Chapter 137

“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”
—Arthur William Edgar O’Shaughnessy, Poems of Arthur O’Shaughnessy

NEEDLESS TO SAY, Cindy and I did not get to watch Livy lead her team to a 63-40 victory over Northridge in the semi-state. We stayed home with Joan, Beca, and Donna to strategize how to best capitalize on our new fame. I think Billy Joel summed it up back in ‘74.

Today I am your champion
I may have won your hearts
But I know the game, you’ll forget my name
And I won’t be here in another year
If I don’t stay on the charts.

Back in the seventies it was just a great tune to keep me awake at work. Now it seemed like a prophecy.

Cindy and I called our moms and they came out to help us. We were all in over our heads. In all my business planning and working with Livy on enhancing it, the one question none of us asked was, ‘What do we do if we succeed?’

“I know you wouldn’t normally release another video for a month, but is there any way you might get something out sooner? At least to your patrons? You have five hundred new patrons who have paid for February and won’t see any benefit until March,” Mom said.

“We were going to record Monday night at Mr. LeBlanc’s house,” I said. “He has a small audience invited and it is just going to be an intimate gathering for music. We’re doing the Schubert.”

“Why don’t we stream it?” Donna asked. “I know the release schedule says we’d release that recording in three weeks. Stick to that as the YouTube date but invite patrons to see it live.”

“Do you think we could even get an audience in that short a time?” Cindy asked. I was glad it was her expressing my own disbelief.

“I’ll bet we could get another hundred patrons before it goes live,” Joan said. “I can do a public post on Patreon and get it out to Twitter and Facebook and Instagram. Too bad we can’t just put an ad up on YouTube, but that little pointer to the Patreon site at the end of your video is what’s driving new members just now. We haven’t put out any notices. I wasn’t even paying attention to what was happening until I did my weekly status check this morning.”

“We’d need to talk to Mr. LeBlanc. And John. He was going to have the students run the taping this month and not even be there for the show,” I said. It seemed like I was getting a lot more experience in front of the cameras than behind. Maybe I’d arrange to tape a duet between Cindy and Desi for my project. We were making ourselves available for any of the students who wanted to use us for their music videos.

“Let’s call Leonard,” Betty said. We nodded.

The result of that call was Leonard LeBlanc arriving at Donna’s house half an hour later. An hour after that, John showed up with three students. Everyone was surprised at the reception of our latest video.

“This time it will be a paid gig,” I said. “I know it doesn’t sound like much, but we’ll pay each of you $100 for streaming the video and then editing the upload. Is that agreeable?” The three students looked at each other and nodded.

“Hell, we were willing to do it for the screen credit,” Matt said. “A hundred bucks is sweet.”

“We worked on the holiday video,” Jasmine said. “I’d do it just because it was so much fun. Thank you for thinking of paying us.” Dan, the other student, just nodded his thanks.

“Monday is a holiday,” LeBlanc said. “That gives us two days to rehearse in the space and practice the camera moves. The cleaners came today, so everything is ready. The caterers won’t arrive until four Monday afternoon.”

“You’re having it catered?” I said. “Really.”

“Well, I’m using it as an opportunity to create goodwill in the music community,” LeBlanc said. “We’ll have dinner first with the recital at eight o’clock.”

“I guess that gives us the streaming time,” Joan said. “What else do we need?”

We worked on various permutations of how the session Monday night would go. John suggested his camera people should capture some footage of the dinner party and people moving into the recital room for use in the recorded product they would release on YouTube in three weeks. LeBlanc said he needed to call his guests to clarify what would be happening. They had all agreed to being in the background of the video but he wanted to make sure they were aware it would be streamed live.

I don’t know why it took me so long to realize the other subtle change in the room. It all seemed so natural. We were always like this. When LeBlanc, John and our camera people left, Donna made tea and served it to the rest of us.

“So, how long has this been going on?” Betty asked. It took me a moment to figure out she was referring to Cindy sitting on my knee at the table. Almost an exact reflection of Beca sitting on Joan’s lap. It was the first time we had so casually seated ourselves like this in front of our parents.

“This?” I asked dumbly.

“Mom, I know it must look strange but, in our pod, we often hold each other and sit on each other. I might just as well have taken a seat on Donna’s lap. I would feel just as comfortable there. This has been a very stressful day and I just needed to be held,” Cindy said. She made no move to leave my lap and I kept my arm around her reassuringly.

Betty looked over at Beca and Joan and then at Donna. She sighed deeply.

“Has that day already come?” she asked. “The day when my little girl has become a woman?”

“If you are asking if Jacob and I are having sex, no. If you’re asking if that day is coming, I’d have to say probably, but not soon. I’m neither physically nor emotionally ready for sex. But Jacob takes care of me in ways I can’t describe to you. So do Beca and Donna. We do more than make music together. We study. We eat. We play games. We talk. We dream. Maybe that’s the most important thing. I’ve always been able to share my music with other musicians—in the orchestra, ensembles, performing. I’ve never been able to share my dreams,” Cindy said.

We were all quiet and, if anything, Cindy relaxed further, leaning back against me. Betty finished her tea and I saw Mom nod at her. The two women stood up.

“I’m sure everyone will be back from the ballgame soon,” Mom said. “It’s midnight. I’m exhausted and need to go home to bed.”

“Yes. Me, too,” Betty agreed. She stood and walked around the table to kiss Cindy on top of her head. “Call if you need anything tomorrow. Or tonight. Or Monday. I’ll probably stop by to watch some of your rehearsal at Leonard’s house when he lets me know it’s ready.” She looked at the two of us with such intense longing and sadness in her eyes it made my own eyes water. “Dream on, my dreamers. Dream wonderful dreams.”

It was still an hour before the rest of the crew arrived, celebrating Livy’s victory. In the meantime, we’d all moved to the sofa in the sunroom. I sat between Joan and Donna with Beca and Cindy sprawled on top of us as we just worked on recovering from the taxing day. A few little kisses were shared but nothing sexual or passionate.

“Donna?” Cindy said in a small voice that reminded us all that she was really still a little girl at heart. “May I sleep in your bed tonight? With you and Jacob?”

“Of course you may,” Donna said. “We’ll see how quickly we can get everyone settled tonight when they get here.”

It didn’t take long. Once everyone arrived there was a fair amount of squealing over the successes, congratulations, and kisses. Then Rachel took Livy to bed, Desi joined Sophie, and Nanette looked meaningfully at Brittany and grabbed her hand to take the third bedroom upstairs. It looked like something had been brewing there all evening.

Donna pulled on a nightshirt and I wore my boxers. Cindy had one of her cute little nightgowns on. We all brushed our teeth and went to bed, Donna sandwiched between Cindy and me.

Even though it was close to two when we went to bed, I was awake by six. I kissed the back of Donna’s neck and rubbed my morning wood up her backside. She mumbled and shot me an air kiss before dropping back to sleep. I remembered Cindy was in bed with us and raised up on my elbow to see her black hair contrasting with Donna’s golden blonde. I slipped out of bed and used the bathroom before going to the kitchen to make coffee.

I grabbed my laptop and sat at the table to scan the news. Mostly I wanted to confirm in the pre-dawn light that we’d really become an overnight phenom. It was there. I scrolled through twitter and found #GBU trending and #lowbar now a popular tag for posts of all sorts.

I sighed and put my head in my hands, not sure why I hadn’t just stayed cuddled with my lover for another couple of hours. I felt the soft hand on my shoulder before I heard her approach. Then she kissed my cheek and whispered, “What do we do now, Jacob?” I turned and pulled Cindy down on my lap to hold her.

“I guess we learn how to be famous ... for at least fifteen minutes.”

“Should we be tweeting stuff to our fans?”

“Joan loaded some timed releases to Twitter and Instagram last night. She even got the announcement out on Patreon. I don’t think we have to personally do anything about that. I’m glad. I’m sure I’d just say something that offended people.”

“I’m sorry, Jacob.”

“What are you sorry for, Sweetie? This is what we were working toward.”