London Harmony: Small Fry (11 page)

Shit, and I had just fallen into it.  She said more quietly with a conspiratorial grin on her face, “If I were busy with some bloke in there, you wouldn't need a sock to know what we were on about.”  Then she wiggled her eyebrows and added, “Boom a chick a boww boww.”

I blushed for her as I said in mock surprise, “Maximilia Visintine Porter, you kiss your mother with that mouth?”

She batted her long eyelashes innocently then winked. “See you tonight, girl.”  I nodded and watched her head down the hall.  Then I looked at the socks on all the doorknobs and shook my head in mirth.  I must have been distracted last night, I'm usually more observant.  I stood up stiffly and stretched and headed into my room.  I do not recommend hard orange vinyl couches for recreational sleeping.

I stripped out of my clothes on the way to the shower.  Then after cleaning up and getting ready for the day, I did the studying I should have done the prior night as I ate some oatmeal.

That became the norm.  Between school, work, my girlfriend, Thursday and Friday night, and my special project, I was beginning to think I needed clones.  But clones are not a good idea since I didn't want to share Tash with anyone, not even me.  I'm all greedy that way.

Saturday I told Tash I'd be working late, and set up a study session with her for that night at my place.  It would be Max, her, me, and I invited Amy.  My redhead was vexed that I wouldn't tell her why I was going to be late other than it was for my freshman project.  My entire class schedule had been reworked, except for the one class I had with my girl, that was one thing I insisted on.  The middle of each day I spent two and a half hours with Tim, who remained in London to coordinate with me.

She pouted. “Why are you being so secretive about it?”

I quelled her curiosity by capturing her lower lip in my teeth gently and tugging, before giving her a steamy kiss and whispering into her neck, “It's a surprise.”  I loved the goose flesh that action caused to run down her neck.  She wordlessly nodded with a silly grin on her face.

She whispered, “Okay, Allie.”  I had to smile, she had taken to using my middle name anytime she was feeling amorous.  I had not cared for my middle name my entire life until she started saying it.  It sent delightful shivers through me when she said it.  I put her on the short list of people who could use it.  The list in its entirety was her and me.

I was a little surprised when I arrived at London Harmony.  I knew June was going to assemble a volunteer or two so we could get some rough proof of concept examples to work with for the project that Tim, Brandye, and I had officially called SmartCanvas 3.0 as Tim had said before.

In the main conference room on the third floor between June and Vannie's office, I found Tim with, June, Tabby Cat, Abigail Addison, and I kid you not, towering over the others was Penny fuckin' Franklin!  June stood beside the other three women.  I have met her on many occasions, but being in the same room with a rock legend like Penny, was like standing too close to the sun.  I had just started getting over feeling that way around Mandy.

The tall woman was in her mid-forties but she still looked fine.  If I were to guess, I would have said she was in her mid-thirties.  The only thing that always seemed strange to me was her chestnut colored hair, her natural hair color.  For decades, it was dyed black for her punk rock visage.  I swear she had a perma-smirk that made her all the more intriguing.

June saluted in cheesy manner.  “Volunteers reporting for duty, Small Fry, ma'am.”

I blinked.  “I figured we'd get maybe one person to volunteer, and it was probably going to be you J-dub, but four of you?  And Penny, you're with the Harmony Trax label.”

They all chuckled at me like I said something funny.  June put on her 'poor Small Fry' face and clarified, “When I explained your idea to our artists, and mother told the Trax artists.  Every single one volunteered.  We had to pare it down since this is just proof of concept level.  These unsavories are the three I couldn't shake off of my leg.”

I blinked again.  She smiled and said, “The entire London Harmony and Harmony Trax portfolios have been made available to the project once the proof of concept has been approved.  That includes all of Penny's non-Leather and Heels titles.  We have Frank Davenport working with the other label for those.”

I looked around almost embarrassed.  “This is just a class project.”

Tim looked up from where he was working on two tablets and a little box with what looked like a drum head stretched across it.  He looked at me like I had just told him to suck a lemon as he said, “I don't think you realize what this is going to do for the music industry.  It will have the same impact SmartCanvas had on art.   It is going to open up music to a whole new audience that couldn't fully experience it before.”  Then he looked back down and got lost in his programming again.

June looked over to Abigail and said, “Peepers there came in early and has been working with Tinman the past hour or so to explain how music feels.”  I grinned, June and her nicknames.  I was hoping we could discuss my project with Abigail and June's mom.  Anabella was deaf but felt music in a way I could only dream, and Abigail, who had been mostly blind, has synesthesia and can literally feel the music.

Tim looked back up and nudged his head toward the box.  “Hand.”  Then he looked back down.  June grinned and nodded.  I hesitantly put my hand on the drum head, he looked up at me and shook his head then reached over and splayed my fingers.  He measured each finger and typed something on a pad as he explained, “The final product will automatically scan for hand size.”  Then he just tapped a button on his iPad and J8's ‘Pickpocket’ started playing.  I looked down at my hand in shock as a smile slowly spread on my face.

I picked up my hand and looked at it then put it back on the pad.  “How did you get it to do that so quickly?”

He shook his head. “It is just rough right now.  There is a huge amount of work to go for this portion, but it gives the general idea.”  He tapped his pad and the music stopped.

Then looked around.  “Who's first in the scanner?”  I chuckled as all the artists started running for the door, fighting over who was going into the isolation booth downstairs first.  It was comical really.

Mickey was there at the controls when we all came stumbling into the room.  Penny warning the other women off as she pointed at them.  June chuckled. “Mickey, you choose.  Who is going to be the Tinman's first victim?”

He looked around and his eyes landed on Penny and he smiled.  “My first teenage crush... Penny Franklin.”

The tall woman turned to the rest, pointed at them, and said, “Ha!”  Fine, she wasn't pointing, she was flipping them off, but pointing sounds more polite.

Tabby shot back with her lightning fast wit. “Fine you manky bint.  They seem to take the senior discount here.”

The smile on Penny's face threatened to split her in two as she shook her finger at Tabby. “You... I like.  You got spunk.”  Then added after a beat with perfect comical timing, “For a teeny bopper.”

We all chuckled and watched the queen of punk rock step past Mickey, giving him an innocent smile, and into the isolation booth that now had all kinds of makeshift gear crowding the normally empty sound booth.  Tabby calling out, “Break a hip... I mean, a leg.”  Penny gave a toothy grin like she had won the lottery.

I had to chuckle when Mickey shook his head at us all and grumbled, “A bunch of unruly children.”

June said, “Shut up, you love it.”  He looked cross-ways at her then broke into a smile.  We all watched as Tim adjusted some gear around Penny's head before he stepped out of the booth.

Then he explained,  “First we just need an avatar.  Smile and don't move a muscle until the green light turns off.”  She nodded and smiled.  Well, it was more like her patented smirk.  The one she always got just before she'd arch her back and let out her signature “Meeeeooowww!”

Green lines in a grid pattern lit up on her face and the part of the device that was emitting the light circled around her head and the light turned off at the end of its travel.

Tim looked at his data then nodded and hit something on the iPad and said over the isolation booth speakers.  “Okay, now we're going to scan you as you sing the first number, ‘Yvette.’  We may have to do two or three takes.  All of this is untested.”  She nodded and put on her headphones, I assumed they had discussed the procedure already before I showed up.

Mickey was squinting his eyes at Tim.  “How did you override my control board for the booth speakers?”

June cocked an eyebrow at the question and we all looked at Tim who's fingers were flying across his two iPads.  He didn't look up and seemed distracted as he mumbled like it was obvious, “It was an easy matter to hack through your shit firewall and into your wireless.  Then just cloned the MAC address of the console and spoofed the IP.  Ghosting the controls was simple.”

He looked up at Mickey and said, “Right then, ready when you are.”

We were all grinning at the egghead.  June spoke out of the corner of her mouth slowly and humorously, “Zil?”

Zilrita was grinning. “On it boss.  Get technicians in to beef up network security.”

June looked around with a grin. “Just be glad he's on our side.”  We all nodded.  Then turned to the booth when Mickey cued the music and pointed at Penny, who exploded into one of her most emotional ballads, ‘Yvette.’  It was the least edgy song in her new catalog and it always brought a tear to my eye.  There was something buried in the words that told you there was something deeper than those words which hinted that the story was not fully conveyed.

I just sat in awe, in the corner, playing with Sir Percival with Abigail as I watched all of these magnificent artists do their things with that green scanner going all the time.  I was surprised when Abigail whispered to me, “It always seems like some unreal dream, being around these bloody legends.”

I nodded my agreement and smirked. “You're one of them you know.  I'm always in a daze around this place.  And here I am playing with a superstar's guide dog.”  She blushed, shook her head at me, and ruffled Percy's ears.

We broke for lunch briefly but then went back to it until around seven that evening.  It was so bizarre to me not to see the bright red 'Recording' sign over the door not lit through the whole thing.

We said goodnight to all the women and I thanked them profusely. Penny towered over me and looked down and smiled.  “I was so proud when my daughter and Tim devised SmartCanvas.  That's why I jumped at the chance to watch the program expand into music.  You are doing a good thing here Fran.”

I blushed and she hugged me.  Then she added with a knowing smirk, “Bran did it for a girl too you know?”  I blinked, I didn't know that.  I wondered if it was for her lady, Robin Hartford, the blind painter in Seattle.  Then Penny hugged June and said, “I have to jet.  I'm having Sandra withdrawals.  She was thrilled to fly to London with me so she could meet with the little copper-top snot here and Paya Doshi to discuss expanding the Callahan Foundation to England in conjunction with the Flotilla Project.”  She ruffled Tabby's hair.

Tabby slapped Penny's hand away and grinned up at the woman and said, “Let's get going then.  Now where is your bloody walker?  Don't want you falling in your advanced age.”  Penny exploded into laughter and we watched the two superstars walk out of the building, shoving each other playfully.

I looked at my new-sis.  “That was an almost existential, inconceivable experience.  Like I just flew into a super nova and lived to tell the tale.”

June bumped my hip.  “Big words for such a young lady.”  Then she got serious.  “I'm proud of you Small Fry.”  That hit me right in the feels.

Fran called out to me from her loo, where she was getting ready for another one of those bloody secret meetings about her art project with the Dean, for a status update.  “Do I really have to wear this?”

Max and I responded in unison from where we sat on Fran's bed, studying, “Yes!”  I figured that if she were taking the project so seriously, then she would have to look professional at her official meetings.  Seeing as how bloody frustrating it was, knowing she was keeping something from me with no explanation why, she could suffer through wearing a skirt suit.

It had not only the benefit of frustrating her, but her legs looked deliciously shapely wearing low heels.  Bonus for me!  Like she was reading my mind, the silly bird called out, “You're just saying that because you like looking at my legs when I wear heels.”

Max snorted and winked at me. “She's got you there Tasha.”  I blushed and bunched up my sleeves in my hands, trying to pull myself inside to hide.

For over a week now she has had meetings almost every day, and I missed her in my arms severely on Saturday when she had to work late.  It almost feels like her project is more important than me to her, and I am the mistress she sees on the side.  I know that isn't fair of me, she is taking her school project so very seriously it bodes well for her future success in life.  It was just cutting into our cuddling time.

I noticed Max watching me and I asked, “What are you on about?”

She grinned.  “Nothing.  I've just never saw two people that complimented each other so well.  Though the constant googly eyes are enough to send me into sugar shock.”  Then she tilted her head and looked at the door of the cottage.  “I'm kind of jealous.  I want to find the person that will look at me like that.”  I felt a pang of sympathy, she had just broken up with Kyle, the two timing wanker.

I blushed then assured her, “You're a right fit bird.  I don't know another as toned as you.  Any bloke would be lucky to have you.  You're smile is radiant, and your personality isn't painful either.”  I grinned, wondering where the confidence to tease had come from.  My eyes drifted to the door and I knew.  Since I met my Allie.

Max reached out and shoved me so I flopped back on the bed as she said with mock indignity, “Thanks for that.  You're supposed to be the nice one.  That bint in there is the mean one.”

Fran called out in a sing song voice, “Yup, I'm still here.  I can hear you two you know.”  Max grinned and grabbed a shoe and threw it at the door and it hit with a thud, then we heard my girl chuckle.

The door opened and Businesswoman Francine v1.0 stepped out.  I was all grins and she smoothed the skirt down nervously.  I mentally cataloged what she was wearing so I could recognize her later.  That skirt was doing all sorts of wonderful things to me.  I realized I was staring at her shapely calves, then looked up to meet her blue eyes.  She shrugged.  She was an odd dichotomy of confidence and self doubt at times. I smiled, then could see the confidence flowed back into her.

I supplied my appraisal. “Yum.”

Max said, “Get a room.” Then we all chuckled.

I walked her to the door.  And smiled coyly.  I wasn't into public displays of affection.  Not that I ever had anyone I could exhibit it with, before Fran.

I kissed her quickly on the lips and Max snorted. “You call that a kiss?  You really need to get over your shy streak Tash.”

Fran took an imperious air and said with a highbrow tone, “Now now Maximilia, she is doing just fine.” The she grabbed me and dipped me back and pretended to ravish me.  I was nothing but giggles as she stood me back up.

I whispered, “I'll miss you.  I might still be here when you get back.”

She nodded and whispered, “If not, I'll see you tomorrow Tash.  I miss you all the time.”  Then she added as she handed me a paper from the shelf next to the door.  “I circled some possibilities.”

That put a damper on my mood.  She was trying to find me a job that didn't require a flat address.  She even offered to let me use her address for the post.  It made me feel inadequate like she was ashamed of how I lived.  But she had been there.  She should understand.  I could do it on my own, my situation was only temporary.

She read this in me and slumped and put the paper back on the shelf and slunk out the door.  Now I felt bad for killing her mood too.  I stared at the closed door a second and then took a deep breath and smiled and turned around.  “Right.  Back to study then.”

Max shook her head at me.  “She's only trying to help you know.  She loves you.  Don't let pride get in the way.” She loves me?

Max was the only person besides Fran, who knew of my situation.  Though I get the feeling that Amy girl who works here at the Ponsonby knows.  She is always watching with a keen eye.  She is starting to hang around with the three of us.

Max overheard us talking about my situation a couple times, even though we try keeping our voices low.  She put two and two together and just flat out asked.  She's straight forward, that one.  For a moment I thought Fran had betrayed my trust until Max told us, “If you two want to keep secrets, hiding under a blanket five feet away from me and whispering is probably not the best solution.”

I count her as one of my friends now.  She and Amy are part of this weird pseudo-family that Fran seems to be building without any effort.  It warms me inside, knowing I am part of that pseudo-family, and am starting to feel the same about everyone else in it.  I thought about my aunt and realized just how much I missed her and the feeling of family.  She was the only mum I had known, whether she wanted me calling her that or not.  I never thought I'd ever have that feeling of family, of belonging again, until now.

I caught myself smiling at the thought of Fran then shook myself out of it and shot back at Max, “Oh shush, you.”

She grinned and I rejoined her on the bed and picked up my textbook and started reading where I had left off.  Distracted by the thought that tomorrow was Thursday Night; movie night at the marina; Max and Amy were coming with us.

I looked up from my book. “You'd tell me right?”

Max looked up from her calculus. “Tell you what?”

I nudged my head toward the door.  “What that damned secret project she is working on is, if you knew?”

She grinned and scrunched her nose. “Of course.  We're mates, you and me.  Don't think I haven't already tried to pry it out of her.  She's a vault on this one.”

I grinned.  I had mates.  Then I went back to my studying, paused and looked up at her and opened my mouth to ask another question.  Without looking at me, the woman grinned, shook her head and closed her book.  “It's obvious I'll not be getting any peace to work on my lessons.  Let's gossip then.”

I blushed and set my book down and said, “Sorry.”  She chuckled at me and we gossiped like the couple of college girls we were.

I wound up sharing with her what my art project was.  I was sculpting Frannie's face, the way my hands remember it.  I was sculpting it in inverse relief, instead of convex relief.  Like a negative image depressed into the clay.  It looked a little abstract since I couldn't put it all together in my mind's eye, but the most important and memorable aspects of my girl were there according to my touch.

The instructor really liked it because it was catching the essence of someone instead of simply reproducing their likeness in the clay.  Professor Lyndon thought that my affliction gave me a more unique perspective than most people.

I woke up to the bed moving when someone sat on it.  I yawned and smacked my lips.  When had I fallen asleep?  Fran laid behind me and wrapped an arm around me as she said into my neck, causing a delightfully warm rush down through my core, “I'm back.  Want to just stay here tonight?  You look tired.”

I rubbed my eyes and grinned at the chocolate brown feet near my head.  Max had fallen asleep too.  She was almost as busy as Fran, between classes, art projects and training for the fencing nationals.  I turned to look back into the crystal blues of my girl.  I couldn't help but smile at the hopeful look on her face.

I looked over at the alarm clock with its huge oversize red numbers.  It wasn't even midnight.  Sheesh, how lame are we?  College kids are supposed to be partying till dawn every night.  I shook my head.  “I didn't bring a change of clothes and I don't want to have to walk back in the morning just to get some and return to campus for my shower.”

She crinkled her nose. “Boooo.  Fine, in that case, you can't wear long sleeves tomorrow.”

I grinned at her.  She didn't like me trying to shrink away into the world and pull myself into my sleeves.  If it were up to me, I'd wear long sleeve turtlenecks that blend into the background.  I rolled my eyes and nodded.

I reached a hand out in front of me and tickled the surprisingly soft skin on the bottom of Max's foot.  She recoiled into a ball and mumbled, “Now that was just mean.  I was already awake with all the noise you two are making.”

She drug herself off of Fran's bed and schleped the three steps to her bed and fell face first into it.  We chuckled.  I turned around and Fran and I spent the next five minutes not even speaking, but just staring into each others eyes as we clasped hands.

She grinned and gave me a feather light kiss and asked, “Walk you home.”

I couldn't stop myself from returning her grin if I had tried.  I nodded and we stood.  She took a second to run her hands through my bed tangled hair.  Bloody hell that felt almost erotic.  The we put on our jackets and linked arms and we were off.  One of Max's arms raised lazily to wave goodbye to us.

We were almost skipping through the deserted main lobby and I noticed a girl was laying on one of the couches there reading a book.  She looked up at us, moved her glasses to the top of her head, and focused on the wrong point in space by us.  The round spectacles, the frazzled hair, it had to be Amy.  She waved cutely at us and I caught myself giving a tiny wave back.

Then she looked at her wrist at an imaginary watch and grinned.  Fran called over to her, “Yeah, yeah, Specs, I'll be back by curfew...”  Then she added a second later, “-ish.”  Which got an explosive high pitched surprised giggle from the girl.  Then Fran finished with, “Don't you have a mushy romance to be reading?”

She nodded in earnest and then looked around frantically for a second until her hand landed on her glasses on the top of her head.  She grinned and quickly bobbed her head down once, causing the glasses to flop down in place and she went back to reading as she mumbled, “Yank.”

As she dragged me out the door Fran retorted, “Brit.”

Then she lowered our linked arms and slid her hand into mine and made a play of lacing our fingers, one at a time.  She smiled at me and raised my hand to kiss the back of it.  “Missed you.”

I wanted to just twirl around there on the walk as I smiled back and said, “Missed you too.”  Then tried to slip in, “You got that problem worked out on the project?  What was it again?”

She bumped hips playfully with me.  “Nice try Tash.”  I sighed, a girl could try, right?

Then Fran said as she looked around.  “I love London at night.  There is something special about it.  It is like New York.  It is one thing during the day, but then it is like a curtain is pulled back in some elaborate play as night blankets the city and a completely different world is revealed.”

I looked around at the city skyline, all lit up.  It was gorgeous, but I knew it was even different for her.  We had talked about it last Sunday.  It was a matter of perspective.  I was so used to living in the city, where historic buildings blended with modern.  The United States had only been a country for a little over two hundred years, we had outhouses older than that here.  To her, London was something out of fairytales.

She asked if I had ever wanted to see New York and I had said of course.  She asked why and I said that it would be amazing to be surrounded by concrete and steel structures that reached for the heavens, to see Central Park breaking up one of the largest cities in the world that was impossibly constrained onto a small island.  To see the Statue of Liberty in the harbor as she greets everyone to the Colonies.

She had nodded and said, “Yes, and I just see it as my old home.  It is simply a matter of perspective.”  The smirk on her face had made me grin when she added, “Where I see fantastical castles and a city of storybooks here, you just see home.”

All too soon we arrived at the Archives.  She just stood at the door holding my hands as she smiled at me.  I couldn't take it.  The tease was doing it on purpose.  I leaned over and she met my lips with hers, with a satisfied grin.  Cheeky girl.  Bloody hell, I could do that all night, but I finally broke off for air.  There was a blush on her cheeks and she looked down coyly. “G'night, Tash.”

I fumbled with my key.  I was so aroused and flustered.  Then I unlocked the door and said, “G'night, Allie.” Then slipped through the door.  I stood there and finally exhaled as I bunched up my toes to hold on to the feeling of being near that fascinatingly sexy woman.

Then I noticed Mr. Myong half way down the lobby oiling the hinges on a door.  He was grinning at me.  I blushed and waved him off as I slipped through a door into the stacks.

***

The next morning I woke early and shivered at the chill in the air.  The attic wasn't insulated well, some of the insulation had pulled away from the rafters, and not too much heat came up from below.  I must have trashed around in my sleep, I had somehow wound up on top of my sleeping bag instead of in it.