Double Tears
Chapter 122
“I’m not playing music to stay alive. I am alive. And I’m playing music for the pleasure of sharing the excitement with other musicians and other human beings.”
—Maude Julien, The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Beca asked when she opened the door. I’d tried to catch her before she and Rachel left school but I had to go to the music room and get my practice guitar to take with me to Kentucky and Mr. LeBlanc wanted to discuss a rehearsal schedule for Cindy’s and my recital. By the time I got free, I was already late but I wasn’t going to leave without saying bye to Beca. “I thought you’d be halfway to Indy by now.”
“I’m running a little late,” I laughed. “But Donna just sent me a text and said she’d be ready in ten minutes so I’ll pick her up and then get the rest of the crew.”
“But why are you here?”
I pulled Beca into my arms and gave my surprised girlfriend a kiss. She relaxed into it and it turned into a really nice lovers’ kiss.
“I know this is a big weekend for you with your mom getting home Sunday and Joan coming for the weekend. But I couldn’t leave without saying I love you to my girlfriend,” I said. “I hope you have a great time with Joan and that your mom arrives safe and sound. It seems like I haven’t been able to spend much time with you this summer and fall and I want you to know I miss my best friend.”
“You do love me, don’t you, Jacob?” Beca said. “And I love you. Wish you were going to be here to play with Joan and me but it won’t be long before she’s here for a week’s vacation. Drive carefully. You have five of our girlfriends as precious cargo.”
“Mmm. Just four and Cindy,” I said as I kissed her again.
“Yeah. Right. Whatever.”
I ran back out to the truck and headed to Donna’s house.
Donna and I hadn’t had alone time since I spent the night Sunday. I desperately wanted more time with my newest lover. We’d all been together Wednesday evening to study and have dinner at her house but by the end of the evening, it was clear she intended to keep Beca overnight and didn’t need anyone else. Then last night, I’d gone out with Livy, Rachel, and Nanette. It was supposed to be just a simple dinner and let them know I’d miss them over the weekend and to run well. That sort of thing.
It ended up with the four of us asleep in sexual exhaustion in Nanette’s bed. And then, somehow, I managed to dip into each of them before we hustled off to school and work.
Nonetheless, I came to a stop in front of Donna’s farmhouse and ran around to the back to grab her bag. I pushed the sliding door open and called inside.
“Donna! I’m here! Are you ready?”
“My bag’s by the door,” she called back from the bedroom. “I’m on my way.”
I spotted the backpack around the corner and grabbed it before looking up to see Donna coming toward me toweling her hair dry.
“I had to get out of school clothes and rinse off before I sat in a crowded truck for five hours,” she said, tossing the towel on a kitchen chair. I couldn’t resist. She’d pulled her shirt on but hadn’t buttoned it yet. It was flapping around as she hurried from the bedroom to the door, exposing her breasts as she dried her hair. I caught her in my arms and slipped my hands inside her shirt to fondle her as we kissed.
“You are irresistible,” I said. “I’ve wanted you all week.”
“If it was only a four-hour trip to Kentucky instead of five, we’d spend the next hour in bed. As it is… maybe five minutes kissing and caressing won’t hurt.”
It was more like ten minutes and included touching and sucking and nearly collapsing as my weak knees gave out when I came in her mouth. My phone buzzed and I saw a text from Desi wanting to know where I was. Donna started to just tie her shirt below her breasts and then ran back to the bedroom as I loaded her pack in the back of the truck. When she came back, she had pulled on a T-shirt and was putting the button-up shirt on over it.
“I forgot we have to pick up Cindy and I have to say hello to her Mom,” she said. “I should be dressed more properly.”
“Yes. You’re supposed to be the responsible adult chaperoning us this weekend.”
“I hope she doesn’t mind not having someone share her tent tonight. I’m expecting four naked lovers in mine.”
I wasn’t sure everything would fit in the back of the truck when I pulled up at Desi’s house. In addition to Brittany and Sophie with their packs waiting with her, we had four boxes of T-shirts to stack in back. The sliding bed proved handy for loading the boxes in the front of the cargo space and getting our packs and instruments secured. Finally, we got to Cindy’s house and Donna and I went in to pick up my musical partner.
“Isn’t it late to be starting out?” Mrs. Marvel said. “That road from Louisville is dangerous. I don’t like the idea of you driving it in the dark.”
“We have plenty of time and I’ll be really careful,” I said. “I have five great navigators and will be switching off driving with Donna.”
“Don’t worry, Betty. We’ll be safe,” Donna said. “But we should hit the road before traffic gets worse around Indianapolis.”
“Cindy! I expect exemplary behavior from you this weekend. Don’t let me down,” her mom said as Cindy slipped past with her pack and music case.
“Don’t worry, Mom. Desi’s parents are slave drivers. I won’t have time to get in trouble. Bye!” We headed for the truck and I gave Cindy a boost into the front seat. Donna went up right behind her and I ran to the driver’s door. Which is when I realized my clever companions had arranged things so Cindy was sitting in the middle between Donna and me.
“We figured you’d have business to talk about,” Desi said as she leaned back between Sophie and Brittany in back. “Music business. You know.”
“Right.” Well, it was never unpleasant to have Cindy sitting beside me.
We made the rest area at Anderson and Donna switched over to drive for a while. I offered to switch with one of the girls in back but they seemed to be having fun. And we did talk business.
“The sun room just doesn’t have enough depth to get good camera angles,” Donna said. “And the invitation list is too long to fit everyone in the room. I thought it would just be the pod.”
“We can’t leave out our music directors and parents,” I said. “I think they all felt a little put out that we did the first video without even consulting them.”
“It establishes your independence,” Donna said. “But I agree; they should all be present. I just needed to find a bigger space. And, as your producer, I did find a space.”
“That’s great!” Cindy said. “Where?”
“Jacob’s church. First Methodist.”
“Really? That’s huge! We’ll disappear in the that room. I don’t even know if our instruments could be heard,” I said. I didn’t attend regularly like Mom, Dad, and Pey did but I’d been in that sanctuary with five hundred people several times. Even with our pod, families, and music directors, we weren’t going to have more than twenty.
“Relax,” Donna laughed. “Not the sanctuary. I was calling around on my lunch time today and came up with the idea of churches. I think it was the secretary at the Presbyterian church who told me the Methodists had a small chapel and often had music recitals there. When I called to ask about the date, they were available and when I gave them your name, the youth minister I spoke to got all excited and said he’d arrange the time at no charge. He’s even working on rehearsal times for you.”
“Good old Pastor Bob,” I said. I just didn’t have time to attend youth group meetings, but when I went to church, he was always friendly and welcoming.
“How are the acoustics?” Cindy asked.
“We have an appointment on Wednesday evening to see the space and test it,” Donna said. “I’ve sent a request to your music advisors and parents to meet there.”
“I had no idea of everything you do as a producer,” I said. “You have to let us know when you need help or we’ll never even be aware.”
“You know, the pod is all about that,” Donna said. “You’d be amazed at what our girlfriends are accomplishing. Oh, look. There’s a Bob Evans. I know it’s better for breakfast but we need to take a stretch and have some food. It’s almost seven already.”
We pulled in to camp at ten and were all exhausted. Our tents were still set up and waiting for us so as soon as we got our teeth brushed and shook out our sleeping bags, we crawled in. Cindy stood beside her tent for a minute as we went into ours and then shrugged and went inside.
It didn’t take long once the five of us were on the air mattresses for articles of clothing to start disappearing. I could feast on Donna’s body all night long. But then there was Sophie who seemed to have a leg over my midsection before Brittany planted her pussy on my mouth. The last thing I saw was Donna crawling down Desi’s body between her legs.
Before the night was over, though, Donna was lying on top of me, my softening cock still in her dripping pussy while we drifted off to sleep.
There was an added dimension of excitement at the faire. It was the final weekend of the season and they were having the joust and king’s feast. Of course, the ‘final round’ and dinner with the king was repeated on both Saturday and Sunday. The faire would start closing up about five on Monday.
We spent a lot of time doing our wandering troubadour schtick, but we had set times and our own designated area to perform the Mountain Monster set. It seemed that people were being really generous with their tips and Riley reported that he expected to sell out of our T-shirts by the end of the weekend.
Sunday evening, we were invited performers at the king’s feast, but not to do the whole Mountain Monster thing. There wasn’t room in the banquet hall. Instead, Cindy and I used the opportunity to sit on one side of the room with people talking and eating and rehearse our Suite Buenos Aires. We were just background music but the basket that was passed to tip the entertainment came back full.
Monday morning, we had to strike camp completely. We had no T-shirts to take back to Fort Wayne, but we had sleeping bags and tents. Fortunately, most of the things like tables and grill got packed in the front of Riko and Riley’s truck. They still wouldn’t leave until Tuesday after they got their shop closed up.
We enjoyed our last day of performing and were still dressed in our costumes when we got in the truck and took off for home about four. I drove first again but had Sophie up front between Brittany and me. Donna, Cindy, and Desi were in back. We made it all the way to Greenwood before I pulled into a Mexican restaurant for dinner and to switch drivers. I realized the days were getting shorter as it was dark when we hit the road again. Donna took over driving and I got in the back seat. Sophie stayed up front with Cindy; Brittany and Desi cuddled up to me in back.
Cuddle wasn’t all we did. It was dark and we started kissing. By the time we were north of Indianapolis, our hands were inside each other’s clothes. Brittany wasn’t about to be left out and I got one hand on her bare boob as she pushed hers under Desi’s skirt. Desi twitched through an orgasm a few minutes before I filled her mouth with come. I looked up front and saw Cindy asleep on Sophie’s shoulder and Donna smirking at me in the rearview mirror.
Mom wanted to see the space at church Wednesday night and I was happy to have her with Donna and me. I knew Mrs. Marvel would be there and Mr. LeBlanc warned me in advance to bring my guitar so we could test the sound. When we all finally arrived, we could almost have done the recital. Vinnie, Jannie, LeBlanc, John, Cindy, Betty, Mom, Donna, and me. We were met by Pastor Bob who said he’d requested the privilege of showing us the space.
“We often have recitals here,” Bob said. “And weddings. Sometimes special presentations like travelogues. And when it is not scheduled for an event, it is open for private meditation. We consider it non-denominational, meaning we don’t put any kind of religious symbols up. There’s no cross, no altar, and no flag. Still, I think you’ll agree that the space is lovely.”
The room was maybe forty feet long and twenty wide. It had a raised platform at one end large enough to put a grand piano on if one was needed for a recital. The entire room was carpeted in emerald green. Dark walls had a slight slope toward the ceiling and there was a slab of sparkling black granite against the wall at the back of the stage. Seating was all nicely padded folding chairs that could be arranged any way we wanted the space configured. I liked the space immediately. The only real worry was that it would probably seat forty or fifty people.
“This has good sound qualities,” John said. “Not too dead but muffled enough that audience noise should be kept to a minimum. Great angles. We can do takes from behind, looking at the audience as well.”
“How do you intend to do that?” LeBlanc asked. “You can’t intend to move around to different locations during the recital.”
“We need to remember that this is not only a recital,” Donna said. “The expectation is that Jacob and Cindy will play the piece a minimum of three times. That will allow John to set different angles between sets.”
“There’s nothing wrong with changing angles between movements as far as I’m concerned. I’d rather we had the continuity of playing the movement straight through, even if John needs to do one while literally wandering around the space,” I said.
“That’s most unusual,” LeBlanc said.
“That’s what we did when we taped Mountain Monster,” Cindy volunteered. “Some of the takes weren’t even on the same day.”
“It’s typical of music videos,” Vinnie said. “You try to get a master take down and then feed everything else off it.”
“Can we hear the sound?” Jannie asked. She was wandering around on the stage area. “It feels like there might be some dead spots in places up here.”
Cindy and I got out our instruments and took a couple of chairs to the stage. We didn’t have our music stands and everything but we knew the music and had even practiced it a few times in Kentucky over the weekend. We sat facing each other and began to play. I loved the space.
When we’d finished the first movement, all our advisors were nodding and Bob clapped for us.
“I think we should use the pickups on their instruments,” John said. “Like we did in Kentucky. That’s the only way to truly guarantee the clean perfect sound we want. However, I also think I should use a couple of mikes about halfway back on either side. I don’t want to lose the ambient tone of the room.”
“We need more people,” Betty said. “Our original guest list was to be eighteen people but this room needs twice that.”
“We can easily get that,” Mom said. “I’ll meet with you to finish the guest list. The biggest problem is cutting it off, not adding more. We can get together tomorrow evening if you’re available.”
“Rehearsals,” LeBlanc said. “We need two in the space before recording. If you can’t play the notes from memory, you need to use your music. There is nothing wrong with playing a recital from music. Most musicians practice months before attempting a piece this complex without the music in front of them.” I didn’t argue with him. I knew I’d messed up a couple of times in the movement we played and assumed LeBlanc would pick up on them. I just hated the thought of having music stands in front of us. Maybe we could do the master track with the stands and then do the other cuts from memory. I’d have to talk to John about that.
When we were finished, we’d set up for rehearsals in the space with LeBlanc on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Cindy and I were committed to a daily rehearsal time that was seriously going to cut into my time with girlfriends. And maybe homework and running.
I was ready when Saturday came around. It was the Northrop Invitational and my next chance to run the distance race. Northrop had elected to run the 8k option instead of 10k. I think they were hoping their runners would stand a better chance at five miles than six and a quarter. I’d succeeded in turning five miles in on Wednesday afternoon at 29:35. I hadn’t quite maintained the 5:55 pace through the last mile of the six, but still did it under thirty-six minutes. My goal by state championships was to turn the whole 10k in at thirty-six minutes and to do that I had to trim the mile time to 5:48.
When we got to the race Saturday morning, Jock told me there were only ten teams registered for the 8k and three of them had fewer than seven runners. That meant our field would be a little smaller at sixty-five than the 105 that would be running the 5k from fifteen schools.
Well, Duane Harkness put me on notice in this race. The guy was a senior at Culver Military Academy and took off like he was running two miles instead of five. I was sure I’d pass him by the side of the road eventually, but I didn’t even see him again until I entered the chute in second place. I had a personal best of 29:21. When I saw Duane’s time of 26:18 I about threw up. More than three minutes on me? The only good thing was that he was the only runner from Culver in the race, so he didn’t get a team ribbon and Mad Anthony took first overall. But man! What a speed demon!
And that was the shape of my next week. I practiced with Cindy every day after running. Tuesday and Thursday night, we rehearsed at the church with LeBlanc. He didn’t try to change our interpretation of the music but slapped us around verbally every time we made a mistake. It was hard but I was beginning to appreciate what he was forcing us to do. Vinnie was all about feeling and emotion. LeBlanc wanted accuracy and technique.
And I think Cindy thrived on that. As I got better, she got better. I was good with this.
Saturday morning, I ran the West Noble Invitational without Duane Harkness in the field. Yeah, I felt like hot shit with my first place finish. But that dude kept interfering with satisfaction.
Right after we got back, Rachel and I took Livy home and fucked her senseless for her eighteenth birthday. We read the induction letter and Livy just rubbed her hands together and said she’d be taking the NSO Exam the next week. No waiting until the thirtieth day for this girl.
Eventually, I had to leave and get ready for the recital. I was feeling pretty damned relaxed.
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