Opus One

Chapter 25: Hymn

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“I can’t believe finals are just a week away,” Richard said, as he walked to the conservatory building alongside Sandra and Emily.

“I know.  This semester just flew,” Sandra agreed.  “That also means we’re just a couple of weeks away from break,” she added, pouting.

“I know.  Too bad we can’t find an excuse to all stay here,” Emily said.  “We thought a few days at Thanksgiving was tough…”

“I’ll probably be coming back a week before classes start,” Richard said.

“Really?” Sandra said, brightening.  “I could probably have my dad drive me back here earlier too.”

“I just talked to Dave this morning,” Richard said, “and if I want to help with the editing for Mrs. T’s album, that’s the time to work on it.”

“Is that for sure?” Emily asked.

“I think so.  My dad wants me to come home right away after finals so I can spend a few days with my Aunt, since she’s still around.  But there’s nothing happening in January to keep me home.”

“Let me know, because my dad wants to book my plane ticket soon,” Emily said.  “If you two will be here a week early, I will too.”

“Are the dorms even open?” Sandra asked.

“I don’t think so,” Richard said.  “Dave said something about staying at his place.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Emily said.  “We can probably stay at my teacher’s house, Sandra.  Or we’ll break into the dorm.  You can sleep with Joey, or whatever.  Anyway, are we still meeting after your theory class?” Emily asked her, as Richard chuckled.

“Yeah, I can still meet.  Sleep with Joey?” Sandra made a face.

“Kidding.  I’ll try and find a room for this afternoon.  If not, maybe I can get into one of the horn studios.”

“Just don’t get room K or L.  Those pianos suck,” Richard said.

“Picky, picky,” Emily said, sniggering.  “I’ll get what I can.”

“I’ll go pick up the orchestra horn for you to use then,” Richard fired back.

“Fine, fine.  Point taken,” Emily said, grinning at him.  “I know you don’t like those rooms anyway.”

Richard stopped as they entered the lobby.  “All right, I’m off to another round with Dobra.  Have fun in piano class,” he said.

“We’ll try,” Sandra said.

Richard pulled the door open and climbed the stairs to the next floor, and then knocked on Dr. Dobra’s office door.

“Come,” came his voice.

Ethan Deerfield, the class delinquent, was just leaving.  I can’t believe he’s still in the class, Richard thought. 

Ethan closed the door behind him as he left, and Richard dropped his bag onto the chair near the piano.

“How are you, Richard?” Dobra asked.

“All right.  A little tired, but…”

“It is that time of year,” Dobra agreed, stretching for a moment.  “I’ll be glad when the semester is over, too.”

Richard nodded.  The Doberman was much more human in his office than in the classroom, Richard had discovered in the course of twice-weekly tutoring sessions.

“How’s Sandra doing in her class?”

“Extremely well.  Don’t you speak with her?” Dobra asked.

“Sure, but I was just wondering what you thought.  She doesn’t sound as confident.”

“She’s a natural.  She’ll have no trouble on the final.  She’s learned the conventions we impose on the music very quickly.  She’s had to work hard, though.”

Richard sat in his chair with pencil and staff paper at the ready.  “Cool.”

“How are you feeling about the final?” Dobra asked him.

“Better,” Richard admitted.

“Good.  We only have today and Thursday left, so let’s not waste time.  Melodic dictation, three-four, in F.  Treble clef, beginning on the F above middle C.”

Richard notated the details on his paper as he had a hundred times before. 

“First time,” Dobra said, and then played the melody.

Richard decided to try to apply a comment that Sandra had mentioned that weekend.  ‘Think of it as music,’ she had said, when he was complaining about the difficulties.

Think of it as music…  Richard listened to the melody with new ears, and imagined Sandra singing it to him.  Actually, it sounds more like a horn part, Richard thought.  Emily slipped into his thoughts.

He replayed the melody in his head, and then began to write down the notes.  It seemed to flow much easier than before, and he found himself outlining the entire melody on the first go.  There were still a couple of notes he was not sure of, but the ending he had written looked promising, with the cadence on an F.

“Second time,” Dobra intoned, and played again.

Richard filled in the missing notes, and then changed a few rhythms he had notated incorrectly.  For the first time ever, he found himself waiting for Dr. Dobra.  He looked up expectantly.

“Third time.”

Richard followed his notes as the music went by, and didn’t think he needed to change anything.  A feeling of elation began to grow inside of him.  Maybe it was an easy example, he cautioned to himself.

“I think I’m done,” Richard announced right after the last note was muted by the damper in the piano.

“Very well, let’s have a look,” Dobra said, nodding.

Richard passed his sheet to the outstretched hand, and Dobra placed it on the music stand before him.  He played from the paper.  Richard grinned as the melody played out just as the original had sounded.

“Good, Richard.  Very good.  A tricky example, too, in the middle there.”

Richard suppressed a whoop as Dobra handed back his paper.

“Weird… I had it after the second time,” Richard said proudly.

“What changed?”

“This will sound dumb, but a few days ago Sandra said to think of it as music.”

Dobra laughed out loud.  “Well, it is!  Isn’t it?”

Richard shrugged.  “Yeah, I guess…”

Dobra just smirked.  “Let’s try another one.”

Richard started a new staff with the details of the next example, and kept the optimism he felt in check.  Still, he sent Sandra a silent thank you.

“I basically only have two finals,” Emily said, as she prepped her horn.  She had secured one of the horn studios for their rehearsal. 

Sandra paused in the middle of her warm-up exercises.  “How’d you manage that?”

“Well, since we don’t have one for piano class, and my art class just has a project, I just have the two theory finals.”

“That’s lucky,” Richard said.  “I have to write some essays for English at the final.  That’s going to suck.  I hate having to write fast.”

“No sympathy from me.  I have all that, plus a German final,” Sandra said.  “And my theory test won’t be a walk in the park.”

“Like ours?” Emily said.

“Well, relatively speaking,” Sandra said.

“Hey, don’t worry about it.  Dobra said you’d do fine,” Richard said.

Sandra turned to him.  “He did?”

“Yeah.”

“How did that come up?”

“I asked,” Richard said, shrugging.

“He said I’d do fine?” Sandra pressed.

“Yeah.  Said you were a natural.  Not to worry.”

Sandra seemed at a loss for words.

“Well, I have orchestra in three hours, and I do want to eat,” Emily said.  “What movement are we working on?”

“The Hymn, I think,” Richard said.

Sandra snapped out of her thoughts.  “Yeah, the Hymn.”

“Let’s just read it through once.  It’s been a while since we tried it.”

Richard flipped to the page in his score, and then Emily put the horn to her lips.  She gave a slight movement and took a rhythmic breath, and then started.  Richard came in late.

“Sorry,” he said.  “I missed it.”

Emily led off again, and they played through the intro.  Richard felt like he was ragged on the rhythm, but didn’t stop.  The movement was a challenge to keep together with the pulsing accompaniment, filigree horn part, and uneven vocal lines.

Sandra entered lightly, and the three of them forged ahead.  Several times he realized he had gotten off from Sandra and had to quickly figure out where to return.

When they reached the end two minutes later, they looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“God, that was awful!” Emily cried.

“Good, I didn’t want to be the first to say it,” Sandra agreed.

“Sorry.  I was all over the place,” Richard admitted.  “I thought I had it when I was practicing earlier on my own, but I obviously need to know your parts better.”

“It was bad all around, not just you,” Emily said.  “Well, let’s just try the intro, before Sandra sings.  If we can get that solid, it will help the rest settle into place.”

Emily put the horn to her lips, and Richard followed her entrance better.  After a few bars, Emily stopped and leaned in to Richard’s score.

“There,” Emily said, pointing to one of Richard’s notes.  “I think we need to accent that note more.  That’s where I start my run up.”

“Mmm,” Richard murmured, his eyes on her chest right beside him, rather than on the music.

“Richard…” Emily scolded.

He leaned his head against her and nuzzled her.

“What’s the punishment for getting caught messing around in the horn studio?” Sandra asked with a laugh.

“We won’t ever find out,” Emily said, pulling back from Richard and giving him a stern look.

Richard just laughed and Emily joined him after trying to hold the look for a little longer.

“All right, what were you saying?” Richard asked, regaining composure.

 “Is this what Nelson is teaching you about accompaniment?  To ogle the soloists?”

Richard laughed.  “If they were men, maybe!  He does say I should watch you carefully.  For cues.  Signals, you know.”

Emily rolled her eyes.  “All right, let’s try again.  I was saying that we should accent that beat, and then listen to my run…”  Emily played the seven ascending notes.  “…Catch the top note.”

“Which beat was it?  Can you point it out again?” Richard asked impishly.

Emily just swatted his shoulder.

Richard did as Emily suggested, and after a few repeats, they had established the short introduction with a little more authority. 

“I think that’s better,” Richard said.

“Definitely,” Sandra agreed.  “The first few lines sing over a similar thing as the intro.”

Richard nodded.  He penciled in the accents and a couple of counts in his score, and then waited for Emily to start the movement again.  This time they went on, and Sandra sang with them.  Richard began to make sense of the movement, and things went smoother on his end.

He found that playing accompaniment was quite different than playing solo piano, and was still somewhat surprised by that.  He had always assumed accompanists were just pianists who preferred playing in ensembles.  Or pianists who were not good enough to play solo, even. 

In the past month, while working on the Serenade, he had realized that was not the case.  At Irina’s suggestion, he had worked a couple of times on the Serenade with Nelson Jackson, the head of the Accompaniment department.  Despite his strange behaviors, the man had a completely different approach to the instrument than Irina did, and Richard already found some of his advice creeping into his solo playing.

After an hour of hard work, the trio took a break and sat on the couch to drink some water.

“Well, we’re getting somewhere,” Sandra said.

“I’m still not really happy with what I’m doing,” Richard said.

“Why not?”

“Not sure,” he said.  “There’s something about the music which is hard to play.  I guess I’m still new to playing with other people, too.”

“You’ve done fine when we’ve done some of my songs for fun,” Sandra said.

“Probably because I was drunk,” Richard said, sniggering.

Emily and Sandra laughed.

“And, those piano parts seemed more like what I usually play for my solo rep,” Richard added.  “This,” he said, gesturing to the score on the piano, “is pretty different.”

“It’ll shape up,” Emily said confidently.  “We’ve hardly played this movement.”

“True,” Richard said.  “Well, let’s keep going.  I want to get through the whole thing as best we can so I know what to work on this winter.”

They took their places again, and began to work on the second verse.

During a pause, they heard a knock on the door.  Emily went over and opened it.

“Hello,” she said to the person in the hallway.

“Sorry to intrude,” the man said softly with his British accent.  “Are you…?”

Richard had moved to the door.  “Hi, Mr. Jackson.”

“Oh, hello there, Richard.  I was just walking by,” he said, indicating the hallway.  His words came measured and almost shyly.  “I heard what sounded like the Serenade coming from this room.” 

“You’re right.  We were just rehearsing the Hymn,” Richard said.  “This is Emily, who’s playing the horn.  And that’s Sandra.  This is Mr. Jackson.”

The girls waved, and Nelson Jackson smiled and nodded.

“How is the piece going?” he asked.

“Challenging,” Richard said.  “This movement is difficult.  For me anyway.”

Nelson nodded.  “Would you like me to listen for a moment?”

Richard looked at the girls, who smiled expectantly.  “That would be great,” he said to him.

Nelson sat on a chair to Richard’s left where he could watch the score, and Sandra and Emily as well.

“Let me hear you play,” he said.

Richard expected him to stop them right away, but he let them play through the short movement.  

Nelson nodded when they finished.  “A good start, yes…  Not bad.”

The three of them watched him as he stared at the music.  For many long seconds, no one moved.

“Have you listened to the piece in the library?” he asked.

“Many times,” Emily said.  Richard nodded in agreement.

“Yes, of course,” Nelson said.

There was more silence.  Nelson considered something invisible in his hands.  Then he hummed a few notes.

At last he looked up.  “Please, play again.”

This time, he did stop them after Sandra entered.

“Richard,” Nelson said pensively.

“Yes?”

Nelson rubbed his chin.  “Playing piano is all an illusion,” he said, cryptically.

“Okay,” Richard answered.

“It just comes down to how hard you press each key, and when you let it go, really…  In between, you have no control of the sound.”  Nelson paused for a while again.  “Yes…”

Suddenly, he seemed to wake up from his trance.

“This movement is all pizzicato in the strings, is it not?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Richard agreed.

“You must try to play the piano more like that.  Your notes are too long, now.  It sounds like a piano!  I know it is a piano, but try not to let it sound like one!  Play the beginning, Richard.”

Richard did as Nelson asked, and was immediately stopped. 

“Better, but…”

Nelson gestured to Richard, and Richard stood up to let him sit at the piano.

“It still sounds like a piano.  Feel the pulse of the pizzicato.  That is what you must capture.”

Nelson started to play, bouncing his hands on the keys as he played the  accompaniment.  “See, it’s in the attack and release of the keys.  You must propel this young lady’s horn playing,” he said, nodding to Emily.  “Brilliant playing, by the way, Emily.”

Emily started to thank him, but it was lost as Nelson began to sing the horn part while he played the accompaniment.  Then he sang Sandra’s first few lines as he continued playing the horn part with one hand and the string orchestra part with the other.  Richard found himself smiling as Nelson covered all the parts with aplomb.

“Here,” Nelson said, suddenly rising from the piano bench in mid-phrase.  “Try it.”

The three of them shook out of their stares and played again.  After Sandra sung a few lines, Nelson stopped them. 

“That’s beautifully sung, Sandra.  Very delicate, yet urgent.”  He then addressed Richard and Emily.  “The two of you must match that feeling.  We’ve heard your parts during the introductory bit; now you must pipe down and support her.  But play with her, too.  Play together. Collaborate on the music.  Each part alone is of little worth.”

For the next fifteen minutes, Nelson was a fount of ideas for how to work on the movement.  His suggestions applied to the three of them, not just to Richard, and Richard found himself considering things about the music he had not thought of.

Then Nelson abruptly stood up in the middle of one passage.  Sandra, Emily and Richard stopped playing immediately.

“I’m sorry,” he said.  “I must leave.  I am late for a lesson!”  Nelson nodded to them.  “We will work more on the piece after winter break, I hope?”

“Yes,” Richard said.  “Maybe we can meet weekly?”

“That would be brilliant,” Nelson said, as he opened the studio door.  “Until then,” he said, nodding again.  Then he was gone.

The three of them let out a breath they seemed to have been holding since Nelson’s arrival.

“Wow,” Sandra said.

“That was pretty cool,” Richard said.

“Yeah.  Towards the end there, I felt like we were actually playing music,” Emily said.

“Well, it is, isn’t it?” Richard said, smiling as he thought back to Dobra’s comment earlier.

Sandra smiled too.  She had been touched when Richard had told her earlier how much that little comment ‘Think of it as music’ had helped him.  It was ironic that their regular sessions with Sandra playing examples so Richard could practice had led to nominal improvement, while a simple comment had caused a great stride.

“Let’s keep going,” Richard said, excitement in his voice.  “I’m feeling this now.”

“Me too,” Sandra said.

Emily raised her horn to her lips again, and they resumed working with new enthusiasm.

“Look what you did,” Emily said, as she pushed herself up from the desk to stand up. 

“What?” Richard asked, breathing heavily.

“You knocked all the papers off, and they fell behind my desk.”  Emily arched a brow at him as she put her bra back on.  “You need to pick them up.”

“I think that was all you,” Richard said, remaining seated on the edge of the bed.

“No, no, no.  You pushed me onto the desk and made me thrash around.”

“But you kissed me when I came up to the room.”

“You wore my favorite shirt tonight.”

“You kept leaning over to point out things in my music after Nelson left.”

Emily opened her mouth, but she had run out of precedents.  She paused, one leg already through her panties.  “All right, maybe it is my fault.  I guess I should pick them up.”

She slipped the leg back out and tossed the panties onto Richard’s lap.  She gave him a little pout, her eyes flashing mischievously.  Turning slowly, she then got down and crawled under the desk.

Richard took in her wiggling behind for a few moments before moving to kneel behind her.  Emily’s deep and long murmur sent a tingle through Richard’s body.

“Thought I’d help you pick up the papers,” he said, thrusting hard to push her further under the desk.

“Oh!  Really…”

“Yeah.” 

“What papers…?”

Richard gave another thrust.  “You’ll get there eventually.”  Richard was talking to the empty surface of Emily’s desk now, and could only see her butt when he looked down.  It was a disjoint but erotic position to be in.

The door to the room opened and then slammed closed.

“Oh my god, what are you doing?” Sandra cried, as she burst out laughing.

Emily was unable to do more than groan.

“Emily dropped some papers behind the desk,” Richard explained.  “I was helping.”

“You need to be more careful.  There was a bunch of people in the hallway.  If they had peeked in when I opened the door, they would have had quite the show!”

“Sorry,” Richard said, feeling a surge of adrenaline at the thought.  “Next time I’ll hang my tie on the door.”

Sandra giggled and peered over Richard’s shoulder at the union.  “Quite the show...” she repeated softly.  “And how did those papers get down there?”

“Not sure,” Richard said, his voice more labored now.

“Right,” Sandra said, patting his shoulder. 

“You want to have a go?” he asked her.

“No.  I need to get to bed.  I have an early master class tomorrow.”

“Oh, right.  We might be a while, though.  Just started round two,” Richard said, laughing.

Sandra ran a hand over his chest as she moved around him.  “Well, maybe just a taste,” she said, reaching further down.

Richard threw his head back as Sandra lowered hers.  For some time, he alternated between them, and it felt amazing.  Emily was growing closer and closer to orgasm as Sandra teased her.  Just when he couldn’t hold out any longer, Sandra pushed him back into Emily, patted his butt and stood up. 

“Take your time!” she whispered into his ear.

“You are wicked,” Richard breathed back, before pulling her in for a deep kiss, making Sandra squeak in surprise, before she melted into the kiss.

“You are welcome,” Sandra said, finally pulling away.

Richard turned his attention back to Emily.

“Come out from under there,” he said.  “I want to see your face now.”

Emily backed out from beneath the desk, half in a trance, and Richard guided her so that she lay face down on the rug instead. 

Before resuming, he looked down at Emily, lying there with closed eyes.  A few strands of hair crossed her flushed cheek, and her smile seemed to expectantly await his touch on her body.  A wave of pleasure rolled through him as he felt saturated with the way she looked just then.  Richard leaned down and kissed her ear gently.

“You are so beautiful, Emily,” he whispered.

Emily just shuddered slightly, and then opened her eyes to smile at him.

Richard trailed the kisses down from her ear and across her jaw line, ending on her chin.  Feeling warm and full of emotion, he laid his cheek against hers for a moment.  He could feel her face alive beneath his, vibrating in time with her still quivering body.  She was holding onto the edge of her earlier pleasure, despite his more innocent touches.

Richard rose up and began to slowly massage Emily’s shoulders and neck.  He was removing her bra clasp to free her back for his wandering hands, when he noticed Sandra watching them from her desk.  She was cheerily organizing her books.  Richard glanced at the clock and grimaced.  Sandra just smiled and waved the thought away.  “Don’t worry,” she mouthed.

Richard smiled back, and blew her a little kiss.  Sandra licked her lips suggestively, and then giggled silently before pointing at Emily.

Richard continued his massage, working down Emily’s body as he occasionally placed kisses on appealing curves of smooth skin.  Beneath his hands, Emily’s flesh was warm and soft, and he spent a long time just feeling the arc of her waist, and the curve of her butt.

Eventually he gave in to the excitement that was rebuilding inside of him, and he entered her slowly, still massaging her body.  He pulled on her shoulders to meet with her deeply, and then pushed up along her back to move out again.  His strong hands worked the full length of her back as he used her body to pull himself in and out of her.

“Oh…” Emily gasped.  “This is… amazing!”

Sandra was in her bed now, watching from the edge of her mattress with a content look on her face.

Richard kept up the deliberately slow pace of the massage and lovemaking for a long time.  It seemed to be driving Emily into a fit.  Her hands began to grasp at the fibers of the rug, and her legs bent and straightened as she squeezed off the tension.

Just as Richard sensed Emily was about to scream, he placed a kiss on the back of her neck and moved slightly faster. 

“Oh…!” she whispered.  “Oh, yes…”

Emily’s body tensed up and twisted slightly as she suddenly became motionless.  For a long time, Richard could see she was on the precipice, not quite able to fall off.  She lay there biting her lip. 

Just a little faster, then…

Then it happened.  Emily let out a long moan, and Richard slowed again to his earlier pace.  Now it was heavenly for her.

Richard groaned, and surprised himself.  Even though the physical sensations were nice, the slow movements should not have been enough.  But it was the exquisite pleasure displayed in Emily’s fluttering eyelids and slightly open mouth that suddenly did him in.

The slow movements translated into an equally slow and extended orgasm for him, and it felt like he emptied his whole soul into her.

 “That was amazing,” Emily said, wonder in her voice.  “I wasn’t sure if I was going to breathe again, for a little while there.”

Emily was draped over Richard’s body, a position they had moved to after recovering from the intense pleasure of their slow coupling.  Sandra was asleep, having drifted off after watching the climax.

“Mm.  It was good.  I’ve never finished that way before.”

“You liked it then?” she asked.

“Oh yeah.  I thought I was going to finish up by going fast.  But then I came.  It was like slow motion.”

“I liked the slowness,” Emily said with a smile.

“Cool.”

Emily glanced at the clock, and then at Sandra.

“I suppose we should get up, or something,” she said.

“Why?  We don’t have to get up at seven.”

“No, I guess you’re right.  I am tired, though.  I’m comfy here.”

They lay in silence for a while.

“You never picked up the papers,” Richard murmured.

“No, I guess I didn’t.”

“I tried to help,” Richard shrugged.

“Yeah, but then I got distracted,” Emily said softly.  For a moment, she seemed to be drifting off, but then she started to get up.

“Where are you going?” Richard asked.

“To pick up the papers.”

“Now?”

Emily just smiled. 

“Okay,” Richard said, shrugging.  He sat up, and Emily eyed him.

“Is it safe?” she asked shyly.

Richard grinned.  “I don’t know.  Depends on your state of dress.”

“Does it, now?”  Emily frowned at him, and then found her panties nearby.  She put them on, and then glanced at Richard again.  Satisfied with his grin, she crawled under the desk and started to gather the papers that had fallen.

Richard watched as she cleaned the mess, and quietly crawled over behind her.  He reached out and ran a finger delicately across the fabric of her underwear, right where she would feel it the most.

Emily squeaked in surprised and bumped her head on the underside of the desk. 

“Ow…!”

“Sorry,” Richard said, suppressing a laugh.

Emily backed out, bringing some of the papers out with her, and rubbing her head.

“I thought you said I was safe!” Emily exclaimed.

“No, I said it depended on the state of dress.”

“I put on my underwear.”

“That’s at least as sexy as wearing nothing.  I think to be safe in that position, you’d need to wear a snowsuit.”

Emily burst out laughing, and then patted her head and pouted.  “My head still hurts.”

Richard cradled her head and gave it a kiss.  “There, all better.”

“Thanks.  Hey, you’re up!” Emily said, suddenly feeling him pressing against her.

“I guess I am.”

“Haven’t had enough tonight?” Emily said. 

Richard grinned as he saw her eyes sparkling again.  She smoothly pulled off her underwear as she turned to him.

“No, actually,” he said.  Emily slid over to straddle his lap and kiss his neck. 

“As much as that slow sex was cool,” he said, “I still feel like I need one more go.  At speed.”

“You mean you want to… pound me?” Emily said lustily, kissing his ear heatedly.

“Mm, when you put it that way…”

“Pound me hard… and deep?”  Her tongue flicked around his ear and neck.  Her breathing was heavier in his ear as she squirmed on top of him.

“Mm hm.”

“I guess I might let you do that.”

“Will you?”

“What about sleeping beauty here?”

“There’s that,” Richard agreed, looking over at the deep breathing form on the bed.

“We might wake her.”

Richard thought for a moment, and then patted Emily’s side.  “Up,” he said, with sudden energy.

“What are we doing?” Emily asked, as she stood and watched Richard don his jeans, ignoring his underwear.

Richard opened her closet and dug through a drawer.  He pulled out a tee shirt and tossed it to her. 

Emily looked at the shirt in her hand, and then at Richard, who was smiling expectantly.

She knotted her brow at him for a moment, and then pulled the shirt over her nude form.  The bottom hem just covered her privates by a couple of inches. 

“Shirt, with legs.  Nice legs, too,” Richard murmured, looking at her appreciatively.

“Now what?” Emily said.

“Let’s go.”  Richard moved towards the door, shirtless.

“What?” Emily blurted out.

“Shh!”

“I’m like… naked!” she whispered loudly, pulling up the front of her shirt just slightly to show him the truth of her words.

“I know,” Richard said, nonchalantly.

“I’m not going out in this!  I play in orchestra with these people!”

“It’s late.  We’re not going far.  Chances are no one will see us.”

“Where are we going?” Emily asked, after a moment.

“Thought you weren’t going out in that,” Richard said, grinning.

Emily stared at him for a while, and then rushed at him, thrusting her tongue deep into his mouth.  She attacked him in this way for a minute, and then backed away, a rampant wildness streaking through her eyes.

“Go, before I change my mind,” she ordered.

“You make it sound like we’re going to your horn lesson,” Richard said, laughing quietly.

“Easy for you to say.  You’re the one wearing pants!”

Richard opened the door and peeked out.  The hallway was deserted.

“See?  No one here,” he said.

Emily slipped into the hallway, and he closed the door.

“Well?” Emily asked impatiently, looking around.

“This is as far as I thought it out,” Richard said, looking around.

“What?”

Emily tried the door, but it was locked.

Richard laughed as she turned to him with a frown, but before she could protest, he pulled her towards the stairs.  They entered the stairwell, and again found no one.

“It’d be funny if the fire alarm went off now,” Richard mused as they climbed the stairs.

Emily slapped his shoulder, but also laughed a little.

A floor and a half below, the stairwell door suddenly opened.  Emily and Richard looked at each other, and then ran up the remaining stairs to the third floor, giggling.  Richard pulled the door open, and they were soon in the empty hallway in front of Richard’s door.

“Almost spotted,” Richard said.

He fumbled with his keys.

“Um, Jer?” Emily said.

“He’s probably up in Jenna’s room.”

“Probably?”

“We’ll find out soon enough.”

Richard finally opened his door, and they slipped into his room.  Jer’s bed was unmade and empty.

“See?  We have the place to ourselves.”

Richard turned to Emily, who was eyeing him warily.  “You’re acting a little strange,” she said.

“Me?” Richard said.

“Why did you just make me do that?  You’ve never done anything like that.”

“Oh really?” Richard said, one eyebrow raised.  “Let’s see.  I’ve had sex with Sandra at a fountain.  I’ve had sex at that same fountain with you, at the dare of some relatively unknown woman who probably watched us.  I’ve been in the women’s shower, again having sex.  I’m in a relationship with two women, who I might add are exceptionally adventurous in their dorm room.  And… unbelievably sexy.”  Richard smiled warmly.  “So where exactly does a half-naked walk after midnight though the dorm hallway rank on that list?”

Emily’s frown had slowly melted into a smile during Richard’s monologue.  She peeled off her shirt and tossed it aside. 

“I’d say it ranks pretty high.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Emily leaned against the wall, a picture of arousal.

“How high?” Richard said.  For a moment he swore he could feel the heat from her body on his chest.

“I’m going to show you how high.  I want to do something else tonight we’ve never done.”

“Okay.”

“It’s really naughty.”

Richard fell his knees weaken slightly.

“Really naughty?” he repeated dryly.

“Yes.”

Richard grasped onto his last remaining bit of sense, and reached for a card hanging on a hook.  He held it out to Emily.

“Put this out.”

Emily took the card.  “Where did you get this?”

“I lifted it from the Marriott down the road a few weeks ago.  I got tired of walking in on Jer and Jenna.”

Emily grinned, and slipped her hand outside of the door to hang the tag.  Then she locked the door and leaned against it, wiggling her bottom at Richard.  She glanced over her shoulder and smiled.

“Come and get me.”

Richard tore the button off of his jeans in his haste to rip them off.  In a moment he was behind her.  Pounding her.

Joey awoke with a start.  It was late.  Or early.  He felt around for his glasses, and finally managed to get them on right.  Too much drink, he thought, still feeling the beer in his system.  I guess that means it’s early.

He staggered to his feet and then felt the bed move beside him.  For a second he stumbled back, unsure if he was hallucinating.  Then he remembered Beth.  She’s still here!

He felt a surge of excitement, and then quelled it.  She was asleep.  Best not to wake her. For a first date, I got extremely lucky!

Being the dorm resident director came with the privilege of a large bed in a large room, and he had at last had the opportunity to use both sides of the bed tonight.  He smiled as he opened his dorm room door and ambled towards the bathroom. 

He was so lost in happy thoughts of his recent fornication that he almost missed it.  A rhythm.  Who the fuck is practicing at one in the morning? Probably Marius or David.  Damn percussionists never give up trying to work their patterns. 

He considered dismissing the noise, but then he turned down the hall, intrigued.  Maybe his arousal led him to the idea that the sound was sexual.

He smirked as he rounded the corner and heard the door being bumped rhythmically.  No percussionists lived in that room.  Now it was just a question of who it was.  Two guys, three girls. 

The ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign was out on the handle.  It had to be Jer and Jenna.  Why would Richard be in his room when he has Emily and Sandra’s room to play in?

Joey crept closer to the door, his mind in a haze.  Images of Beth riding atop him were mixed with those of Jenna pinned against the door.  Even though he was certain it was Jenna, he also imagined Sandra and Emily in her place, with Richard behind.  He kept coming back to the image of Emily, for some reason. 

God, they’re going wild…  His recent conquest felt suddenly tame.

He placed a hand on the door, feeling the movement.  I’m inches from a breast, he mused, and almost laughed.

Suddenly the movement stopped.  Joey came to his senses and stumbled back away from the door.  What the fuck am I doing?  Had he given himself away by touching the door?  He turned and hurried away, and then watched from a distance.  Nothing happened.  They must have finished, that’s all.

Letting out a long breath, he made his way to the bathroom.  There was no way to relieve himself given the state he was in, so he buttoned up and returned to his room.

“Joey?” came the voice when he closed the door.

“Yeah, it’s me.  Just went to the bathroom.”

“Oh, okay.  I got worried you had a roommate.”

“No, no.  I’m alone here.  Well, with you, that is.”

Joey slipped into bed, feeling excited that Beth had roused.  Can I get her aroused again?

“I had a good time tonight,” he said.  “That was amazing.”

Beside him, he heard Beth breathing deeply again.  Joey sighed, and then rolled over.  It was a long time before he could clear enough thoughts from his head to sleep.

“Sit on the bed,” Emily whispered.

“Okay.  But I was really enjoying the door,” Richard said.

“Me too.  But now I want to do something else.”

“Oh.  So, is this where things get naughty?” he asked.

“Yes.”

Richard felt his stomach lurch in anticipation.  It was not dissimilar to climbing to the first summit of a roller coaster, for some reason.

Emily straddled him, and began to rub herself on top of him.  The whole area was entirely wet and slick, and Richard slid all around.  He kept trying to enter her, but Emily would always pull up and again begin to slide back and forth on him.  What a tease! Richard thought.

Emily then began to lower herself down against him, and Richard felt the pressure of her entire body focused at his middle.  It was like he was pushing against her skin.  She breathed in short hisses and spurts, and suddenly things gave way a little.  Richard groaned as she moved up and down in tiny movements, barely turning her hips.

The angle?  The heat?  The passion she was exuding?  Richard wondered why he felt like he was about to blow apart from the feeling.  Emily, for her part, was in a foreign place, panting and moving in the slightest of increments. 

“Oh.  My.  Fuck.”  Emily spurted out these words like they were her last.  All of her energy was concentrated around their union.

Richard ran his hands up and down her back, trying to release some of the encroaching bliss by doing something other than being overwhelmed by her sexuality.  Over the small of her back he dragged his fingers, and then over her butt cheeks…

Then he stopped breathing when he touched where they were meeting.

Oh my god!  So that’s what she meant by naughty!  If Richard could have blown apart, he might have.  His excitement boiled over as he visualized what he and Emily were doing.  Naughty…my god…!  Over the next ten seconds, as millions of thoughts flashed in his head, he started down the hill of the roller coaster.

Compared to Emily’s micro movements, their earlier slow massage had been a relative pounding.  Emily seemed to be feeling each millimeter at a time, vibrating slowly up and down as she went lower still.

“I…” Richard gasped. 

“What…?” Emily breathed.

He didn’t know what he was going to say.   “Oh my god…”

Richard’s thoughts were on fire as Emily stopped moving.  Both of their breaths came ragged and uneven. 

“Do you know where you are?” she whispered, as if from another world.  She had her eyes on his, although they were wet and slightly unfocused.

“Yeah,” Richard gasped back.  He realized they were both sweating.

“How does it feel?” she asked.

“I’m about to explode from... everything.  You?”

“It’s… a lot of feelings put together,” Emily said.

“Good ones?”

“Oh yeah.”

“My heart is fluttering,” Richard said.

“Mine too.  I’ve never done this.”

“Me neither.  Are you okay?”

“It hurts a little, but it’s going away.  Just don’t move.”

Richard obliged, moving only delicate fingers down her back. 

After some time, Emily started her small movements again.  This time, her breath was heavier with lust.

“Oh…” she murmured.  It was a throaty sound Richard had not heard her make before.

Emily never moved far or deep, but every motion seemed to grab at Richard and twist him up.  The end was imminent for him, and he had no more reserve of control to draw from. 

“This is…” he said.  Both of their chests were heaving again.

“What, my love?” Emily said blissfully.

Richard almost collapsed back on the bed at her words and tone.  He wanted to rip his body apart and just grab on to the essence of feeling which was filling him so completely at that moment.  Grab onto it and live there forever.

“This is too much!” Richard cried, fighting to control his body from moving.

“Then just let it go,” she said, gripping his hair and pulling him towards her chest. 

“Are you sure?” Richard managed through clenched teeth.

“Yes.  Oh yes, I am.”  With that, Emily began to move in earnest.  Her voice cried out in surprise and ecstasy, and even pain as she threw away the holds on her legs and crushed herself down onto him.

Richard closed his eyes and held on to Emily’s waist as she rode him with more vigor.  He found one of his hands sliding down her front, and still unbelieving, he slid a finger and then two into her. 

It was the end of the world for Emily.  She thrashed and stuttered her movements a few times, unable to breathe or cry out.  She reached several states of amazement where her mouth opened and quivered, and her eyebrows lifted in surprise.

When Richard exploded, it felt like the stars had entered the room.  His eyes sparkled and he fell back onto the bed, unable to hold on to Emily any longer.  All control of his muscles was lost.  He whirled around in empty space with Emily still above him.  The edges of his sight grew dim for a while, and her silhouette filled his thoughts as he turned himself inside out, inside of her.

With a last thrust, Emily held herself stone still for many long seconds, and then she collapsed onto Richard’s chest in a pile of damp flesh and hair.

For a moment, Richard felt her chest heave and her body spasm, and then he passed out.

“I know who our peeping tom is,” Emily said.

“Who?” Richard asked, unsure if he was dreaming.

“Joey.”

“The dorm director?”

“Yeah.”

“No way.”

“I saw him,” Emily offered.

“When?”

“When you were banging me against the door.”

“Huh?”

“I was looking out the peephole, just because it was right there.  And he popped into view.”

“Are you serious?” Richard asked, amusement touching his voice.

“Yeah.  He must have heard the noise of the door.”

“Is that dude always on patrol or something?”

“He looked kind of out of it, actually.  He watched for a while, and then he put his hand on the door.”

“What a weirdo!”

“Yeah, it was weird.  Just to mess with him, I had you stop right then.  You should have seen him take off!”

Richard laughed, imagining Joey’s face as he slinked off down the hall.

“You should have turned the door handle quickly.”

Emily laughed.  “And killed the guy!”

“He needs to get laid.”

“For sure.”

Suddenly, there was a light knock at the door.

Emily rolled off of Richard and slipped under his sheets, while Richard fumbled to put his jeans on as he hopped to the door.

“Jer,” he muttered as he pulled the door open.

“Hey man,” Jer said.

Richard pointed to the sign.  “Can’t you read, man?”

Jer looked down in surprise.  “Oh, shit!  I didn’t even see that.”

“Why’d you knock, then?” Richard asked, confused.

“I forgot my keys.”

Richard sniffed.  “And if I hadn’t been here?”

Jer shrugged.  “I would have gone back up.  I need some rubbers, though.  Who else is here?” he asked, looking past Richard.

“Just come in,” Richard said, ignoring the question.

Jer entered the room and glanced at the bed.  “Oh, hi Emily.  Sorry.”  He put a hand up to the side of his face to block his view of Richard’s side of the room.  “Carry on.”

Emily burst out laughing.  “Carry on.  Come on Richard, you heard him.  Carry on!”

Richard stood motionless in the center of the room, watching with raised brow as Jer dug through his drawers.

“Fuck.  Where are they?” Jer cursed.

Richard waited patiently.

Jer looked over at him.  “Sorry.  Should have seen the sign, man.  You’ve never used it before, though.”  Jer straightened.  “Why are you in here anyway?”

“Sandra’s sleeping.”

“Oh.  Right on.  Richard, do you have any…”

Richard rolled his eyes.  “No, man.”

“You out too?”

“I don’t need them,” Richard said, feeling awkward at revealing the information in front of Emily.

“You should have Jenna check into the pill,” Emily said, patting Richard on the back.  “Things are way better without condoms getting in the way.”

Jer stared at Emily for a few moments, before shaking out of it.  “Cool.”  He stood up.  “Well, guess I’m out of luck.  Night’s over, I guess.”

“You can do plenty of things without one,” Emily said suggestively.

Richard suppressed a guffaw as Jer looked at her wide-eyed for second, and then grinned.  He put his hand to his face again as he walked to the door.  “Carry on.”

“We’ll be out of here soon,” Richard called out.  “Just need to put on some clothes.”

Jer’s glance shot to the bed.  Richard could see him trying to burn holes in the sheets with his eyes.  Emily just grinned at him and waved innocently.

“Bye!”

Finally Jer shut the door.

“What a trip,” Richard said, as he tossed Emily her shirt and a pair of boxers from his drawer.

“Yeah, he’s funny.  He’s in awe of you,” Emily said.

Richard frowned.  “No.”

“Yeah.”

“Whatever.”

Emily pulled her shirt on as she stood up.  She pulled Richard into an embrace.  “What an amazing night,” she sighed.

“Yeah.  Memorable.”

“Come sleep in my bed,” Emily murmured.

“Okay.  Let me go to the bathroom and I’ll be up in a bit.”

“I’ll be waiting.”  She slipped his key ring around her finger and went towards the door. 

Richard picked up the boxers from his bed.  “Don’t want these?”

Emily just shrugged and went out.

Richard quickly grabbed his towel and toothbrush and followed.  Emily was already out of the hallway and in the stairwell.  Richard pulled the door open, and looked down to the next landing.  Emily was not there.  Then he heard a low whistle. 

She had gone up.  Richard found himself staring straight up at her treasures.

“Looking for someone?” she asked, standing casually at the railing.

“Found her,” Richard said.

“I’ll be waiting.  I think I’ll clean up those papers, at last.  Just come on in.  I’ll leave things open…”

Richard laughed, and watched as she walked down, passed him with a finger dragging across his chest, and then continued down to her floor.

When Richard entered the girls’ room a few minutes later, Emily was still in her shirt.  She smiled warmly at him.  Richard noticed that the papers were all on the desk.

“Probably a good thing you took care of that,” he said, pointing to the pile.  “I’m beat.”

“Me too.  But, I found something interesting under the desk.”

“And it wasn’t you?” Richard said.

“No.  Look.”

Emily handed him an envelope.  Richard vaguely recognized it.  When he looked at the return address, he opened his mouth.

“Oh, wait.  Crap, we got this a long time ago!”

“Huh?”

“Sandra picked it up the night… Well, the night the thing with Joel happened.”

“Oh.  Why didn’t she open it?”

“We were waiting for you.  Then with everything else that happened, I guess it got mixed in with your papers and we forgot about it.”

Sandra stirred in her bed, and then sat up.

“Oh, hey you.  What time is it?” she asked groggily.

“Almost two,” Emily said.

“You party animals…”

Richard and Emily shared a smile.

“I have to pee,” Sandra said, shuffling to the door.

When she returned, Richard addressed her.  “Remember the letter from Allison that you got back in November?” Richard said.

Sandra frowned, and then the memory came back to her.  “Oh yeah!  What happened to it?”

“It just turned up.”

“In those papers Richard dropped,” Emily added, laughing.

Sandra cleared the sleep from her eyes.  “Let’s open it.  Wow, I forgot all about it.”

Emily fingered the envelope and pulled out the letter, and then read it aloud.

“ ‘Dear Emily, Sandra, and Richard.  Sorry it took such a long time to write back.  Things have been crazy over here.  I hope this letter finds you well.  I miss the short time we spent together.  Thank you for letting me share in your music and…’ She drew a little heart,” Emily said.

“That must be for you,” Richard said, nudging Sandra.

Sandra just giggled a little.  “Or for you and Emily at the fountain, heh heh.”

“Go on,” Richard said to Emily.

“ ‘I am excited to hear that you will play a recital.  I am trying to arrange a trip to the States around that time so I can come.  I hope that is not too forward.’ ”

“Oh, that would be awesome!” Sandra cried.

“ ‘I will let you know if it works out.  Here is my phone and email (not sure if you use email there).  Please keep in touch.  Love, Allison.’ ”

“I hope it works out.  It would be great to have her there.”

“Cool, our audience is up to at least nine, if she makes it,” Richard mused.

“Let’s call her,” Emily said suddenly.

Richard frowned.  “At two in the morning?”

“It’s not two over there, silly!”

Richard laughed.  “Oh, right.  Sorry.  It’s two over here, which means I can’t think.”

Emily dug out a card from her wallet.  “Calling card,” she explained.  “I call my dad overseas with it when he’s on tour.”

“What time is it there?”

Emily dug around and pulled out a world map.  “Let’s find out.”

The three of them gathered around, and eventually put the time in Melbourne to be in the late afternoon.

Emily dialed the number Allison had provided.  The three of them gathered around the receiver.  A man with a thick accent answered.

“Is Allison there?” Emily asked.

“Sure, she’s here.  Who’s calling?”

“This is Emily.”

“All right, hold on.  I’ll put her on.”

After a few moments, Allison answered.

“Hello?”

“Hi Allison!  It’s Emily from the United States.  Do you remember meeting us when…”

“Emily!  How good to hear from you!  I was just thinking about you.”

“Sandra and Richard are here too, listening.”

Richard and Sandra delivered greetings into the phone.

“Wonderful!  How is everything going?” Allison asked.

“Great, really great.”

“That’s brilliant.  I’m so happy to hear the three of you together.”

“We just opened your letter today,” Emily said.

“Oh!” Allison laughed.  “The post is slower than ever.”

“Well… Sandra got it a few weeks ago, but it got misplaced.  But we found it.”

“Are you still thinking of coming to the recital?” Sandra said into the phone, and pressed her ear closer to Emily’s.

“Yes.  In fact, I finalized the trip this week.  I’ll be there from the eighth until the fourteenth.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get a ticket to your concert?”

The three of them laughed.  “Oh, there’s still a couple of seats left,” Richard said.  “We’ll save you one.”

“Or two?  Are you coming alone, or…?” Emily asked.

“Yeah, it will just be me.  Ian will need to stay here for work.”

“Well, this is great,” Sandra said.  “It will be so good to see you again.”

“Likewise, likewise,” Allison said.  “Thanks for calling.  But what time is it there?”

“Two in the morning,” Emily said.

“My god!  Practicing hard, or having fun?” Allison asked.

“Both,” they all said together.

Allison laughed richly.  “It’s so good to hear from you.  I’m sure this call is costing you a fortune, so I won’t keep you.  Let me know how the recital preparations go over the coming months.  I’m living this recital through you, you know!”

“We will call or write again soon,” Emily said.  “Good to talk with you.”

They said their goodbyes, and then Emily hung up.

“This is so cool.  For some reason, this makes me really happy,” Sandra said.

“Yeah, me too,” Richard agreed.

“We’ll have people from all over the world coming to see our recital now,” Emily said grandly.  “ ‘Attracting audiences from the far reaches of the globe, the trio played to a huge audience of ten people!’ ” Emily announced.  

The three of them laughed, and then Sandra yawned.  “Oh no.  I need to be up in four hours!”

“We better get to sleep.  I’m going to crash with Emily tonight, if that’s all right,” Richard told Sandra.

“Of course, sweetie,” she said, caressing his face.

Rather quickly they settled into their beds, and a deep, contented sleep followed shortly after.

“Do you think it would be weird if I invited Billy to the recital?” Sandra asked. 

“No, why?” Emily said. 

They were folding clothes in the laundry area.

“Just wondering.  I think he might even come.”

“Sure.  He’d probably like to see what you’ve been up to.”

“I’ll ask him over break,” Sandra said.  “I’ve been thinking about him since our trip, for some reason.”

“What about?”

“He seemed really down.”

“He misses you,” Emily agreed.

“Mm.  I feel bad that things aren’t going so well for him at school.  I was kind of expecting him to have moved on.”

“It would be easier if he had.”

Sandra shrugged.  “I’m fine, but it was sad to hear him say how much he missed me.  At least maybe I can share some of what I’m doing with him by inviting him to the recital.”

“That might make him regret losing you even more,” Emily said.

“Maybe.  But at least I can reach out to him.  He’s a good guy.”

“I thought so too,” Emily agreed.

“Maybe Kyle will come with him,” Sandra said, nudging her playfully.

“Maybe,” Emily said, laughing.  “I don’t see him sitting through the concert, for some reason.”

“Maybe not.”

“How was the master class this morning?” Emily asked.

“Amazing.  No wonder he’s a regular at the Met.  I got to sing for him.  He liked what I did, and had some great musical ideas.”

“Cool.  Sounds like it was worth going to bed early for,” Emily said.

“Yeah.  I passed out after you and Richard finished.”

“That wasn’t really the end,” Emily said quietly, glancing at the laundry room entry.

“Oh no?”

Someone entered the laundry room with a bag of clothes.

 “Hi Ben,” Sandra said cheerfully.

“What’s up?  Are you still using the machines?” Ben asked.

“No, we’re almost done.  Just folding up.”

“Cool.”

Emily smiled at Sandra and gave her a look.  “We found a room to practice in, so we wouldn’t wake you.  We tried playing that piece I was talking about the other night.”

Sandra frowned for a moment, and then glanced at Ben.  Then she looked at Emily with wide eyes as she understood.

“How did it…” Sandra trailed off, eyeing Ben again. 

“Cute,” Emily said, holding up a pair of Sandra’s panties.

Sandra snatched it from her hand, and then swatted Emily with them.  Sandra folded the last items of clothing, and then hefted their basket.

Emily grabbed the detergent.  “It was really amazing,” she said, grinning. 

Sandra whispered to her as she passed by.  “You are bad!”

Emily giggled and followed her out of the laundry room.

Finals arrived in a hurry.  Richard was a little nervous as he sat in Dobra’s office for the aural portion of the exam.  Even though he felt like he suddenly had made a breakthrough after his practice session a week before, he still didn’t know what Dobra would throw at him.

I’ve worked hard, though, and he has to know that, Richard thought.

Dr. Dobra finished writing something in his ledger and then turned to Richard.

“Ready?”

“I guess so.”

“What do you want to do first?”

“Um… Sight singing?”

“Very well.  Here you go.”  He passed a sheet to Richard.  There were five melodies on the page.  Richard glanced at them, relieved that for the most part they looked less challenging than what they had been doing in class the last month.  The last example, however, looked tricky.

“Pick one.”

Richard looked up, surprised, and then he scanned the melodies again. 

“How about number four?”

“Here’s your starting A.”  Dobra played a note on the piano.

Richard hummed the note, and then started to sing.  “La Do Mi, Mi Re Fa…”

It seemed too easy.  He finished, and Dobra made a notation in his book.

“Pick another.”

Richard glanced at the page again.  He knew Dobra was watching him. 

Richard shrugged and threw caution to the wind.  “I’ll try the last one, number five.”

Dobra nodded, smiling slightly.  He played a note, and Richard took a moment to scan the melody again.

He sang it slowly, but at a measured tempo.  He had learned that if the rhythm and notes were correct, even a snail’s pace was acceptable for sight singing in Dobra’s class.

When he finished, Dobra nodded.  “Good, Richard.”

Richard grinned.  “Number three?” he said, feeling on a roll.

“No, that’s enough,” Dobra said, laughing slightly.  “If you had a nice voice, then perhaps…”

Richard laughed, wondering how many examples Sandra would have to sing later that day.

Dobra proceeded to play the melodic and harmonic dictations, and Richard felt like he breezed through them.  He started worrying about the easiness of the exam.  Is he messing with me?

After a few intervals and chords thrown in for completeness, Dobra stood up. 

“Do you want your grade now, or would you prefer to wait until grades come out next week?”

“Now, I guess,” Richard said, feeling jittery.

Dobra turned to the black board behind him.  He wrote up a sixty-two.

“What?” Richard blurted out.

Dobra turned, holding a calming hand up.  He grinned.  “Hang on, Richard.  Don’t get excited.”

Richard realized he was partly out of his chair.

“This is where you stood at the midterm,” Dobra said, pointing to the number.  Then he wrote a second score below it.

“This is how you did today.”  Dobra considered the numbers for a moment.  “Below the edge of where I’d usually cut off, but given the obvious progress and work you put in this last month, I’m willing to give you an A for the year.”

Richard let out a long breath, and then smiled.  “Thanks,” he managed.  “Sorry I got excited there.”

Dobra just nodded in acknowledgement. 

“Is the written final tomorrow?” Richard asked, for lack of anything else to say.  He knew it was.

“At the usual class time.  Will I see you in my course next semester?”

Richard stood up, and nodded.  “I think so.”

“Excellent.  Good luck tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” Richard said, still not believing his grade.  A week ago he would have scoffed at the thought.

He exited the office and stood there looking around.

“How was it?” asked the guy who was waiting to enter.

“Not bad,” Richard said distantly.  “Not too bad.”

Sandra went into Dobra’s office at her scheduled exam time.

“How are you today?” he asked, as he looked up from the piano.

“Nervous,” Sandra said. 

“Understandable,” he said.  “Many people do poorly on their third semester exam, for some reason.”

Sandra grimaced, and sat in the chair.  She started to pull out her notebook.

“No need for paper,” Dobra said, catching her movement.  He turned to the board and wrote up some music on two staves. 

“Here you go,” he said, sitting in a chair to the side of the board.

Sandra looked at the example.  It was a duet of two melodies.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.  “Analyze it?”

Dobra smiled.  “No.  Sing it.  Both melodies at once.”

Sandra was unsure if she should laugh.  Is he crazy?  Or is he going to sing with me!

“Sing it?” she asked, raising a brow.

“Think of it as music,” Dobra said, smiling.  “Sing it, however you want.”

Sandra stood up and turned back to the board, still not understanding.  Her words had come back to her, though, and she considered the notes Dobra had written. 

Then she cleared the doubts from her head and began to hear the two voices as music.  The second melody only moved when the first melody held a long note or rested.  She played the duet in her head a few times, starting to understand how the second voice supported the first, delineating a harmony with just a few moving notes.  It was obviously impossible to sing two notes at once, but…  If I sing parts of both, it would give the impression of a duet.

Sandra took a deep breath and vocalized the melody, ignoring the syllables typically attached to the notes they sung in class.

Between the short phrases of the main melody, she inserted some of the notes from the second part, trying to make it sound like a distinct voice.  It was a challenge, but she thought she managed fairly well, considering the task at hand, and the butterflies going berserk in her tummy.

When she finished, she looked at Dobra expectantly.  At first, he just looked at her silently, and then she noticed he was chuckling softly.

“You are a pleasure to listen to, Sandra,” he said quietly.  “Whoever said musicianship is taught obviously never met you.  Sign up for counterpoint class next semester.”

“Counterpoint?”

Dobra pointed to the board.  “Counterpoint,” he said.  “Okay, you are finished.”

“What?”

“I’ll see you for the written final tomorrow afternoon.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.  Unless you want more?”

Sandra stood speechless for a long moment.  “What about the dictations?” she asked at last.

“A waste of time, with you,” Dobra said, waving the thought away.  “No need for formalities.  I run the exams how I choose.”

Sandra lifted her bag after a moment.  “All right.  So… did I do okay in the class?”

Dobra laughed.  “Sandra.  You are fine.  I would already give you an A for next semester’s ear training course, even, if they’d let me.” 

Sandra laughed a little.  “This is still a little weird.  I spent all weekend practicing for the final.”

“I know.  And you should keep working.  You do still have to take the written portion tomorrow, like everyone else.”

“That won’t be as easy, I guess.”

“You should be fine.  Just use what you’ve learned, and remember your chord types and suspensions.  Then you’ll have an A in both courses.”

Sandra nodded.  “Okay.  Thanks for all your help this semester,” she said.

“It’s been my pleasure,” Dobra said, smiling.

Sandra stepped out of his office, feeling a mix of elation and some confusion.

Richard pulled the door open to Belinda’s Café.  “Back to where it all started,” he announced, as the aroma of food washed over them.  Emily and Sandra entered, and he followed.

Richard scanned the tables he could see, and then checked with the server, while the girls chatted by the front door.

“He’s not here yet.”

“Let’s get a table then,” Emily said.  “I can’t believe we haven’t been back since that first night we went out.”

“The same booth is open,” Sandra pointed out.

The hostess accommodated their request, and soon they were sitting in that booth, with Richard across from the girls.

Sandra pouted.  “It’s going to be a long three weeks,” she lamented.

Richard nodded.  “Yeah, that’s for sure.”  He reached for their hands and gave them a squeeze.  They smiled back at him.

Richard caught a movement by the front door, and then grinned.  “Here he comes.”

Vittorio looked around as he entered the restaurant, and then caught sight of Richard.  Pride filled his chest as he saw his son for the first time in almost four months.  He looked older, like a full-grown man, really.  The slightly grown beard and longer hair framed a face that had lost most of its boyish qualities.  It reminded Vittorio of himself when he was courting Angelina.

“Ei, Riccardo!” Vittorio cried as he pulled him into an embrace, and then kissed each of his cheeks.  “How are you, my son?”

“Good, good,” Richard answered in Italian.  “How was the trip?”

“Fairly long,” Vittorio said.  “But let’s forget that.  Let’s eat, and I want to hear how your exams went.  Is the food good here?”

“Yes, it’s great.  I have some friends here,” Richard said, as he led Vittorio to the booth.  Two young women were peeking around the dividing wall, watching their greeting.

“This is Sandra and Emily.  I’m playing the recital with them,” Richard said.  “This is my dad, Vittorio.”

Vittorio smiled at them, and then took them into hug and kissed their cheeks as well, which elicited a laugh from each.

“They’re charming,” Vittorio said to Richard in Italian, smiling broadly.

“Grazie.  E un piacere,” Sandra said, smiling shyly.

Vittorio smiled in surprise.  “Ah, si parla Italiano!  Come bella!”

“Sorry, I’m the only one who doesn’t speak Italian,” Emily said apologetically.

“It’s okay.  I no speak English too good, but I try, heh heh,” Vittorio said.

They took their seats and soon the server brought some wine and bread.  At first Vittorio was surprised to see the two friends there, and was perhaps slightly disappointed that he would not have the time alone with Richard.  Then he remembered the long drive home tomorrow, knowing that there would be enough time to catch up.  By the time the appetizers arrived, he also realized that the young women could tell him a lot more about Richard and the school than Richard probably ever would.

The night passed quickly as he heard tales about their instructors and the lessons they had to go through.  The young women seemed to know a lot about Richard, and Vittorio was charmed by the teasing yet caring manner they used when talking about his son. 

All too soon, Vittorio had collected his change from the bill sleeve and they stood. 

“I take you to school,” he offered, as they stepped outside into the frigid air.

“Thank you,” Emily said.  “It’s really cold, all of the sudden.”

They piled into Vittorio’s car.  Richard sat in the back with Emily, and Sandra sat up front to practice her Italian.  Vittorio found her accent to be moderate, which was good for someone who learned in the States.  She didn’t have the flavor of any dialect, pronouncing the words too fully.  What she lacked in technique, though, she made up for with enthusiasm.  She asked all about the house Vittorio’s family had in Italy, and what it was like to have lived there as a child.

Once at the dorm, Richard came around and hugged Vittorio.

“I’ll be here at seven,” Vittorio said.

“I’ll be down by then,” Richard said.  “You know how to get to the hotel?”

“Yes, it’s just down there.”  Vittorio clapped him on the back, and then said goodbye to the two young women.

“I hope to see you again.  Come to our house.  We will eat pasta, meat...  Wine.  Angelina makes good food.”

Emily and Sandra thanked him, and soon Vittorio watched as the three of them hurried out of the cold and into the dorm.

Sitting back down in the car, he found himself feeling happy that Richard had made such good friends.  I wonder if one is his girlfriend, and he was too shy to say…

He shrugged, wondering if he’d know tomorrow, and drove off to his hotel room.

Three wine glasses clinked together in the center of the room.

“To us,” they said together.

Richard drank slowly, watching the girls watch him, and each other.

“Your dad’s fun,” Sandra said.

“He looks like he likes to have a good time,” Emily agreed.

Richard laughed.  “Mostly he likes to eat, drink and talk.  Everything else is extra.”

“What time are you getting up?”

“Uh, ten of seven should be good.  I’m packed.  Just need to throw on clothes and carry my shit downstairs.”

Emily set the alarm clock.  “Eight hours left,” she said.  “To say goodbye, and sleep, I guess.  Not much time.”

“I can sleep in the car,” Richard said, with a grin.

Sandra smiled sadly.  “My German final is at nine,” she said.  “I need to sleep at least a few hours.”

Richard nodded.  “I know.  I was just kidding.  I just want to take it easy tonight, and love you both.”

For a while, they just looked at each other as they hugged in a loose circle. 

Richard felt a little tight as he realized he was just hours from leaving them for the break.  As fun as it would be to see his family, a couple of old friends, and his piano teacher, he knew he’d be counting the moments until he returned to Wexford.

He pulled the two girls close to him, holding them firmly against his chest.

“I’m going to miss you like crazy,” he said, feeling his throat tighten up.  “I’ve had an amazing time with both of you this semester.  Unforgettable times.  You have both helped me through so much, and made my life so… exciting, and happy.”

He kissed their heads, and told them he loved them.  They came up to look at him, their eyes wet.  He kissed each in turn.

“You’ve made us really happy too.”

“And helped us.”

“And loved us.”

“We both love you.”

Richard closed his eyes as he felt himself pulled to the bed.

The hours passed slowly.  They made love, cuddled, slept, whispered, cried, made love again. 

It was still dark when Richard slipped out from under the sheet and reset the alarm in time for Sandra’s exam.  He stretched and pulled on his clothes.

It was six forty-two. 

He spent the next twelve minutes watching his loves on the bed.  Emily was curled up behind Sandra, who was facing the wall.  Emily’s arm was draped over Sandra’s middle, and they both breathed peacefully.  The sight of them was beautiful, Richard thought.  So different, and yet they complemented each other so well.

He spent a few minutes setting out two roses he had purchased and hidden the previous day.  He crossed their stems on the desk, and then put a card on top.

Satisfied that they still were asleep, he pulled a few things out from their closet, grabbed a few CDs, and quietly slipped them into a bag.

With a last look at the girls, Richard bent down and kissed their cheeks.  Then he slipped out the door.

He climbed the steps to his room, quietly entered and grabbed his packed bags, and then walked down the stairs.

Vittorio was waiting in the warm car.  He got out to help Richard load the bags into the trunk, and then they took their seats.

“Pronto, adesso?” Vittorio asked.

Richard let out a long sigh.  “Si, andiamo.”

Vittorio nodded, and backed out of the lot.  Then the dorm grew small in the mirror, and finally disappeared.

Three and a half weeks.

Forward to Chapter 26

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