After The Dust Had Settled

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying naked on my bed. I felt something cool on my forehead and something wonderfully soft and naked beside me. "What happened?" I asked.

"You passed out, Baby! Are you alright?" replied Andie, lying naked next to me, her arms wrapped around my torso.

Realizing that we were both lying together, naked in the bed, and that Andie's beautifully body was intertwine with mine, I smiled and replied, "I am now," as the reality of the moment hit me. "Andie, I love you," I said.

Rising up on her elbows to look at me, she smiled, and as a lone tear trickled slowly down her cheek, Andie whispered, "I love you, Mark. I always have and I always will!" I smiled and laughed. "What's funny, Baby?" she asked playfully.

"You know what this means, don't you?"

"No, tell me, sweetie," she purred.

I gently pulled her closer to me and nuzzling her behind the ear with my nose, I took a deep breath, and then as I slowly exhaled, I said, "It means that we're part of one another now!"

"Mmmm...gladly baby," she replied, slowly rubbing her body against mine as we both drifted off to sleep, content in the new love of one another.

*********************

The next morning I awoke to an empty bed. However, there was a note left on the pillow next to mine in handwriting that I began to recognize as Andie's. It said that she was gone to get us some breakfast and that she would be right back. I had to pee so I put on a pair of boxers and a tee shirt and made my way down the hall to the bathroom.

When I got back to my room, Andie was there waiting for me, her clothes in the floor, naked on my bed. I smiled, but before I could speak, she grinned and said, "Come and get it while it's hot, big boy!" I began pulling off my clothes, as just the very thought of her naked was enough to make me as hard as a rock, much less the full visual. As I began to get into bed with her, she handed me a take out bag and said, "I was talking about breakfast, baby. But you can leave your clothe off just the same," and then she broke into a fit of giggles.

"Smart ass!" I replied laughing, while taking the bag from her. We talked while we ate, and because we'd made love to one another the previous night, Andie was not shy about letting me see any part of her body nor was I with her. For the rest of the morning we either lay together in bed or talked, or we made love. As we were both virgins, we were very anxious to try new things, and try new things we did. We made love until we were both sore, but neither of us complained about it. Instead, we went to "One O'clock", as everyone all called it, holding hands and smiling.

*********************

That afternoon Dr Breeden gave us an exercise. He told us what key he wanted us to play in. Then he gave us a chord progression and a tempo. He also told us that the first chair player of each section would take a solo for eight bars and that each person was to improvise as they played. This was always one of my favorite things to do when I would practice alone, plus, were we going to play in the key of "C" which was also my favorite key, so I was more than ready. As Dr. Breeden began to tap the tempo out, we began to come in, a section at a time. First to come in was the rhythm section, drums, percussion, bass, guitar, etc. Then came the brass and woodwinds, and last but certainly not least, it was my turn. Bryan may have been the lead singer for Prodigy, but he was a first rate trombone player as well, the first chair player in his section. Being the first chair player means that you're the best in the section, and in the One O'clock; that meant being the best in the state. Tommy, Danny and Phil were kicking it with a thumping groove while the rest of the band was jamming right along with them. It started with the brass section when the time came for solos. None other than my beautiful Andie was the first to stand up and play. Not only was she beautiful to look at, but, my God, she could damn sure play her ass off when the time came. I looked over at Bryan while she was playing to find him looking back at me and grinning from ear-to-ear. I looked back at Andie and she was now facing me while she played. I was watching her so closely and was getting off on every note she played that I almost forgot what I was doing for a moment.

When Bryan's turn came, he stepped up and rocked. I never knew that so many cool riffs could be played on a trombone, but Bryan definitely took me to school that day, I can tell you that. He never wavered in pitch unless he was bending a note, and only then, did he slide, but it was all on pitch, in tune and on time. I watched as every first chair player in the One O'clock stepped up to the plate, only to hit a home run every time.

My turn came last, and as I stepped up I felt every eye in the band upon me. I started off on the piano and jammed there. Then I went to my Moog Modular™ and rocked the house down with some low voltage saw wave riffs. I left the sustain knob turned up far enough for me to get on my Mini Moog™. I ended by playing both the Modular and Mini Moogs together, and by pure luck, the filters on each separate instrument just happened to be oscillating on the same frequencies, making the notes whistle as the filters opened and closed. We ended on the last note of my solo with everyone in the band looking directly at me. I cleared my throat nervously and then smiled and asked, "Did I do something wrong?"

I heard a pair of hands start off singularly clapping, and then shortly, every member of the band, my beautiful Andie included, were standing and applauding me. "I told ya'll he was good, didn't I?" said Dr. Breeden, trying to bring the class back to order. The rest of the class was spent learning some of the newer hits that were played on the radio. And because I already knew ninety-five percent of the material, I saw the look of personal satisfaction written all over Dr. Breeden's face as he watched me helping my classmates learn the new music. I felt blessed being surrounded by really amazing people and because I was given a deep sense of pride in being a member of such an elite group. We played and worked for the rest of the day, making sure we would be prepared for the next class on the following Tuesday which wasn't until next week, nor did Andie and I forget to hand in the papers that Dr. Breeden had requested of us

When I was finished loading up my gear, Andie and I headed over to Bryan's house to set up again for practice that night. We decided to stop and eat at Giuseppe's before hand though. We had been sitting just long enough to have our order taken when Danny and his girlfriend Tara came in and sat at the table next to us. "Well, hey, you two," he said.

"Hey man, what're you doing here?" I asked, as we shook hands.

In an obvious teasing tone of voice, Danny cowered and mockingly said, "Excuse me, Mister Keyboardist-Of-The-Century, Sir, but even us lowly guitar players have to eat every now and then!"

"Oh, shut up, that's bullshit and you know it," I said, laughing so hard it was beginning to make my stomach muscles hurt.

After all the laughter had died down, Danny smiled, and patting me on the shoulder, said, "All bullshit aside, little brother, you are, hands down, the baddest assed keyboard player I've ever seen, man. I'm sure glad we got you before those assholes at Julliard or Berkeley got their hooks into you!"

"Yeah, well, they tried, but I came here instead," I replied smiling, and at Andie's urging, I invited Danny and Tara to sit at our table.

The moment they took their seats Tara stuck out her hand and said, "We know each other from the One O'clock, but we've not been introduced. Hi Mark, I'm Tara Hammond; it's nice to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you, too, Tara," I replied, shaking her hand.

Tara was a nice girl that both Andie and I thought the world of. She was very well liked by everyone in the One O'clock as well as being Danny's girlfriend. She was a trumpeter that had it where it counted. I'd heard her play earlier, as she was first chair in her section. She smiled and said, "I've heard great keyboard players before, but I've never heard anything like you, Mark. Man, you rock!"

With Andie beaming proudly beside me, I smiled and replied, "Thank you, Tara. That's awfully nice of you to say and it means a lot coming from someone who plays as well as you do!"

"Are you ready for practice tonight?" asked Danny grinning wildly.

"Hell yeah," I replied eagerly.

Danny laughed and said, "It's our last one before we play tomorrow and Saturday. There aren't any classes tomorrow so, were gonna make it a late one. Are you okay with that?"

I guess I'll have to be. Now, won't I?" I replied excitedly.

That evening at Bryan's house, we were rocking and rolling with several people in attendance. I knew some of the people but not all. Practice this night was basically an open party. I met some really cool people though. However, when I was not playing, Andie stayed right beside me, holding my hand to let all the girls at the party, and there were a lot of them, know that I belonged to her and to lay off. The girls were only there because word had gotten out that the One O'clock had a new "smoking hot" keyboard player, and that he was supposed to have been single. But Andie cut that rumor to shreds by staying so close to me that we were almost inseparable the entire night. It wouldn't have mattered to me in the least. Andie was, and still is, the most beautiful woman in the world as far as I'm concerned.

While we were taking our second break of the night, I noticed that some people were moving orchestral instruments in and setting them up by where we set up. I looked at Bryan, and nodding to the people setting up, asked, "What's going on?"

He laughed and replied, "It's a surprise, little brother. Just wait and see, you're gonna love it, I promise!"

I trusted Bryan so; I simply shrugged my shoulders and said, "Okay," and continued on with Andie. She introduced me to every single one of her sorority sisters. They were all very nice girls, but the only person that existed as far as I was concerned was my beautiful Andie. The beginning of our relationship was a wondrous journey that, to this day, is still going on. Andie is everything to me, and I never dreamed that I would ever be with a woman that is as beautiful as she is. We were in the house and had just finished eating some barbeque that had been brought in when, Danny's girlfriend, Tara came walking briskly up to us and excitedly said, "Bryan said for me to tell you to come on. Everybody is waiting!"

"Waiting for what?" I asked smiling.

With a wave of her hand, beckoning us to follow, Tara replied, "Come on, you're gonna love it, I swear!"

The moment I walked back outside I saw an entire orchestra set up next to us in Bryan's back yard. He was standing there smiling, and as I approached, he asked, "Well, whadaya think, Little Bro?"

"What is all this?" I asked awe struck.

He laughed, put his arm around me and then replied, "Well, you see, when we all heard that you were going to be coming to school here, we were afraid that you were going to be just like the asshole you replaced. We treated you unfairly before we got to know you, Mark, and this our way of saying we're really sorry, man!"

"That's all well and good, but I still don't understand what's going on," I replied smiling, albeit confused, but still smiling none the less.

"That's when I heard Tommy laugh and say, "Tell him Bry, he's gonna pee his pants!"

Bryan smiled, and patting Andie's shoulder, began, "Andie told us that you were a massive Rick Wakeman fan. So, in order to thank you for honoring us, we all got together and crammed to learn all the parts from "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and we would be deeply in your debt if you would play keyboards with us tonight!" He even had the conductor's score to it. Where he got his hands on it, I'll never know but everyone else had their own separate scores as well, and it was then that I knew these people had gone to a lot of trouble, and had spent several hours working on it, too. Who was I to deny such a beautifully stated request? Besides; I knew all this stuff by heart and didn't need the sheet music. I played and conducted the orchestra while Bryan narrated and sang. Everyone else nailed their parts and no one missed a single note and everything was played to perfection.

And when we were done, the music had been so pure even the neighbors had come out to hear us play. Everyone who heard us, praised us, but no one applauded us any louder than my beautiful Andie. Her eyes were dancing like blue glitter in a kaleidoscope that was lit by a candle in the wind. She came running up to me and threw her arms around and whispered, "I love you," into my ear right before she kissed me.

We all gathered round and shook hands. I got to meet the people in the orchestra, me relishing in their praises, and they in mine. Everyone was so cool and I knew at that moment that this is what I would be doing for the rest of my life. I was talking with Bryan and Phil when, coming from behind us, we heard a familiar voice say, "I heard through the grapevine about what you guys were going to do and I have to tell you, that was very good. You all ought to perform that for the big show we do every fall." We turned around to find Dr. Breeden and his wife, Linda, standing behind us grinning.

"Jeez Doc, you scared the hell outta me," laughed Bryan.

"I highly doubt that, Mister Rogers," Dr. Breeden replied smirking then added, "I'm serious about you all performing this for the fall show. I've never heard this before, whose is it?"

"What you just heard was written by a guy named Rick Wakeman. He's the keyboard player for the group, "Yes". The name of this particular piece is "Journey to the Centre of the Earth," I proudly replied, knowing that I wouldn't have to learn a single bit of it because it was my most favorite musical work to date, and I could play it in my sleep.

"I've heard of Yes, but I never knew any of the member's names until now," said Dr. Breeden, nodding his head, and then he asked, "I must say, he's very good, is there anywhere I can get a recording of this?"

"I have the album back in my dorm room. I can drop it by your office tomorrow, if you'd like," I replied excitedly.

"Thank you, Mister Thompson, I'll look forward to listening to it tomorrow night then," said Dr. Breeden, and turning to leave, he looked at Bryan and I and added, "You two are going to do great things for music one day, I can just feel it," and then he left.

"Wow!" I replied, looking at Bryan.

"He's right ya know?" said Andie, as she came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist, pressing her breasts into my back.

"About what?" I asked pointedly.

"What he said about you and Bryan is true," she replied.

Suddenly, I felt a pair of arms encircling both Andie and I, and then discovered it was Bryan when he said, "I think she may be right about this, little brother!"

I laughed and replied, "Oh yeah, what, do you have a crystal ball or something that sees into the future?"

"I don't need one," said Bryan flatly.

"No?" I asked.

"No," he replied, then added, "All I have to do is feel what I feel every time we play together to know, little brother!"

I could only nod my head in agreement because I knew from the first time he and I played together what it was he was he was feeling and deep down inside; I knew he was right.

*********************

The next morning I awoke with Andie entangled around me. As the feeling of our naked bodies being held against one another began to affect me, I felt Andie snake her hand down my stomach and grab a hold of my cock. Needless to say, we spent the early part of the morning making the sweetest love that I've ever known.

I dropped off the Wakeman album at Dr. Breeden's office that afternoon and then made my way to Bryan's house to start packing up my gear. Andie was only a few minutes behind me in her car. When I got there, I was surprised to find a girl that I'd met the night before sitting on the couch in Bryan's living room. Her name was Amanda Blake and boy was she hot. "Hi Mark! How are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm doing great, thanks," I replied, then looking around, I asked, "Where's Bryan?"

As I sat on the other end of the couch to await his return, Amanda scooted over and pinned me to the end and said, "He won't be back for at least an hour. In the mean time, I thought that maybe you and I could get to know each other a little better, handsome!"

Andie burst into the room, and snatching Amanda up by the wrist, she removed her from her seat next to me and possessively growled, "He doesn't need to know you any better than he already does to know what a slut you are so, lay off, Bitch! He's mine!"

"I'm sorry, Andie. I didn't know, I promise," said Amanda.

"Well, now you do, and you need to spread the word to the rest of those skanky whores over at the Tri-Delta house where you live that, if any one of them comes near him; her ass belongs to me," Andie spat, maintaining her defensive posture.

"I got the message. There's no need to be so nasty," said Amanda, beating a hasty retreat.

After she left I looked at Andie and grinned, making her ask, "What?"

"I never knew you were such a bad ass," I laughed, standing up and wrapping my arms around her, and then I added, "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a little jealous back there!"

"You're damn right I am," said Andie, and then her bottom lip began to quiver, indicating that she was on the verge of tears and she added, "I love you with all my heart, Mark, and I'm not about to lose you to some whore-ass, wannabe beauty queen," and then she began to softly weep into my chest.

I pulled her away from me and looked into her eyes and said, "Now, you listen to me, my beautiful angel. You are the one and only woman in my life, and as far as I'm concerned, the only woman that I'll ever want for the rest of my life. You don't have anything to worry about. I love you, Andrea Matthews and I will until the day I die. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," she replied, smiling and nodding her head.

I leaned in until our faces were only centimeters apart and very tenderly kissed her sweet lips. We began to kiss more intently until I heard Bryans' voice say, "Jeez, get a room, you two," and then he looked at me and added, "Are you ready to rock and roll all night long, little brother?"

"Oh hell yeah, I've been ready for something like this my whole life," I excitedly replied.

*********************

That night at Nicks Uptown Lounge was a type of debutante ball for me. All of the guys in "Prodigy" were encouraging me with every song we did. My beautiful Andie, as well as Danny's girlfriend Tara, were there with eight whole tables full of their girlfriends and sorority sisters, all in attendance to cheer us on. All the gang from the One O'clock came; as did several other people that I didn't know. All in all, the place was packed to a standing room only capacity.

We opened up the show with an Emerson Lake and Palmer medley beginning with "Welcome Back My Friends" followed by "Karn Evil 9, and ending with "Lucky Man". The crowd went crazy and the whole place seemed to shake, and when the audience had become more subdued; Bryan stepped up to the microphone and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Nick's Uptown Lounge in the heart of the big "D". Tonight we've got a very special surprise for you. There have been a few rumors going around that you've all probably heard about some bad ass keyboard player coming to town." Then he pointed at me and added, "Well, those rumors are all true. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to introduce to you all, the newest member of Prodigy. His name is Mark Thompson, and as you all have just seen, he's one bad ass keyboard player!" Then lifting me by the elbow, Bryan grinned, and into the mic, said, "Stand up, Mark, so everyone can see you, little brother!" The applause was deafening and as I looked down into the audience, I saw my beautiful Andie, standing in her chair applauding wildly with a smile on her face and happy tears pouring down her cheeks.