down comfortably in her own bed with amiable thoughts and anticipation.

—

"Dude, I'm so hungry," Amber groans. She holds a hand to her grumbling stomach in the hopes that it will cease its rumbling.

Her companion shoots her a judgmental look. "Who's the one that got up from their chair seeing me arrive? I didn't ask you to abandon your lunch entirely," Henry says, walking with power strides.

Despite the warming days that hint at summer, the young man is wearing a thick-looking sweater not dissimilar from the one he wore when they first met, pairing shorts and frayed sneakers with it. The blonde has taken a smarter route, with an outfit of a plain shirt, knee shorts, and sandals, and thus she isn't sweating buckets compared to the violinist.

Amber barely matches his walking speed, glaring at the other. "Last time you completely embarrassed me in front of them! Who knows what you'll do this time? No thanks, I'd rather meet you halfway."

"Me? Embarrass you? Oh, if that was you being fully embarrassed, I'd like to see me actually shaming you in front of a group of strangers."

"You know, you have the tendency to repeat everything I say needlessly, Snoopy." She ignores the rest of his statement with another pat on her stomach. "I'm still hungry, man. Walking through the orch dorks' territory doesn't sit well with me, either."

Henry snorts at the nickname. "Whatever, band geek. At least I gave you this rare opportunity to repay me for my violin and the favor without a scratch on you." Amber falls quiet, knowing the truth to his words, and as if to compensate for the brusque nature of his earlier statement, he continues. "If you work hard at the rec studios, then I'll buy some McD's or something."

There aren't enough words to describe how quickly Amber's eyes take a shine to them. "For real?"

He's about to reply, but they're stopped in their tracks by one of the campus security cops. Henry flashes his student id at the surly man to allow the two of them access into the studios, muttering a quick "She's with me" before guiding Amber into the building.

The recording studios are on the edge of the campus, accessible to both students and the public. A student may use the studios from noon to three in the morning, so long as they have the approval of their division teacher and the watermarked id to back it up. There are usually guards patrolling the perimeter that do a final sweep inside the building before locking it up when it's time to close. This is so that no outsiders can sneakily enter the school, and that no students can exit any other way other than through the front.

The student has to go through an impromptu orientation of what each piece of equipment is responsible for, as there's no supervision in the studios, and may use the studios for anything other than producing physical copies of their music. For a public user, they pay a hefty sum to use the equipment inside and to produce physical copies themselves.

Often it's the best students in the vocal division that are given access to the recording studios, sans the few students that are in vocals and another division, and so knowing that Henry has access more or less surprises Amber. She can imagine there aren't many things to record when one is a violinist and nothing but.

He guides her into one of the empty rooms and shuts the door gently behind him. The blonde is given ample time to gawk and stare at all the technology glimmering under low lights, and almost cries a bit when she stares straight ahead into the recording room and sees multiple headsets atop stands and microphones set up already. Amber isn't a vocalist, but if she was one, she'd be freaking out. This place is damn gorgeous.

When she faces Henry again, the other looks almost... nervous. He places his hand in his pocket as if looking for something, and when he finds it, draws it out. His fist is kept closed. Immediately Amber begins to get antsy too, because, oh gosh, what if Amy's mad k-drama theories are true? What if Henry is some rich kid from a trust fund family that is sick of all the blind dates that he's had to go on -- do rich kids even go on appointed blind dates anymore? -- and she has to pretend that she's dating him oh god what a nightmare she's terrible at acting-

"I really hope that, uh, you'll be okay with this," Henry says, clearing his throat, and Amber backs up in alarm. The prophecy is coming true.

Instead of whipping open his hand to show a velvet box with a gigantic diamond settled inside, Henry produces a flash-drive, and the young woman curiously watches as he plugs it into one of the side computers and clicks open a pdf file. "Well, uh, take a look." Henry gestures.

Amber squints her eyes at him suspiciously, but steps closer to the screen regardless. Immediately she's able to make out music notes and lyrics, and leans closer to examine.

"It's very easy, just follow me and dance," she reads aloud, playing the notes in her head as if she were physically able to play them on her trumpet. "Throw away your calm image and do it with me." The score is for synthetic sounds, vocals, drums, piano, and trumpet, each with its accompanying clef, and if she wasn't so confused over what this means in her fake marriage plight, she'd be extremely impressed. "Wait... so... what is this for?"

Henry looks down. He toes the wooden floor modestly. "I, er, wrote that."

Amber shoots up from her bent-over position, eyes wide. "You... wrote this?" Her words come out doused heavily in disbelief, because the last time she checked, the young man with the ashy brown hair was only good at one thing, and that was his violin.

She receives an affirming nod. "Yeah. That's why I asked you to, you know, cooperate with me. I need a trumpet player for this song."

Amber's mouth opens in a silent and relieved 'oh' as Henry flumps down on one of the cushioned chairs, a glum expression on his face. "I've been composing for some time, so that's why my division instructor gave me access. There's been a few companies that are interested in me and some of my composed works, so they're giving me until the showcase to produce a full list of demo songs."

"Dude! That's awesome! You- you even wrote the right kind of stuff for instruments you don't even play in here!"

The violinist shrugs. "Well, I've had some help from a few people, and I just threw all their expertise together. So that's why I called you in, and yeah." Another shrug. "You'll still help, looking at this mess, right?"

"You kidding?" Why is this reborn musical Jesus still questioning himself? "I'll totally play for you! Absolutely!"

A rare smile appears on Henry's features, and he stands, fully energized. "Alright then! Let's get to it!"

Amber takes this moment to toss in another pumped-up and unneeded "Yeah!", and brings up her hand for an automatic high-five that Henry doesn't see quickly enough to dodge before he gets whacked in the face.

—

a/n: w o w ok last update in a while cus exams and school but ill be back on the second week of may

also wtf this is like the longest chap ive ever wrote for this story n its all bc i dont want to do my hw

amber is v paranoid n also v clumsy first she hit the guy's violin n next his face rest in rip amb. // twit + tmblr