Chapter 17: See the Light

The music store wasn’t too far from the jeweler’s shop, so Heather and I walked there.

“I mean, I get it, now,” I said, still caught up in the surprising meaning of the Chinese symbol she now wore around her neck.

“Oh, I think you got it a long time ago,” Heather said. “It’s just a word, Matt. It has no meaning on its own.”

“I know, I know. It’s just ... most people would find it kind of...”

“Weird,” she supplied.

“You said it, not me,” I laughed.

“It is what it is.”

“Yeah ... Anyway, the smith seemed to like the necklace on you.”

“I think so. But now it’s going to hide away and stay close to me.”

“Good plan. Oh, I also got you a leather cord you can use with it, if you want something more casual looking, instead of the chain. It’s at home so I’ll give it to you later. It’s also longer, so you can have it hanging lower. Out of sight, you know.”

Heather glanced at me, her eyes happy. “Matt, thank you again. I’m still unsure how to tell you what—”

“Shh,” I said, gently squeezing her close. “Don’t thank me ever again. Like you just said, it’s just words, and they can’t mean what you really want to say! I already know how you feel. I can see it.”

She nodded, and then laughed gently.

“What?” I asked.

“I almost just said ‘thank you’ again!”

“And ... you just did,” I teased.

“Oh stop!” she cried, slipping a hand under my jacket to give me a tickle on my side. Well, she tried, but the layers mostly prevented it.

“You know,” I said once I’d fended her off, “No one knows about the necklace, but Lara and the twins know I got you something. They’re probably going to ask at some point.”

“That’s fine. I’ll just tell them it’s a personal gift.”

“Um, I wouldn’t call it that. Trust me, you’ll get teased all week about it.”

She sniffed. “God knows I have that coming.”

“Well, yeah, you do, but ... Maybe there’s another way, though ... If you want to play a little joke on Lara,” I added, stopping our walk.

Heather turned to me, perking up at this. “Really? How so?”

“Well, she thought she knew what I was getting you. But she guessed wrong. We could go get one, after—”

What the fuck are you doing, idiot? You’re broke!

“After ... the music store?” Heather finished.

“Yeah, but ... never mind, it was a dumb idea,” I dismissed, setting off again.

“Matt, tell me! What did she think you got me?”

I hesitated, but realized it was too late now. I’d cast in like an idiot, and now the fish was hooked on the line.

“All right,” I sighed. “She thought it was a scarf. From a place there across the street,” I pointed. “But it’s kind of silly to buy one just to play a trick on Lara, so forget I said anything.”

Heather narrowed her eyes. “Is it a nice scarf?”

“Sure. Muireann got one. But—”

“Wait, the one she wore skiing yesterday?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, that was nice! I really liked it. Let’s go look at what they have.”

I called out in protest, but Heather was already in the middle of the road, so I rushed to catch up with her.

“What did you say when she guessed it was a scarf?” Heather asked. “Like, does she still think it’s a scarf?”

“Heather...”

She smiled at me. “Come on, it’ll be funny. Besides, I’m, like, totally freezing to death,” she added, even though her jacket was still half-unzipped. “A scarf would feel very cozy!”

I gave her a look but it was ignored. “I didn’t tell her either way if it was a scarf,” I admitted. “But I’m pretty sure she knew that she guessed wrong.”

Heather chuckled. “Then this will be great. Fantastic, actually, like the twins would say. It’s kind of a perfect deflection.”

“Yeah, I realize that, but ... So you’re not going to show the necklace to Lara, then?” I said, more quietly.

Heather slowed as she reached the storefront. “I’m not going to show it to anyone, not just yet. Like I said, it’s still too overwhelming. I need some time to...” She waved her hands vaguely, and then gave up trying to explain.

“Okay,” I said. “I understand.”

“So the scarf would actually be useful as a distraction. Besides being funny, too!”

I followed her into the store, feeling uneasy for several reasons. It didn’t take long for her to find something she liked. As we neared the register, I leaned close to her.

“I didn’t bring enough money with me,” I whispered.

Heather rolled her eyes. “Oh, you don’t have to buy it for me, silly! Not after what you did today.”

“I feel like I should. It’s my fault you’re having to get it.”

Heather patted my arm. “It’s fine, Matt. I’m buying the scarf for myself. It’s a nice little cover-up!”

A nice little mask...

I paced the store while she paid for the ‘gift’. The simmering regret started to surge again. As much as I relished the idea of seeing Lara’s face when she found out that I’d gotten Heather a scarf after all, it also made me a bit sad, keeping her out of all of this. Then again, somehow this seemed to be working out for the best ... Heather seemed quite moved by the necklace, and it was clear she meant it when she said she needed to keep it hidden. Then again...

I was rather confused when we left the store. Heather grinned at me, above the soft cloth wrapped around her neck. For a moment I wondered what she thought of the situation ... She seemed so happy ... And even now it felt like the necklace was getting woven into her grand design, after all.

I need to shake out of this...

“Like it?” she asked.

“I do, Heather. It looks very cute on you.”

“Aw, thanks!”

She grabbed my hand and pulled me onward. We crossed the street once again, soon reaching the music store.

“Maybe we should just go home now, and come back another time,” I said rather lamely. “Like when Muireann is with us, so she can check out what she might need. I don’t know the first thing about violins.”

“We’re here,” Heather said. “Let’s just see what they have, at least?”

I sighed as I followed her inside.

“Good afternoon, can I help you find something?”

The salesman was chipper, perhaps caught up in the happy mood of these two young lovers that just entered his domain. Well, if he got caught up in anything like that, it would have been from Heather’s smiling face. I was still struggling to keep up, in more ways than three.

“I don’t know what it would be called,” she began, “but do you have anything that would let you plug a violin into a sound system?”

He smiled. “For sure! A piezoelectric transducer is what you want.”

“Yeah, that! Do have any we can look at?”

“Right this way!”

We spent twenty minutes examining the options. The man was admittedly savvy, both at technical specifications and at making a sale. It sure sounded like exactly what Muireann needed to get amplified. It would even get loud enough if we did get a drummer someday.

“Well, this one here seems to be the one to get, plus the direct box thing,” I said. “Do you have, like, a card, so I can call you back about it? I don’t have any cash with me today, and besides, I’m just looking for a friend.”

“Sure thing, Matt! Here’s my number. Give me a call and I can set them aside for you.”

“Thanks.”

“Or we can just get it now, since we’re here,” Heather said.

“I didn’t bring any money,” I repeated.

“I have enough with me.”

“Um ... Well ... I don’t know. I should ask Muireann about it first, right? Maybe it won’t work for her fiddle.”

“One size fits all!” the man chirped.

I glanced at him. Not helping, dude!

Heather raised a brow at me, then turned to the sales guy. “If our friend doesn’t like it or it doesn’t work out, can we return it?”

“Of course! Thirty days, no questions asked, as long as it’s in new condition and you bring the receipt. The metal clip just wedges into the bridge, so it really does go on and off without a trace. Just bring it back if you try it out and it doesn’t work for you!”

Heather pulled a small pouch from her pocket and unzipped it. She certainly did have plenty of cash.

“How will I return it?” I asked her. “I think I’ve bummed all my free rides to New Paltz this month.”

She laughed. “Don’t worry. I can come back this way when Frej and I head home, if we have to. No problem.”

I mulled the situation. I actually didn’t mind buying the pickup and returning it. The bigger issue was that if Muireann liked it, I had no money to pay Heather with! The minimal sum my pocket was my life savings at the moment. There was no extra stash of cash at home like I’d been implying.

But in the end I didn’t speak up, so Heather ended up buying the equipment, even agreeing to add a couple of cables to the purchase that the smiling salesman had rightly suggested would be needed. I was mute, and I was also pretty sure the guy wouldn’t be seeing Heather again anytime soon, either.

Not if I have my way, he won’t...

Heather offered me the bag as we walked outside, but I waved it away, sighing.

“What?” she asked.

“I feel bad about you buying all this.”

“Why?”

“I wasn’t planning on getting it today, just checking it out. And ... I kind of need to save up a bit more.”

She shrugged dismissively. “Well, now you don’t!”

“Don’t be silly. I am going to pay you back. But it might not be this week.”

“Matt, you’re the one being silly. Was this why you were acting funny about getting the scarf? Because of the money?”

I gave her a sheepish look. “Well, yeah.”

She turned to me. “Then let it go! I don’t care about any of it. All I care about is having a good time with you. And as for this,” she added, tapping the music store bag, “you don’t have to pay me back at all.”

“What? No way! That was a lot of money you spent!”

Says the fool who went broke gifting her that necklace...

“Whatever,” she dismissed. “I made that much at the market just in the last week. It’s fine. I’m happy to contribute to your band.”

She handed me the bag and walked on. It was about a block before reaching the car that I was able to speak again.

“I will pay you back eventually.”

“You don’t have to. And don’t worry, it can still be your gift to her.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, now you’re really being silly. Either I pay you back, or you give it to her.”

“Nope.”

“Heather, this isn’t—”

She whirled around abruptly, stopping me in my tracks and getting in my face. “Matt ... If you want to argue this, then argue with yourself, because it’s your fault.”

“My fault? How is that, exactly?”

“Close your eyes...” she ordered. “Come on, close them... ! Okay. Now picture me. Got it?”

“What—”

“Picture me!”

“Okay, okay!”

“Take off all my clothes.”

“Heather,” I protested.

“Eyes closed, I said! And just do it. Take it all off.”

“Fine. You’re ... nude,” I whispered, in case of any passers-by.

“What do you see?”

“I see ... that you still owe me a little less than a million years of kissing.”

A surprised giggle tickled my ears and a warm hand caressed my cheek. For an instant her intensity relented. “Fine, but you’ll have to wait for that! What else do you see?” she pressed again.

“You ... Your eyes ... Your—”

“Besides me!” she cried.

I was about to protest that she was nude by her own demand, but then I saw it. The piece was retinally etched, after all.

Duh...

But then I really saw it.

Oh...

I took a long breath and huffed it out.

H for Heather...

I opened my eyes and found her gone, already unlocking her car door.

“Heather,” I called.

“Yeah?”

Now it was my turn to be at a lack of meaningful words. After observing the look on my face, she gave me a little grin and slid into her seat.

Expectations sure are a—

“Come on, Matty, it’s starting to snow! So get in the car or I’m leaving you here to walk home!”

Snow? Whatev—I looked up, gawking at the first flakes that were beginning to fall. It wasn’t supposed to snow at all today!

As she shut the door and started the engine, I had to grin. Heather... The flush of happiness I suddenly felt made me act on impulse. With a couple of quick strides, I leapt to slide across the hood, cradling the music store bag like a football.

Unfortunately, much like that summer evening in Montauk long ago, the Martins’ car was not impressed with me, not at all. The act ended up less heroic than I’d hoped. Much less heroic, in fact. When I’d collected myself from the asphalt, hoping I hadn’t damaged the audio equipment, I heard uncontrolled laughing even through the closed windows.

Good one, doofus...

“Not quite Dukes of Hazzard,” I grumbled as I dropped into my seat, rubbing my arm. “Your hood is too dirty.”

I’m not sure she even heard me through all the tittering. “That was some splat!” she managed between desperate breaths.

“Yeah, yeah. Matt the Splat, that’s me.”

“Oh my god, Matt the Splat!” she wailed, on the verge of suffocating now. “That’s the funniest name ever!”

I swear she laughed the whole way home.

She didn’t laugh the whole way home, though, since we didn’t go home.

“Um, where are we going?” I asked. It was a pointless question; the little hill we were driving up only led to one place.

“I know how much you’ve been missing school this week!”

I said nothing as she drove along the front of the buildings and then looped around to the lots. There was a smattering of cars parked in the staff area, but other than that, the main lot was a pristine sheet of white, save for the tracks Heather had just made. She set the handbrake but left the car running.

“So now what?”

“Is the building open?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Probably not. Looks like some teachers are here, so we could knock, but ... What’s going on?”

She smiled suggestively at me. “I just thought that sitting in class might be more bearable if you had some fonder memories of the place. I don’t want to bother the teachers, though, so out here will have to be good enough, I guess.”

I felt a surge of adrenaline as I realized what she was getting at. Well, she was already getting at my pants, in fact. I reclined the seat and helped her to lower my jeans.

“Were you really thinking that we’d go inside and do this?” I asked, holding my breath as her head neared my middle.

“For sure. Maybe another time, though. I can’t wait anymore.”

A bunch of visions of my school went through my head, amping up my excitement even more. But that was nothing, because a moment later she put her lips to me, blowing all that away.

Our little touching session the first night had been quietly intense, and I’d been itching for more ever since. But the constant crowd at our house meant that opportunities were limited for anything more than kisses.

Now, as Heather bobbed up and down slowly and the snow fell harder all around us, I shivered in pleasure. I shifted to get even more comfortable, cocking my head so I could watch her. After the day’s excitement, it was such a sweet feeling! Heather took her time, but it wasn’t long before I started thinking she was going to make short work of me.

I wondered what she planned to do. Pull off and make a mess, or ... The alternative still sent a shiver through my body. That night in my room, when she’d finished me with her lips, her mouth ... Was it a one time thing, an act of deep lust?

I groaned as Heather picked up the pace, my shaft slick and streaked shiny now as she allowed me to enter her deeper. I moved her hair out of the way, taking in the full view. She looked at me from the corner of her eye, and her face smiled even as she never let up. The sight was fast becoming too much.

“Damn that feels good,” I hissed.

She murmured in agreement.

I fought off the approaching edge, wanting to hold to the moment a bit longer. Oh god...

Some movement caught my eye, and I leaned over to look through the passenger side window, since the windshield was already blanketed with a thin layer of powder. A few people had emerged from the building and were brushing snow off their vehicles. Slight anxiety flared up in me as I recognized Dr. Kendall among the group, helping his assistant clear a car. Well, recognizing him didn’t cause the anxiety. It was his long stare in our direction that did it.

“Oh shit, stop,” I gasped.

Heather pulled off. “What’s wrong?”

“I think my principal is about to come over here!”

“Then you better finish up!” she chirped as she returned to it.

“Heather!” I cried.

But I knew that nothing short of forcibly prying her off of me would stop her now. I groaned, both at the feeling of what she was doing, and at the fact that Dr. Kendall did start walking toward us. Luckily we were hidden by the snowed windshield, but this was going to be an awkward encounter no matter what. Two kids, parked where they had no possible business being...

But first I had to ‘finish up’! Heather was going full on now, and I needed to end this. I imagined me spurting into her mouth, filling her again ... It was just as exciting as it had been back in December ... Was I about to do it again?

Dr. Kendall was halfway to us when I exploded. I gave no warning, figuring Heather didn’t exactly deserve one. If she wanted to play games, she could deal with the consequences!

Silently the first jet shot out – well, shot in, really – and it did catch her by surprise. Her movements shifted gears as she gave a little cough and then another. I could hear a quiet giggle bubbling deep in her throat, which only served to increase the ecstasy of the moment as I pulsed within her, hardly giving her a chance to recover.

As my heart rate blew up and the tension peaked, I felt Heather slow and squeeze her lips around my shaft. Her tongue swirled and the tightening of her throat as she swallowed made me shudder.

“You better sit up,” I gasped, even as I didn’t want her to. “Like now, Heather!”

I lost sight of the principal as he crossed in front of the car, hidden by the snowshield.

“Now!” I cried, slicing my coat between us, cutting off the possibility of any further activity.

Heather finally got upright in her seat, just as I saw Dr. Kendall’s tall figure lean down to peer inside the car. I managed to give a wave as she started rolling down her window, swallowing one last time.

I am so screwed ... I am so screwed ... I am so screwed...

I kept thinking that, but for some reason I actually wasn’t that nervous. Maybe I was trusting this crazy girl a little more these days, after all.

“Hello!” he greeted, first looking at Heather then at me. “Ah, Matt, how are you!” A frown started materializing on his face. He took a decided look at my state, and I could only hope there was nothing untoward to be seen. “You do know school is out this week?”

“I do,” I replied, shifting in my seat a little to make extra sure my coat was doing its job.

“He was just giving me the tour of his favorite places in town,” Heather answered, her words quick and ... oddly anxious? “That’s why we came here.”

“I see!” he replied, forcing a chuckle. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Dr. Kendall, the principal. Are you a relative of Matt’s?”

I silently thanked my principal for giving us an innocent way out. ‘Yeah, I’m his cousin... ‘ And then we drive away. Perfect...

Then I remembered who I was sitting next to, and silently groaned.

“Oh, no, not at all,” Heather replied. “If there’s no school, though, don’t you have the week off?”

“Sadly, some of us have to catch up on work.”