Music of the Soul 1, 2, & 3 Starter Bundle

by Erik Schubach

  I just sat there in the corner a little while longer, slowing my breathing back to normal. Five minutes later there was a loud knock on my door.

  I stood and walked over to it, cracking it open slightly and peeking through to see Valla standing there holding a bag up with a huge smile on her face. Her smile made my stomach flutter and my knees go a little weak. So that's what they mean when they say that. “What are you doing here?” I asked as she just pushed her way through to my room, throwing the bag on the first bed then turning to face me.

  She squinted one eye and pointed, saying “Hey! Off with that! We had a deal!” as she reached up and pulled my hood back down. She reached both hands up and gathered my hair and pushed it out behind me, draping it over the hood. I trembled a bit when her hands brushed either side of my neck, her touch raising goosebumps on my skin. She seemed to notice this and smirked a little as she backed up a step to look at me.

  “Much better.” she sighed and grabbed my sleeve, pulling it up to reveal a hand. She grabbed my hand in hers and dragged me to the bed. I was just smiling at her as I asked again, “What are you doing here Valla?” She squinted and smiled, bobbing her head down in a cute manner when I called her Valla that I didn't fail to notice. “I like it when you call me that.” she confirmed.

  “Well you said I make you braver. So here I am, bearing clothing for the party!” She grinned and grabbed the bag, opening it to reveal a few cute tops and some headbands. “You can't get out of this that easily, you don't even have to talk with anyone if you don't want. Remember, I promised we would leave if you didn't like it. I will be by your side the whole time. It's like any other party you've been to, just with more alcohol and cute guys... or uhhh... girls if that's what you're into.”

  She was looking at me a little sideways, like she was fishing for something. I responded, “Well I wouldn't know what parties are like since the last one I was ever invited to, we had a terrible pin the tail on the donkey incident that emotionally scarred us five year olds for life.” I winked. Boy I'm getting cocky!

  “Once my Tourettes presented, I sorta became a social pariah, so no more invitations for Mia. As far as cute boys and girls go I really wouldn't know since I've never dated, and truthfully have really never EVER been attracted to anyone before. I must be busted. But I guess it is hard to like the people that make your life a living hell, you know?”

  I stopped myself from babbling and looked down at my feet, embarrassed I was sharing so much personal history with this person I had just met today. I think it just felt good to actually talk with someone. “Sorry, that's more than I have spoken in years. Sob story done. I'll shut up now.”

  She was just grinning at me “No it's fine, I just feel privileged to be the person you unloaded on. I could listen to you read the phone book if I'm to be truthful. I love the alto resonance of your voice. Sooo... no dating? You ever been kissed?”

  I shook my head, embarrassed but unable to break away from her dazzling eyes. She smiled and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Well maybe we can find someone for you and change that tonight at the party. Here try this top on!” She offered a top.

  I was resigned to the fact that she wasn't going to take no for an answer about the frat party, but somehow with her here it didn't seem so bad. “Let me shower first.” I said as I walked into the bathroom shared between my dorm room and the one next to mine.

  I locked the door to the other connecting dorm room, forgetting to lock my own, and pulled both my shirt and hoodie off in a single motion. I shimmied out of my pants, leaving me in my panties and bra. As I stepped toward the shower to turn it on, the door to my room swung opened and Valla walked in.

  Her eyes went wide and the bag of clothes in her hand fell to the floor. I could feel her scan me from head to toe, her breath hitched and she looked at the floor quickly, biting her lower lip. “Ummm... sorry, you got undressed really quick... I just thought you'd want to try a few of these on after your shower.” I tried covering my chest with my arms, wanting to shrink away into nothing. I really don't know why, I still had my bra on and she was a girl. It shouldn't matter right? Why was she embarrassed too?

  She looked back at the open door nervously then glanced back at my tight stomach and forced her eyes to mine. “Umm... Okay, so I'll be out there.” She started backing out of the room, pointing to the door with both hands and cocking her head toward the room. Was she blushing? I caught myself smiling. “Okay, and I'll be in here,” pointing at the floor with both my hands. She finally made it out of the bathroom and shut the door. I could hear her muffled voice saying “Yeah, Okay... Okay... I'll be out here.”

  I found myself smiling and blushing. I then had the most interesting shower of my life knowing Valla was out there. I felt so alive, almost... aroused?

  After I dried off and used the blow dryer on my long ebony hair and on the mirror to defog it I looked at myself. I guess I wasn't terrible looking. But I didn't look anything like the girls in those Playboy's I looked at. Is that what attractive is? Then I'm seriously lacking. My c-cup breasts were nothing compared to the mammoth ones sported by those girls. Well at least I liked my full lips, they were my best feature I thought. Why did I suddenly care what I looked like?

  I tried on every top she had brought over, I liked that they smelled like her, and finally settled on a white scoop-neck with a metallic gold swirl pattern on it. I grabbed a wide white hairband out of the bag and loosely pulled my hair back with it. Then I poked just my head out the door. “Hey Valla. Can you grab me a clean pair of jeans and panties from my dresser please? I forgot to bring some in. First and second drawer.”

  She smiled at me and stood from the bed and walked to the dresser and started digging through my clothes. “Ah-ha!” she exclaimed triumphantly as she walked over to the door, offering me my only pair of low rise capri cut jeans, I must have been on drugs or something when I bought them.

  I rolled my eyes at her and took them through the cracked open door along with the offered plain white cotton panties (I don't have any other kind), closing the door after me.

  After pulling on the jeans I looked in the mirror again. I virtually never wore makeup, but this was a party so I put on some eye liner and a light brushing of purple eye shadow, barely enough to notice. Then I applied some pink lip gloss. Somewhat satisfied with the look I picked up my hoodie and pulled it over my head.

  Grabbing the rest of the my clothes and Valla's bag, I unlocked the connecting room door, then exited out my door to my room, dumping my dirty clothes into the laundry basket by the bathroom door. I saw Valla sitting on my bed, scanning my immaculate room with everything in its place, aligned perfectly.

  Valla glanced over at me and stood up, frowning as she stepped up to me. “No, no, no, no, no Mia. I don't think so!” Before I could stop her she grabbed the bottom of my hoodie and pulled it up over my head as I squeaked in protest. Although to be completely honest I did raise my arms as she did it to make it easier for her to remove. I was staring at the floor embarrassed again.

  I swiped my long hair back behind me with my hands, straightening the hairband, and looked up at her. She was just staring at me, her mouth hanging open a bit. “Crap!” I said “That bad? I'll change into something else. Sorry.”

  I started to turn as Valla blinked at me a couple times raising her hand, “Oh no! Don't you dare, you look smokin' hot Mia. Just throw some shoes on and lets get going, we're running a little late.” I was blushing from head to toe. Did she just say I looked smokin' hot? I tried to hide the smile creeping up on my lips as I slid into some white sandals.

  I finally took stock of Valla for the first time since she had arrived. She wore layered black and white tank tops that left a tempting amount of skin showing at her belly. Complimented by some black jeans and her signature combat boots. Somehow she made the outfit look completely feminine. I was entranced by the giant silver hoops hanging from her ears, drawing my eyes to her face.

  I was barely able to gr
ab my purse as she snagged my hand and dragged me out the door. It was already starting to feel comfortable, holding her hand like this. It seemed to be our natural state whenever we were moving. This thought made me blush a bit as we made our way out of the dorm and across the quad toward the frat houses. This was going to be interesting to say the least.

  Chapter 3 – The Party

  As we approached the frat houses in a comfortable silence it was easy to tell which one was hosting the party. The music was booming and people were scattered all around the lawn in various degrees of intoxication in front of the giant Victorian house.

  The smile never left Valla's face as she dragged me along and up the walkway to the covered porch, our fingers interlaced. She pushed the huge oak and glass paneled door open and passed into the incredibly loud music inside. I was surprised, there must have been over a hundred or so people crammed into the open living space. The central area had couples dancing to the beat while ringing around it were people standing around, drinking and chatting.

  Valla skillfully threaded us through the crowd to the kitchen using her body to shield me the whole way. Once we arrived in the disorganized kitchen it was little quieter and less people were milling around. I had to struggle with myself to keep from straightening up the glasses and fliers strewn about the counter haphazardly. Valla grabbed a couple red plastic cups from a stack and handed a fiver to the guy at the keg and he filled the two cups.

  She tried to hand one to me as she chugged her's half down, then shouted to me over the noise “Here! Liquid courage! Let's take a second, and if you're ready let's get in there and do some dancing with some hotties!” I took it from her with two fingers, like it would burst into flames, and took a whiff. That alone was enough to make me almost barf, like the big guy in the football jersey was doing in the kitchen sink just then.

  I took a tentative sip and had to fight back my gag reflex. I handed it back to her, shaking my head and shooting a scrunchy nosed, disgusted look at it. “God, that smells and tastes like piss! Isn't underage drinking illegal?” She smiled and winked, then downed the rest of her cup and then chugged mine down.

  She dropped the cups onto the overflowing trash can that I had a strong urge to clean up. She grabbed both of my hands and dragged us both back out to the main space and over to the stairs where we could look the party over.

  Valla started swaying and bobbing her head to the beat as we stood there. I was just enjoying watching her when a large, muscular guy with a shaved head walked up to us. I slipped a little farther behind Valla and he spoke loudly to her over the music, “Hey! I'm Rick!” he shouted as he offered his hand to her.

  She took it. “Vee!” she yelled back shaking his hand, then stepping slightly to the side to reveal me a bit. “This is Mia!” He offered his hand and I shook it before he turned his attention back to Valla, and I hid behind her again.

  “Wanna dance?” he shouted, offering his hand to her. She smiled back, “Sure!” and grabbed his hand. She turned her head and winked back at me, ignoring my terrified look as she was dragged off to the dance area. I could feel a pang of jealousy as I watched her gracefully gyrating and swaying with her arms above her head with that, that... Rick. God she's breathtaking.

  I was snapped back to the present when a blonde haired, stereotypical jock looking guy with a letterman's jacket stepped in front of me. “Hey there! I'm Jake, wanna dance with me?” He offered a hand to me, expecting me to take it. I crossed my arms across my chest and shrank back a bit. Not meeting his eyes, “I d-don't know how to.”

  He didn't listen and grabbed one of my hands away from my chest with his own rough and calloused hand and dragged me toward the dance floor, “Nothing to it!” he shouted. He started dancing while I stood there. I glanced over at Vee, who hadn't seen me there yet, and I tried copying some of her motions.

  The guy grabbed my hands in his rough ones and led me around, turning us fully six or seven times as we sorta danced. I wanted to go the other way to 'unwind' but he didn't. I was starting to panic trying to keep count of how may times we turned, and I was trying to pull away from him. But now his hands were all over my waist and back and wherever else he could touch. I pushed him away from me with both hands, starting to panic.

  Just then someone stepped between us.

  I looked up to meet Valla's eyes and much of that raising panic dissipated. She turned back to the guy, “She's with me. Beat it!” The guy just raised his hands and backed off, turning to find another dance partner.

  She turned to me smiling. “You okay Mia?” I shook my head no and she grabbed my hand and dragged me upstairs to the restroom, pulling me inside and then closing the door and locking it.

  In the relative quiet the sound pressure had diminished, and I shifted back and forth on my feet. “You okay?” she asked softly. I shook my head, I was too embarrassed to tell her. “What is it?” she prompted, “Was it Mr. 'Put My Hands All Over You' out there?” I took a breath and almost smiled at that and I could see that she caught it, giving a little smile herself.

  I finally said really quickly, almost too quiet to hear, “That was creepy, but no. He got me twisted up and wouldn't let me unwind.” I looked anywhere but at Valla. She put a finger on my chin and guided my gaze back to her eyes, I was mesmerized as I bit my lower lip. She prompted, “What do you mean? It's alright, you can tell me.”

  I took a deep breath, “It's stupid really. I know it's irrational, but it's part of my obsessive compulsive disorder. I... feel like... there are invisible strings connected to me, and that when I turn around they twist around me like a cocoon. So I try to 'unwind' every time I turn around so that I don't get smothered by turning the same number of times the other way. I know they aren't really there, but dwelling on the visualization of them freaks me out so much I panic a little. I know, as if I couldn't be any more of a freak, right?”

  I crossed my arms across my chest to hide my hands in my armpits. I missed the seclusion of my hoodie right now, and I was fighting myself not to start unwinding in front of her. “You still need to 'unwind'?” she asked, lowering her head to keep eye contact.

  I fought back a tear and nodded my head. She smiled “Okay, don't mind me. When you're done, I was kinda hoping you'd dance... with... me?” She looked down bashfully.

  I took a ragged breath and started to slowly turn counter clockwise, stopping to look at her after the first turn. She didn't look appalled. Instead she was biting her lower lip with her head tilted. That made butterflies appear in my stomach as I kept turning. Once I counted eight turns, it felt right again, I didn't feel the invisible constriction.

  So I lowered my head, “Ummm... some party huh?” She raised her eyebrows, shooting me an almost seductive smile that made me warm in some inappropriate places. “It's about to be.” She grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers as she opened the door and dragged me out and back downstairs. I'd follow her anywhere like this.

  Without hesitation she grabbed my other hand and backed into the dance floor, dragging me along, keeping eye contact the whole way, a grin on her face. She used her body as a shield, pushing through the other dancers till we were in the middle of the room.

  She released my hands and with a huge knee buckling smile, she raised her hands above her head and started bouncing with the beat. I looked at her from bottom to top, and unconsciously licked my lips and raised my arms into the air and copied her actions.

  This wasn't too bad, I was starting to have fun and let loose when the song ended. Since it was getting later in the night a slow song kicked in and I started to turn to leave the dance floor when Valla snaked a hand in to grab mine and turned me back toward her.

  She pulled me close and grabbed my arms and put them on her hips and she draped hers over my shoulders. She leaned down and placed her mouth next to my ear. “This is nice, I like dancing with you.” Her hot breath on my neck caused goosebumps to shoot down my skin. I just nodded and continued swaying with her.

  She led us
around in lazy circles, I wasn't paying any attention to how many times we were turning, I was so lost in the warmth of her body and the slight vanilla scent coming from her that my imaginary strings didn't seem to matter. I was vaguely aware that she changed the direction of our circles from time to time. Is she counting for me?

  We spent almost an hour out there, through various songs. Dancing and joking and laughing. We seemed to always keep contact with each other at all times. I don't remember the last time I had so much fun.

  We noticed the party was slowly winding down and she grabbed my hand without a word. Interlacing our fingers as she dragged me through the dwindling crowd toward the door, only to stop short when a girl blocked our path.

  Shit! It was Missy, sneering at us, “Now I understand why you're helping the spaz! You're that Vee girl that got kicked out of so many high schools for fighting for the damn freaks like her. We don't need your kind here, so why don't you just take your pet spaz there and leave?”

  Valla dropped my hand and I saw it clench into a fist as she quickly raised it to take a swing at Queen Bitch. She had been kicked out of other schools for fighting? For protecting others? I knew Missy was just baiting her and I quickly placed a hand gently on Valla's fist and said, “Don't,” almost too quietly to be heard over the music. I could feel the tenseness flow away from her fist as she unclenched it, and she looked at me locking our eyes. Her shoulders visibly relaxed.

  Missy snorted “Ha! Takes a freak to tame the infamous Vee huh? What? Are you dykes too?” Vee's fist reappeared and I stepped between the girls, shooting Valla a pleading look. She relaxed again, grabbing my hand and dragging me away shouting, “She's not worth it!” Shoulder checking Missy again as we passed.