"Hurry up, Aurora," Harmony yelled into the house from the back porch of her house. "We're going to be late for the movie."
It took several more minutes before Aurora finally exited the house, looking extremely satisfied. She had spent all day Saturday working with Serentiy on something in the craft room that was "top secret". They had banned Harmony from coming near the craft room until they were finished. Her nieces, who normally jumped at the chance to see a movie in the theater, had fought tooth and nail to stay home when she had told them she had purchased tickets to the Saturday night show. They had ultimately convinced her to exchange the tickets for Sunday so that they could continue working on their secret project.
"So, are you going to show me what you two have been working on when we get back?" Harmony asked as they got into her Honda.
"No," Aurora said at the same time that Serenity said, "Definitely not."
Harmony blinked, taken aback. "You're going to leave me dying of curiosity?" Harmony asked in a hurt tone.
She watched the two girls exchange glances in her rearview mirror before Serenity answered.
"Let's just say that it will be fairy cool," Serenity stared at her expectantly.
"Huh," Harmony said flatly as she stared back at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Did you see what I did there?" Serenity asked, grinning.
"She made a pun," Aurora informed her, also grinning. "Because it sounds like very cool."
"Ooooh," Harmony said, her eyes going wide. "You were being punny."
"You ruin the pun if we have to explain it," Serenity told her tartly.
"I'm fairy certain that it didn't need any help from me," Harmony replied with a wink. "You just keep working on those puns and they'll be fairy funny in no time."
"Mine was better," Serentiy muttered disdainfully.
"It was," Aurora agreed, patting her sister's hand reassuringly.
The drive to town was ten minutes from their house. Trees lined both sides of the road, making it feel like they were driving through a tunnel. There were a few of the giant redwoods along the road, but nowhere near as many as there were around their house. Her grandma Dotty had left the will of the two-story home in Harmony's name, much to several of her cousins' chagrin. Harmony had moved her Grandma Dotty into her apartment for the last four years of her grandmother's life, refusing to allow her aunts, uncles and cousins to move her to a nursing home. She had never understood how people could dump their own parents off with a bunch of strangers to take care of in their twilight years. After all the years her grandmother had spent raising her children, it seemed like a slap in the face not to reciprocate.
Her mother had also spent a lot of time helping her care for Grandma Dotty, even though she was dealing with her own illness. After her grandmother's death and the revelation of her will, her cousins had accused her of scamming the family for her own profit. Several of them had demanded that she sell the house and divide the money up equally. It made her physically ill to watch her own family turn into vultures as they tried to swoop in and claim anything worth more than a few dollars. The will had been very clear, however. The house and everything in it went to Harmony, including the car and the remainder of her grandmother's savings.
"Deer!" Auror and Serenity shrieked in unison, snapping Harmony out of her morose thoughts. She slammed on the breaks, barely dodging a fawn that had jumped out in front of her. Harmony felt her heart hammering with adrenaline as she watched the fawn suddenly realize that its suicide attempt had failed. It bounded out of the road and joined its mother.
"Stupid stupid stupid deer!" Harmony growled in exasperation. "Haven't humans been driving cars long enough for natural selection to have taken care of all of the stupid deer yet?"
"You're in the middle of the road," Serenity informed her as she craned her head to make sure no cars were coming from the sharp turn in front of them. "Natural selection is going to take care of us if we don't move."
Harmony pushed on the accelerator, but nothing happened. Great, the car stalled.
She pushed the start button, but nothing happened. "I didn't even hit the stupid thing, why is the car being so lame?"
"What if someone comes around the turn?" Serentiy asked nervously.
Harmony put the hazard lights on and tried to put the car in neutral, but since everything was electrical and the car wouldn't start, nothing happened.
"I'm going to go around the turn and flag the next car down," Harmony turned in her seat to inform them.
Aurora and Serentiy's eyes suddenly grew wide with terror. Harmony jerked her head back to the front to see a logging truck come hurtling around the turn at 65 mph. Time seemed to slow down as she saw their inevitable doom. Even if the logging truck braked and swerved, it would still hit them.
The logging truck suddenly shifted sideways, as if a giant hand had pushed it. It swerved all over the shoulder as it flew past them. Every time the swerving trailer came swinging toward the car it was as if it hit an invisible barrier and bounced back. As the end of the logs on the trailer finally passed them, the driver finally slammed on his brakes. Smoke filled the air as burning rubber squealed deafeningly across the road. Miraculously, the truck came to a stop without jack-knifing or losing any logs.
"You sure are good at finding trouble," a familiar musical voice spoke so faintly that she wasn't sure she didn't imagine it.
Harmony jerked in surprise when there was a loud clunking sound, and then the car popped into neutral. Harmony snapped out of her daze as the car started rolling backward. She quickly turned the steering wheel until she rolled onto the shoulder of the road.
A man with a long black beard and wearing overalls was walking toward her from where his semi-truck was now parked on the opposite shoulder a thousand feet down the road. His face was beet red and his expression livid.
Harmony slowly opened her door and exited the vehicle, her hands shaking violently. She stared at the long black lines in the road made by the semi-truck's tires, still smoking with burnt rubber.
"What the hell do you think you're doing parking in the middle of the damn highway?" the man bellowed at her.
"I swerved to dodge a deer, and my car stalled," Harmony answered, her voice quavering. "I couldn't get it to start again, and it wouldn't go into neutral without starting."
The man glared at her, taking deep breaths as he tried to get his own emotions under control. "It's a damn miracle you survived. A freak gust of wind nearly tipped me over and pushed me to the shoulder right before I hit you." He looked at her car, now on the shoulder. "I thought you said it wouldn't start?"
"It won't," Harmony told him, still trembling. "It just suddenly lurched back a second ago and started rolling backward."
"It just magically rolled backward," the man asked her, squinting suspiciously. "You a little funny in the head or something?"
"You saw it happen too, right?" Harmony asked her shell-shocked nieces through the window.
They both nodded vigorously.
"See, I'm not crazy," Harmony told the man defensively, though without much conviction.
"Here's a suggestion from me," the man said with a frown. "In the future if you see a deer, you hit that sucker. Swerving into the opposite lane is a whole lot worse than smashing into a deer."
The man stared at her for a moment longer, then, without another word, turned and walked back to his truck.
Harmony slowly got back into her car, trying to calm her frazzled nerves. She took a deep breath and pressed the start button. The car turned on.
"Okay, shall we see if we can get the rest of the way without incident?" Harmony asked her nieces with false cheerfulness.
They nodded vigorously again, and she pulled back onto the road, this time keeping her eyes peeled for deer.
She had never given much truck to guardian angels, considering it was religious mumbo jumbo, but she was having difficulty explaining how they were still alive. What were the odds that a giant gust of wind would blow the truck off course from plowing into them at the last second? Then there was the time it was swerving toward them as it passed on the shoulder and appearing to hit a barrier of some sort before it could hit them.
Get a grip, coincidences happen all the time. I just need to count myself fortunate that this one happened in my favor.
By the time they finally arrived at the theater their nerves had calmed, and they began their normal banter again. As they walked past the front of the car, Harmony stopped as something caught her eye. Right on the front of the hood of her car there were two small impressions that looked like handprints, as if someone really strong had pushed the car.
Aurora and Serenity followed her gaze, then gasped as realization dawned.
"Those are handprints!" Serenity said excitedly. "I'll bet it was Rhapsody who saved us!"
"I'm sure we just got bumped by the semi-truck when it was flying past us," Harmony disagreed weakly.
They both turned to stare at her skeptically, then pointedly looked back at the hand-shaped imprints.
"Weird coincidences happen all of the time," Harmony said defensively. "People sell grilled cheese sandwiches on eBay when it looks like a mythical historical figure. This is the same kind of thing. Now come on, or we are going to be late."
Her nieces shared a look that clearly said she was in denial before following her.
*****
After watching the matinée at the theater, Harmony was browbeat into stopping at a pet store. Her nieces insisted they just wanted some supplies and not an actual pet.
"Have you ever wondered about the vagaries of our language?" Harmony asked them as they walked down the cat aisle.
"What are you talking about?" Serenity asked in confusion.
"Why do we call domestic animals pets?" Harmony asked musingly. "Pet is what we do to them, not what they are. How many people get a pet gold fish and actually pet it? The name just doesn't fit the scenario."
"Going to the pet store rolls off the tongue a lot easier than going to the domestic animal store," Serenity pointed out. "Is this what you spend your time thinking about?"
"They could have come up with a specific name for pets that wasn't a verb and a noun," Harmony insisted. "We could have called them sniffers or something."
"That's an awful name," Aurora said distastefully.
"And it's still based on a verb," Serenity declared smugly.
"Well, come up with a better one," Harmony retorted defensively.
"Pets," Serenity replied in sync with Aurora.
Harmony glared at the two of them. "What are we looking for, anyway?"
Serenity made a show of searching the aisle before pointing at a cat bed. "There it is. We want this cat bed."
Harmony scowled down at it, her mind racing. "Did you two find a stray cat?"
"Nope," Serenity denied as Aurora shook her head.
"What do you want a cat bed for then?" Harmony asked in puzzlement. "You're both too big for a cat bed."
"It's a secret," Serenity replied firmly.
"Top secret," Aurora added, her eyes sparkling with intrigue.
Harmony stared at them silently for a few seconds. If they had found an animal to take in, she wanted to make sure it was safe and that they took care of it properly. Seeing how engaged they had been the last two days was a good sign that they were adapting to the death of their mother. She didn't want to ruin a chance for them to find purpose and hopefully, happiness.
"Okay, fine," Harmony gave in with a sigh. "Anything else?"
*****
Harmony sat in her study in a lounge chair with her laptop trying to get past her writer's block. She absently tapped the arm of the chair as she tried to focus on her current fictional adventure story, but her thoughts seemed to be playing ping pong in her head with the recent events. Her study usually had a calming effect on her nerves and gave her the mental comfort she needed to write her novels for hours on end. Not today. She kept having flashbacks to the semi-truck nearly extinguishing her nieces' lives. She had barely had custody of her nieces for a week and Aurora had almost died twice and Serenity once. At this rate, how would they survive the rest of their childhood in her care? It had already taken two miracles to save them; she wasn't sure how many more the universe was going to hand out.
She was distracted by an odd sound. It sounded like a mixture of a cat and a puppy. The sound started with a meow but ended in a whine. She creased her brows as she tried to match the sound with anything in her internal catalog of zoological sounds. Nope. Nothing.
She stood up, intent on finding the source of the strange noise. Looking out the study window, she saw her nieces casting around a makeshift fishing pole with a string on one end and some feathers on the other end. The long grass around them broke apart as a ball of bright green fur darted across and snatched it up in what looked like tiny hands. It was difficult to make out any details due to the creature being almost completely covered in long fur. She would have guessed it was a cat that someone had dyed green, except for its odd shape. It was an almost perfectly spherical shape and about the size of a soccer ball. There were two long cat-like ears poking out of the fur, right above a small face that was more reminiscent of a lamb than a cat. The oddly dexterous hands were barely visible through the length of the fur.
The creature held up the feathers it had captured and made more of those strange sounds that were a mix of a meow and a dog whine.
"Nice job, Juno!" Aurora exclaimed enthusiastically. She knelt and stroked its fluffy form affectionately.
Harmony squeezed her eyes shut tightly. She reopened them and peered at the creature. Nope,it still doesn't look like anything I've ever heard of. This explains what they wanted the cat bed for, I guess.
She pulled her phone out to take a picture of the ball of fur, but as soon as she pointed the camera its way, the creature made a nervous chittering sound and quickly disappeared into the long grass. Aurora and Serenity looked around warily as the creature raced off into the trees. Harmony stepped away from the window before they noticed her.
"Hey Siri, what kind of creature is the size and shape of a soccer ball, is extremely furry, and has opposable digits?" Harmony asked her phone doubtfully.
"The creature you're describing sounds like a fictional or mythical animal rather than a real one. However, it could be imagined as a fantasy creature, resembling a small, round, extremely furry mammal, possibly with a resemblance to a fictional creature from stories or games like "Furby" or similar. In reality, no such animal exists, but it's a fun idea for a creative concept!" Siri replied.
"Seriously?" Harmony sighed in exasperation. "So much for AI knowing everything."
Harmony frowned as she weighed her options. She could confront the two of them and demand to know where the creature had come from and why it was here. That might backfire though, considering they had explicitly told her it was their secret. Whatever it was, it didn't seem dangerous. Maybe Rhapsody would know what it was and if it was dangerous. Of course, she would have to get a chance to ask Rhapsody without her nieces overhearing or they would know that she had discovered their secret. Kids needed their secrets, and she didn't want to spoil their fun. She was pretty sure that only primates had opposable thumbs, so maybe it was some species of monkey? Bright green monkey…yeah, why not.
*****
Harmony wiped her sweaty brow with the back of her gloved hand as she stood up from her kneeling position in the garden. She had decided to prepare it for winter and see if she could plant some wheat while the girls were at school. The garden was in a fenced quarter acre plot to keep the deer out. There were raised beds in need of some attention after years of disuse and a line of fruit trees near the bottom that needed trimming.
She could remember when she was Aurora's age working in this garden with her Grandma Dotty. It seemed like a lifetime ago after the stressful events that led to her becoming her nieces' guardian, yet in some respects it seemed like it had just been yesterday.
"What're you growing?" a familiar voice asked curiously from a few feet away.
Harmony jumped about a foot and dropped the spade she had been holding as she spun around to find Rhapsody watching her with an amused smile.
"You need to wear a bell or something," Harmony declared as she let out an explosive breath. "My nerves are too high-strung for all of these sneak attacks."
"You really are high-strung, aren't you?" Rhapsody noted with a grin. She reached down and picked up the spade Harmony had dropped and handed it to her.
Harmony stared at her silently, her brain short-circuiting. Rhapsody wasn't wearing her goofy trap hat. Instead, she wore a kind of headband that covered most of her ears. The glasses she wore were a lot smaller than the giant ones she had been wearing during previous meetings. She could see why Rhapsody wore such large glasses now, as the smaller glasses failed to completely cover the girl's enormous eyes. There must have been some kind of major genetic variation in her genes to have such inhumanly large eyes. Her waist length red hair tumbled down her bare shoulders, contrasting beautifully with a green summer dress that stopped at mid-thigh. She was showing enough generous cleavage to make Harmony hastily look up into her large eyes. She was completely and painfully flawless.
Harmony started getting dizzy and realized she was holding her breath. She hurriedly took a breath. Rhapsody looked like a fairy tale princess, right down to the large eyes and small nose. She knew she was staring, but try as she might, she couldn't stop herself from gawking at the transformed woman.
"You okay?" Rhapsody asked in sudden concern, stepping forward and placing a delicate hand on her arm.
"Um...yeah," Harmony managed to mumble. She mentally grabbed herself by the scruff and shook herself vigorously. "Yeah, sorry about that. You just looked so different that it took me a minute to process it. Aren't you freezing?"
"It's still 55 degrees out here," Rhapsody said with a shrug that pulled Harmony's attention back to the generously displayed cleavage. "That's nice and toasty to me. Is that wheat you're planting?"
"Yeah, I wanted to try making homemade bread with all homegrown ingredients," Harmony replied weakly, forcing her eyes to look back up at Rhapsody's face. "Just to see what food tasted like that wasn't full of additives. My mom thinks I'll hate it because we've become too accustomed to preservatives."
"I have a feeling that you'll like it," Rhapsody said confidently.
"What are you up to today?" Harmony asked Rhapsody curiously. "Is there anything I can do for you, or was this just a social call?"
"Just a social call," Rhapsody replied pleasantly. "I wanted to get to know Harmony better. I heard that she's an author and has great taste in music. She sounds pretty fascinating, doesn't she?"
Harmony blushed at the odd compliment. "Is she normally spoken to in the third person, or is that just something Rhapsody does?" Harmony asked dryly.
Rhapsody laughed delightedly, the sound bringing butterflies to Harmony's stomach. "She's an author, so I just wanted to get into the spirit of literary convention," the small woman said lightly.
"Would you like to come in?" Harmony asked nonchalantly, willing herself not to blush.
"Sure, I've always wondered what the inside of this house was like," Rhapsody answered, eyeing the two-story house admiringly. "It's such a beautiful house."
"Thank you," Harmony murmured, feeling self-conscious. She kept the house pretty clean, but if she had been expecting a visitor she would have gone nuts deep cleaning it.
Rhapsody began walking ahead of Harmony toward the front door. Harmony couldn't stop herself from staring again as the small woman gracefully, even sensuously walked ahead of her. Even though she was short, her legs were very long in proportion to the rest of her body, and her hips swayed from side to side as she walked at a leisurely pace up to the door. When she was almost to the door she looked over her shoulder where Harmony was staring at her undulating hips in fascination.
"Where did you move here from?" Rhapsody asked, her lips curling as she saw Harmony's eyes jerk toward her face.
"Phoenix," Harmony replied with a mental curse at her traitorous eyes. Her cheeks had started burning shortly after Rhapsody arrived and didn't seem to have any plans to stop.
"I hear there are a lot of hot people there," Rhapsody said with a dimpled smile.
"You are almost as punny as Serenity," Harmony noted with a chuckle. "Would you like a tour of the house?"
"Definitely," Rhapsody replied with an eager nod. "I want to see where you keep the bodies."
Harmony shook her head ruefully at Rhapsody's antics. "They're in the garden now," Harmony informed her apologetically. "I just finished wood chipping them when you arrived."
"Wow, next level," Rhapsody laughed, causing the butterflies to erupt in Harmony's stomach again.
"So, this is the entryway," Harmony deadpanned as they stood in the small room separating the front room from the front door.
"No kidding?" Rhapsody gasped in mock astonishment.
"And here we have the front of the room," Harmony continued in a formal voice as they walked into the front room. It was large, with furniture scattered throughout the open space. A group of 4 bubble sofas were arranged around a coffee table. "As you can see, my grandma was partial to bubble sofas. She always said the point of furniture was to be comfortable, not fashionable."
"Bubble sofas?" Rhapsody repeated curiously. She swayed over to one of the single bubble sofas and sank back into it, her hands behind her head. "Wow, she was right."
Harmony felt her tongue stick to the roof of her mouth as she stared at Rhapsody. She was half-curled into the sofa with her long hair flared out behind her. Her long legs were on full display as her dress cinched up almost to her waist and the bodice of her dress threatened to overflow. She looked so appealing that Harmony's mind short-circuited again.
"I could get used to this," Rhapsody purred, her voice sending shivers down Harmony's spine. "These chairs fit me like a glove."
Harmony thought her face had been red before, but now she felt her neck, ears, and entire head burn hotly at the imagery Rhapsody induced with her words. Was she doing this on purpose?
"I wanna get up and see the rest of the house, but I think I'm going to need help," Rhapsody declared with a deep sigh that moved all sorts of things in her dress. "Can you pull me up please?"
Harmony had to remind herself to breathe again as she nodded mutely and walked over to Rhapsody. She offered her hand to pull her up and Rhapsody grasped it tightly. Her hands were small and slender, but her fingers seemed inhumanly long. Rhapsody pulled hard on Harmony's hand as she attempted to pull herself up. The unexpected strength threw her off balance and she tumbled forward onto the waiting Rhapsody.
Rhapsody had maneuvered herself as Harmoney fell so that Harmony's face landed between her breasts. She had fallen forward to where her knees landed on the edge of the sofa on either side of Rhapsody so that she was straddling the other woman. Harmony froze as the smell of spring flowers filled her nostrils. Unlike the pleasant and relaxing aroma she had become accustomed to, the smell up close was far more intoxicating. Rhapsody was still holding her hands, which were now raised up behind the small woman's head. She hurriedly attempted to pull her hands back to place them on the couch to pull herself up, but Rhapsody was a lot stronger than she looked. Her hands didn't budge, and her attempt to raise her upper body so that she wasn't face-planted in Rhapsody's breasts resulted in her knees slipping off of the couch so that she was lying fully on top of the other woman.
"Well, this is comfy," Rhapsody purred, her tone playful. "I suppose I can be your pillow, if I must."
Rhapsody finally released her hands and lowered her own hands down to Harmony's head. She ran her fingers through Harmony's hair with a murmured, "so soft."
Harmony felt electric shocks radiate away from Rhapsody's fingers as they gently stroked her scalp. She shivered uncontrollably as the intimate touch triggered a burning warmth in her core. She knew she must look absolutely ridiculous. Her knees were now on the ground, with her upper body draped over Rhapsody on the couch, her hands still stretched above her own head and resting near Rhapsody's head. She ordered her arms to move back down and push her off of the other woman, but instead, her fingers found Rhapsody's scalp and began mimicking the intimate massage she was receiving from Rhapsody. After a moment of shocked disbelief at her own limb's betrayal, she managed to pull them down beside Rhapsody's chest and push herself up, her face so red with embarrassment that she felt like she might just pass out.
"I'm so sorry, Rhapsody," Harmony blurted out in a half-panic. "I'm really not trying to act like a total deviant. I'm chronically clumsy and live my life from one awkward experience to the other. I swear it was an accident!"
She knew she was babbling but couldn't seem to make herself shut up. She stared at the other woman imploringly, her eyes begging for understanding.
Rhapsody was still laying where Harmony had knocked her back when she had fallen on her. Her hair fanned out around her in a wide halo. Her tank top had slipped up to reveal smooth skin and a flat stomach. The skirt had been pushed up to her waist on her outer-right thigh, showcasing her long, glorious legs. Harmony started getting dizzy again and realized she was holding her breath. Why the hell do I hold my breath when I get excited? So freaking lame!
Rhapsody's face was a mixture of regret and amusement as she stared back at Harmony, making no move to cover herself up. Harmony's overactive imagination immediately began over-analyzing every micro-expression and formulating the worst possible conclusions.
She's regretting ever coming over here, I can see it in her eyes, Harmony thought franticly. "Listen, I'm really not a creep, okay? I know that's how I'm coming across, but I really am just a clumsy idiot."
Rhapsody's lips curled up at the corners as she observed the flustered Harmony. "Did it look like I was complaining?"
Harmony stared into Rhapsody's playful eyes uncertainly. Unable to stop her treacherous eyes, they roamed over the ripe form of the other woman, drinking in her perfection. She gave herself another shake, wincing at how she must look. Thank goodness Rhapsody just seemed to find her roaming eyes amusing and didn't seem to be taking offense.
"Okay, how about the rest of the tour," Rhapsody suggested with a wink. "I mean of the house."
Harmony let out a hysterical laugh, then quickly covered her mouth in embarrassment, darting a surreptitious look at Rhapsody. The small woman was watching her with the same fond amusement as before, her lips curled up in a way that made Harmony ache inside. Those lips are way too expressive.
Harmony led her into the kitchen, stopping to get a badly needed drink of water. When she turned around from the sink, Rhapsody was right behind her, in her personal space. She gasped, attempting to step back. Her foot immediately hit the cabinet behind her, and she began windmilling as she started tilting backwards. Rhapsody grabbed a fistful of her shirt and pulled her forward, arresting her backward momentum. Rhapsody's hands were suddenly on either side of her waist beneath her shirt, steadying her. She felt another explosion of heat flash through her body as Rhapsody's delicate hands cupped her waist firmly.
"You really are the clumsiest person I've ever met," Rhapsody smirked up at her, hands still cupping Harmony's waist. "I'll bet you keep your guardian angel working overtime."
"You have no idea," Harmony sighed dejectedly.
"Oh, I do," Rhapsody murmured almost too quietly to hear.
Harmony stood there awkwardly wondering if she should start moving again. She couldn't make herself move away so long as Rhapsody's hands were on her waist - it felt too damn nice. And she didn't want to be rude…yeah.
Rhapsody gently squeezed her waist twice before letting go, making her stomach tense up and an involuntary giggle erupt out of her.
Rhapsody glanced back up at her with a sly grin on her face. "Oh, so you're ticklish, eh?"
"Extremely," Harmony admitted awkwardly. "Probably due to being so high-strung."
"You know, what you need is a good massage," Rhapsody announced firmly. "Anyone as high-strung as you are needs regular massages to get those muscles loosened up before they mess up your spine. Do you ever get massages?"
"No," Harmony shook her head, feeling uncomfortable as she began leading Rhapsody up to the stairs. "I'm too ticklish for massages." That wasn't the real reason, of course. She just couldn't bring herself to engage in something that seemed so intimate with a stranger. She knew it was ridiculous, but the thought of a stranger's hands massaging her muscles made her skin crawl.
"Nonsense," Rhapsody snorted derisively. "You just have to start out with a lighter touch and then increase the pressure once your muscles can tolerate it. Maybe you should stick to getting them from someone you know well, so that it's not weird for you."
"Are you secretly a masseuse?" Harmony asked with a raised eyebrow as they began moving up the stairs. Sometimes she would swear the other woman could read her mind. There were too many times where she would answer what Harmony was thinking rather than what she was saying.
"Not secretly," Rhapsody laughed, her sparkling eyes doing strange things to Harmony's insides. "Though it's mostly non-humans that I give massages to, so it's a little different."
Harmony blinked, trying to picture Rhapsody giving racoons and squirrels massages. When Rhapsody started giggling, she looked over at her suspiciously. Is she reading my thoughts?
"Sorry, I was just thinking about some of the old people that live nearby," Rhapsody said quickly.
"So, this is the girls' room," Harmony gestured in the open doorway at a room that was clean on one side and cluttered on the other. "You can tell which side is Aurora's by the clutter. Serenity is a bit of a clean freak, like me, so she keeps her side immaculate."
They could have had their own rooms, but after their mother's death, neither of them liked to sleep alone.
She led Rhapsody around the banister toward the study. She felt a growing sense of uneasiness as they came closer to her bedroom. Nothing special had ever happened in there yet, but with the way her body was reacting to Rhapsody, the thought of being in her bedroom with the other woman filled her with a mixture of excitement and dread. The dread was mainly due to her own ignorance and ineptitude. Even if she ever did end up with another person in her bed, it would probably be a boring and unfulfilling experience for the unlucky partner. It wasn't like she didn't have ideas or fantasies that she could bring to the experience; it was just that she was too self-conscious to ever act on any of them. She found it easier to imagine what it would be like to have an intimate relationship with Miss Right, without having to worry about ruining the reality of it due to her timidity. She was so hyper self-conscious when it came to intimacy that she had no doubt that she would clam up and ruin the experience for the other person.
"This is the study, where I get to make crap up all day long," Harmony gestured grandly at the medium-sized room. It was covered in bookshelves and a few pieces of comfortable furniture. There was an old writing desk with an antique office chair that was surprisingly comfortable. Large windows allowed light to fill the room and afforded a beautiful view of the redwood forest beside the house.
"So, this is where you put your marvelous brain to work spinning out stories like endless golden thread," Rhapsody murmured with a look of wonder on her beautiful face. "This place really is special. I'll bet your clumsiness is to balance out some kind of karmic balance. You have a tendency to put some of your characters through hell."
Harmony stared at Rhapsody in shock, her eyes wide. "You've read my novels?"
"Many times," Rhapsody nodded with a pleased smile. "I adore your creativity more than you can imagine."
"Oh," Harmony said faintly, feeling a slow flush working its way up her chest and moving inexorably toward her neck and face. She didn't have anything she would consider X rated in her novels, but some of them were pretty close. She never intended to actually meet anyone who had read her novels in real life. She felt like an inner piece of her character had been revealed to the other woman, a very private piece. Oh god, here comes that damn blush.
Rhapsody was staring around the study, pointedly not noticing Harmony's scarlet face. Harmony made a point of leaning over her desk, trying to hide her burning face. She hoped Rhapsody really was older than she had first thought. Some of the content in her books was definitely not made for teenagers. She felt fairly confident the other woman was an adult, at least. She was just too mature and knowledgeable to be an adolescent. Her face certainly looked older, now that Harmony could see more of it. She might even be close to Harmony's age.
"In The Chosen, where did you get the idea for the main character to be so pure?" Rhapsody asked curiously.
"I was going through a phase where I wished humans were better people," Harmony mumbled with an uncomfortable shrug. "I was trying to think of what life would be like for a human that was unreservedly dedicated to helping others all of the time. Riah was my idea of the ultimate selfless human. Well, half-human, as it turned out."
"She's one of my heroes," Rhapsody confessed with a shy smile. "I totally fell in love with her personality and outlook on life."
Harmony felt a pleased smile sneak onto her face before she could stop it. Riah had been her favorite character too, the pinnacle of human decency. Though…there were some pretty risqué scenes in that novel, including a three-partner relationship that had more than one erotic scene. She took a deep breath, willing the damn blush to bow out and leave her face to make a fool of itself without the peanut gallery to cheer it on.
"Can I come watch you write sometime?" Rhapsody asked hopefully. She bit her lower lip as she stared at Harmony eagerly. She's pushing all of my damn buttons! Did she get a cheat sheet from somewhere?
"Um…sure?" Harmony stammered tentatively. "It's pretty boring. It's just me sitting here typing."
"Sitting here typing and creating characters, worlds, and stories like a god," Rhapsody corrected her with a pointed look. "Who wouldn't want to watch a god in the act of creation?"
"I think that's the first time I've been compared to divinity in a non-insulting manner," Harmony snickered.
"That is a shame," Rhapsody told her quietly, walking up to stare into her eyes. "You are amazing, Harmony. I mean that."
Harmony stared into Rhapsody's tinted glasses, feeling a strange warmth spread out from her stomach into the rest of her diaphragm. She realized she was smiling and blinked in surprise. How could this woman make her feel so damn awkward while simultaneously making her feel so comfortable and accepted?
"Thank you, Rhapsody," Harmony smiled back at the unusual woman warmly.
"What's next?" Rhapsody asked expectantly, moving toward the door with a sense of eagerness. Was she excited to escape the study?
Harmoney followed her out and moved down the hall, suddenly remembering that the next room was her bedroom. Her face flushed before the thought even finished, and she cursed her bashful nature. She was a totally chill person in almost any scenario. She could make small talk with the best of them. She was unflappable in almost any kind of situation, but put her on the path to possible intimacy, and she began to flop around like a fish out of water.
"So, this is my bedroom," Harmony gestured at the open door, making no move to enter. "Pretty boring place."
Rhapsody walked past her and into the room, ignoring Harmony's mixed signals. Or perhaps she was just listening to the signals she wanted. She studied the large master bedroom, noting the enormous California king sized bed with a wicked grin.
"Things must get pretty wild up here for you to have that big of a bed," Rhapsody teased, eyeing the enormous bed with a calculating look. "I'd imagine you could get at least ten people on that bed."
"You'd be surprised just how much a single person can take up," Harmony snorted a laugh. "Aurora and Serenity occasionally crash in her for the night when they are scared. They both turn into pinwheels and twist around the bed all night."
Rhapsody threw back her head and laughed, a sound filled with joy. Harmony stared at the mirthful woman, wondering what else she could do to make her laugh. She felt like she was seeing something special, just out of sight, when she heard that golden laugh.
Rhapsody looked around at the rest of the room, noting the desk with a laptop on it and a few recliners. There was a vanity with a large mirror right next to a large walk-in closet. Rhapsody walked over to the large vanity with a curiously reminiscent look on her face. She gently lifted a pair of acorn earrings from a small cushion and held them up with a delighted smile. "She actually kept them. What a dear she was."
Harmony walked over to stare at the acorn earrings, then at Rhapsody's delighted expression. "You recognize those earrings?"
"I gave them to Dotty a long time ago," Rhapsody informed her with a gentle smile. "She was such a wonderful woman. I wish she could have stayed longer. It's not the same here without her."
Harmony felt her throat tighten with emotion as she stared at Rhapsody in a new light. "You knew Grandma Dotty?"
"She was a dear friend," Rhapsody spoke tenderly, her eyes full of memories. "I can't tell you how happy I was that she chose you to be her successor. It's almost like being with her again, being with you. She didn't write fictional novels like you, but she did write a lot of poetry. She wasn't as polished as some poets, but what she lacked in academic acumen she made up for in passion."
"She wrote poetry?" Harmony stared at Rhapsody wonderingly. "How did I never know about her writing poetry?"
"She was extremely shy," Rhapsody smiled indulgently, giving Harmony a very direct look. "She needed an outlet for all of that passion and desire. Poetry is where she found that outlet."
Harmony stared at Rhapsody, emotions racing across her face as thoughts raced through her mind. She spoke like she had known Grandma Dotty for a long time, like an old friend. She knew how futile it was to ask Rhapsody how old she was, but she couldn't stop herself from asking again.
"Rhapsody, how old are you really?" Harmony asked softly. She stared into the tinted glasses, hoping that she could get a real answer out of the beautiful woman this time. She needed something, if for no other reason to make her stop feeling like an old creep when she was admiring the beautiful woman.
Rhapsody stared back at her in silence for several seconds, her face pensive. "I'm older than you, Harmony. Can you accept that, at least?"
Harmony felt her pulse quicken at the admission, feeling a small weight fall away from her conscience. She nodded slowly as a small smile, unbidden, lit up her features. Rhapsody's returning smile felt slightly predatory.
Rhapsody gently set the acorns back down on the small pillow, then gestured for Harmony to sit on the vanity bench.
"What?" Harmony asked, eyeing the bench suspiciously before meeting Rhapsody's determined eyes again.
"Sit," Rhapsody commanded, her firm tone softened by the hint of a smile as she waited for Harmony to comply.
Harmony felt butterflies erupt in her stomach as she hesitantly obeyed the older woman. She stared back at Rhapsody through the mirror, suddenly self-conscious as the small woman met her gaze with a confident smile. Rhapsody raised her hands up above Harmony's head in the mirror and wiggled her fingers meaningfully, then brought them down on Harmony's shoulders and begin kneading. Harmony arched her back instinctively as she felt the pressure on her shoulder muscles.
"You can squirm all you want," Rhapsody told her with a sanguine smile. "But we're going to loosen these muscles if it's the last thing we ever do."
Harmony's face flushed with color as she felt the small woman's hands squeezing into her flesh, firm, yet gentle. She had never been a physical person, rarely receiving hugs or other physical signs of affection. Her mother had tried to show her affection, but working two jobs and always running low on sleep made displays of affection increasingly rare as she aged.
Having a person physically touching her was odd enough after a lifetime of minimal physical contact, but to have it done in a way that felt so good...it was a level of intimacy she wasn't prepared to deal with. She let out an involuntary moan of pleasure as she felt Rhapsody's thumb dig deeply into her shoulder blade muscles. She flushed a brighter shade of red when she heard the erotic sound that had escaped her mouth, her muscles becoming tense.
"If you tense up, I'll just have to dig in deeper," Rhapsody told her conversationally. "Now stop that. Relax and let your inhibitions go. If I don't hear a moan of pleasure when I'm giving a massage, then I feel like I'm not doing it right."
Harmony felt like she was being steamed as her entire body lit up like a Christmas tree. She tried to relax her muscles, but the thought of another embarrassing moan escaping her lips had locked her muscles up no matter how she tried to relax. Rhapsody observed her steadily for another minute before stepping back and making a peremptory gesture for her to stand up.
"I'm sorry, Rhapsody," she apologized in a mumble, feeling a sense of shame at wasting the beautiful woman's time.
Rhapsody observed her critically for a moment before grabbing her hand and towing her toward the bed. Harmony's legs tried to stop as her brain started melting down, but the smaller woman was surprisingly strong. She easily pulled Harmony along, in spite of her legs objections.
"Lay on your stomach," Rhapsody commanded her peremptorily, gesturing at the bed.
Harmony didn't move. She couldn't if she had wanted to. Her brain had disconnected from the rest of her body as what was left of her consciousness swam in a sea of mortification and anxiety.
Rhapsody walked around behind her and wrapped her hands around Harmony's waist again, steering her the rest of the way to the bed and firmly pushing her forward until she was laying on her stomach. Her breath came in quick gasps as her anxiety warred with desire. Rhapsody ignored her obvious internal battle and sat down on Harmony's back with her knees to either side of Harmony's waist. She leaned forward and began digging her thumbs into Harmony's shoulder blades.
"That's better," Rhapsody murmured with a smile in her voice. "Not nearly as tense now. We'll turn you into a puddle of goo before we're done."
Harmony felt heat flood her body at Rhapsody's words, her breath coming faster. The feel of the other woman's thumbs digging into stiff muscles was a new kind of ecstasy. Another moan escaped her lips before she realized it, eliciting an approving grunt from Rhapsody.
"Yeah, we're going to need to do this regularly or you'll just seize back up again," Rhapsody declared in a sanguine tone. "It would be a shame for all of this effort to go to waste."
Harmony shivered at the thought of this becoming a regular activity. She was in shock that any of this was even happening. She was in her bedroom with another woman sitting on her back, giving her a massage. The possibility seemed so ludicrous that Harmony was half-convinced that she was imagining the experience.
She had made peace with the idea that all of her romantic engagements would be imaginary, a much preferrable arrangement than the awkward nature of interacting with real people. Somehow, Rhapsody had bullied her way right through all of Harmony's walls and mental paper tigers until she was in a place she would never have imagined herself. Maybe she had just needed someone that would take charge the entire time? Someone that would see through her self-doubt and reservations, pushing her to reach new limits.
By the end of the hour, she really did feel like a puddle of goo. Rhapsody had the hands of a goddess. She had finally stopped blushing at every pleasurable moan that escaped her lips as the small woman dug her thumbs and fingers into her knotted muscles. Rhapsody's encouraging sounds of approval had overcome her embarrassment, and she had finally surrendered herself to the experience. Rhapsody finally stood up as the alarm for Harmony to pick up her nieces began sounding on her iPhone.
"You did good, Harmony," Rhapsody told her in tones of immense satisfaction. "We'll get his mental wall broken down in no time."
Harmony slowly stood up, a small smile on her face as she regarded the other woman. "Thanks, Rhapsody. I never thought I would feel something so wonderful in real life."
Rhapsody smiled mysteriously as she began moving toward the door. "There's more than massages in your future, young lady."