“She’s awesome!” Melody gushed. She turned bright red and started paying a great deal of attention to her salad.
When the meal was finished, John got up and returned with some beer which they drank in silence. The crowd had swelled and he excused himself, and began to fulfill his duties as bouncer, as the patrons got a little rowdier. Thelma went behind the bar; even though more servers were on duty they were getting swamped. Melody grabbed another pair of cold beers and they sat drinking, not quiet talking but not really quiet, sporadic bursts of conversation, followed by silence filled with promise and yet not a comfortable silence either, both girls realized something was short. They discovered that neither had a significant other, both loved country music. Melody loved motorcycles; hers was parked behind the bar in a shed, and a million other little things people having a couple of drinks tell each other without getting bogged down with personal private facts.
They drank a few more beers and chatted, mainly it was Melody, pointing out local personalities, giving her the gossipy details about who was sleeping with who, who the local drug dealers were, the local hookers, and trophy wives, who spent the summer in their huge expensive cottages on the lake and seduced all the good-looking and athletic local studs while their husbands worked in the city.
It was way after 11:00, Melody and Arleen were really enjoying each other’s company and they had consumed more than a few beers, and although Arleen was fine, Melody was sitting glassy-eyed and had slumped in her seat and began to slur her words. Silently, Thelma and John came up behind her, and gently led her upstairs. Arleen followed, as Thelma put her sister to bed. “I love my sister dearly.” Thelma stated, “But unlike me, she can’t drink, or hold her licker, for that matter, after a few drinks she falls asleep. You must be a bad influence on her” She chuckled, turned and went downstairs leaving Arleen alone with Melody who had rolled onto her back and had begun to snore softly.
Arleen watched Melody from the sitting room, she sat on Melody’s new leather sofa and picked up the guitar, and strummed a few chords, testing and tuning the strings, and began intricately picking and crooning Natasha’s Beddingfield ‘Unwritten’ until she too fell asleep.
Mornings comes early in Central Ontario, dawn painted the pink cliffs a pale orange, Arleen woke up to bright sunlight streaming through the open drapes of Melody’s sitting room. The door to Melody’s room was closed. She slipped off the couch and made her way to the bathroom. In the bathroom vanity she could see she was a mess. Hastily she washed her face and used her fingers to rake her long dark hair into some semblance of normality.
She left Melody’s apartment and wandered downstairs, and was surprised to see John sitting on the bar counter sipping from a mug, over the smell of stale booze she smelled coffee, and John slipped off the bar and poured her a cup, asking her, her preference with cream and sugar. They stood beside the bar drinking their brew in silence, before John said, “Don’t think badly of Mel, she just isn’t a drinker, Thelma on the other hand, well, she can drink me under the table any day. Although they are twins Thelma is the business brain, and Mel, well Mel is a lot softer quieter, more artistic, did better at school too. Then there’s that Thelma’s straight, but Mel isn’t, but make no mistake, cut one, they both bleed, trust me, I found out the hard way.” He said before continuing, “What time is your flight back to Nashville?” He asked.
“I’m booked on the afternoon flight, direct, this time, Toronto to Nashville, I guess I should pack my things and get out of here, after last night I guess I’m not wanted.” She said trying to comprehend what John’s comment about Thelma being straight but Mel wasn’t, meant.
“Thel said you might feel that way, but that she and Mel both want you here for the summer, so sure, lets go back to the Motel, and get your bags, you can leave your equipment here if you like I’m sure Thel and Mel will look after it, it saves you hauling it home on the aircraft, only to haul it back out here in a few days again.”
John led the way to his pickup, they stopped at the motel, and Arleen had a shower and changed into fresh clothes before he drove her to the airport. The drive to Toronto seemed much faster, possibly because John drove faster, the conversation and companionship wasn’t there like it had been with Melody, and she was glad when John dropped her off at the terminal and she walked into the departure lounge and had arrived for her flight a good two hours early.
The flight back went without a hitch, she caught a cab home and was just ready to hit the shower when the phone rang. Naked she answered, “Hi this is Arleen.”
“Um hi Arleen, this is Melody, Did I catch you at a good time? I hope you had a good flight back.”
“You caught me ready to have a shower, but yes I did thanks, are you ok, you sound a bit strange?” Arleen asked.
There was a brief silence on the other end, before Melody continued, “Oh sorry, I won’t keep you then; no I’m fine, I hope that you are still coming here, John said you might have had second thoughts.”
“No I’ll be coming up as promised, I never break a promise.” Arleen replied.
“Thank you, I’m sorry about Saturday night, I guess I got carried away a little, I’m really sorry.” Melody apologized softly.
“Its fine Mel, honestly, I’ve been that way before its no big deal. You should have been here for my birthday.” Arleen said.
“Um…… I would’ve liked to see that, I like it when you use my whole name, Melody. Rather than plain ol’ Mel, everyone calls me Mel, I love how you say it, Mello-dee ” she said.
“I love your name, it really suits you Melody, I enjoyed out time together.” Arleen said finding it hard to say the right words and feeling that it came out wrong.
“So did I, I have to go now. Oh I sent you something, and I’ve put your guitars, amp and things in my room, they’ll be safe until you return. Speak to you later, eh.” She said, her mouth close to the phone.
“Night-night Melody, thanks for phoning.” Arleen said before putting down the phone.
She watched something trivial on the TV before falling asleep.
Monday turned out busier than she expected, but she managed during the day to get hold of her agent and told her to contact the Musician’s Union and tell them she was going to work in Canada for six months and that she needed their help fast-tracking a Canadian work permit. Canada and the US being neighbors presented a few problems but their respective Musician Unions worked well with one and other as did their customs and immigration departments. She had to visit the Canadian Consulate, where she paid the required fee for the work permit, and was told she should have it within a few days, barring any snag or outstanding criminal warrants. Since she led a blameless life she knew for certain, except for a few paid traffic violations, her criminal record was clean. She was told that her permit should be issued within a week.
That evening she had decided to crawl into bed early. She could hear Shelly and some guy groaning in unison, next door, on a squeaky bed, she lay in the darkness and thought about the weekend and then she centered on Melody, who seemed ….. When her phone rang.
“Hello?” Arleen mumbled
“Arleen?”
“Melody?”
They laughed together.
“What’re ya doing’?” Melody asked.
“Is… Is that you? That is Melody, right?”
Melody snickered and said. “Yeah it’s me, not Thel.”
I didn’t think Thelma would phone me, and hi,” Arleen replied dryly, propping pillows up behind her head so she could lean back against it.
“So what do ya want?” Melody asked, her tone accusatory
.
“Me? What do I want? You called me remember.” Arleen said exasperatedly
“Uh huh, that’s true” she replied.
She was quiet for a moment, and Arleen could visualize her grinning.
“What can I do for you?” Arleen asked, it was most definitely a weird conversation.
Arleen was about to speak again, when Melody said, “I dunno… Just wondered what you were doing.”
Arleen’s heart missed a beat, and she stretched out naked beneath the covers and replied, “Um… Just got into bed, actually. I was just thinking.”
“About me? So you weren’t gonna call me? You were just thinking about me, eh?” she asked.
“I don’t know, now, what I was thinking,” Arleen replied quickly knowing she had been thinking just that.
“No,” she said. “But you were going to.” Melody said illogically
“Yeah. I was.” Arleen replied.
“Uh huh… and?” Melody queried.
“And what?” Arleen answered chuckling.
“And why were you going to call me?”
“I forget,” Arleen replied.
“Oh man! ” Melody sighed.
Briefly Arleen mused, if she had really wanted to phone Melody at all, she knew she had been thinking about her.
“Do you want my private number?” Melody asked.
“What would I do with your private number, Melody?” Arleen asked.
“You can phone me on it. Write it down, dummy, 705-555- 3423” Melody demanded.
Obligingly Arleen wrote it down. For the next hour, they chatted, sometimes giggling like schoolgirls and sometimes whispering Arleen lay curled up naked under the covers.
“You sound tired,” Melody commented.
Arleen yawned into the phone.
“Yes.” She whispered.
“And this from a musician who stays up all night and sleeps until noon. Ha! Gotcha! Ok, seriously want me to let you go?” Melody asked
“Not really,” Arleen answered
“It’s almost eleven,” she said. “What are you doing tomorrow.”
“Working on a jingle for a radio station, whose chubby art director is a sex maniac.” Arleen replied.
Melody was quiet for a moment, and then she said in a soft voice. “I like talking to you,” she said softly into the phone.
“Good,” Arleen whispered, ” I enjoy talking to you too.”
“Night-night Arleen, sleep tight” Melody whispered.
“Night-night Melody, speak to ya soon.” Arleen breathed and put down the receiver.
The next day at the radio station was every bit a nightmare as the time before, the slimy art director, tried to get as close as he could, Arleen became adept at slipping past before he could slither any closer. Most of the day was wasted, and the final product was less than perfect, never the less, after being semi-groped and partially slobbered over half a dozen times, Arleen was just about to let him have it, when the odious toad, thanked her kindly and announced he was satisfied, and called it a day.
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