by Lizzie Vega
He kissed her deeply and she put her arms around him, but broke away after a second then returned kissing him over and over, then pulled back again with tears in her eyes, “I’m sorry,” she whispered then wiped her eyes, “I’m going too fast. It’s hard to breathe.”
Ethan suspected otherwise, “Sara,” he whispered roughly also trying to catch his breath, “Don’t be sad.” She put her fingers to his lips, “I’m never sad.” She reached down, tugging at the hem of his shirt, “I don’t know what happens to us but right now, I’ve never been happier.”
“I’m not very experie-” Again, she put her fingers to his lips, “Shhh, I’m, uh…doesn’t matter.” She kissed him once on the forehead and then on the tip of his nose. She stopped, hovering in front him, her lips just out of reach, “But how do we get better at something?” she asked softly.
He leaned out and kissed her. As he settled back, trying not to laugh at her expression, “Practice?”
“Yes,” she whispered as she pushed herself off his chest. She moaned quietly as she pulled her sweater over her head, and shaking her head, “Lots of practice.” She reached out to undo the first button of his shirt, “you said something about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.”
Staring, Ethan exhaled slowly, “More than right now?” he asked, “makes what I was thinking of doing seems kinda dumb at the moment.”
“Don’t be nervous,” she smiled, getting to the third then fourth button, “Our first night, when I came to your room, you apologized for bumping into me.” She pulled his shirttails out of his jeans, “I knew how weird it was for you and I didn’t want to spoil how gentle you were for me.” She sighed as she pushed his shirt down over his shoulders, “How you were was so special for me. If it’s okay…I want it to be special for you.”
Reaching up she put her arms around his neck and pulled him to her, “Be close to me again,” she whispered, her breath becoming short, “I want to feel your skin against mine. Bumping will be encouraged.”
“That’s embarrassing,” he whispered.
“Please don’t be, I was excited by it.” She stood and pushed her leg between his knees. Bringing herself to the edge of the bed, she took his hand and put it on her breast. She sighed as she looked down to him then shivered, “I hope I feel, mmmm, warm for you. I’m getting kinda hot.”
Ethan didn’t answer as he was gently cupping his hand around her breast, his brow furrowed in concentration. Sara was quick to take his hand and push it against her firmly, “I like firm and deliberate, and for you to relax, this might take all night.”
“You’re beautiful, Sara. I had no idea.” He brought his hand up and traced his fingers along her collarbone. “Weird thought,” he grinned, “see if you can tell me what this is.” Taking his fingertip, he brought it slowly down above her breast but turned, tracing it between her breasts only to cross and go around to the side brushing along its side then swirling in a slow spiral to touch her taut nipple.
She shivered in response, “Not sure. Do it again. I like that.”
As he slowly brushed over her skin a second time, he offered a hint, “Think musical.” No sooner had he completed the path, Sara grinned, “You are so cute, it’s a treble clef, right?”
“I’m a dork, right?”
She snickered, “Since you started it, I’ve got one for you.” She took his hand and placed it above her heart, “Allegro or presto?” She cocked an eyebrow and waited
He smiled at the tempo reference, “Fast or very fast? I’d say fast, er allegro, like me.”
“I agree. But in a few minutes,” she cautioned, “we want to go andante at first then maybe um moderato.” His eyes got wide as he thought through the Italian words for slow and moderately fast. She took a step back, pulling the drawstring on her sweatpants and they dropped to the floor around her ankles. “I see you are beginning to squirm a little.” She offered her hand, “Maybe it’s more comfortable if you stand for a minute.”
Chapter 17
That Thursday, the paranormal club staked out the Union Lounge. Arriving early, Alvin and Edward set up a cleverly disguised microphone by their chairs and set a concealed video camera on the table in front of them, trained directly at the old piano.
Kelli and Mikayla stationed themselves just off to the side with a direct side view of where the unusual performance would happen. Another small high-tech microphone hung out of Mikayla’s bookbag, ready to pick up any unusual frequencies.
While Kelli had lobbied hard for Mikayla to sit alone, as the performance time approached, Mikayla waved Kelli back from sitting with Alvin and Edward.
“I appreciate the idea but I’m feeling really weird sitting here by myself,” she whispered.
Kelli could see how uncomfortable she was, “Yeah, but if Amanda and the crew show up, it’ll be tough to keep them away. They won’t sit with me if the guys are with.”
Mikayla looked to the piano. “She didn’t say a word about it after class, so maybe they’ll skip and do something else.”
“Let’s hope,” Kelli offered, trying to calm her friend’s nerves, “It’s kinda like you’re on display all by yourself. Gimme a sec, I’ll get my stuff.”
Kelli had barely settled into her chair when Ethan rounded the corner, satchel under his arm. He made a beeline to the baby grand and quickly set his music on the stand. Kelli was quick to comment on the mood he was projecting.
“Did he just smile?”
Mikayla nodded with a little grin of her own and Kelli covered her mouth to quietly mask a comment, “God, you’re just adorable. He’s so good looking minus the scowl.”
Mikayla glared at her, “Shhh,” then shot a look across the room to Edward. He was discreetly pivoting the video camera into position, hidden under his jacket. Alvin sat opposite watching discreetly over the top of a textbook.
Kelli sat there, holding her latest science fiction novel, pretending to read as Ethan adjusted the small piece of sheet music on the piano stand, “Here we go.”
With a nervous and equally guilty look around the lounge, Mikayla nodded and reached down to turn on the microphone. Putting her elbow on the chair armrest, she appeared to feign a quick nap and closed her eyes.
Today, he tested the A note as usual, then smiled again.
“Mik,” Kelli whispered, “You need to watch this. He’s completely different today.”
She opened her eyes just as the smile faded but caught him as he looked to the side and nodded his head, beginning to count down a beat. As with the last few episodes, the same triplet chords played in the same progression, but Mikayla was way ahead of him. She opened her mouth to say something to Kelli but caught herself knowing it would interfere with the recording.
The violin was there, the five-note intro, then the beginning passage including the sweet tremolo.
The colors came as well, but Mikayla was startled as to how bold the blues and greens seemed as they spiraled around him. She gasped and looked at Kelli expecting the final chord to signal the end of the performance. She saw Kelli staring at Ethan as the music kept going. “Mik, look at him,” she said as she leaned forward, then stopped, trying to be quiet.
No sooner had she spoken, the music stopped. Mikayla continued watching from their carefully chosen location. His eyes were closed, then a soft smile and a gentle affirming nod of his head. He looked to his right with another nod, then stood up quietly and began to make his way across the spacious lounge.
Both Kelli and Mikayla followed him with their eyes, watching for anything unusual. Kelli noted that quite a few students had watched him as well. It was only then she noticed how many students were in the lounge during a usually quiet time of the school day.
Edward signaled to the girls, but it was only Kelli that saw it. Mikayla sat with her chin on her hand, a quiet smile on her face.
“Earth to Mik,” she heard, startling her. Kelli laughed, “Coast is clear,” her eyes narrowed and her usually prominent voice dropping, “I heard more
than ever, what did you see?”
She sighed, then looked up to see Alvin and Edward making their way towards them. Mikayla pointed, “Just a sec,” then leaned closer to her, “I thought he looked happy today,” then smiled suddenly as the guys came into earshot, “Did you get it?” she asked eagerly.
Kelli chuckled, “Yeah, me too.” She looked up at Edward, “Can we go back to the house and listen to it? Like, right now?”
“Like I’d have to ask?” he snorted, “You’re in charge of food. Let’s meet up in a half hour or so.”
“But,” Kelli pouted.
“We’ll wait and all look at it together, okay? “Alvin interrupted, anticipating Kelli’s reasoning. “I’ll keep Ed away from the computer until the food shows up.”
Barely an hour later, they gathered in the basement as Edward downloaded the recordings and began to sift them through a series of filters. Alvin asked Mikayla about her impressions of the performance. She looked at Kelli before she answered, “It was different today. There was more color and the music seemed...”
“More dynamic,” Kelli added between bites of pepperoni, “more deliberate for sure. I know I heard a whole section.” Mikayla looked at her, “Really?”
“Yep,” Edward turned from his monitor, “It was considerably more than the first recording. I only heard the piano though.”
Alvin agreed, “Same for me.” He looked back to Edward, “What did we get?”
Edward was back staring at his screen watching a sound meter spiking up and down. The split screen showed a crystal-clear view of Ethan at the piano as the meter bars on the other window spiked up and down with the music. He picked up his headphones so quickly, Kelli jumped. “Hang on,” he said as he pointed at the two side by side images. “Look at this,” he shouted, then took off his headphones, “Sorry. But look.”
Pointing to the left image he grinned, “This is Mik’s mic,” then chuckled to himself. “We have the entire piano section for sure.” He pushed a slider and adjusted the volume, “That masks out the surrounding noise and isolates what the microphone is pointed at. Here’s the piano part from my microphone.”
Flipping another switch, Ethan’s piano performance flowed from the speakers. “Sounds great, right?” he asked, then pointed to the left side, “I’ll adjust the frequency to drop some of the piano out, or at least less.” He put his headphones back on, “I didn’t catch this at first, listen toward the end. I’ll crank the volume up.”
At first there was silence, then Mikayla heard three A notes boom from the overly large speakers, “Tuning notes,” she said loudly to be heard over some continuing background noise.
“Mik?” they heard as Kelli’s pre-concert comments were now recorded for posterity, “You need to watch this. He’s different today.”
Just as the snippet of conversation ended, Edward pointed to the screen, “Here.” A bar on the side of the volume mixer pulsed upward, barely registering in the recording, “Watch right here.”
Just before Ethan’s piano began to play through the short concert, the single volume indicator spiked once then a second bar joined next to it. Suddenly, in line with the first piano phrase, both bars spiked, and Mikayla gasped, looking open mouthed at Kelli. Her eyes suddenly filling with tears.
“Wait…just a sec,” Edward said quietly as the indicators soared up the graph, “My God, we got it.”
“Stop,” Kelli called out, “Start it over.” Edward quickly clicked the volume off with a snap of his wrist, “Yeah. Good idea.” He restarted the recording, then looked at Mikayla, “Mik,” he smiled, “this is for you.”
The speakers burst with sound as the first tuning notes played. Cranking the volume of the second microphone, the soft lilting notes of a violin played through the noise, so softly they all closed their eyes to concentrate. As the piano came in, the higher frequency notes of a string instrument continued to play just under the booming piano. Edward made a quick alteration to the program just as the violin took over and played a brief solo, the quick notes moving up the still invisible instrument neck to end with a beautiful high note.
Edward turned off the recording and the cramped makeshift basement studio was silent.
Mikayla wiped tears from her cheeks, “I’m not crazy, right?”
“Not unless we all are,” Edward quipped, “That is really pretty. Wanna hear it again?” He stopped, realizing that Alvin hadn’t said a word since they’d begun, “You good with this?”
Alvin stayed quiet, content just to smile and nod. Mikayla reached out to him, touching his arm gently, “Maybe now more than ever?”
He nodded, “Thank you, yes. Now more than ever. It makes all my wondering seem worth it.” He sighed with an odd look back to Mikayla, “That said, we need to keep this under wraps. It has to be our secret.”
Edward, still caught up in the discovery began to hedge, then backed down, “For now, sure.”
Chapter 18
A quiet knock at Alvin’s front door signaled the new prospect’s arrival. Both Mikayla and Kelli looked up from the table as Alvin worked his way over from the counter with a pile of burgers, “Mikayla, could you get that please?” he asked as the heavy platter wobbled in his hand, “Little busy here.”
Both Mikayla and Kelli stood up to go, but Alvin caught Kelli’s eye and subtly shook his head at her. Wounded, she silently sat back down. As Mikayla left the kitchen, he smiled to both Edward and Kelli, “I swear to God, I did not do this on purpose.”
Being the last to join the club, Mikayla walked to the door feeling uneasy. She opened the door and just stared.
“Um, Hi,” she heard, still staring at the club’s newest candidate, “I’m supposed to meet with Alvin and the club?” He looked up shyly at her, “I’m Ethan.”
“I…I’m,” she snickered, “I’m Mikayla.” She glanced down the hallway to see if they had an audience. Relieved to see it vacant, she awkwardly ushered him in, “We’re just about to eat. Alvin’s made a ton of food.” She gestured down the hall, suddenly mortified to walk back into the kitchen. She let him get a few steps ahead her, but he turned back, “I’ve seen you around school,” he grinned, “I’ve heard you play.”
“Oh dear,” she said reflexively, “Hope it wasn’t painful.” He stopped so quickly she almost ran into him, “Not at all,” he said, “As I remember, it was a Mozart sonata. You were…flawless.” She smiled shyly but she’d caught the hesitation in his voice. With a sigh, she directed him down the hallway.
Mikayla followed him into the kitchen only to see Alvin’s red-faced grin and hear Kelli instantly belly laugh out loud, “Everybody…this is Ethan.”
Kelli tried to tone it down, but one look at Mikayla set her off again. She playfully slapped Edward on the shoulder, “Such a great joke, Ed,” she chortled, “Gets me every time.” She stood up snickering, “I’m Kelli. Gotta pee. Be right back.” Giving Mikayla a wide-eyed look, they both hustled out of the kitchen, marching wordlessly down the hall.
“Great you could join us, Ethan,” Edward offered his hand, “Unbelievable, in fact.” He smirked at Alvin, “Whoda thunk?” Surveying the seating arrangement, Edward directed Ethan to sit at the end of the table, “Help yourself and we’ll all get acquainted, if the girls ever return.”
“Don’t be dumb,” was Kelli’s comeback as she escorted a bright red Mikayla into the kitchen, “Let’s eat. I’m starving.”
As they got settled and passed plates back and forth, Ethan surprised the table by beginning the conversation, “I’m really curious as to what you guys do. I mean, I’ve always had an interest.” He looked across the table, “You’re both in the Music Department so I’ve seen you in my classes and stuff.” He nodded to Edward, “You must be part of the Engineering bunch. I haven’t seen you around.”
“Not exactly,” Edward said as he destroyed a cheeseburger, “I’m super busy cramming a four-year degree into eight years.”
“He’s a permanent student,” Alvin grinned, clearing his thro
at, “If you feel ready to share your story, we’re all ears.” For the first time since he’d walked in, Ethan’s calm demeanor receded a bit and Mikayla was quick to notice.
“It’s okay,” she offered, “I just joined up and I’ve already seen some pretty wild stuff at the school. No pressure.”
“That would be good for change, wouldn’t it?” He directed the question at Kelli, but Mikayla answered for both, “I transferred in and I’m still way behind on my practice schedule.”
“I know the feeling really well.” Kelli nodded, “We, uh know a little bit about you. Not in a bad way though. Sorry you had to go through all that.”
After a moment of awkward quiet, Kelli came to her own rescue, “What made you reach out to Alvin?” They turned to look at the club President, but Alvin quickly deferred back to Ethan, “I just told him to come over and bring his appetite. I haven’t heard the story.”
Ethan took an apprehensive look around the table “My year started out okay but after a month or so, I really got bogged down with stuff,” he began quietly, “For a time I was thinking about dropping out.”
“Don’t do that,” Mikayla blurted out, “you’re way too good for that.” She looked away from him as Kelli broke in, “We’ve, ah heard you play too.” Mikayla winced as part of their earlier bathroom conversation leaked out. “Has something changed?” she asked.
“Um, yes. Something has definitely changed in the last few weeks.”
Alvin perked up, “So this is an ongoing situation?”
Ethan smiled wistfully, “Very ongoing.” He took a sip of his beer and Kelli caught the look in his eye and found herself staring nervously at Mikayla.
“Shadows?” Alvin asked tentatively, “Sounds and things you can’t explain?”
Ethan quickly disagreed, “Pretty sure I can explain all of it to some degree. I just don’t know why it’s happening especially now when I was so stuck. At least I was stuck until this all started.”
