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Felix + xi
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Felix
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Jun 17, 2024 07:31AM
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Andrei pulled up in the school parking lot, parking and glancing around until he saw his son, Elliot, waiting for him on the sidewalk near the front doors. He got out, then opened the backseat door to let Molly, his service dog, out as well. He checked to make sure her vest was on correctly before walking across the car park to meet his son at the front of the school.
Samantha was also standing on the sidewalk, her fingers were sliding across her phone’s keyboard quickly. She had been standing outside waiting for her father for about an hour. She already tried calling her father and they all went to voicemail. Now she was sending paragraphs after paragraphs. “If he doesn’t come, I swear.” She said under her breath without being aware of her surroundings.
“Hey, dad!” Elliot smiled when he saw Andrei, and the older man smiled back. “Just waiting for my friend,” he said, motioning vaguely over to Samantha, who wasn’t very far away. “Oh? Is she performing too or just here to watch?” he asked, glancing briefly at the girl before refocusing on his son.
Samantha rolled her eyes at her phone before putting it into her pocket. She knew her father was busy, he had been a workaholic her whole life but he always made sure that he was there when it was something important. But she wasn’t sure about this time. He would usually call her by now. She ran her fingers through her dirty blonde hair that’s when she noticed Elliot. Then her eyes landed on an older man, who she assumed was his father. Her and Elliot have been since they started school, hitting it right off. As if they were meant to be in each others lives. She sighed as she walked over, she waved and gave her bright warming smile. Trying to not to show that she was more than pissed. “Hey, Elliot.” She said once she got close enough.
"Hey." Elliot smiled at her, waving her over. "If your dad doesn't get here soon we might should just go back and start getting ready. I'm sure he'll show up by the time the show starts," he said. Andrei didn't say anything, just gave Samantha a brief nod of greeting, his hands in the pockets of his brown leather bomber jacket, which had a few patches on it- mostly military themed with an obvious outlier in the form of a pride flag on his shoulder.
“Hey, this must be your father... Hi, I am Sam.” She said softly. Samantha looked around at the cars pulling in, hoping to see her father’s car. But there was no luck of her such, she sighed softly and shrugged. “Yeah okay, I have to prepare for my performance anyway.” She said, anyone could tell she wasn’t happy at all. She started walking towards the school building. In that an all-black, dark tinted 2023 Rolls-Royce pulled into the parking a lot. It wasn’t going the speed limit of the school parking lot. It quickly parked and a man with ginger hair and a beard came rushing out. The man fixed his dark purple suit, which matched with his daughter's dress she was performing in. "Sammie!" shouted out the man once he noticed his daughter heading to the door. Samantha turned around and her face automatically brighten. "Dad!" she shouted before running into her father's arms. He lifted her up from the ground for a couple seconds before softly placing her back on her feet.
Andrei watched the scene with concealed interest, sticking next to Elliot, who chuckled at the sight. Looking at the other father he suddenly felt underdressed, even though he'd checked the school's page about the event and there'd been no mention of a dress code. He used a hand to smooth out the plain white button-down he was wearing under his jacket, chewing his lip and subconsciously tightening his hold on Molly's leash.
Samantha hit her father in his chest. "You are late." she stated. The older man just chuckled at his daughter's hit. "I am sorry. They tried keeping me longer." he shrugged as he spoke. Samantha rolled her eyes before, she grabbed her father's hand and started pulling her towards Elliot and his father. "This is Elliot.. the friend I been telling you about and this is his father." she said, her whole energy was different now that her father was there. Russ glanced at the young man first, he gave a smile and held out his hand for him. "Russ." it was simple and quick, then his eyes made their way to the older man. "Nice to meet you." he said, he noticed the pride flag but didn't make to much of it. "Come on, before you two lose your sits." Samantha side in a rush before she pulled her father along.
Elliot greeted Russ politely. "Nice to meet you too," Andrei said when addressed. Elliot rushed in after the other two and Andrei took up the rear of the group, walking along to the school's auditorium so Elliot and Samantha could go backstage and get ready while he and Russ located their seats.
Russ looked around at the other parents as he also looked for his seat. He spotted them and looked back to see if the other man was behind him before he spoke. "Right here." he said as he pointed to the chair. He walked up to the lane and made his way to the seats, making sure he didn't step on anyone's feet. He sighed as he finally sat down.
Andrei internally facepalmed when he realized he'd come in on the wrong side. He and Russ were in seats next to each other, and Andrei had purposely gotten one on the outside of the row so Molly could sit in the aisle next to him. After a moment of debating whether to just squeeze through all the people, he decided against it and held up his hand to Russ in a motion that seemed to indicate 'wait' or 'just a second' or something of the sort, then walked back up the aisle they were currently on before going back down the next one and sitting down with a sigh. He glanced over at Russ, figuring he should probably introduce himself. "I'm Andrei, Elliot's father," he said, holding out his hand.
Russ watched as the man walked around to make his way to the seat next to him. He looked at the dog, and he started to wonder why the man even needed the service animal. But his mind quickly filled with business thoughts like it always did. He glanced around and since it seemed like everyone was still waiting. So in his mind why not work until the show started. He pulled out two phones from the inside of his suit pocket. He placed one on his lap while in unlocked the other. He noticed the man’s hand out, he looked over and put his in his opposite hand to shake the man’s hand. “Russ.” He said with a simple tone. “Sammie told me about him, he seems like a good kid.” He said with a small smirk. Before he went back to his phone.
“He is,” he said, nodding. “Yours seems good too.” He raised an eyebrow slightly as he saw the other man pull out two phones. “What do you do?” He asked idly, hoping his curiosity wasn’t too obvious. Elliot had talked to him about Sam a lot but never mentioned that apparently her father drove a Rolls-Royce and carried two phones.
Russ raised an eyebrow to the question. But he didn’t take his eyes off his phone. He started typing fast, but his finger tips were soft against his phone screen. He never told anyone want he did, not even his own daughter. All everyone knew was that Russ was a business man. If you wanted something done, you called him. If you wanted to run this city he was the man you wanted in your corner. “Just a business man.” He said as he glanced up at Andrei with a small smirk on his face. He glanced down at the dog sitting on the floor and back up at the man. “What about you? What is it that you do?” He asked as he went back to his phone.
Andrei nodded. “Ah, alright.” He didn’t try to push for anything more specific— he knew what it was like not to be able to say much about one’s job, and figured Russ might be in a similar situation. He caught the glance at Molly, which he expected. Most people were curious. That didn’t mean he was about to say something about it, though. “I work at a diner,” he said simply.
"A dinner.. interesting." Russ said softly without taking his eyes off his phone. He knew from Andrei's tone that there was more to that answer but, he didn't know the man or even really cared enough to ask more about it. He started typing but then he heard someone on the stage start talking, he glanced up for a moment but then looked back down at his phone for a quick second to send out another message. Once it was sent, he sighed and put his phone up. He knew his daughter and she was probably seeing if he was paying attention. It had only been up two for so long, he knew her like the back of his hand. Even though she wasn't on stage yet, he knew that she wanted him to pay attention the whole time. And one thing about Russ, he would do anything for his little girl.
Andrei turned his eyes to the stage as soon as the person on stage started talking. Right now it was just a teacher who was running the event, thanking the parents for coming and such. Andrei's foot tapped idly on the floor as he sat forward, watching attentively. He knew Elliot wouldn't be on for a few acts, but he was interested anyway. This was the first school event Andrei had the privilege of going to, and he was eager to see what he'd been missing.
After the teacher finished her little speech, a child came out and sat down at the piano. Russ raised his eyebrow as he was actually interested in what the young girl was going to play. When her fingers touched the keys, it brought a small smile on Russ face. He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest as he listened. He knew the song a little too well and the young girl was actually playing it perfectly. Once she was done she stood up and took a bow, and Russ gave a few soft claps. No one could even hear it over the other parents clapping. And what he assumed were her parents since they stood up and started cheering for her loudly.
Oh hi! Sorry, I completely forgot to respond 😅 just a minute!
Andrei watched the girl play with interest. He hadn't heard the song before, and he didn't know much about piano, but he thought it sounded lovely. He politely clapped when she was done, and the teacher came out briefly to introduce the next student while some of the stage crew rolled the piano off to the side of the stage. Next on was a guy that was performing a dance routine. Andrei smiled, intrigued by the performance.
> It is okay, bookie. When the teacher came out again Russ just watched the young woman walk off the stage. He wondered if she planned on playing for a career, if so, he knew if she put her all in it. That she would make a name for herself. Russ focused on the young man that came up. Russ wasn't interested in dances, well- unless it was ballet. But he still watched, and he didn't clap once he was done. He watched as the teacher came back on stage, he was hoping that his daughter was up next. But she introduced another student. He sighed softly as he kept his arms crossed.
Andrei clapped after each performance, his attention not faltering. After a few more performances, Samantha was called on, and he sat up a little straighter, watching his son's friend with particular interest.
