13. Harlowe
Iwas not even remotely a morning person. I managed in high school and undergrad and then I got a job waiting tables at a high-end restaurant that opened late and only did brunch twice a month. I didn’t even have enough time to train myself with a new sleep schedule.
I managed to drag myself out of bed to see JaToya off. She made several vampire jokes because she always did. We hugged, and she promised to destroy anyone who tried to mess with me. And then she had to catch her train back to the city.
I wasn’t a big breakfast person because I wasn’t a morning person. I usually just had an obscenely large cup of coffee. Thanks to my mysterious benefactor, I had some super fancy coffee maker that was a lot more complicated than just adding water, grounds, and pressing a button like my old one.
I figured it out and left to find someone who could tell me where Dr Faustus’s office was since Orion didn’t bother during my tour. I managed to find Rue, Cullen, and a bunch of other dancers wearing layers of clothes stretching in the common room.
“Hey, guys. This is Harlowe and she plays the violin, so be nice. She’s not going to steal your solo,” Cullen said.
“My best friend says I look like Lurch when I try to dance, so I would hope not. I’m going to be fetching tea for the conductor for your Nutcracker performance because it’s not fair to anyone to stick me in the orchestra.”
One of the dancers just grinned at me as she stretched her leg over her head.
“Klaus is kind of insane. You’ll bring him a lot of the strongest coffee he can buy.
We started rehearsing with the orchestra about a week ago.
I’m dancing one of the Harlequin dolls in the party scene.
It wasn’t even close to me doing my solo yet, and he stopped the whole orchestra because one oboe player didn’t change their reed before they showed up.
It upset me and I’m not even in the orchestra. ”
“Have you had a chance to look at your classes yet?” Rue asked.
I explained how my classes had been done and they all nodded. The dancers seemed friendly, but I also wasn’t a threat to them.
“That actually works,” Rue said. “It saves you from probation or anyone saying you didn’t earn your grades. Some of the musicians are still going to be dicks to you.”
“I’m aware. Can any of you tell me where Dr Faustus’s office is? I’m sure all of you have questions about me being here at the end of the semester, but now that I don’t have a day to decide my future, so do I.”
“Faustus showed up in the subway where she was busking, gave her a train ticket, and told her to be here Monday or don’t come at all,” Cullen explained.
“He’s in the main building on the second floor.
A little Faustus 101. He’s got no artistic talent at all, but he’s smart and has connections.
If you actually want to benefit from his connections, never act like you’re better than him because you’re good enough at your art to get in here.
You won’t have a very good time. Also, I know you want answers and I would too, but he holds all the power here, and he knows it.
Be careful asking what you want to ask.”
“Thanks. And thank you for helping me instead of not holding any of this against me.”
All the dancers just laughed.
“Girl, you weren’t a threat as soon as we heard you played the violin, but now we’re all curious and you’re going to have to come to The Nutcracker cast party and show us all how Lurch dances,” Cullen said.
I just laughed and left them to their stretches. I had no problem showing a bunch of highly trained dancers how terrible I was at their craft. The music department was probably going to have a massive problem with me, despite how my schedule ended up, but at least the dancers were cool.
I found the office easy enough, but something told me getting past the older lady sitting at the desk in front of the door was going to be like breaking into Fort Knox.
She was glaring at me like I was lower than dirt.
I had a feeling it had nothing to do with how I was admitted and everything to do with my vibes.
She had that look on her face like she thought I was a Satanist because of how I was dressed.
“You’re late,” she snapped. “He’s been expecting you.”
Well, excuse the fuck out of me, but if he’s sent a text or email, I wouldn’t have spent that long making friends with the dancers. I was planning on having a chat, but I wasn’t aware I had an appointment.
“Why are you staring at me like a fish? He’s an important man and doesn’t have all day. Knock, announce yourself, and go in.”
Ugh. It was like that. It was also something I knew how to manage and not just from undergrad.
Waiting tables built all kinds of social skills dealing with difficult people.
Especially when you worked at a restaurant that didn’t list prices on the menu and some of the wine cost more than two months of my rent.
I did a respectful but firm knock and waited.
“Who?” he called.
“Harlowe Lopez.”
“Come.”
I hoped the rest of this conversation went better than one word grunts from my headmaster.
Oh, wonderful. I could tell when I stepped into this office that this was a power play.
I saw one side of him in the subway and now I was seeing him.
Johann Faustus absolutely did not appreciate being tasked with fetching me in the subway.
And I knew then even with how my schedule worked out, I was going to have a hard time here.
I didn’t go through the same rigorous audition process to get in.
I wasn’t even trying to get in. I just got extremely lucky.
But that was the thing. A lot of being successful in the arts was just being in the right place at the right time.
“Sit,” he ordered.
More one word grunts. Wonderful. I needed to get everything out about making sure I was safe here and I had about a million questions about why I was here now as opposed to the beginning of a semester.
I knew why I had to wait to say any of that.
I was going to say it and it might piss him off, but right now, he needed to feel like the most important person in the room.
“So, I was told you wanted to see me,” he said.
Not what I was expecting, but how did he even know that?
It should have been a given how everything went down, but he seemed put out.
Dr Faustus also wasn’t looking at me. He kept staring over my shoulder like there was something back there that scared him.
I wanted to turn and look, but you couldn’t show fear around men like this and I didn’t see anyone else in the office when I came in.
“Well, yeah. I was just trying to make my rent and now I’m here, weeks before finals instead of the beginning of a semester when new students usually start.
Someone managed to find out things about me that should have been impossible and the brother of the man responsible for this is a creepy stalker who thinks his brother is the devil and someone here is going to try to buy my soul.
He managed to find out I was offered a place here and even what train I was going to be on to give his demon speech. ”
His face didn’t change for the most part, but I saw his forehead twitch just above his eye.
“You met Gadreel? What about the other brother, Ramiel?”
“No. Gadreel was enough. Is my benefactor really named Lucifer or was Gadreel just on something? And what kind of security is there to keep him away from me?”
“Gadreel can’t set foot on this campus, but he may pester you if you leave. He’s harmless. He won’t get violent, he’ll just proselytize your ear off. You’ll probably meet the other brother, Ramiel. He’s the exact opposite of Gadreel.”
“It’s a lot of family drama and I wasn’t exactly given a lot of time to think about any of this.”
“Miss Lopez, you’ll need to worry about your own drama while you’re here, not what’s going on with people who won’t be on these grounds.
You should have been extended an invitation to come next semester.
It was entirely too much work for one student to get you here now.
The man paying your way didn’t want to give you time to talk yourself out of coming. ”
“Is that entire family okay? Because if you’d just sent me an email that someone from Blackvale saw me performing in the subway and you would like to offer me a scholarship, none of the weird shit that has me talking myself into leaving would be happening.”
“The entire family is strange and frankly, a pain in the ass. One of them also sees something in you and decided to fund your education. He’s going to be a pain in my ass about it, for the most part.
The Dean of the Music School should have chosen your advisor and you should only have one.
Your benefactor handpicked both of yours because he wants you playing and writing. ”
Which was controlling ass fuck since no one asked me what I wanted to do. Since I wanted to play and write and he was footing the bill for all the extra classes, I wasn’t telling Dr Faustus exactly what I thought about a man thinking he knew what was best for me.
Still, I had limits and boundaries were important.
“I’m agreeing to that because it’s also what I want to do, but he’s not planning on dictating the rest of my life because he’s funding my education, right?”
This man had the nerve to look put out with me for asking when even he admitted none of this was normal and my benefactor was making more work for him. Dr Faustus also didn’t confirm, nor deny my benefactor’s parents actually named him Lucifer.
“Listen, you’re asking way too many questions for the opportunity you’ve been given. A powerful man is now a fan of your talent and wants to make sure you can use it. At most, he’ll ask you to write something for him and he’ll pay you for it. You know, how grown-up commissions work.”
I whirled around because I swore I heard someone clear their throat behind me. And Dr Faustus’s eyes kept darting over my shoulder. I thought that just meant he was one of those people who were uncomfortable with eye contact and I wasn’t important enough for him to force it.
But it actually sounded like there was someone in here with us. There wasn’t when I turned around, but Faustus was paler when I faced his desk again like something spooked him.
I wanted to get out of there because I was officially creeped out. Thankfully, he was done with me too and dismissed me.