Singing Sight

Smooth Pt 2


I was surprised at how fast almost two months had passed. I spent nearly all of my time with Caine, Rachel, Jules, Trey, and Jake. I\'d gotten into The BB\'s, for which I had rehearsals every Tuesday and Thursday at lunch. Classes were good, but tougher than expected, but my parents were pleased.

The show had begun as well. Jake, as expected, was a shoo-in for Proteus, and Julia, much to our chagrin, had been cast as the lead, Julia. A junior named Elise Vale had gotten the role of Sylvia, and Trey, of course, had been cast as Launce. Nate was cast as Valentine, and Rachel had even earned herself a small role as Lucetta, a waiting-woman. I\'d signed up for Caine\'s tech crew, he had gotten his beloved position of lights designer. Clay had been made sets designer, and Dana was doing costumes.

I\'d really taken a liking to Quaile, she\'d pass by me working every day on cutting gels or checking the lights before hanging them and would pat me on the head and say things like, \"Don\'t let slave master Cohen work you too hard!\" and \"Look at the cute little girl cutting gels. Caine, is this your doing?\" She was like a quirky, older, more hip mother in a theatrical setting.

And Mr. McGale was a lot of fun too. He had a dryer sense of humor and a flair for high fives and the occasional slang word amidst his larger vocabulary. He and Caine really taught me a lot about lights... well, he did mainly. As well as Miranda Uster, a junior and the lights crew head. Caine...

The first day I was to be removed from the confines of gel-cutting and light sorting was when we began the hang, the fourth week into the show. I was on one of the catwalks, and Caine was trying to teach me how to hang a light properly. I\'d gotten the C-clamp onto the bar and was attempting to screw it in with some random wrench Caine had handed me. (Miranda called it a cocaine wrench, but I was pretty sure it was a speed wrench. Ha ha, Miranda.) I was trying, and failing, to properly grip the light and keep it from falling to the floor below, while screwing it in with the wrench, as I\'d been instructed.

\"No, no no no no.\" He interrupted after a moment of me struggling and nearly dropping the light onto Joy Robinson\'s head, who was entering on the floor with a few two by fours. He came behind me and steadied the light with his right hand, placing his hand over mine, my back nearly against his chest. I could feel how warm he was, smell the Old Spice body wash and Herbal Essences shampoo I\'d seen in their bathroom once. I closed my eyes for a moment. \"Use your hand first to get the screw closer to the bar, then use the speed wrench to tighten it. \"See?\" He said, and I watched his long fingers expertly move the screw closer to the bar till they were touching, then, taking the wrench from my hand but not moving me out of the way or stepping back to get the job done, he clicked it in nice and tight, giving the bar of it a shake- it stayed firmly on the bar. I looked at him over my shoulder and I saw his eyes darken before he licked his lips and gave me a nervous grin. He was so close to my body, the soft fabric of his t-shirt against my back, pretty much bare except for a skimpy tank top was so torturous and I couldn\'t help but wonder why he didn\'t just grab me right there and knock me out with a kiss.

\"Don\'t forget to put on the safety chain,\" was all I got before he walked off towards the tech booth and barked an order at a few jumpy freshmen. I exhaled shakily and closed my eyes. He couldn\'t have not felt that.

Yep, everything was fantastic. Except for my pathetic crush on an uninterested and inexplicably sexy senior whose little sister was one of my best friends.

It was just so hard to be friends with him, to have him teach me things around the theater... and if you think him teaching me how to hang a light was bad, his attempt to explain aiming was even closer. His hands had completely closed over mine as he showed me the screws to loosen and where it needed to move to light Jennie, another lights die-hard who was standing on the floor. My hands were burning up from the heat of the light, and I hissed as it burned me. He let the light go, and looked at my hand before blowing on it gently with his warm breath. It made me shiver.

\"You okay?\" He\'d asked, and I\'d just nodded. \"I\'ll finish this one, you can go sit down.\" He whispered hoarsely after a moment of holding my one hand in both of his and a shaky intake of breath.

What\'s worse is that not only Julia, but Jake and Trey and even Rachel had begun to notice. Even this weekend, I went shopping at a thrift store uptown with Julia, Dana and Rachel, and recieved some... interesting information.

Dana waved a slinky red dress in my direction from across the store. \"Hey, Yarr!\" She called to me, the nickname a little too permanent with some of the other theater kids, \"I think you should get this and wear it while you\'re up on the A-Frame.\"

\"Oh, yes, because me in a sexy red dress flashing the whole tech crew is considered soo hot.\" I laughed, flipping by a Mickey Mouse t-shirt and a striped blouse.

\"Well, maybe not to the whole crew, but who knows, it could be a useful tool of seduction for one Caine Cohen,\" Julia muttered to herself. I whacked her with Mickey Mouse\'s hanger. Rachel near choked on the straw of her diet coke.

\"We will not talk about my brother and sex.\"

\"Try it on, Yarr, it\'s your size! And red is Caine\'s favorite color!\" She laughed and chucked the dress at me. I caught it. The fabric was silky and soft.

\"How do you know what size I am, Dane?\"

\"Please, it\'s a size two. If anything, it\'ll be big on you, Polly Pocket.\" She rolled her eyes at me.

\"Very funny,\" I said, putting it back on a rack.

\"Try it on! You never know, it could be fun for a hot date, or you could always save it for prom or the winter formal.\" Julia shrugged, putting a fairy skirt back on a rack with a wrinkle of her nose.

\"If I try it on, will you guys stop teasing me?\" I asked. They\'d been at it all day, after all.

\"Yes.\" \"No.\" \"Pfft.\"

\"Fuck you guys,\" I laughed, throwing the dress over my arm and heading for the back dressing room. I slid my own clothes off, and pulled the soft red dress from its hanger and over my head. I adjusted it in its proper place. Dana was right, it was my size. The spaghetti straps were light over my shoulders, the neckline dropped to show a little bit of cleavage. Almost too much, but not quite. It fit me tightly around the waist and showed the curve of my hips, before flowing out in a more airy like fashion and becoming sheer around my calves. I wasn\'t sure, but I kind of liked the way it dipped low in back, showing off my shoulderblades. A loud, rude knock on my dressing room door alerted me to what had to have been Dana\'s presence.

\"Yo, Yarr, get out here and show us your sex suit! Julia\'s got heels to go with it!\" She laughed. Reluctantly, I opened the door and the smile on her olive face broadened.

\"Whoa, Aria, you\'re a babe!\" Rachel exclaimed, her arms full of vintage tees and skirts. Julia looked at me with a smirk.

\"If you don\'t get that, I will, and I\'ll break into your house and stash it in your closet at 2am. How much is it going for?\" She asked. Dana reached around and looked at the tag with a shrug.

\"I\'d pay twenty six bucks for that thing. Even just to have it get ripped off me,\" She laughed.

\"I don\'t know, I feel like it\'s weird on me.\" I said, wrinkling my nose. All three rolled their eyes.

\"Aria. You modest little prick. That dress was obviously made just for you, if you don\'t buy it because you\'re self conscious, I\'ll whack you.\" Rachel said dryly.

\"Try these on,\" Julia laughed, handing me a pair of small heeled red shoes with two red straps going criscross over the toes. I slipped into them easily.

\"Yeesh, I hate heels. Think combat boots would clash with this?\" I asked.

\"Cinderella, maybe not the shoes, but the dress. Winter formal. If Caine, Trey, Jake or any other complete idiot doesn\'t ask you, you can be my hot date.\" Julia winked.

\"Of course, with the boner Caine would get from you walking in in that thing, he might need new pants.\" Dana joked, pulling a pair of mens slacks from a rack.

\"My brother!\" Rachel said. \"What don\'t you get?\"

\"Please,\" Dana said, rolling her eyes. \"He\'s a complete hottie, even though he has no idea. Plus, he was presented with quite a fair amount down there,\" She said, winking at me and elbowing me before pulling an AC/DC t-shirt off a rack and checking the size.

Rachel dropped the pile of clothes she was carrying and she and Julia picked them up off the floor while I turned about as red as my dress.

\"My BROTHER!\" She exclaimed again. I\'d have laughed if I weren\'t off in naughty girl land.

\"How do you know that, Dana?\" I asked her shakily. She laughed and replaced a purple jeweled tank top. I listened to my eccentric friend.

\"Sophomore year, gym class with Gina Lombard. We were having a bit of girl talk, as girls do. One chick, Avery, was talking about how she dumped some guy cause, well, he was about as big as a termite. Gina turns bright red and starts getting changed, you know, locker room and all. I was like, what, is Caine that small and she just shakes her head. I was like, yeah right, I don\'t believe you, and well, she holds out her hands about eight inches apart, then makes an okay sign with her fingertips not even touching, winks and goes back to her locker.\" Dana made sure to repeat Gina\'s gestures.

\"Well, she could have been lying,\" Rachel stammered after a moment. Julia raised an eyebrow at Dana and the two shared smiles.

\"What?\" I asked them, a little nervous. That story hadn\'t done anything but further the fantasies in my head.

\"Jules, you\'re not gonna tell them bout your incident?\" Dana said as she headed into the dressing room next to mine with a few shirts and pants in her arms.

\"What dare?\" I asked her. Julia blushed.

\"Last year, at the cast party for Noises Off, I- well, I walked in on him with this senior, Hannah.\"

There was a long pause. \"And?\" I asked. She blushed.

\"They were in a rather- compromising position. And you know, Hannah just pulls her head away, and I only saw for a minute before going oh shit and leaving, but... Gina didn\'t exaggerate.\"

\"Hannah Doley sucked off my brother? Why?\" Rachel asked after dropping her clothes again a second time.


~*~


I was the last one dropped off, Julia and I had planned to spend some time hanging out at my place that Saturday before going out with Jake and Trey to a movie. Apart from what Dana had now dubbed my \"sex dress,\" all I\'d really gotten was a soft, comfy Rolling Stones t-shirt and a pair of baggy faded jeans. They made me look like a bit of a little boy, but I figured with the long hair and curves, who\'d mistake me.

Neither of my parents were home, but we still made camp up in my room. I chucked my bags down in the corner by my bed and flopped on my big comfy double bed. Julia didn\'t flop. She was too graceful to flop, but lounge on my bed she did. We talked about the show for a while, then about the song we were learning in BB\'s, then Julia finally looked over at me with a wry smile on her face.

\"So, how\'s stuff with you and Caine?\" She asked casually, flipping through a beat up copy of Crime and Punishment.

\"What do you mean?\"

\"Don\'t play innocent, Aria. Everyone knows you like each other. You two flirt nonstop, and when you\'re not flirting, you\'re blushing or looking at each other when you don\'t think anyone else is looking, and when you\'re not doing that you\'re off in la la land thinking about the other one.\" Guilty, guilty, and guilty.

\"Do not.\"

\"God, Ar, you do so. And he does it back. I haven\'t seen him like someone this much ever, not even Gina at the beginning,\" she said, tossing the paperback back onto the pile of overly read books by my bed.

\"He\'s a senior. What would he want with his little sister\'s dumb new friend? I\'m not as smart as he is, I can\'t hang a light to save my life, I\'m small and weird-shaped and I just don\'t have the kind of experience he has. I mean, I\'ve done stuff... but not with someone like him. I\'m not particularly interesting or fun or a big talker or partier like Dana and Gina, I\'m not a great actress, singer and dancer the way you are, I\'m not cool and collected like Lacey or Elise... what does he even want?\"

\"I don\'t know. But I know he wants you. That much is obvious.\" Julia replied. \"And as for not being special? Don\'t even go there.\"

We were silent for a while, and then I bit my lip and asked the question that had been buzzing in my mind from the moment I took a bite of his cheerios on his kitchen counter after school. \"Do I even have a chance?\" I asked, looking at my friend. She stopped twirling the long strands of her blonde hair and looked at me.

\"Do I even need to answer that?\" She asked me sarcastically.

\"Yes.\"

\"If you don\'t do something soon, he\'s gonna bash his head into a wall cause you drive him that wild.\"


~*~


\"Where are Yuck and Yarr?\" Trey asked me for the fortieth time. It was about six thirty on Saturday afternoon and the five of us were going to a movie. Jake was humming to himself the way he does when he\'s inspired to write a song, Trey was pacing, and I was seated next to Jake, rubbing my hands together.

\"For the last time, stop calling them that, they have names.\" Jake said, opening his eyes and rolling them at Trey. Said eyes caught the glimpses of a few cute girls in very short skirts and he gave them his arrogant little smile and winked. They blushed and giggled.

\"Jesus, Jake, they\'re practically freshmen,\" I muttered, running a hand through my hair.

\"Hey, I\'m not doing anything illegal,\" He grinned, then muttered very quietly, \"Though you might be.\"

\"Hey! I heard that.\" I protested. Trey laughed.

\"Face it, buddy, you\'re about a step away from getting a hard on every time she hugs you.\"

Was it that obvious? \"Is it that obvious I like her?\"

Both of my friends looked at me dumbly.

\"Trey Ravenstern I want to have your babies!\" Came a loud shout from across the street. We all looked over to see that the shout had come from our leggy blonde friend, Julia, gracefully dubbed \"Yuck\" by Trey once Dana had christened Aria
\"Yarr\". Aria laughed next to her as they waited for a break in traffic to run across the street to us. Jake and I stood as we watched them casually walk across the road.

Don\'t get me wrong, Jules is one gorgeous girl. She\'s practically a movie star. But Aria... she just looked so cute in her tight little jeans, too long for her legs so they were frayed at the bottom, and tiny plum t-shirt that showed off her perfect curves. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail so her long hair fell down her back, a few loose strands naturally framing her pretty face. She looked down when she saw me and blushed before giving Trey a big hug, then distributing one to Jake. I couldn\'t help but glower when she held on extra tight, burying her nose in his shoulder as she stood on tiptoe in her gray converse sneakers. She walked over towards me.

\"Hey, Caine,\" she said simply with that soft little smile on her face. I smiled back.

\"C\'mere, Ar.\" I said, pulling her into a hug. I heard her give a little sigh as her hands slipped low around my waist, my arms wrapping nearly twice around her small frame. Her head fit perfectly onto my shoulder, and I gave her ponytail a bit of a yank to lighten the mood.

\"Ow! Jerk!\" She exclaimed, pushing me off as I laughed and she played with it to \"fix it\" or whatever girls do when they fiddle with their hair.

\"Hair pulling is so third grade, Caine,\" Trey scolded.

\"I can remember you doing a fair amount,\" Julia said dryly.

\"You had two little blonde pigtails, every single day of third and fourth grade! Wearing pigtails way up on your head is just asking for it, I\'m sorry!\"

\"You called me \'Julie Spewlie\' for three years.\"

\"You called me-\"

\"Guys, shut up, what are you, two?\" Jake asked as we headed toward the box office of the movie theater.

\"They are two. Two dumb lifelong friends who won\'t let go of nicknaming and hairpulling.\" I remarked.

\"I thought you were this year\'s hair puller,\" Aria said, giving me a little nudge in the side with her elbow.

\"I thought you were two dimensional.\" I spat back as she stuck out her tongue. I made my grab and she gave the cutest little yelp and grabbed Jake\'s arm. He looked at us, eyebrow raised.

\"What?\" He asked.

\"Caine\'s trying to steal my tongue.\" She barely squeaked out. Jake laughed.

\"Stop flirting.\" We both froze and blushed, our eyes quickly meeting as we blushed harder.

\"Hey, could I get one ticket to the 6:50 show?\" Jake winked at the young clerk. She blushed and nodded.

\"Uh- uh... that\'ll be... seven fifty, sir.\" She stammered.

Jake passed the money over and smiled. She turned about three shades darker and gave him his change.

\"Thanks, kid.\" He said with a smirk and moved aside for her to take everyone else\'s cash.

I whacked his arm. \"Hey, what the hell?\"

\"Flirting with strangers isn\'t very nice.\"

\"Banging your mom isn\'t very nice either but I do it anyway.\"

\"Just cause you can\'t get in my pants doesn\'t mean you have to go for my mom. Hey, one for the six fifty.\" I said to the cashier after quipping to Jake.

\"Who said it was just your mom? Your lil sis is a fine piece of ass.\"

\"Okay, that\'s it, Harper, I\'m gonna kill you and feed you to my dog.\"

\"You don\'t have a dog.\" Aria pointed out. She looked very smug and cute. I wanted to lean down and kiss her right then, she was just so adorable.

\"Thanks.\" I said sardonically.

\"You\'re welcome.\" She said with a smile.



We sat through the movie, but I didn\'t really pay much attention to it. Aria sitting next to me, having kicked off her flip flops halfway through and folded her legs up close to her body looked so pretty and casual and cute... she\'d lean over and whisper something funny to me at certain parts of the movie, her breath tickling my ear and the way she giggled was so cute. I loved how her hair fell long down her back in its ponytail and the way she bit her lip. I felt restless, perverted and inadequate.

When the movie was done, we all congregated outside and debated what to eat. Julia and Aria were pushing for Thai, Jake and Trey insisted it was too expensive. I remained a neutral party. Eventually, Julia won the argument by pointing out that her opposition had no other proposal- so we headed over to the closest Thai place.

As we divvied up the check- exchanging bills and watching Julia and Trey argue over how much the other would get if they covered the other with a twenty, I asked about rides.

\"Well, I\'m going over to Dana\'s.\" Julia said. \"I could take Ari back but it\'s out of the way.\"

\"We could take-\" Jake began to say as a quick movement under the table and an \"ow!\" ensued. Aria quirked an eyebrow
at Julia, from whom the movement had come from.

\"I guess, I could take you back if you need it.\" I offered her. She smiled and nodded before shooting a glare at Julia, who winked at her.

Liking someone in your group of friends, who you suspect may like you back, is one of the more awkward series of events you may encounter in life. It\'s like being set up with someone you already have something going with- something going you don\'t want other people to mess up, but you can\'t very well tell them off for trying to help get you what you want because it means they were right, and when you\'re as self-reliant and stubborn as I am, I hate telling other people when they\'re right. Also, it nearly forces something out of the other person involved to the point where you aren\'t even sure they really like you, whether they\'re doing it out of peer pressure or sympathy, or are convincing themselves they like you. You feel dirty and guilty and childish- like a middle schooler caught bringing his dad\'s playboy into school.

We departed, after another argument over the bill, and outside of Thai High hugged goodbye. As I embraced Julia, she whispered in my ear, \"Tap that.\" I pretended not to hear it.

Aria and I departed from the group in the direction of the parking garage where I\'d left my car.

\"Want a mint?\" She asked me, holding open a box of Altoids.

\"Sure, thanks.\" I said, taking one and popping it in my mouth. She did the like, and we continued on. \"What a fucking terrible movie.\" I laughed. She smiled.

\"Yeah, it was entertaining enough as long as you recognized its absurdity.\" She replied.

\"And what a slew of absurdities it was. I thought it\'d never end.\"

That\'s another bad thing about liking someone. An awkward silence.

We got to the car and I unlocked it on her side for her with the key. I looked down at her, she had this little glint in her eye and I realized how close I was standing to her. Fuck it.

I bent down and kissed her. I was gentle at first, I didn\'t want to frighten her off and I was fifty percent sure she\'d push me off and ask me what the hell I was doing. Her lips were soft and I felt her respond. I kissed her a little deeper, pulling her body close in to mine as her arms wrapped around my neck. One hand curled in my hair and the other traced patterns gently on my neck, making the hairs on it stand up. I let my arms pull her waist in to my body as I traced my tongue along her bottom lip. Her mouth opened and she slid her tongue against mine very slightly. I\'ve never been too big on tongue, just a little bit was enough for me, and luckily, Aria was a classy kisser as well. I pressed her body up against my car and kissed her a little rougher, I just couldn\'t get enough. She let out a muffled little moan into my mouth and I nearly died. She was absolutely perfect, I thought, running my hands up and down her sides as she shivered. I broke the kiss and looked at her, her lips a sexy pout and her eyes dark.

\"Why did you-\" She began in protest, her expression unreadable.

\"I\'m sorry, I\'ve been wanting to do that for a while now. I really like you, and I know you\'re younger and that\'s probably not a good idea but it\'s not going away and I had to get that out of my system. I know you must think I\'m-\"

She cut me off by leaning up and bringing my mouth back down to hers for another sweet, warm kiss. It lasted a few seconds before she pulled away just a few inches to whisper,

\"I was going to ask why you stopped.\"

I opened my eyes and looked down at her. She sounded so cool and sexy, but she was trembling and looked so small. I bent down and closed the gap, pressing her back up against the car again.


AN: Yay! A kiss at last! Please review me!