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

by Erik Schubach

  I saw some magazines on the old 1970's looking coffee table with its fake wood melamine surface. When I looked at them, I actually laughed out loud. They were four 'HotRod' magazines dated from more than a decade ago.

  Just then, 4Ever by The Veronicas came on the radio. I friggin' love this song! I reached over to the radio and cranked it then stood then started bouncing and dancing, gyrating my hips and banging my head as I sang along with one arm in the air, flexing my wrist with a finger outstretched to the beat.

  The song ended and I reached down to the radio and lowered the volume again. The color drained from my face when I heard someone clapping slowly from the door. I turned to see Riley with a hungry look in her eyes. Was that lust?

  She said to me in a husky voice, her eyes darker than normal, “Admit it, you were just sent from the heavens as a cruel joke to torture me. That was just... wow... but you're friggin' straight! Not even remotely fair.”

  “Feelin' kind of bendy lately,” I said to myself under my breath. Her perfectly sculpted eyebrow arched again. Damn her and her bat-like hearing!

  She grinned and held her hand out for me to take. “Come on! Time to fly!”

  I walked over and bashfully took her hand, feeling a fire spread from where her soft skin touched mine. She turned and dragged me out to Violet, helping me into the copilot seat. Then she ran around and hopped up into the pilot's seat and grinned at me.

  “Okay, put this on so you can hear my conversation with the tower. I'll be VOX but they can't hear you unless you hit the PTT button on the cable. You won't ever need to.” She handed me a headset and put one on herself. Then she pulled out an iPad and went through her checklist and pulled up a GPS map while flipping switches and messing with the controls.

  I saw the yoke in front of me move as she tested her's. She caught my look and said with a smile, “You don't want to be touching that when we're in the air.” She winked.

  I started nervously playing with the end of my ponytail and chewing on my lower lip. Then the propeller started spinning as Violet roared to life, the excited smile that grew on Riley's face and the joy twinkling in her eyes told me the story of her love for flying. The engine wasn't as loud as I thought it would be as Violet growled low, like a caged beast.

  We taxied out of the hangar and stopped, then Riley spoke with the tower, requesting taxi to the runway and flight clearance. After we receiving a taxi go ahead, we trundled out and turned to the end of the runway. The tower gave clearance. She glanced to me then grasped the throttle control with a look of glee, and the sound level doubled as we suddenly shot down the runway.

  I was pulling on my ponytail now, then Riley looked over to me with a huge smile and wink, pulling back on the yoke. My stomach fell as we escaped gravity, we were flying! It was exhilarating, it felt just like I felt whenever I got lost in Riley's eyes.

  I've flown dozens of times on commercial jets, but that was nothing compared to the feeling of freedom that I was experiencing now. I shot an excited smile over to Riley who had not stopped smiling since we boarded Violet. My heart was racing.

  We circled the field once then headed east into the Cascades with her deftly handling the controls, the plane slicing through the air like we were riding on glass.

  She switched channels on the radio and called out, “Silent Bob, this is Jane, do you read?”

  A moment later an extremely female voice replied, not what I would have expected from a Bob. “I read you Jane, everything is ready. Kim just got back.”

  She smiled and replied, “Thank you Bobbi, catch you on the flip side.” Then she switched channels back.

  I found the call sign amusing. Geek much Riley?

  “What was that about?” I spoke loudly over the engine.

  She smirked as she cryptically replied, “Just calling in a favor.”

  I rolled my eyes at her amusement at throwing that in my face. “Funny.” I mocked. But it was funny.

  She shrugged and simply said, “Put your hands on the yoke.”

  I looked at her like she had just asked me to kiss a rattlesnake. Which honestly, I probably would do for her, if she asked.

  She smiled at my expression and said, “Don't worry. Put your hands on the yoke.”

  I did and she started a series of gentle banks, then gained some altitude and dove gently before leveling out again. I could feel everything she did smooth and gentle. She was doing something with her feet a little too, I could see the pedals by my feet moving a bit.

  Smiling, she echoed what I felt. “Smooth and gentle movements, like making love. No quick or extreme moves. Now you try, I'll handle the pedals.” She smiled encouragingly to me as she raised her hands about a half inch from the controls, at the ready.

  I slowly started a bank. Oh my god! This is awesome! I'm sure my smile was threatening to split my face in half. I banked the other direction. Then I tried to raise altitude a little and did a gentle dive and leveled out just like she showed me.

  I couldn't have wiped the excited smile off my face if you had paid me to. She smiled back at me and took the controls again. I took my hands off the yoke and gushed at her, my heart beating fast, “That was so amazing!” Her eyes were twinkling at me as she breathed out, “I know right?” Then she smoothly broke us into a steep diving bank. Inserting us neatly into a valley between two rocky peaks.

  We swooped down between two beautiful tree lined ridges and we loitered in the area, passing a tiny lake and beautiful waterfall feeding it. Then we circled back around and she lined us up with a little clearing in the middle of the forest with a dirt runway lined with bright orange wind socks.

  We landed smooth as silk, the only roughness came from the uneven ground beneath the wheels. We slowed and she taxied us into the grass field beside the strip then cut the engine. My heart was still beating fast from the exhilaration. I bit my lower lip and played with my ponytail as I stared at her.

  Riley grinned and took off her headset, I followed suit. “So what do you think so far?” she asked with a confident grin. I just nodded like an idiot, not speaking.

  She laughed and opened her door and jumped down then ran around Violet to my door and opened it, helping me down.

  My legs were a little wobbly and I exclaimed, “Whoa, it feels like we are still flying!”

  She laughed in understanding, “Yeah it'll pass in a minute. Come on!”

  It was slightly nippy and we both put on our light jackets we had tied at our waists. Then she grabbed my hand and our fingers just naturally found their way between each others.

  She started dragging me off into the woods. “This is an old ranger's strip. They still use it from time to time,” she said as we went deeper on a trail into the forest.

  A minute later we popped out into a clearing by that large waterfall we had seen from the air. I gasped and she smiled at my reaction as she pulled me a little further. I was still stunned by the beauty of nature when I felt her pulling me down onto the ground.

  I looked down as we sat, I didn't even notice we had come up to a red checkered blanket with an old fashioned picnic basket. Where did this come from? Oh, Silent Bob!

  Riley laughed a little as she read my thought process through my expressions. Only Bev had mastered that feat.

  “This was all just my way to get you alone for lunch.” She smiled at her ingenuity. I just smiled at HER.

  We dug the simple food and soft drinks out of the basket and placed them on the blanket. She slid behind me, with me sitting between her legs, leaning back to rest against her. I could sit like this forever. And we started eating. I grabbed one of the sandwiches and tentatively peeked under the top slice of bread.

  Tuna sandwich! But eww... sliced pickles on it. I started to take the pickles off, but when she smiled oddly at me, I squinted at her then licked one timidly. Oh! Sweet pickles! OMG she remembered! The pickle went back in place and I happily munched on the sandwich. “You remembered.” I gushed.

  She threw my own words back at
me once again with a soft, caring smile, “Not a thing you've said to me that I don't remember.” I melted. She was perfect.

  We talked and joked through lunch, taking in the nature around us. I felt so at ease and I hoped she did too. We laid down on the blanket for a while as topics got deeper. Our eyes never left each others. She mentioned again that she loved my dual tone eyes, that she could live in them forever. I wound up snuggled into her with my back to her front, her arm draped across my waist as we discussed our hopes and dreams.

  I cocked my head back to look up at her wonderfully smiling face and stretched up a bit for a soft quick kiss. We both sighed. Then it was time to go, far too soon for me. We packed everything including the blanket into the the picnic basket and made our way slowly back to the plane.

  With everything stowed she helped me in, stopping for a gentle kiss first. Then we were airborne again. Winging ourselves west, back to Issaquah, I even got to fly again!

  It was a comfortable silence until we landed and tax.ied back into the hangar. I was staring at Riley, memorizing every curve of her face, of her lips, and whispered before we got out, “I don't want this date to end.”

  She helped me down then put her lips beside my ear, her hot breath on my neck doing marvelous things to me. “Who said it was over? That... was just lunch. I wanted to share some of my private world with you like you shared yours,” she whispered.

  She could have taken me right there on the hangar floor and I would have willingly given myself to her. I don't have any question in my head anymore. Bev was right. I am sooo gay for this girl.

  She locked up the hangar then I walked jelly legged to the car. She opened the door for me and then got in the drivers seat and we were off, darting under the freeway again but not getting on it. Instead she brought us past Gilman Village and up the little mountain behind it.

  At the top we pulled into a zoo parking lot. There was a friggin zoo here in Issaquah and I never knew about it! Cougar Mountain Zoological Park. I've lived in this area my entire life and a zoo has been hiding here the whole time? The signs indicated it is a teaching zoo. I looked at her, “I had no clue this was here Riley.”

  She grinned. “Most people don't. Come on!”

  We went inside the main building and into an admin area. Were we supposed to be here? We walked toward a back office, a couple people nodded at Riley.

  “What are we doing here?” I whispered.

  She winked at me with confidence, her charisma oozing from her pores, “Just calling in a marker.”

  We reached the back office and she knocked lightly and a moment later a cute, smiling Asian girl about our age opened the door.

  “Jane!” She exclaimed. Then the girl looked at me. “Whoa! You weren't kidding. Hot! And those eyes, yum!”

  I was blushing as Riley slapped her arm. “Hey! Eyes off lady, she's with me. Tak, this is Crystal. Cryster this is Takara.” I shook her hand.

  Then Riley continued, “So what 'learning experience' you got lined up for us Tak?”

  The girl just smiled and motioned for us to follow her. We went out a side door and into a utility cart and down path at the backside of the zoo.

  She brought us to a double gate and Riley just said, “Sweet! You are going to love this, Cryster!” We went inside the first gate and we were each handed a feed bucket by the guy doing some maintenance there, and Takara opened the second gate and spoke to me with a soft smile, “Jane knows all the rules, just follow her lead. I'll be out here when you guys are done.”

  I was confused but Riley grabbed my free hand with hers and pulled me deeper into the enclosure. We turned a corner and I almost dropped my bucket. Little reindeer! There were a bunch of little reindeer in front of me grazing! I glanced at Riley and she was just watching the excitement on my face. Her own smile was threatening to split her face wide open.

  She moved slowly, then when we were noticed, a group of them basically surrounded us and were trying to stick their noses in our buckets. “Do what I do,” she said and started grabbing handfuls of the feed out of the bucket and offering it to them, they ate out of her hand.

  I smiled again and did the same. This is me. Standing here. Feeding rein-freaking-deer! They were amazing and so furry, a lot furrier than I could have imagined. I was so excited!

  Riley reached out and stroked an antler. “Feel them.”

  I mimicked her, I was surprised that they were soft and covered with a velvet like fuzz.

  Then she started throwing handfuls of feed around on the ground. I followed suit. Finally she upended her bucket for one to put his nose in to see it was empty. Then we wandered back to Takara. I kept looking back and was mouthing, “Wow, wow, wow,” while the two girls laughed at me.

  Then we said our goodbyes and left Tak and went into the zoo proper to do the touristy thing and look at all the cool animals everywhere. It was a small zoo but I didn't care. Did I mention I fed reindeer!? We went everywhere holding hands, our fingers constantly laced. It was a comfortable afternoon as we chatted and laughed.

  I was sad when we returned to the car for the trip home. Riley smiled. “So it seems you aren't the only one with contacts.” She waggled her perfect eyebrows.

  I was suddenly a little unsettled thinking about Takara and Silent Bob. “Old girlfriends?”

  Riley quickly said, “I plea the fifth.”

  I looked down at my hands and she quickly added, “It was a long time ago, we're just friends now.” I don't like this feeling. Am I jealous?

  “It's fine.” I said quietly. Come on me don't ruin this fun day.

  I forced myself to brighten. “Thanks for such an amazing day! This is going on my top one list.” This got her smile to return. I could live in her smile. We cranked the radio and sang at the top of our lungs the whole way back as I danced in my seat.

  We pulled into the parking lot as 'Hangover' by Hey Monday came on. I stopped her from turning the car off, placing my hand on hers as she reached for the key. “Wait!” I jumped out of the car and started dancing right there in the parking lot, singing the chorus and swinging my hips and bobbing.

  Riley had a silly grin on her face, just watching me have fun. The song was mostly over when the words were sinking in for me... they were hitting way too close to home just now. I stopped and reached in and shut off the radio. Riley looked concerned and shut off the car and got out to stand beside me.

  I shrugged it off and grabbed my ponytail then shot her my most innocent smile. She looked relieved and... ummm... aroused? This affected me in a similar manner. Holy crap.

  She walked me to the door and I turned to her and looked down shyly. “I had a really great time Riley. Thank you.”

  She leaned in, our lips brushed and I was in heaven again. Our hands meeting and our fingers lacing on their own. It was so sweet, sensual, sexy and fun, all at the same time. Like every kiss should be. I was lost, trying to feed her my passion as I received hers. We broke it off so that we could gasp for air.

  “Good night Cryster.” she whispered.

  She turned to leave but I didn't release her hands. “Don't go,” I whispered. “Come up and have dinner with Bev and I. I'd love to visit with you some more.”

  She nodded and I dropped one hand to get my keys and soon we were walking into the living room upstairs with Bevi dancing and singing to the Mandy Fay Harris Farewell Tour on TV... still in her underwear. We both laughed and she spun around smiling at us.

  “Hi guys!” she said excitedly then she ran over and put us into a group hug.

  “Umm... Beverly. Clothes?” Riley squeaked.

  Bev looked down at herself. “Oh. Gothcha!” She wandered into her room to find something to wear. She came back out a second later wearing just a worn out band t-shirt and we all sat on the couch and called for pizza delivery.

  We all chatted casually until the pizza delivery guy was buzzed in. I walked to the kitchen counter for my purse but Bev beat me to it. Riley and I couldn't contain our laughter until t
he door was closed over his shock at a sexy redhead paying in nothing but a t-shirt. He gave her almost a full book of discount coupons as he tried to regain the ability to speak.

  The oblivious redhead wandered over to the couch with the pizza with a questioning look on her face. Riley spoke up cheerfully, “You really don't have any shame do you, Bev?”

  Bev replied, “Huh?”

  Looking to me for explanation. I glanced dramatically down at her clothing choice and it dawned on her. “Oh that. I got us some coupons!” she responded enthusiastically. We all shared a laugh as we grabbed some slices.

  “So spill chicks!” Bev looked at us expectantly. “Who gives better date?” Riley wins hands down! I mouthed with my eyes wide, “Riley. OMG!” to Bevi when Riley's was leaning forward to grab a napkin off the coffee table.

  Then I spoke up coyly, “Well, I'm not sure. It seems too close for me to call. I mean yeah, she had some jaw dropping things up her sleeve and it was amazingly fun. But I pulled out all the romance stops.”

  Riley looked dejected and I'm not sure why. She said, “I keep forgetting this is just a game.”

  Now it was my turn to look dejected. She continued, “Yeah, Cryster knew every button to push to make a girl swoon. But I stepped things up a notch in the FUN department with my play. I'd say it was too close to call.”

  This gave me hope, maybe I can spin this so I can spend more time with her. It is obvious she only sees this as a bet.

  “So, with no clear winner. Then I guess we move to round two.” I announced.

  Riley suddenly looked happier. “Oh yes! By all means. Prepare to go down, Cryster.”

  I absentmindedly joked, “If you want, it will be our third date after all.” My hands slapped over my mouth, my pizza flinging behind me onto the floor. I could have died right there. I had no intention of saying that out loud!

  Riley was staring at me in shock. I wanted to run and hide, but Bev came to the rescue and broke the awkwardness chuckling, “Hey wait a second! Now that I think about it... I've NEVER seen you make it to a third date, Kru. Holy crap! This will be the longest relationship you have ever had. And I've known you for...” she pretended to count on her fingers, “...forever! You must be magic, Jane!”