Pumpkin Spice

by C. L. Ryder

  Coleen felt like she was waking up from a particularly good dream. She pulled the headphones from her ears. “That was… amazing. I’ve never heard anything like it before. I felt… lifted up. Charged. I didn’t know music could do that.”

  “What do you like to listen to, normally?” Madison asked.

  “Um, classical music, mostly,” Coleen said, feeling uncool.

  “You can’t have anything without the classics,” Madison smiled. “This stuff definitely takes the emotion of classical music and—” she smacked her fist into her palm, “—puts it on crack.”

  Coleen nodded. “Who was that?”

  “Micah Vann,” Madison said, in a voice that Coleen thought sounded a little distant. “He’s one the best producer DJs on the scene today—and his debut EP only came out a year ago.”

  “That’s amazing.”

  “Yeah. He’s really come a long way in a short amount of time. But he’d always been extremely talented.” Madison turned back to her computer. “You want to hear more?”

  “Yeah,” Coleen said, without hesitation.

  Madison unplugged the headphones and turned on the big monitoring speakers set up on the desk. The next track blasted out from them, making Coleen jump in surprise as the tight thump of the bass hit her square in the chest. “Doesn’t it just make you want to move?” Madison shouted as she leapt up, bobbing her head to the music. Coleen grinned and nodded. The song built up thicker and thicker until the beat finally dropped, and Coleen found herself compelled up to her feet next to Madison, the two of them hopping and moving to the music. Every so often, Coleen would catch Madison’s eye, and Madison would give her a small grin that made her heart jump.

  They danced and listened to the entire album, and Coleen couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this good. It was similar to the body high she got from working out, but that came alongside the effort and discipline it took to do something that she didn’t find too enjoyable. This felt incredibly enjoyable—addicting almost, like a drug. When the last track ended, the two of them stood grinning and panting, their faces shiny with sweat from completely losing themselves in the music. Madison, seeing how much Coleen was getting into it, let herself go even more, and the two of them fed off each other’s energy until they both were dancing wildly to the music. Coleen had definitely never let herself go like that before in her life.

  “Phew,” Madison breathed. “I’m hot.” She crossed her arms and gripped the bottom of her shirt, and then tugged it off over her head. Coleen felt her heart do a triple flip as she took in the shockingly unexpected sight of Madison in her bra. She quickly turned away to avert her eyes, and to quell the sudden new burst of excitement that had surged down between her thighs.

  Madison opened up the windows and turned on a small desk fan that buzzed and shivered from side to side, barely pushing any air around the room. Coleen also felt hot, but it wasn’t just from the dancing. For a moment she thought about taking her shirt off too, but decided against it. She wasn’t quite on Madison’s level of carefree.

  “I’ve… never done that before,” Coleen admitted.

  “What, dance?”

  “I mean, I’ve danced. But… just feeling like I had to. Like the music was moving through me. That’s never happened to me.”

  “Felt good, right?”

  “It felt amazing.”

  Madison went to the kitchenette and filled up two cups of water for them. “So you make that kind of music?” Coleen asked.

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Madison said.

  “Can I hear some?”

  “Of my music?” Madison looked surprised at first, and then she smiled. “Sure.” She bent over the computer and selected a track, and a slow, intoxicating tune drifted out from the speakers. It immediately took her, and Coleen stood captivated by the melody. Soon the song began to pick up energy, gradually building until Coleen recognized the crescendo that was the beat drop—then it hit, and again she couldn’t help but jump and dance along to throbbing pulse of the music.

  This is amazing, she thought. This is as good as any of the other stuff she’s showed me. Hearing the genuine emotion in the song, Coleen felt like she could hear a part of Madison’s soul. She was captured by her. Just like that, her attraction for Madison suddenly expanded to something way greater, something blissful and aching.

  Madison grinned and danced along too, jumping up and down with the energy of the track, obviously pleased to see that Coleen was enjoying her song.

  “You made that?” Coleen breathed, sweat dripping down her cheek. “How are you not famous already?”

  Madison laughed. “I’m working on it.”

  “I mean… that was as good as—no, that was better than the other stuff you played for me.”

  “Thanks. Micah was the one who taught me a lot about how to produce music.”

  “Really?” Coleen asked. “He taught you? You know him?”

  Madison smiled. “We were friends, back in the high school.”

  “Wow,” Coleen said, surprised. Were friends? She detected that distant tone in Madison’s voice again, and decided to not to press her and let her expand on it on her own.

  “He was like you, actually,” Madison said. “Classically trained. He grew up playing the piano. And violin. And probably a dozen other instruments. I took violin, but it never caught on for me. Reading music and all that theory stuff, I just never got it. Anyway, we both discovered this EDM stuff, and loved it so much we decided we wanted to make music too—Micah just picked up the programs and started composing, just like that. He was already so good at it. I struggled, and did my best to learn from him. He always did his best to help me out, but eventually I guess I just was too slow for him. And then, he got a track re-Tweeted by this one really famous producer, and that was it. He was in. He got more famous, and I heard from him less and less.”

  Now, you’re chasing him, Coleen thought, with admiration. Even just from talking about it, Coleen could see a bold glimmer of determination sparkling in Madison’s eyes.

  “Anyway.” Madison scratched her head, looking like she just came back from a trance. “Want to hear more?”

  “Yes,” Coleen said eagerly.

  “Let me show you what I’m working on right now,” she said, opening up a piece of software on her computer, filling the screen with waveforms and a timeline grid that Coleen recognized as being similar to the video editing software that she and Yuri used for making special effects videos. “Feel special. I haven’t shared this one with anyone yet. You’re the very first.”

  Coleen did feel special, and her stomach did a little flip of excitement.

  The track was another catchy head bobber with a beat that put energy into Coleen’s body and made her want to move, with rich digital harmonies that melted into each other like the colors in a computer’s music visualizer. When the hook came, Coleen knew that this was a sure winner.

  “Madison, I’m blown away,” she said, clapping when the song ended.

  “Thank you,” Madison laughed. “I’m really proud of this one. But… there’s something missing from it. I’ve been working on it for the past month, and I still haven’t been able to figure out what it is.”

  Coleen thought it already sounded perfect.

  Madison stretched, crossing her arms over her head. Her cleavage glimmered with sweat, and Coleen forced herself to look away, becoming self-conscious again. Who the hell just takes their shirt off around a girl they’re just getting to know? Madison, apparently. But honestly, that carefree attitude only attracted Coleen more.

  “Damn, I’m pretty hungry,” said Madison, leaning over to look at the clock on the computer. “Oh, shit, and it’s late.”

  Coleen took out her phone and saw that it was pushing ten at night. “Uh oh. How did that happen?”

  Madison shut her laptop. “Having too much fun, I guess.” She smiled guiltily.

  “We’d better get studying,” Coleen said, somewhat regrettably. She
had completely forgotten about the reason why she was here, and wanted to keep listening to more music with Madison. “Class starts early tomorrow, and you are definitely not ready for this.”

  Going over to the kitchen, Madison opened up the freezer and pulled out a frozen pizza. “Well, if you don’t mind staying a little later and helping me.”

  Coleen shook her head. No, she really didn’t. “Have any coffee, though? I might be here a while…”

  Soon they were studying at the table, their stomachs full of pizza and their minds buzzing with caffeine and the high of a new bond that had been struck between them. Coleen’s attraction for her gorgeous and talented new friend only grew stronger as they huddled close together over her note. She did her best to quell her feelings and keep them restrained. She’d learned to keep her expectations low as a way to keep herself from getting hurt, which always seemed to inevitably happen.

  What Coleen didn’t know—had no way of knowing—was that the same feelings were developing in Madison’s heart.

  Click here to read Listen to my Heart now!

  FREE BONUS CHAPTER

  Click here to access a free bonus chapter to Pumpkin Spice!