He waited for her. Sitting in the back row of Hosmer with one single yellow sunflower. He sighed and looked at his iPhone. It was 6:45 on November 6th, the time when he asked her to meet him. There was no one in sight and the hall was quiet. He thought to himself why he had waited this long to ask her out. Jack had fallen for Megan his 5th day on campus when he met her in their improvisation class. He knew deep down in his gut she didn't love him. He knew she would ever fall for him the way he did for her. Jack thought about all the times they met by accident waiting in line for coffee. Jack thought about the day she told him she was on his floor. The day he realized to date her he had to break the RA Code. Jack twisted the cap on his water and took a slug before replacing the cap. He checked his phone, 6:47. He thought about how she was always in a good mood in theory class and how she was one of the few people to laugh at his jokes. She would show up at rehearsal and warm up with his favorite songs. She must not have known how much of a turn on it was for him. She went to all his improv workshops. He thought that meant she must have liked him since she was more advanced than the class. Jack always thought that she must have liked him to do all that. So the night of their second formal jazz concert, he decided he would ask her out. He had been slipping secret admirer notes in her locker, in her theory books, and in her jazz folder. Three days ago, he had one of her fellow bass clarinet majors slip one in her wind ensemble folder. The letter asked if she could meet him in Hosmer at 6:45 on Thursday evening. He listened to her tell her friends that her secret admirer had asked her to meet him. She was so excited. In the sound check, she made a comment to Matt about her

mocks today that she might be late for the section tuning at 7. Jack hoped that the mock was the only reason she wasn't there yet. He checked his phone again, 6:50. He decided he had waited long enough. He started to walk toward the stage to go get his trumpet to warm up for the concert. He took the cap off his water, put an aspirin in it and put the sunflower in it. When he reached the stage, he gave one last look around the hall and put the flower in front of her chair for the concert. and started to walk out through the backstage area.

Creak.... The door in the back of the hall opened. He turned around and saw her standing there. She was looking around and didn't see Jack standing there. She looked at her phone and sat down where Jack had just been sitting. She was wearing the black dress she had worn for Halloween. She looked breathtaking. Jack walked backstage and grabbed his trumpet. He peeked from backstage and saw her looking through sheets of paper and looking like she was about to cry. Jack thought to himself, 'well, it's now or never'. He stayed backstage and started to play. He chose to play her favorite jazz standard, Someone to Watch Over Me, by George Gershwin. He played the intro and the melody. She was looking around for the trumpet. He finished it off and walked onto the stage. He watched as her eyes lit up when she saw who it was. He walked over to her ensemble seat and picked up the flower and started walking toward her. 'This is it' he thought, 'I'm finally going to do it'. When he got to the back of the hall where she was sitting, he started to sing one of her

favorite Sinatra tunes. He finished the first verse and handed her the sunflower. "You came" he said smiling.She smiled with tears in her eyes. "It's you"She stood up and gave him a hug. He could detect light touches of her stress relief body spray. There was a subtle hint of the smell of reeds also."Jack, You didn't have to do this.""Yes, I did. I would have done more, but I didn't have the nerve. Are you mad?""Do I look mad?" Jack giggled a little at her response."I guess this means I don't have to do what I had planned for you anymore do I?" Jack cocked his head confused."What are you trying to say?"Megan cleared her throat. "I wanna be loved by you, just you Nobody else but you I wanna be loved by you alone." She smiled after singing those few lines."I wanna be kissed by you, just you, Nobody else but you. I wanna be kissed by you alone." Jack answered and smiled at her. "Marilyn Monroe sang the best love songs.""Well, this is less awkward than I had pictured." She answered with a smile."I second that, I saw this going a million different directions, but this is a good one." He replied. "So does this mean you're asking me out?" Megan asked him."Why yes, I am in fact. Or, at least that was my goal for today. If it's too awkward, we can just not, but I'd like it if we could court if you wouldn't mi-" Jack stopped mid sentence by a finger on his lips.

"Yes, I would love to date you. I've been trying to get the nerve to ask you the same thing since last year. My answer is yes." And she reached up and kissed his neck. "Oops, I was aiming for the cheek, but I didn't wear heals today, so my stretch is a little too short." Jack giggled and bent down and kissed her on the lips. She took his hand."Let's go to warm up. I have a feeling tonight's going to be a good night." She grabbed her flower in the other hand and they walked out of the hall to go get instruments. Jack checked his phone, 7:00."Hey, you're late for section tuning." He told Megan."Drew can wait. I'll see in a few minutes." She squeezed his hand then walked away to go get ready. Jack stood there for a second thinking about all the worrying he had done because she ran late and he yelled after her. "Hey, how did your mock go?""I passed! See you backstage Jack!" She yelled back at him. Jack realized at that moment that he had finally won the girl and he left smiling to go find his section for section tuning.