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Ryan Sylander
Opus One Chapter 10: Courante
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/ryansylander/www/
Only one hour, forty-three minutes and thirteen seconds to go. This job sucks! Richard took his watch off and flipped it face down onto the desk. Otherwise I’ll just be staring at the fucking thing all night. Strains of music drifted into the lobby from the practice rooms on the lower floor. Trumpet lines, repeating endlessly, were punctuated by bursts of percussion. The bright fluorescent lights overhead hummed slightly. He wished he could dim them; they were making his eyes hurt. Richard flipped through his sight singing book, trying to find something to prepare for the next class with Dr. Dobra. There were endless examples that the Doberman could pick from. I suppose that’s the point. If we practiced them, it wouldn’t be ‘ sight’ singing. He wished he had brought something better to do. It was either read The Elements of Style for his English class, or start sight singing in the lobby. Neither prospect was very appealing to him. He really wanted to be back in the dorm. Bzzt. At last, something to do! Richard checked the monitor, and saw a girl with a violin case at the back door. Richard pressed the button to let her in, and watched her enter. Then the screen was still again. He hoped that she would walk down to his end of the hall, but it was unlikely. Usually people took the stairs by the back door to reach the practice rooms. Since Sandra and Emily had left, human contact had been limited to a few people using the front door, and one phone call. It was a wrong number. Richard absently picked up his watch, and groaned when he looked at it. He threw it down onto the desk in disgust. Only one hour, forty minutes and fifty-five seconds to go.
Richard had his head down on the desktop when someone spoke. “Hello,” came the voice. Richard sat up, disoriented. Had he fallen asleep? He eyed his overturned watch greedily. Perhaps his shift was almost over. It had to be. He hadn’t looked at the watch in a long time. Ten minutes, at least… A man of perhaps forty stood in front of the desk, watching Richard with a grin. “Long night at the front desk, huh?” “Um, yeah, I guess,” Richard answered. His hand crept towards the watch. “Do you have keys to the upstairs maintenance room?” the man asked. “Um, I don’t know,” Richard said. Had Mort said anything about keys? And what time is it? “Well, you do. They’re in the drawer, there,” he said, pointing. Richard pulled open the drawer. A ring of a dozen keys hung from a hook. “I don’t know if I’m allowed to give these to you,” Richard said. “Are you new here?” the man said, grinning knowingly. “Yeah.” “I’m Dave Stanley,” he said, extending his hand. “Audio recording.” “Richard.” They shook hands. “Well, if you don’t feel comfortable passing over the keys, then you should give Mort a ring. Is he on call tonight?” “Yeah, he is. What do you need the keys for?” Richard asked neutrally. “We’re doing a recording in the hall tonight, and I need the AC turned off. Maintenance was supposed to do it, but they haven’t. I can’t find Wilson or Steve, and we need to get going.” “What are you recording?” “Some solo piano.” “That’s what I play,” Richard said. “Do you know Maria Patrick, then?” The name was familiar, but Richard couldn’t place it. “Is she one of the teachers here?” Dave nodded. “She’s recording some solo works for a CD.” “Cool. Here,” Richard said, offering the keys to Dave. Richard didn’t think Dave was all that suspicious. “Thanks. I’ll bring them back in a moment,” he said, smiling. Richard nodded. As Dave went upstairs, Richard checked his watch. Only six minutes and two seconds to go! Dave returned in a few minutes and handed Richard the keys. “Thanks again, you saved me some trouble,” he said. “When are you done here?” “Um, in a few minutes, hopefully,” Richard said. “Hey, well if you feel like it, come watch a little of the recording. We’re just getting our sound checks now.” “I’d love to, but I don’t want to be in the way,” Richard said. “You won’t. We’re in the control room upstairs, room 304N,” Dave said. “Just knock and I’ll let you in.” “All right,” Richard said. “See you later,” Dave said. After Dave left, Richard was antsy. One the one hand, it would be cool to see the recording. But the girls... They were waiting. Mort knocked on the front door, interrupting Richard’s thoughts. Richard buzzed him in. “How did it go?” Mort asked. “Um, fine. Nothing major happened.” “Good. All right, you’re free to go.” Richard shouldered his pack, and stood by the stairs for a moment. Finally he turned and went up. Just for a few minutes, he thought. He knocked quietly on the control room door. A moment later, Dave opened it for him. “Richard, come in. Leave your bag on the desk there, if you want.” Richard followed Dave into the control room after dropping his bag. The room was dimly lit, and alive with sound. Coming from two rather large speakers was the feed from the concert hall. Every little noise from the hall could be heard, echoing reverberantly. A window looked out onto the stage from the back of the concert hall. A woman seated at the piano was talking with a man who stood down in the first row of seats. Richard felt an odd disconnect at seeing their bodies over a hundred feet away, and yet hearing their voices like they were right beside him. “That’s Maria, of course, and Jarrett, the producer for the CD,” Dave said. “Ever been in a recording control room before?” Richard shook his head as he looked at the equipment. “No. Pretty cool,” he said. Jarrett and Maria had finished their discussion, and Maria ran some warm up figures on the concert grand. “Wow, that sounds really good!” Richard exclaimed. Dave grinned. The large speakers filled the room with piano notes, each one almost tactile. Dave sat himself at the mixing board and listened intently, occasionally looking at the tape machines on the rack to his right, during the louder moments. “Good evening,” someone said behind Richard. It was Jarrett. “You are?” “This is Richard,” Dave said. “He helped with the blowers, so I invited him to observe for a bit.” Jarrett nodded and extended his hand. “Jarrett.” “Nice to meet you.” “How does it sound?” Jarrett asked Dave. “Pretty good. Take a listen. I need to make one more adjustment. Richard, come with me.” Richard followed Dave out of the control room, and they went down to the hall. “Maria should know you are here, so she’s not surprised.” “I actually have to get back to the dorm soon,” Richard admitted, although the few minutes he had spent in the control room had been fascinating. “What, homework on the first day?” Dave quipped. “Nah, I need to, uh... go to bed,” he said. That was as close to the truth he would say. At least he hoped it was the truth. Dave and Richard walked down the aisle silently as Maria played. Richard had not heard music in the Wexford concert hall yet. It was quite reverberant for its size. Two microphones were on stands in front of the piano, and four other microphones were suspended from the high ceiling on long cables. Dave hopped up onto the stage, and Richard watched as he lowered the stand microphones an inch and pushed them slightly towards the piano. Richard wondered what the point of such a small change was, but he didn’t dare ask. Maria stopped playing, and stood to stretch. “We can record a sound check now, and then you can come listen,” Dave said to her. “That sounds good,” she said. “Oh, and this is Richard. Is it all right if he observes for a little while?” “No problem,” Maria said, smiling at Richard. On the way back up to the control room, Richard gave in to the question nagging in his head. “So does a change like that make a big difference in the sound?” he asked. Dave laughed. “A big difference? No. But a difference? Yes. It’s pretty easy to make a good recording. Not as easy to make a great recording. A subtle recording.” Richard understood the principle, but still didn’t believe moving the microphones two inches could make an audible difference. Back in the control room, Jarrett had the score laid out on the desk facing the window that looked out over the hall. Dave sat in his chair, and talked to Maria via a microphone on the mixer during a break in her playing. “Okay, we are good to go for the sound check, whenever you are ready.” “I’m ready,” she said. Dave started two tape machines, and then told her she could begin. Richard didn’t recognize the piece. It was modern, and rather atonal. Richard couldn’t hear any difference in the sound due to the microphone change, but Dave seemed to be satisfied. Dave stood and offered his chair to Jarrett, who sat and listened intently for a few minutes. When he stood and nodded approvingly to Dave, Dave looked at Richard, gesturing to the chair. Richard shrugged and sat. At first his attention was captivated by the numerous controls on the mixer, but then he turned his attention to the music. He closed his eyes, and it sounded like he had been teleported to the stage and was listening to the instrument from a few yards away. Not wanting to overstay his welcome, he stood up and moved out of the way. “What do you think?” Dave asked him. “Sounds like I’m in the hall,” Richard said. Dave smiled and nodded. “Well, that’s good, I suppose. How is the balance across the range?” “Um...” Richard hadn’t even listened for that. “I guess it’s balanced.” “The bass may still be a little heavy,” Dave mused. “Let’s see what Maria says,” Jarrett chimed in. “She indicated that she would rather have the power down there, than not.” Maria finished the short movement, and Dave invited her to come up to the control room. “Richard’s a pianist,” Dave said to Jarrett. “Really? Wonderful!” Jarrett said. “Do you know this piece?” he asked. “No,” Richard admitted. “Well, I would have been surprised if you did.” “What is it?” Richard asked. “It’s a piano sonata by Candace Kramer,” Jarrett said. “She’s the composition teacher here,” Dave added. “Maria is making the premiere recording.” “Cool.” “What do you think of the piece?” Jarrett asked. “Um, I was paying attention more to the sound, sorry.” Jarrett nodded. There was a knock, and Dave let Maria in. He offered her the hot seat, and she sat to listen to the replay of her sound check. Richard paid more attention to the music this time, and found the piece interesting, if a bit abstract at times. One section was particularly beautiful, a feat which most modern atonal works rarely achieved, to Richard’s ear at least. Maria was pleased with the sound. When Dave suggested there was a bit too much bass, Maria disagreed, saying she could change her playing a little where it had sounded inappropriate. Maria was ready to start. “It sounds great. That can be take one,” she said. “Ah, sadly it cannot,” Dave said. He reached over and turned up the volume to the live sound from the hall, and Richard heard faint trumpets and snare drums. The sound from the practice rooms was bleeding into the hall. “We still have to wait another twenty minutes until the building closes,” Dave said. Richard looked at his watch, blinking in shock. Forty minutes have passed? Maria chuckled. “Dave, you’re just too good at what you do. You said sound check would take an hour at least.” Dave just shrugged. “I guess I’ll just have to play a little more,” Maria said. She went back down to the hall, and Richard stood to go as well. Hopefully the girls wouldn’t be mad at him for not coming to the room right away. “We’re here all week,” Dave said as Richard shouldered his bag. “You’re welcome to stop by and see how things are going.” “Thanks,” Richard said. “See you later.”
When Richard stepped up to the girls’ door, he thought he heard a male voice in the room. That’s Jer! Then there was a burst of laughter from the girls. Sounds like they haven’t missed me all that much. Richard knocked, and he heard more giggling. When the door opened, it was dark in the room save for the blue lights. “Finally! What took you so long?” Emily asked. “There was a mad rush of people trying to get in the building at eleven,” Richard said, looking around as he entered. Jer apparently was not in the room, unless he was in the closet. “Whatever. We came looking for you about twenty minutes ago and Morty was working the desk.” “Morty?” “He said you left at eleven,” Sandra added, the obvious question hanging on her words. She was lying on her bed. “I went up to watch a little of a recording they’re doing in the hall,” Richard explained. “Oh, cool! How’d you manage that?” Emily asked. Richard told them of Dave and the AC blowers, and Jarrett and Maria. “Looks like we were dissed for another woman,” Emily said to Sandra. “Who? Maria?” Richard asked, frowning. “Is she cute?” Richard sniggered as he sat next to Emily on her bed. “You’re silly. Hey, I thought I heard Jer in here when I knocked.” Emily laughed hard. “He was here. He went out the window.” “No, he didn’t,” Richard said. “Actually Sandra does a good impersonation of him.” “Oh yeah?” Richard turned to Sandra, brows raised. After a moment of shyness, she gave her impression of Jer. “Hey, you want to get some dinner?” she imitated. It was quite realistic, Richard thought. “That’s pretty good! But did he really...” “Ask us out to dinner? Yeah, earlier when you were in class.” “That’s weird. When I went back to the room, he and Jenna were sleeping on the bed. I think she was nude,” he added in a lower voice. “Ooh! Nude!” Emily said sarcastically. “Maybe they like each other!” “Did you get to see anything good?” Sandra asked. “You two are feisty tonight.” “It’s late,” Sandra said, looking at the clock. “Yeah, don’t you get up early?” Richard asked. “Tomorrow’s not as bad. English at nine.” “Well, I don’t want to keep you from your beauty sleep, so I should go,” Richard said. “What are you talking about? You just got here,” Sandra said. “Well, I don’t know if – ” Emily put a finger to his lips. “Less talking.” She kissed him. “More action.” In short order the three of them were naked, and the girls sat to each side of him. While Emily and he kissed, Sandra ran his hands over Richard’s body. Tonight she wanted to watch first, so when Richard turned to kiss her, Sandra pushed him back towards Emily. Richard sensed that the girls had been getting worked up waiting for him. Emily only kissed him a moment longer before pushing him back down onto the bed. I wonder what they talked about... Sandra watched as Emily threw a leg over Richard. Sandra realized she had slipped a hand to pleasure herself while she waited for them. If Emily’s as excited as I am, this will be fast. Emily’s breasts bounced as she moved on top of Richard. Sandra smiled a little as she saw Richard throw his head back and close his eyes. Impulsively, Sandra leaned back and slipped her tongue into his mouth. He opened his eyes, pleasantly surprised. Richard was pinned by pleasure to the mattress. His head bumped against the wall a little as Emily pushed down onto him, but he didn’t care. His kiss with Sandra was sensuous and personal, and at the same time Emily connected with him in a more instinctual way. And he didn’t have enough hands to caress everywhere he wanted to. For a while he let his mind open up to all the sensations, and it seemed like nothing else existed except for the three of them. Emily came first, obviously trying to keep her voice down. Her quiet moan got taut and high as she squeezed her body tightly. Richard was still fresh, and he kept his climax in check as Emily went over her peak. Emily continued to buck on Richard, keeping her pleasure on high, and Richard knew she wanted him to finish. Her movements were becoming less fluid, but she was not slowing. Sandra pulled away from kissing Richard to watch. Richard let go of his restraint, and his orgasm was helped by Sandra running a hand down his chest and tummy. As she snaked her fingers through his curly hairs and then around the very base of his shaft, Richard came. Emily smashed down onto Sandra’s hand a few more times, before collapsing onto Richard. Sandra slipped her hand out from between them. Emily had been right; it was exciting to watch first. She felt a twinge of deep arousal as she wondered if Richard was ready. He seems to be able to go twice in a row without any problem. Sandra ran a hand over Emily’s still heaving back. She was slightly damp with sweat. Emily let out a giggle. “What?’ Sandra asked. “Richard pulsed inside me.” “I want to feel!” Sandra said, feeling the twinge again. “Impatience!” Emily said. She slid off of Richard, lying next to him. Sandra took in Richard’s form for a moment. He was still hard, and he pulsed slightly a few times. Wordlessly, she bent down and took him into her mouth, once, and then slipped off. Richard let out a strangled moan, and Emily looked at her amusedly. Sandra climbed onto Richard, rubbing herself against him, occasionally catching him so that he rubbed along her sensitive area. The pressure sent a jolt of pleasure up her body. Richard looked at her with soft eyes. He’s probably wondering whether he wants to kiss me, she thought. Sandra teased Richard for a while, only letting him enter her slightly, before pulling out to rub him further. He grew more and more excited, trying to press his hips off the bed to penetrate her more. Sandra simply pulled away from his advances, smiling a little. Eventually Richard groaned in frustration as Sandra again held herself away. She laughed. “Quit teasing me,” he said. “It’s teasing me as much as it is you,” Sandra said. Emily laughed. “So stop, then!” he exclaimed, trying again unsuccessfully to enter her. “Make me,” Sandra challenged. Richard eyed her for a moment, and then suddenly Sandra was on her back on the bed. She gasped involuntarily as Richard buried himself in her. She squeezed her eyes shut, red stars of bliss flashing in her eyelids. The pleasure of teasing him was now multiplied a hundredfold. Her legs were closed together and pointed to the ceiling as he pounded her, using the leverage from the floor. She had never felt so filled, but then again she had never been in this position. “Someone got what she asked for!” she vaguely heard Emily titter. Sandra couldn’t even think of anything besides the feelings tugging at her body. She couldn’t respond to Richard’s movements. She could only wait until she exploded. Or maybe she already had. “That’s really hot,” Emily said from what seemed like a mile away. Richard never slowed as Sandra’s legs grew weak and fell to the bed. For what seemed like an hour Richard was relentless. Sandra held on to the sheets, her body vibrating with intense sensations of ecstasy. She was only vaguely aware of his grunts, and then he slowed. Sandra still felt him for a long time inside her, even after he had collapsed on the bed between her and Emily.
“I’m going to be sore tomorrow,” Sandra said. It was late. She wasn’t sure if she had fallen asleep. “I can already feel it.” Emily murmured in agreement. She was curled up on the bed as well. Richard was out cold where he had fallen to the rug. “Should we wake him?” “Yeah,” Emily said. “I could go for another round.” “Emily! I meant wake him so he can get to his bed.” “I know, I was just kidding.” Sandra stroked his chest gently. “It doesn’t feel like we’re boyfriend and girlfriend... and girlfriend, you know?” “Mm-hmm.” “But I feel closer to you and him than I ever did to Billy. And I’ve only known you a week.” “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I feel very comfortable right now.” “Me too. Richard is a special guy,” Sandra said. “Yeah, there’s something about him that’s very laid back, and yet very smart.” “And he’s funny, too. It’s fun to tease him, and watch his face. He bites his lower lip.” “Yeah! When he gets worked up. Like when you were teasing him earlier.” Sandra laughed. “Yeah. He finally did something about it.” “I’ll say!” Sandra sighed. “Do you think people know we are together?” “I don’t know. Jer must think so, but who knows.” Emily added her caress to Richard’s chest. “I really like what we have,” Sandra said. “I don’t want people to make it weird for us.” “Yeah, I know what you mean. Maybe we should keep things as friends in public.” “How do you think Richard feels about it?” “He’s in heaven,” Richard said, eyes still closed. Sandra and Emily looked at each other in surprise. “You’re awake?” Sandra said. “No, just talking in my sleep,” Richard murmured, his face still relaxed and expressionless. Emily laughed, slapping his arm playfully. “All this time you were eavesdropping!” “Hardly!” Richard said. A smile broke across his face as he opened his eyes. The girls looked at him in mock anger, but they couldn’t keep the stern looks from becoming chuckles. “I’m really happy with what we have, too,” Richard said. “I think you are great friends.” “What if people ask about us?” Sandra said. There was some silence as they thought about this. Finally Emily spoke. “We’re just friends. Not open to any relationships.” “Especially with Jer,” Sandra said. “If he keeps bothering you, let me know, I’ll talk to him,” Richard said. “So far it’s been tolerable, but he’s still a little weird. I wonder what Jenna thinks of his... wandering eye.” “If she even knows,” Richard said. “No, she knows, and I think she tries to keep him in check,” Emily said. “What’s happening tomorrow?” Richard asked as he sat up and stretched with a loud yawn. “I can do lunch at twelve,” Sandra said. “Me too,” Emily agreed. “Cool. I need to get to sleep. For real, this time,” he added. “You’re such a faker,” Emily said. “Yeah, we’ll never talk when you are ‘asleep’ again.” Richard shrugged, and put on his clothes. The girls stood as well, and put on their night clothes. Richard gave them each a hug and kiss, and then slipped out into the bright hallway.
Back in his room, it took a while for him to fall asleep. Even through the haze of exhaustion, the fun he was having with his friends was replaying in his head over and over. As he started to drift off, he heard Jer get up from his bed and go out of the room, presumably to the bathroom. If he saw anymore weird stuff from Jer towards Sandra or Emily, he would have to call him on it. There was a sound of someone moving. For a moment Richard thought he was dreaming, but then he realized someone else was in the room. In his half-asleep state, he froze in confusion. Had Jer come back in? Then he heard the sheets on Jer’s bed rustle again, and he realized that Jenna was in his bed. I guess I really do have a new roommate, Richard thought. Jer did return then, and slipped back into his bed. Richard’s last thought as he fell asleep was that Jer was an interesting character.
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