Chapter 24: Of Course

Heather made a miraculous recovery from her faked illness, of course. That afternoon, my mom drove us both over to the Martins’ house. Finally able to fully drop the charade, Heather attacked me with kisses in the foyer. I pulled away after a moment.

“Maybe we shouldn’t,” I teased. “I don’t want to get a sore throat too.”

Heather ignored me and pressed her tongue deeply into my mouth.

“The only sore throat I might get this weekend is from doing something else. But, I’m sure those lozenges will do wonders for you—I mean, wonders for me. Mm, what a morning, huh?”

“Tell me about it,” I replied. “We obviously need to be more careful.”

“I think we were just careful enough. We better get moving if we’re going to get to the theatre before the rehearsal lets out.”

“Can we just relax for a bit?”

“What, and miss all the fun?”

“This morning was fun enough for a month,” I drawled.

Heather patted my chest. “Poor Matt. Too much action for him. We can take a break if you want.” Her hand however, grabbed me gently between the legs.

“All right, let’s get moving,” I relented, feeling stirred again.

Heather giggled as she stuck her tongue out at me. “You can rest when you get back home!”

We arrived at the theatre just in time to get inside before the rehearsal left. After the bustle of departing actresses and actors had subsided, the place was strangely quiet. Only the slight rumble of the air handlers was audible. Heather leapt onto the stage and spun around, shouted a few sounds to listen to the reverberations, and then beckoned me up.

“We have an hour. Get your guitar and I’ll shoot some shots of you on stage.”

Things got serious as Heather played with the lights, setting up some interesting scenes when she found the control for the row of bright backlights. She shot a bunch of pictures while I played my guitar and even sang to her a bit. She joined in during those moments when she wasn’t concentrating on the shot. As she wound up the completed roll, I put my guitar down on the front edge of the stage.

“Are you afraid of heights?” she asked.

“No, why?”

“Just wondering. Here, finish loading this up.”

I changed to a new roll while Heather picked up her book bag and set it closer to the wings, looking upward a few times.

“I have another idea for a photo,” she said. “Come on, and bring the camera. We need to adjust some lights first.”

I followed her into the dark wings of the stage, and flinched as she started to climb a metal ladder.

“Really?” I asked, unsure of the wisdom of her path.

“It’s the only way to the catwalk,” she explained calmly as she ascended further. “Unless you can fly?”

“Are we allowed up?”

“I don’t see a sign saying we aren’t.”

I sniffed. “Uh, what about this chain you just ducked under?”

“I think it’s one of those height checkers, like at an amusement park. As long as you can fit under it, you’re fine,” she called down.

“I think you have it backward,” I murmured, but she just laughed.

I sighed and hung the camera strap around my neck. As I climbed behind her, I tried to make sure I didn’t bash the lens on any of the rungs. Surprisingly, she wasn’t wearing the heels, which was actually a bit of a relief. The morning had been intense and I was suddenly feeling a bit spent.

At the top of the ladder, a long catwalk stretched out across the space above the stage, disappearing into the darkness of the other wing. Heather traversed it, stopping in the middle and eyeing a pair of lit spotlights that were pointing at the center of the stage. As I neared, she knelt and carefully turned the adjustment frame to aim one of the lights more toward the wings. The circular beam slid over the stage, coming to rest squarely over her book bag.

I peered down at the subject of her illumination. A splash of bright red was glowing within the opened compartment of the bag.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“What?” Heather asked innocently.

“You’re unstoppable,” I said resignedly, sighing deeply. “What’s the other spotlight for?” I asked, as she had adjusted it only slightly, still keeping it on a bare expanse of stage.

“I think you can guess. Look at this view! This project is so going to rock,” she replied, satisfied with the lighting.

“So what’s the plan?”

“You have the easy part. Just stand there. Don’t get dizzy as I blow your mind, though! I’ll be really sad if you fall off.”

Heather turned to me, still on her knees. I gripped the rails of the catwalk as she undid my pants. Within seconds, she’d sucked me in. I had no will to protest anything she did. And what was there to protest? She caressed me, licked me, manipulated me with such skill that I wouldn’t have cared, at that moment, if I’d fallen from such great heights.

After some time, an unexpected tingling sensation enveloped the tip of my erection. Huh? Then I caught the scent of mint. Like so many times before, a little strand of Heather’s net suddenly became apparent, extending into the murky sea of the world around me.

“How’s your cough?” I asked, amused.

“You like it?” she asked, grinning up at me as she stuck the lozenge out on her tongue.

“Yeah, it’s different. Feels good.”

“Make sure to thank your mom later!”

“Oh, shut up!”

“If you say so,” Heather said, as she returned to her task. The tingling spread, making for a heady moment as my climax approached. Floating up there, far above the stage, Heather’s movements taking me higher ... It was a wicked sense of flight I experienced, and a touch of vertigo threatened to overwhelm me. I held on, trying to make this happen for her sake as much as mine.

Heather was lost in the feel of me sliding into her mouth, rubbing her hands up my chest, across my buttocks, moaning on occasion as she abandoned herself to pleasuring me. It was almost unfair. I contemplated returning the favor, but I wasn’t sure I had anything left to give.

“God,” I gasped. “Here it comes.”

Heather pulled away and turned me sideways, stroking me steadily as the spurts came flying out.

“Bombs away,” she whispered.

The droplets quickly gained speed as they fell through the metallic structure of the catwalk and lighting scaffold, finding the clear air above the stage. Heather giggled as the first missile splatted to the stage floor.

“Bull’s-eye,” she remarked, seeing how the range of drops was situated precisely in the center of the spotlight’s glow.

“Wow. Good guess on the lights, Heather,” I said, still out of my head with the experience.

“Can you snap a picture, or you want me to do it?”

“Go for it,” I said, carefully lifting the camera from my neck and passing it to her. I wasn’t ready to let go with my other hand just yet.

Before she could take the photo, though, we heard a sound. A door squeaked open and then shut. Calm footsteps echoed through the auditorium.

“Who’s that?” I whispered, carefully but hurriedly adjusting my pants.

“Cleaning crew, probably. They’re a bit early, I guess.”

“Now what?”

“Let’s hang for a sec,” Heather said softly. She ever so quietly readied the camera and framed a shot.

A few minutes went by, during which we heard the rattle of tools and running water. The person below whistled a short melody. Then, a radio was switched on somewhere in the wings, filling the place with a thin but significant amount of sound. Heather wasted no time in taking a number of shots, knowing that the shutter sound would now be masked. She rose to her feet after a bit, took a few more snaps, and then nudged me to get moving back toward the ladder.

I hadn’t gone more than a few feet when she loudly whispered for me to wait. Heather was gesturing down toward the other side of the stage. An older man was wheeling a mop bucket out onto the stage. He glanced around, spotted the bag and guitar, and then called out.

“Hello?”

“Hi!” Heather called back cheerily.

The man looked up, but his eyes couldn’t find us in the darkness through the glare of the spots. “Who are you?”

“We were just finishing rehearsal. I’m putting the lights back to where they were.”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to be up there,” he said grumpily.

“Sorry, they said it was okay?”

They?

“Can I start mopping up? Are you done with the stage?”

“Go for it! I’ll be right down after I fix these last three lights. You can move my bag when you get to it.”

The man grunted and started pushing the wide mop across the stage, leaving a dark band as he walked. I started moving again. When I reached the ladder, I was surprised to see Heather still standing back in the same spot, leaning precariously over the rail and looking down at the stage through the camera. She was waiting intently for something.

The man made the turn at one end of the stage, starting the next stripe of dampness. Then another turn. Heather remained like a coiled snake. I realized that this pass would put him right through the center spotlight, and everything it contained. I tensed as I wondered if he’d notice the splatters. Just as the mop entered the ring of light and was about to soak up the drops, Heather fired off two shots in quick succession. She then turned to look at me with a grin, as the mop forever swept away the prop. She hurried over to me and gave me a long, hard kiss.

“How lucky are we?” she mused into my ear. “We don’t even have to clean up after ourselves!”

With that, she slid past me and started descending the ladder. I followed, admittedly still out of it, overwhelmed by the sequence of events that had happened over the course of this visit. One thing was for sure, Heather had infinitely more stamina for strange adventure than I did.

“Do you think he suspected anything?”

“I don’t care,” Heather chirped happily. “That was worth it. I’ve wanted to do that since forever,” she said, giving me a knowing look.

“It was intense,” I said.

Heather glanced at me as she drove. “You don’t sound too excited, though?”

I smiled a little. “I’m totally beat, actually. You’ve worn me out, I have to say.”

Heather pouted at me, her voice sincere. “I’m sorry, Matt. I know I’m a little out of control sometimes. Well, most of the time, really. It has been a long day.”

“I’m not complaining,” I clarified. “But I think I might need to get some extra sleep tonight.”

“Okay. How about this? We go to your aunt’s house and we just spend a little time relaxing on the back porch. I’ll stop by home and lose the heels, just so no one gets any funny ideas. And by no one, I mean me, of course. Then I’ll take off early and we can get some rest for tomorrow. We already have some great shots for the project, so the pressure is off. Though there’s still one more I want to try tomorrow. But don’t worry, it’ll be easier than today’s!”

I laughed and patted her leg. “Heather, you’re amazing. And that sounds like a great plan!”

She smiled so sweetly at me just for a moment, before returning her gaze to the road. I took a deep breath and sank into the seat a little more, finding such balm in the simple caressing of her leg.

The heels were safely at a distance when we found ourselves on the back porch of my aunt’s house. For once, I welcomed the presence of my family, since I was too tired to even keep up a simple conversation for long. Too many late and sleepless nights were catching up to me. Maybe I was even coming down with something.

Heather and I cuddled on the couch as people drifted in and out. Melissa gave us an update on the meeting with the publisher – it went well – while Sarah brought us some warm herbal tea to drink. Frej appeared late in the evening, his last charter having finished earlier than expected.

The time passed unhurriedly. I felt deeply grateful for this wild soul I had found living here on the edge of the ocean. Resting in her arms now was one of the best feelings I’d ever experienced. My eyes drifted closed sometimes as I listened to the ambiance, whether created by voices, wind or sea. Sweet words sometimes filled my ear, and I remained content until my senses shut down, one by one, slowly unwinding every little thread of the crazy adventure my girl inexorably pulled me into, leaving, simply, a sense of happiness.