Chapter 123

“She had secretly started making plans.”
—Zøe Haslie, Just For A While

THE CHAPEL WASN’T FULL but there were easily twice the number of people that we originally planned. A few I didn’t recognize and assumed they were friends of the Marvels. Several other parents of the pod were there. But the person I was happiest to see was on Beca’s arm. Joan was home for a week’s vacation after NSO training before she took up her duty station. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to talk to her before the recital. We were starting at 6:00 and everyone had been told the recording would take at least two hours, even though the recital piece was only twenty-two minutes. Everyone had agreed to stay through the whole thing.

We tested and tuned and Donna called people to their seats and explained how it would work. We’d do the whole piece the same as a recital to start and then the next hour and a half would be spent with the camera in different positions repeating portions of the suite. Cindy and I talked a lot about it and Thursday night, LeBlanc had agreed we could do the piece without our sheet music in front of us. I knew it was a strain and we might make a mistake. He’d tell us if he felt we needed to retake a movement because we really screwed it up. It wouldn’t be a studio recording but I was confident in John’s ability to get quality sound and great video.

Our one bit of theatricality was that we both wore lightweight white cotton clothes Riko had cooked up for us that weren’t specific to any country but had a Latin American feel to them. Donna finished. We watched for John to signal that he was ready, and we launched into the first movement. For the next two hours, neither Cindy nor I cared what happened in the little room. We were caught up in our music. We paused while the camera was moved, repeated what LeBlanc told us we needed to, and just generally played our instruments.

We spent another half an hour cleaning things up, helping cart equipment, putting away chairs, and making sure the chapel was in perfect shape for the group that would meet there during church tomorrow. Then I took off for Joan’s house. It had been a long time since our pod had met in her TV room. It was good to have her back with us.

“So, here’s the news,” Joan said. “My duty station will be ... right back in Chicago!” We cheered. What a relief to find she’d be close enough to see on a regular basis. Maybe not every weekend but at least once a month. It was fantastic.

We ate pizza and drank soft drinks. I was surprised that all my girlfriends were being kind of reserved compared to the last time we’d all been together down here. But then I looked around. I’d been so focused on Joan, I hadn’t really paid attention to my other girlfriends. Then I heard Brittany’s laugh and turned toward the sofa where I saw her in an animated conversation with Livy and Cindy.

Cindy? When the only others here were part of our pod? When it could easily have gotten a little wild? I’d already had my hand under Nanette’s shirt as we made out briefly in a corner. What the hell was Cindy doing here?

“Are we supposed to have a ritual letter burning tonight since Livy got hers today?” Rachel asked. That was the cue for Donna to bring a cake in with eighteen candles on it. We all sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and she blew out her candles. Then she crooked a finger at me and I started the line of birthday kisses promising a spanking when she felt her bottom was ready for it.

“I have a week to recover before our next race, so how about a little later tonight?” Livy said, rocking her butt up against me. All ten of us took a turn making sure Livy had been thoroughly kissed. I noted Cindy was not about to be left out of it. I wondered if this was setting a precedent. Rachel, Desi, and I all had birthdays coming up in the next two months.

I finally wandered over to Cindy.

“Sorry to have cramped your style tonight,” she said before I could say anything. “Mom and Dad will be here to pick me up at eleven. I know you want to get on with spanking Livy and that will undoubtedly involve removing all her clothes. And yours.”

“Cindy! What do you mean?”

“I’ve lived with you most of the summer, Jacob. Do you really think I’m not aware?” she laughed. Well, shit.

“So, does your mother know you’ve become part of our pod?” I sighed.

“I’m sure Dad told her before dinner.”

“Wait! Your dad knows?”

“I had to tell him before he approved me going back to Kentucky with you. The reason Mom couldn’t go is because he booked a weekend in Las Vegas for them,” she said.

“What does dinner have to do with it?” I asked. I had a bad feeling about this.

“It’s a pod parents dinner. They all went to Don Hall’s to talk about how their children are getting on and what they can do to help.”

“You knew this?”

“Dad kind of had to tell me.”

“Look, Cindy...”

“Don’t worry. I don’t have to be your girlfriend to be part of the pod. I’ve talked a lot with Rebeca and Rachel. We talked with Nanette. I understand the rules, especially about being around the older pod members until I’m at least sixteen. It’s okay, though. I’m curious about some of that stuff, but I’m nowhere near ready for it. I just started to love you all as family while we were traveling this summer.”

“Cindy, it should be obvious that we all love you, too. I promised your mother I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you. I promise you the same thing.”

She turned and tugged at my collar until I bent toward her. She kissed me on the cheek and then stepped away.

“See you in school Monday. I’m getting a text from Mom now.” She walked away, looking at her phone, said goodnight to everyone and left.

I did end up spanking Livy’s bare bottom—playfully—and then fucked it—seriously. In fact, after Cindy left, inhibitions started falling aside and I don’t think there was a stitch of clothing on anyone by midnight. Joan brought in a pile of blankets and we all just collapsed together in the middle of the floor. Livy wasn’t interested in running with Nanette and me in the morning.

When Nan and I got back to Joan’s house, we showered and I went home to get my recording equipment. The girls, all dressed by then, sprawled all around me while I played a couple of sonatas for my morning concert and then we all went to Sara’s Café for breakfast. Several of us had homework we hadn’t done yet so we all went our separate ways after the meal and I studied my ass off to make up for the amount of not studying I’d done the past two weeks.

We were right back into the rush of school the next day and homecoming week didn’t give any of us a chance for much playing. Except I spent two evenings, one all night, with Joan.

“So, did getting posted to Chicago have to do with your father’s computer testing?” I asked as we lay in Joan’s bed Thursday night. She’d asked for a night with just me and I was happy to be her lover. Joan had been so terrified and so frantic three months ago but now that she’d been assigned, she was much more relaxed.

“In a way, but not directly,” she said as she drew circles on my chest with her finger. “It had to do with research. What I really wanted to focus on was animation. It happened to work out that most of the animation work is being done in Chicago. If I’d focused on UI, for example, I’d probably have ended up in Seattle or San Jose. Website design might have put me in DC. Part of getting to go where you want to is knowing what programs are located there and focusing your training and testing on those programs.”

“Wow! Livy wants to take her NSAT tomorrow. She’s psyched about being able to control the test results,” I said. “I think she’ll do well. After she studied the sample results a couple of weeks ago, she was able to test into the right aptitude easily.”

“I’m so glad you’ll be near,” I said as I kissed her again and she wiggled under me. “Not just for Beca’s sake, but for all of us. I’ve missed you, Sweetheart.”

“It’s still not easy,” she whispered as I entered her. “I just think I’ll survive it now.”

The homecoming dance was Saturday night and Betty reluctantly let Cindy join the rest of us who were in high school. We had fun and did a lot of dancing. She had an eleven o’clock curfew and I left the dance to take her home. Mark and Betty were waiting for us and I got invited in for a cup of cocoa and ‘conversation’ with the adults. It wasn’t that bad. Mostly we talked about the plan for our video release the next Saturday and what we intended to do for the next one. I gave Cindy a ritual kiss on the cheek and went home and to bed. I was exhausted.

Joan had to leave for Chicago Sunday but everyone felt better about the separation this time. Heck, Beca had been with her three weekends during her NSO training. She was confident they’d get together again soon.

After the New Haven Classic on homecoming day, we had a two-week break with no meets. That meant Jock pushed us really hard the next week since we didn’t need to be fresh for Saturday. He had me push my pace to 5:50 on Friday and do a full 10k. I did it. I didn’t quite maintain the pace through the last two laps, but I’d still lapped all my teammates before I finished.