Rhapsody Suite
Eleven
I RECEIVED A BRONZE MEDAL at the awards ceremony Saturday afternoon and an official invitation to The Ektelon National Singles Competition. I had four weeks to heal, train, and pass all my classes.
There was a lot to do. I had final projects in three classes, exams in two. I would have my portfolio review to determine my overall progress for the year. I’d be working out every day. Sam and Lissa had already worked out a rehab schedule for my ankle. Not only did I have to recover, but I needed to maintain my strength and flexibility during the time I couldn’t be on the court. The week of finals, I’d be gone to Nationals, so I had to cram four weeks of work into three at school and take my exams the week before. It made me tired just to think about it.
Dad, Sam, and my little cheer squad stayed with me through the day and applauded loudly when I got my medal. Allison was on her way to the airport before I got a chance to thank her, but Bree said she had all of the contact information I would ever need. Sam, Bree, Lissa, and I all boarded the same flight home. I was going to curl up with Lissa and kiss all the way back, but Sam asked if I’d trade seats so they could have a coach’s conference. I ended up sitting with Bree. I braced for the interrogation.
“So, what’s with you and the Ice Queen?” Bree abruptly asked once the plane was off the ground.
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you know that’s her nickname on the circuit? Allison said she is absolutely cold to everyone. She never attends a party or social event, doesn’t accept any dates or invitations, and never says more than a half-dozen words to any competitor. But with you, she’s on fire. Anybody can see how she changes when you’re in the room. She went to dinner with us last night and was laughing and joking with our fathers. But she wasn’t flirting with them. She was flirting with you.”
“Lissa didn’t flirt with me at dinner.”
“I don’t think either of you were aware of it. You’re so natural together. You ate part of her burrito, for god’s sake.”
“I was hungry and she had more than she could eat.”
“I was sitting on the other side of you with more than half the food on my plate untouched. You didn’t try to eat any of it.”
“I’ve known Lissa a lot longer.”
“And a lot better, I think. You said you had a girlfriend back at school.”
“That’s right. See?”
“So, what’s she think of you and Lissa? Or do you keep it from her better than from everyone else?”
“We’re not keeping anything from anybody,” I lied unconvincingly.
“You forget that Friday night you had two naked girls making out on your bed like mad and you left to go sleep with your coach,” Bree said.
“How’d that go, by the way?” I asked. Maybe changing the subject would help.
“We got along fine, but if you’ve got visions of hot girl-on-girl action, forget it. I think she’d have gone along with it if I’d pushed and you were there, but the fire kind of died when you left the room.”
“Is that why you decided to go through my things and steal my drawings?”
“No. I’m really sorry about that. We didn’t think it would do any harm. Allison saw that you’d left your sketchbook and started telling me about the drawings you were doing. When she showed me the sketch you did of her, I was so jealous I almost bit her. But then I saw that it wasn’t just her. You made everyone you drew look good. That’s why we posted the pictures.”
“Well, no real harm done, I guess. I just like to draw.”
“I’ll bet you’ve drawn Lissa, too, haven’t you?” If only she knew! “Tony, I’m not blind and I won’t betray your secrets unless you are being a real jerk to someone I care about. I just want to know how it works—and if I stand a chance of being included.”
“Bree, we’ve only known each other for like five days. In that time, you held onto my arm like you were afraid I’d vanish, you showed up at my competition a thousand miles away, you got naked in my hotel room, and…”
“… and I washed your smelly jock strap.” All right. It was pretty ridiculous and we both started laughing so hard a flight attendant stopped to offer us a soft drink so we’d quiet down. “A little pushy, aren’t I?” she sighed. “Sorry.”
“I think we’ll be friends, Bree. But don’t push anything else. You don’t know how complicated life is for me and how moody I can get. Just understand that, even though I’m not ready to share everything about me with you, I’m not trying to hide things from anyone and I’m not going to be a jerk to someone you care about. If I’m lucky, I’m not going to be a jerk to anybody else—whether you care about them or not.”
“Okay. But I tell you what. I’m going to have a party in a couple of weeks and I want you to bring all your girlfriends with you.”
“Hmmm??”
“The whole posse. I’ll sort out who’s who on my own.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“I hope that means irresistibly sweet and sexy.”
Lissa and I stepped out through the secure gate area to find our own little welcome home dance in progress. It consisted mostly—okay, entirely—of Melody bouncing up and down and squealing as she ran from one of us to the other and back. Finally, we were all three wrapped in a hug that was undoubtedly the focal point of the whole concourse. At least it was the focal point of the little redhead who was following behind us.
“Aren’t you glad to be home, too, Brianna?” I heard Sam’s voice and chuckle behind me. We all turned to see Bree just stopped behind us with her mouth hanging open. “I’ll just pick up my bag,” Sam continued, excusing himself.
“Bree, you remember my girlfriend, Melody, don’t you?” I introduced casually. Bree’s eyes shifted uncomfortably from Melody to Lissa and back.
“Oooo. I remember,” Melody squealed. “You’re the really friendly cheerleader from SCU. Welcome home!” Melody swept a surprised Bree into a hug and turned so she was facing me and I could hear her when she spoke softly in Bree’s ear. “You and I have to talk, girlfriend. There are rules around here.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Bree bluffed. “I just went down with my dad to watch the competition.” Melody flipped out her cell phone, held it close between the two of them and showed the phone to Bree. The redheaded cheerleader gasped and looked up at me. Her face was about the same color as her hair. “We’ll talk later this week, ’kay?” Melody concluded.
Bree nodded her head and squeaked a barely audible, “Please?” It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what had just happened. Melody must have shown her the picture I sent on Friday night of Bree and Allison making out naked by my bed.
“It’s all right, honey,” Melody soothed. “Let’s just delete it together, right now. I just wanted you to know that Tony and I don’t keep anything from each other.” She tapped her screen and I saw Bree heave a sigh of relief. Melody quickly held her phone out at arm’s length and snapped a new picture of the two of them. “Look!” Melody showed me. “Don’t we look like besties already?”
“Come on, Brianna. Let’s go,” Sam said, returning with a duffle from baggage claim. Bree turned to go with her dad but then turned back to face us, smiling.
“Don’t forget to tell everyone about the party in two weeks,” she said. “See you!”
“You are a wonderful evil genius,” I laughed at Melody when Bree and Sam had gone.
“Oh, you should have seen her face when you showed her the picture,” Lissa added.
“Yeah. It’s probably going to strike her—right about now—that if I had the picture, you must have taken it and it’s still on your cell phone. And then she’ll figure out—about now—that Lissa probably has it on her phone, too.”
“If I promise to have you two back for class Monday morning, can I steal you for the rest of the weekend?” Lissa asked. “I was so turned on last night during our telephone game…”
“My overnight bag is in the car,” Melody said. “You’d have to throw me out on the freeway to keep me away.”
It was a calm Monday. Surprisingly, I had no difficulty staying awake for Dr. Bychkova’s lecture and slide show. I got my paper back, too, and I didn’t do badly on it. If I needed to, I could skip the last one now and still be okay. Instead of my racquetball workout Monday afternoon, Lissa took me over to SCU to the sports therapy room. I was introduced to a couple of student trainers and Sam came in to talk about rapid rehabilitation and getting me back on my feet. They put me in hydrotherapy for twenty minutes and then dumped me into an ice bath for another twenty. While I was still shivering, I was wrapped in a thermal blanket and the guy mauled my back with what felt like a sledge hammer for half an hour. Yeah, it was just his hands, but he was really strong. I came out of an hour and a half in the team room feeling better, but exhausted. Lissa came to the dorm with Melody and me after supper and we all snuggled into the big bed in my room together.
I think Melody and Lissa may have fooled around a while, but I was so drained after my therapy that I drifted off to sleep. How sad is that? Two gorgeous naked babes, who I love with all my heart, fool around with each other next to me and I go to sleep! Sick, man.
In the morning, Lissa kissed us and headed for work after making me promise to go back to the sports therapy room in the afternoon. I’d be going there every afternoon this week—a fact I noted in my Daytimer.
Melody and I had been sitting in Fundamentals for a little over half an hour Tuesday morning, trying to decide what we were doing for a final project, when I saw the secretary from Dean Peterson’s office come into the classroom. She handed something to Doc and after looking at it he said, “Melody Anderson, you are needed in the Dean’s office. Please go with Miss Stevenson.” Melody looked at me with questions all over her face, but I had no idea what was going on. Class continued, but I was pretty distracted thinking about why Melody would be called to the Dean’s office. She was a better student than me, so maybe they were offering her some double degree opportunity, too. It was about forty minutes later that Miss Stevenson came rushing in again. She went straight up to Doc and after a moment he looked up at the class and said, “Class dismissed. I’ll see you Thursday. Tony Ames, come with me.”
I jammed my books into my bag and barely caught up with Doc halfway down the hall. I was having difficulty keeping up with my gimp ankle, but I managed to keep him in sight as I limped along. He stormed out the front doors and across the street to the administration building. Oh my god! The mural. That’s all I could think. Could it have been damaged? Were there vandals? As we entered the building, we could hear heated voices arguing in the hallway. When we were close enough, the first thing I heard that I could make out was Melody screaming, “I will not!”
We rushed into the hall to see Dean Peterson and two security guards with Melody and a woman who could only be her mother.
“If you ever want to see another cent of my money going into tuition and donations for this college, that pornographic monstrosity will be painted over right now. Give me a brush and I’ll do it myself.”
“What?” Doc bellowed as we came down the hall. He looked like a bull charging a red cape as he descended on Melody’s mother. “How dare you talk about a work of art like that? The Vandals had more respect for Rome than what you suggest. This is a work of beauty and I will stand guard here around the clock to protect it if I must.”
“You!” she met Doc’s charge head on. This was a formidable woman. “Are you the man who painted a naked picture of my daughter? You’ve made her a lust-object in front of the entire school. What kind of man treats children like this? You should go to jail. How did you get her to model for this? Did you offer her a better grade? I’ve heard of men like you. Predators, all of you!”
“Mother! I’m nineteen. I signed a model release and I’m proud to be in this work of art.”
“You are a child. I didn’t want you to come all the way out here in the first place. You should have stayed home where we could keep an eye on you. You don’t know anything about life and what you are doing.”
“Madam, you are insulting a young woman and a student of this college,” Dean Peterson broke in. “In this state and in all the rest of the United States of America, a person who has reached the age of eighteen is legally an adult, capable of making her own decisions and of executing contracts. And I guarantee you that, if you withdraw your support for your daughter at this institution, I will personally find scholarship funding for her to continue her studies here.”
“What kind of school is this? Parents send their children to a small school so that they will be protected, not exposed to abuse and exploitation. I’ll sue the entire institution and bring the authorities in to force the removal of this painting.”
I’d just decided a few days ago that I had to take control of my life, hadn’t I? What does a guy do when his girlfriend is being threatened by her mother? I was angry, but anger was all I could see in this hallway. This could be really bad. I had to change the game plan. I had to do something that would stop this nonsense before irreparable damage was done, either to the mural or to Melody—or even to her mother. I took a step forward and placed myself between Mrs. Anderson and Melody.
“Mrs. Anderson, may I speak with you for a moment?” I asked softly.
“And who are you?”
“I’m the artist who painted this picture.” I could see her eyes bulge and I was afraid she might literally explode.
“You exposed my daughter to a student? A boy her own age?”
“Melody and I worked out the details together. No one else in this room can actually even identify that it is her in the painting. I’d just like to talk with you for a minute.”
“I’m sure I have nothing to say to you.”
“That may be true, ma’am. But if we start out this way and can’t try to understand each other, it’s going to make the next fifty years really difficult on all of us.”
I have to give the woman credit. She stayed on her feet for almost ten seconds.
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