Double Helix Ch. 01

"I think I'm not sure you need my help," I said, after reading them.

"Now don't say that," she said, putting her hand over mine. "You have some great ideas. And it's nice to have another perspective. Now, be honest. What do you think of the fourth line?"

I read it again, then went back over all the new lines from start to finish. "Hmm, what's the word?"

"Corny?" she asked.

"No, no. Nothing like that."

"Cheesy?"

I put my hands up. "I was going to say it's a little ambiguous. The rhymes and rhythm are good, but the sentiment here seems out of place. It kind of goes from wistful to a little bitter."

Nissi snatched the paper off the table and looked at it. "Shit. You're right."

She started to crumple it but I snatched it back and flattened it with my hands. "Whoa, hang on. I think we can fix this." I just needed to change a few of the words on the fourth line and fix the change in rhyme on the previous line. "There, I think that works better."

She read it over several times and nodded. "Yeah, that works," she said hesitantly. Then, with more conviction. "Yes. That's perfect. See," she pointed at me, "useful. I tend to get overcritical and just want to throw it away if it's not perfect."

We worked again until late into the night, but we managed to finish the song. "What do you do once you're finished?" I asked.

"Hmm?" she said, looking up from the notebook. "Oh, well, not much. I'll get something else in my head tomorrow or next week and the whole process repeats."

"How many songs have you composed?"

"Since the Ban or since I was born?"

I chuckled. "Let's start with since the Ban."

"Five-hundred seventy-three. Including this one, but not the few hundred or so that I started and tossed out. I'll write your name into the song credits, though, in case it ever gets published."

I guessed that, even for a very successful songwriter, not all the songs an artist wrote would ever be produced, but it seemed like a ridiculously high number for less than eight years of work. "Did you know many other elvish songwriters?"

"Oh, a few," she said. I knew a guy who wrote several songs for Christie Aguilera, back before the Ban. He was in a band with some guy, Scott Stapp, I think his name was. Kind of a shame they never made it big. I thought they were good, but they never really caught on."

"Who's your favorite musician?"

"Elvis Presley, without a doubt." She saw my amused look and lifted a finger. "And don't you dare make a joke about elves and Elvis. I like his early stuff, but his album in '94 with Stevland Judkins was pure genius. They made pure rock 'n' roll cool again in one stroke. Pretty good for a guy pushing sixty."

"Yeah, I remember that. I was only in the third grade when that came out, but my parents watched the concert on TV."

"That would make you twenty-seven, then."

"Twenty-eight next month," I said.

"I'm thirty-two, in case you were wondering." I had been wondering, since she looked to be about twenty or so. That was how old most genemods looked, but the elf features made it even harder to tell. The very first genemods had eliminated cellular senescence by the activation of the telomerase gene, combined with additional mechanisms to repair DNA transcription errors. The net effect was that everyone in the basement other than Wendy and myself appeared to be in their late teens or early twenties. Whether those extra corrective measures would be enough to stave off cancer in the long run was still anyone's guess. It worked in mice and seemed to function properly in humans, but the timescales involved made it unknown territory.

"By the way, it's time for bed," I said, glancing at the clock. It was nearly midnight.

"Hoping for another kiss?" Nissi asked.

"The thought had crossed my mind."

She stood up and came around to my side of the table. She perched against the table's edge in front of me and tucked her hair back. "I just have one question for you."

"And what would that be?"

"You never said if you were an Elvis fan or not."

"That's not a question. That's a statement."

"Jerk." She gave my shoulder a push and put her finger in my face. "Do you or do you not like Elvis Presley, Mr. Norm?"

"I like Elvis almost as much as I like one elf in particular."

"Ugh," she said, pantomiming gagging. "I knew you were going to try to work that joke in somewhere. Now kiss me, you dork before I toss that salad right back at you."

I stood and I took my time moving in close to her. I would have thought that finding out that Nissi wasn't that much older would help my confidence, but since our kiss last night, I felt like an awkward teen on the inside. The fact is that genemods are all either smarter, stronger, or possess traits that no ordinary human could have, and it sets them apart. I had interacted with them often enough, but getting involved romantically was something entirely different.

I circled Nissi's waist with one arm, putting my hand at the small of her back. The other stroked between her shoulder blades as I leaned in. I didn't go straight for her lips, though. I kissed her cheek, then her jaw just below the ear. When my lips brushed her neck, she gave a meou of pleasure. My next kiss lingered at the base of her neck, and I used my tongue to draw it out. She moaned quietly into my shoulder and her hands tightened on me. Only then did I bring my lips to hers. I kissed her with force and passion, and she threw back her own fierce energy. Our mouths opened at almost the same moment and our tongues connected in desperate need. My cock grew hard in moments and my thoughts churned with visions of her lying beneath me and crying out in ecstasy. Nissi clutched me so tightly that I actually began to worry she might break something, but she relented when I grimaced suddenly. We were both panting as though we'd been running.

"That was intense," I breathed, stepping back. She gripped my hand tightly as I did, and I thought for a moment she was going to pull me back in. She looked down at the bulge in my pants.

"We'd better get to bed," I said, and stumbled a bit in trying to make my erection less obvious.

"Yeah," she said, her gaze returning finally to my face. A hint of a smile graced her lips. "See you tomorrow, then."