Unforgettable Melody - S01 E36

Story 1 day ago

Unforgettable Melody - S01 E36

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 36

Entering the small sunroom at the front of his apartment that he used as his office and practice studio, he began unpacking his trumpets from their cases. For auditions of this sort, the panel wanted to see not only the candidate’s general skill, but also their versatility in a wide variety of styles. As such, most professional trumpet players had put together quite a collection of instruments for these styles. There was his standard pair of trumpets in B-flat and C, perfect for a wide variety of music, his tiny piccolo trumpet for extremely old music that was written in very high ranges, and his more specialized E-flat trumpet, used for a concerto that he knew would be on the audition. In the corner of the room stood two additional cases holding two of Mike’s favorite horns: his cornet and flugelhorn. Though not typically used in orchestral music, he loved the sounds they produced, and always seemed to play around on them whenever he needed a lift to his spirits for any reason.

His preparations complete, he started his daily warm-ups, working through scales and sound quality exercises, eventually moving to more acrobatic warm-ups. As he played, he started to wonder something.

“Hey, Melody?”

“Hey, what’s up?” came the response.

“Quick question. I know you would probably be able to soundproof a room with your privacy powers. Would you be able to keep that soundproofing intact outside of sexual encounters? Say, for a perfectly quiet practice studio that would never bother the neighbors?”

She closed her eyes, searching her mind for the answer. “I can,” she finally replied. “However, it would require that we have sex of some sort in that room within one week, or the wish would eventually deactivate.”

“Oh no…” Mike answered sarcastically. “How can you put such HUGE restrictions on me?! I mean, REQUIRING me to fuck my girlfriend in a room just to keep it soundproof?! I guess…”

Giggling, she shot back, “Well, we would need to test out just how soundproof the room really is, right? Shall I make it happen?”

“Let’s do it.”

Tingle. Flash.

Though the room didn’t look any different, Mike looked over at Melody from within his studio. Her lips were moving, but he couldn’t hear a single word she was saying. Stepping out for a moment, he revealed this to her, asking, “Is it possible to let sound into the room, but not out?”

“So picky,” she replied, playfully sticking her tongue out at him.

Tingle. Flash.

As he stepped back into the room, Melody asked, “Can you hear me?”

Nodding, Mike turned with his back to her and also asked, “Can you hear me?” No response. He thought to her, Could you hear me there?

Nope. Looks like it worked perfectly. Shall I put a little fuck session on the calendar for us?

He laughed in her head. Nah, I can be more spontaneous than that.

Ooh, yay… she replied in anticipation.

Chuckling to himself, Mike returned his focus to his audition preparations, advising Melody to explore her personality and interests some more. He pulled out his music books and placed one on his graduation present from a few years back, a beautiful wooden music stand made of cherry and mahogany. As he began to work on excerpts, he was instantly enjoying the benefits of his new soundproof practice studio. The small sections of larger orchestral works he was working on were quite loud and bombastic, and the newly insulated room allowed him to throw himself into the music without worrying about disturbing the neighbors. After a few of hours of practice, during which he could immediately tell a difference thanks to his wish from yesterday about his musical skills, he decided to play one more excerpt before taking a lunch break. Looking at the audition list, he pulled up one of his favorites.

The second movement of The Pines of Rome had a gorgeous, lyrical trumpet solo in it. Requiring immense breath control and musicianship, Mike’s performance of it was the deciding factor when he won the job of Assistant Principal a year and a half ago. Beginning the solo, he closed his eyes and lost himself completely in the music, feeling a new ability of expression. He wasn’t sure if this was specifically due to his wish, or simply because of meeting Melody last Friday, but he didn’t care. The sweet melody perfectly encapsulated his feelings towards the girl he had named as such, and that’s all that mattered to him in that moment.

Slowly opening his eyes, he saw Melody sitting on the living room sofa across from him, smiling right at him. Stepping out of his studio, he asked, “Why the big grin? You weren’t able to hear me.”

“Didn’t have to,” she replied. “The look on your face said it all. You were thinking of me, weren’t you?”

Without a word, he motioned for her to join him in his studio. Seating her in the small folding chair in the corner, he began to play once more, again losing himself in the music. As he finished the solo, Melody was no longer smiling. Her expression was one of amazement, enchantment even. Each day she lived brought new experiences for her with Mike, but at this moment, she felt for the first time as if she was peering into his very soul.

“That was… incredible,” was all she could say.

“I know.”

His smartass remark instantly snapped her back to reality, as she giggled and slapped his shoulder playfully.

“You getting hungry for some lunch?” Mike asked.

“Sure am, that chicken smells awesome.”

Mike got to work on shredding the chicken, now juicy and tender, while Melody got out the rest of the supplies at his direction. She watched as Mike coated two soft tortillas with Monterey Jack cheese, filled each with a layer of chicken, and finished the concoction with another coating of cheese. Placing a tortilla on top of each one, he set the stove eyes to medium heat and began to cook each in a skillet. As the bottoms began to turn golden, he deftly flipped each of them over to finish cooking both sides. Once they were done, he separated them onto two plates and cut each into slices with a pizza cutter.

“Oh, wow! This is yummy!” Melody gushed, taking her first bite.

“Yep, and there’s plenty of chicken left over, so this should feed us for lunch for at least a couple of days.”

The couple sat on the sofa to relax for a bit, turning on the local news for background noise. Turning to Melody, Mike asked, “So what did you do this morning?”

“Let me show you,” she said, reaching for Mike’s laptop. Pulling up the web browser, she typed in a web address, pulling up a site entitled “Melodious Photography.”

“Your photography website you mentioned?”

“Yep, now fully functional and open for business,” she beamed.

Slack jawed, he said, “Wow, I thought that was just a cover story?”

“You’d be surprised how far my free will has allowed me to stretch the rules of blending in to modern society and being your ideal woman,” she explained. “After all, with you wishing for me to be an equal partner and, I can only assume, a modern woman, it’s only right that I find a way to be that equal partner and earn a living. Additionally, not having any way of supporting myself after, supposedly, moving from Houston to start a new life, could potentially raise suspicion and threaten our anonymity.

“To that end, it only made sense to create my own small photography business, using the portfolio website as a starting point. In addition to the website, I was able to instantly gain everything necessary for actually running said business. So far, that includes genuine photography skills, a cell phone to set up jobs, a legally registered car and driver’s license to travel to them, and, of course, all necessary photography equipment.”

“Wait, you were able to just create a cell pone and a car?!” Mike marveled.

Melody giggled. “Yep, since they are necessary for blending into modern society,” she replied, pulling an iPhone 6 out of her back pocket. “I’ve also connected to several forms of social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. These increase my ability to actually find work, plus they’re free with an email address, so magic wasn’t actually required to set them up. I’ve also reached out to Ashley to start making contacts with people who need a photographer at a good price. Wedding season is coming up after all.”

Nodding, Mike then inquired, “Now I’m curious. What kind of car does Melody Roberts drive?”

“Something practical and inconspicuous was my goal,” she responded. “After checking reviews of current popular models, I decided on a 2014 Honda Accord.”

“Good choice. I nearly went with that over my CR-V. So, is it parked outside right now?”

“Yep. I doubt it would raise suspicion, as big as your apartment complex is. And if we, theoretically, were to have met online and just now decided to move in together, it would make sense that I would now start keeping my car here.”

Shaking his head in amazement, Mike took her hand. “Melody, I can’t tell you how proud of you I am. Not just that you want to earn a living, but also with how far you’ve come in exercising your free will. I know that you love me, and that you’re programmed to love me unconditionally, but this is probably the most touching gesture you’ve made. You want to make sure I’m not just taking care of you with whatever money I happen to earn; you want to contribute to that. It really is incredibly appreciated.”

She smiled, feeling his genuine admiration for her efforts. “Thank you. I had hoped you’d be pleased. Wanna take a ride in my car? We still need to go by the apartment office for those errands you mentioned.”

As the couple walked out of their apartment, Melody carried a small purse containing various things a woman of her age would have with them: a wallet, ID cards, some Tic Tacs, and a little makeup. She pulled out a car key, attached to a small keyring with a trumpet charm and her apartment key, and hit the unlock button, causing the lights of her car to flash from across the parking lot. Climbing into the car, Mike noticed the lack of new car smell. Melody explained that she had bought the car in Texas last year, and a new car smell would make that story less plausible.

Entering the leasing office at the front of the complex, Mike began to fill out the papers adding Melody as an authorized signer for packages and mail. He was glad the leasing company didn’t see this as odd. She was able to produce photo ID, and Mike had never been late on his rent, so they weren’t going to raise a fuss over one of their best tenants moving in with his girlfriend.

Their errand complete, Mike and Melody headed back home. Mike spent the rest of the afternoon continuing is audition prep, while Melody tried out some more of his video game collection, settling on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Starting a new game from the beginning, she was quickly engrossed in the story and characters, completely losing track of time. By the time Mike finished work for the evening, she had been playing for over four hours. Mike laughed, reassuring her that this was completely understandable; he often found himself immersed in a Zelda game for hours on end as well. As they began to check out ideas for dinner, Mike’s phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Mike! Robert Spano here.”

“Maestro! Good to hear from you.”

“We’ve put together the audition schedule for this Friday. Each of the five candidates will have a one-hour audition and interview. Yours will be the final one of the afternoon, starting at 3:00.”

Writing the information on his notepad, Mike replied, “Three PM, got it.”

“Great. Also, as you know, two of the panelists will be Jessica and myself. I’ve just received confirmation less than an hour ago that the final panelist will be Philip Smith.”

Stunned, Mike could only respond, “Wow… Philip Smith?”

“Yep. He’s an excellent judge of talent and potential, and I’ve worked with him previously. Anywho, any further questions you had for me?”

“Uh, no sir. I’ve got everything I need.”

“Excellent. We’ll see you Friday then!”

“Thanks. Take care.”

As he hung up the phone, Melody looked at him inquisitively. “That was my boss, the Maestro. The three-judge panel for my audition has been set, and one of the judges is going to be… Philip Smith.”

“Who is he?”

“He’s literally the greatest trumpet player in the world right now. His sound, expression, and knowledge are unrivaled in professional music. Not to mention that he’s kinda my hero. I’ve tried to emulate him in everything I do professionally. Honestly, it’s really intimidating thinking about being on that stage with my promotion in his hands.”

Melody kissed him tenderly for several long seconds, calming him down from his adrenaline rush. “This is a fantastic opportunity for you,” she said. “Just don’t forget that Philip Smith is, ultimately, just a man. Like any other, he can be impressed. As long as you don’t view him as some giant monster, you’ll do brilliantly out there.”

Sighing, he replied, “You always know just what to say.”