Olivia lounged on her bed, swirling her toes in the air to the rhythm of the Brahms concerto blaring in her earphones. She smiled and imagined herself as First Chair cellist, being singled out for a solo. Olivia was good, and she was confident without being cocky. However, there were going to be lots of good players at the fall audition. She needed to focus on practicing if she wanted to stand out in the crowd of prodigies.
She jumped as her dad tapped her on her shoulder. “LIV,” he screamed.
“Yeah.” She smiled at her dad and removed one side of her headset.
“Zeesh kid. You should be protecting those ears of yours. That was the third time I yelled your name!”
“Sorry, dad. I was just really into it.”
“I can see that,” he said and smiled. “Can you run to the store and pick up some stuff for dinner? I have a bit more work to do in the yard.”
“Dad, Maddie has the car at work.”
“Ah, Shit. I guess we can heat up the meatloaf leftovers. Again.”
“What’s that in your hand?” Olivia asked, pointing to the tape clutched in his hand.
“This? Why this is what the kids used to call a ‘mixed-tape’.”
“I can see that it’s a tape. What’s on it?”
“Oh, Steve put together some tunes he thought that you would enjoy. They all have kick-ass guitar solos.” He tossed the tape onto her bed.
“Thanks, Dad. How the hell do I play this thing?”
“Excuse me? I don’t think I’ve ever heard language like that from you! Maddie on the other hand…”
“I guess I have been spending a lot of time with Maddie – looks like she’s a bad influence on me.”
Olivia’s dad laughed. “I don’t worry about either of my girls, you both have your heads screwed on right. There’s a tape deck in the garage. Dinner will be ready in half an hour,” her dad said as he walked downstairs to the kitchen.
Olivia held the plastic case in her hand. She creaked it open and pulled out the paper inside. She smiled as she saw Steve’s handwriting – ‘Won’t take you long to master these classics.” S. She wondered what it would’ve been like to be young and in love in the era of mixed tapes. Her mind drifted back to Blaine and she wondered what he listened to. She guessed that he was into heavy stuff – a stereotype based on what she had seen in biker movies.
She threw her hair up into a high ponytail and skipped down to the garage, excited to hear the guitar solos.
Turned out she recognized most of the songs. She pressed rewind and play and rewind and play over and over again, listening to the intricacies of the notes. ‘These guys sure are talented,’ she thought to herself. She longed to pick up a guitar and try to mimic Clapton, but Steve and the guys had taken everything over to the barn.
She settled into an old lawn chair, closed her eyes, and turned up the music. It wasn’t long until her imagination had taken hold of her and she was whisked away on the back of a Harley.
She threaded her arms around his leather kutte and felt her hair whip her face. She had on black ray-bans, ripped jeans, and a white t-shirt. He gunned the bike and took the first exit off the highway toward the lake country. He squeezed her thigh as he pulled over to the side of the road.
“What are we doing? Why are we stopping?”
“I couldn’t drive one more mile without doing this.” He ripped her t-shirt, exposing her lacy black bra.
She gasped, and her skin prickled at the feel of his breath as he kissed her breasts through the lace. Her pink nipples responded and pressed hard against the sheer fabric. She swung her leg off the bike and stood to kiss him. She buried her hands in his hair at the nape of his neck and flicked at his lips with her tongue.
He smiled and reached around to grab her ass. He pulled her roughly toward him and she could feel his giant hard-on through his jeans.
She ran her hands up his shirt, feeling his taut abs before fumbling with the button on his jeans. He moaned with pleasure as she slipped her slender hands into the band of his briefs and tugged them down, allowing his rock-hard member to spring free into the warm summer air.
They tumbled to the ground, their fall softened by the fallen leaves and pine needles. They smiled and laughed and he kissed her hard. She gasped into his mouth as he pulled her thick leggings down to her knees, exposing her lacy underwear. He pressed his cock against her and the warmth of his throbbing dick pressing against her wet mound, sharply contrasted the cool breeze. He looked into her eyes as he stroked her hair and pressed his hips against her body, his member pushing at the side of her panties...
Olivia’s reverie was disrupted by the sound of the Honda, and then its lights flashed through the panes in the garage door. She sighed, her life could never live up to her imagination. Hell, she couldn’t even continue with her daydream because she didn’t know what it felt like to make love.
She folded up the lawn chair, ejected the cassette from the tape deck, and ran to the driveway to talk to Maddie.
‘How was your shift?’
“My shift was great, but the drive home was shit,’ Maddie said, leaning against the car. The night was warm and Olivia stood on the driveway in her bare feet, enjoying the warmth of the pavement.
“Really? There shouldn’t be any traffic at this time of night.”
Maddie turned and appeared to be surveying the night sky. “There – see that glow over there, toward the industrial area?”
“Wow, what is that?”
“Apparently a factory exploded. There are fire trucks everywhere.”
“It’s a good thing it’s out in the middle of nowhere,” Maddie said, leaning against the car. She picked at her short fingernails.
“Yeah, there’s rumors that it was a drug lab.”
“Really, a drug lab – in Torver?”
“Seriously, kid?”
“What?!”
“You’re just so naïve. Don’t ever change.” Maddie smiled and kicked at the edge of the lawn with her flip flops, her perfectly manicured toenails glinting in the light of the garage.
“I’m not that naïve,” Olivia said, unconvincingly.
“Oh yes, you are. Hey, can I ask you something?”
“You’re going to anyway, so shoot.”
Maddie fidgeted with the sleeve on her sweater and bit her lip like she was searching for words. Olivia looked at her questioningly. Maddie never held back with her, and it was clear that she was about to broach an uncomfortable subject.
“Has Mr. Tunbridge ever been inappropriate with you?” Maddie asked quietly.
“Well, he cancelled a lesson last week because I was one minute late,” she said angrily.
“That’s not what I mean Liv. I mean, has he ever touched you in a way that’s not appropriate for a teacher/student relationship?”
“What? No. Not at all. He’s a jerk, but all he’s ever done is be a super tough teacher.”
Maddie exhaled in relief. She turned and hugged Olivia. “Just keep an eye on him. Something isn’t right with that man, I can tell.”
“I can take care of myself.”
Maddie smiled and pulled Olivia in even closer. “I know you can. But if that man lays a hand on you, you tell me.”
“I will.”
Maddie smiled and squeezed her sister’s shoulder and started to walk into the house.
“Hey Maddie?” she called after her sister.
Maddie turned and looked at her sister questioningly. She could see the tears welling up in her eyes. She rushed back to her sister and grabbed her by the arms.
“What is it? He did touch you, I knew it!”
Olivia shook her head. “Mads, I wish I wasn’t so naïve. I really do. I’ve heard that Mr. Tunbridge does trade favors for auditions, but I always figured I was too plain to be harassed by him. A blessing in disguise.”
“Liv. You are beautiful. I wish that you could see that. Hell, you even caught the eye of that hot biker, Blaine, when he had that tramp with him. Not everyone wants a woman to look like sex on a stick.”
“Sex on a stick?”
“Never mind,” Maddie said laughing.
“How do you think I would find him again?”
“Woah, woah, woah,” Maddie said, pulling Olivia up by the hand to have a seat on the chaise lounge on the covered front porch. “Sit. I’m going to need a drink for this conversation.” Maddie dropped her huge handbag and ran into the house.
“Grab me a beer too?” Olivia yelled through the open kitchen window.
“Seriously?” Maddie was surprised, but returned to the chaise with two bottles expertly tucked between her fingers. “But we are going to drink out of glasses, like ladies.”
Maddie flopped onto the chaise and rolled her blonde hair up into a loose floppy bun on the top of her head.
“I can’t stop thinking about him,” Olivia said nervously.
“Who?”
“Blaine, the biker,” she said incredulously.
“Wow. Ok. That guy is seriously hot, and seriously the exact opposite of what you need right now.”
“Seriously,” Olivia mocked her sister, but it went over her head. “How do you know what I need?”
“I don’t. But you don’t need that. Where do I even start? The fact that he’s a criminal? How about that?”
Olivia didn’t want to continue the conversation. She knew that everything Maddie said was true. But, she found herself less concerned with Blaine’s illegal activities, and more concerned about attracting him. She sighed, even if Blaine did find her attractive, once he discovered how inexperienced she was, he would run for the hills.
The two girls sat in the hot early summer night sipping on their beer and listening to the sirens that wailed in the distance.