London Harmony: Feel the Beat (6 page)

She smiled and put the Phnatasm in its spot and buttoned up the case. She actually winked at me and started to open the case again. She pulled out the looper again and placed it on the ground. Next she switched on the amplifier, which I noticed already had two cords plugged into it looped back behind it in the case. Then she pulled out the microphone stand and mic. Then she reached over to one of the mouse ears and pulled a cord out of it. It was a retractable spool! She plugged it into the pedals with a little white pop from the amp.

Then she bit her tongue cutely as she reached over and pulled out the second cable from the other spool and plugged it into the mic.

She gave a Shakespearean bow. “Taa daa.” I so was caught up in her smug look and smiling back at her that it took a good three count for me to realize what she had just done.

I blurted, “Bloody hell!” I blinked in disbelief, setup of my gear took her a lot less less than five minutes, more like three. I was so excited I blurted, “It's brilliant Isabelle!” And hugged her before I realized what I was doing. I felt her stiffen in my embrace and stop breathing.
I'm such a git!

I let go and stepped back quickly. I looked anywhere but at her and brought a hand nervously to the back of my neck. Half of my brain was admonishing me for being so familiar with someone I had only met a day prior. Now I had made her uncomfortable. The other half was informing me that the honey scent had to be her voice because she smelled like lavender.

She started tearing down my equipment and stowing it back away as she said something like, “Okay.” and “Umm... alright.” Even through my embarrassment I had to smile at the efficiency of it as the cables retracted back into the mouse ears.

Then she stood and jammed her hands into her pants pockets and rocked on her heels as she scrunched her head to her shoulders. “So ummm, this is only a proof of concept prototype.” She indicated the spools with her hand. “When we determine what you want for your final setup, I'll have everything hidden and have a retractable charging cord for your battery.”

I froze when we caught each other's eyes again. Was she blushing? Why had she gotten so shy all the sudden? She looked down first.

She extended the handle on the case and pulled it to my side. I grinned and said, “What do I owe you?”

She waved it off. “I just used some old odds and ends I had sitting around gathering dust. Don't worry about it.” Then she stepped halfway to me looking nervous. “You know, I could help design your kit better if I understood your needs on the street. Mind if I tag along to observe you perform today?”

I took less than three milliseconds to decide if I wanted a sexy woman hanging out with me and blurted, “Sure!”

She rocked back on her feet and her confident demeanor returned in spades as she played it off. “Alright. Let me just grab my things.” She snagged a shoulder bag the same color as her hair and a white leather coat. I realized she was wearing a faded Frankenberry cereal tee. I had been so intent on her smile and eyes I hadn't noticed until then. I grinned because it matched her pink shock of hair.

We both reached for the handle of the equipment case at the same time. I stopped breathing when her hand landed on top of mine. I could feel the callouses from the work she did, but most of all I felt the heat of her touch. She didn't move her hand and I just looked down at our hands.

She didn't move hers so I looked up and she had an eyebrow cocked expectantly.
Oh!
I removed my hand and she grinned and pulled the case behind her. She offered an arm and I placed my hand on it and we headed back through the curtain with Percy on my other side, leaning into my leg. I kept sneaking glances at her, her lavender scent was apparent now. I caught myself tapping my thumb on her arm with each of her steps, keeping time to the rhythm of her stride.

We stepped out into the main shop and Scott stood from his reading. I looked at the gossip tabloid he was reading. “Those things will rot your brain Scooter.”

He grinned and laid on the Welsh accent heavily, “It's a good thing I have plenty of brains then, now isn't it?” I chuckled at him as he bent to clip up Percy for me.

He stood then grabbed an invoice from the counter and started handing it to me and saying, “The total came to...”

The look Isabelle shot him could have frozen a small planet as she snatched the paper from his hand and interrupted while she jammed it into her jacket pocket. The accompanying crunching crinkle felt like someone running a piece of sandpaper across my cheek. “As I told Abigail here, I just used some spare stuff I had lying around and my work is gratis since I'll be assembling her replacement kit.”

They seemed to be having a stare down. I was thinking maybe she wasn't being fully truthful about expenditures. Scott flinched first and said in a tone more red than purple, “But of course.” She jabbed a finger at him with a warning glare. He cocked an eyebrow then seemed to realize something and broke into a smile, bowing his head slightly.

As I released her arm to grab Percy's harness, I realized that I had never released her until that moment. I could feel my fingers start to cool as the heat of her touch dissipated, and I missed it. I was seriously crushing on my tinker wasn't I?

I looked at Scooter. “Thanks for opening today for me. I really needed the equipment today.”

He chuckled and said, “Thank Tink. She threatened me with bodily harm if we didn't.”

I glanced at her and she was finding something under her bubblegum pink fingernails extremely fascinating.

I grinned.
She did all this for me?
I could see us becoming great friends. I tilted my head and scrunched to catch her eyes. “Thank you for this, you are a lifesaver.”

She started to smile but shot a glance over at Scott then the smile left and she said coolly, “It's what we do here.”

Scott started to say, “No it's...” Then a burst of a purplish blue splash in a pond accompanied his, “Ooof!” as she backhanded his gut. He rubbed his stomach and cocked an eyebrow at her. Amused he said, “Striking your boss?”

She mirrored him by cocking her own eyebrow. “You're lucky that's all I did to you.” Scooter was extremely amused now.
What a great place this would be to work.

I reached for the handle of my case and Belle swung her playful glare at me. I froze and she grinned and took the handle and offered her arm again. The burn of the blush on my cheeks started was heading down my neck as I placed my hand on it. She gave an imperious look at both of us and just started walking toward the door.

Scott followed and bid me a good day and locked the door behind us when we left. She held me back after I took my first step toward the Tube station. She grinned and tugged me to the left. “My vehicle is just around the corner.”

I said quietly as I followed her, “I'm not getting you into any trouble with Scooter am I? I mean I can pay for...”
Bloody hell!
My mouth snapped shut at the glare she shot me.

She blinked at me then got a mischievous look that was adorable on her face. She spoke more to herself than me, “Cool, that worked as well as on the guys in the shop. You're easy.” She bumped hips with me playfully.

I chuckled and tried to defend myself with, “Hey, I'm not easy!” She pursed her lips, restraining laughter. I whined and pouted, “I'm not.” We exchanged smiles and shared a chuckle, then she turned her attention back on the walk. I started taking in the sounds of the city and bobbing my head in time with the pulse of the streets.

Once we turned the corner, I blinked at the three-wheeled Piaggio Ape van she brought us to. It was just like the ice cream vans I would chase through the neighborhood when I was small. It had been meticulously restored and had a deep candy apple red paint job and chrome accents everywhere.

I looked at the van, then her, then the van again. My smile was huge as I asked, “This is yours?” She nodded and I grinned as she used a key to unlock the box behind the small cab that would have been used to store the ice cream. She slid the segmented door on top of it forward and it recoiled into the box.

She grabbed my equipment case and I went to help her, with the battery in it, it weighed next to thirty-two kilos. But with a grunt she hefted it up and lowered it into the box and slid the door shut. I blinked at her. “Bloody hell woman, that weighs almost as much as you. You have some muscle for a tiny thing.” I grabbed her arm and playfully feeling her muscles and was pleasantly surprised I hadn't noticed how solid her arms were. She seemed to not mind.

She rolled her eyes and said, “Please, it's only just over half my weight. I'm always hefting things around in the tinker shops I work in.”

I almost purred as I said, “Well I approve.” Then I wanted to die from the embarrassment of speaking before thinking. She blushed and stepped over and opened a door for me on the tiny cab of the vehicle. I smiled as she helped me in like I was made of porcelain. When Percy jumped up onto my lap, I said, “This Piaggio is so you. It's perfect.”

She hesitated then shut the door and went around to the other side. It was quite a tight fit with the three of us in the tiny vehicle. We had to move Percy to her other side since she had to sit in the middle where the handle bars were there instead of a steering wheel. It sputtered to life before she looked at me and said, “I'm surprised you know what it is.”

I grinned at her. “I spent many an hour chasing Piaggio Apes in my neighborhood in pursuit of ice cream.”

She snorted. “Hadn't we all.” She gave me another of her appraising looks as we pulled away from the curb with all the yellow and crimson fury of a lawnmower. I wish I knew what she was looking for.

Then she said, “That must have been something to see. I can imagine the young hellion in a little sundress chasing down the van.” I smiled then she asked offhandedly, “So what was Abigail's childhood like?”

I grinned at the reference that I was a different person when I was a child. I thought on that, I guess we all were. We hadn't grown into the person we would become yet. Life was still so full of possibilities and magic. We were... innocent back then.

I stroked Percy's fur and started telling her of little Abigail and she shared little Isabelle's story as I gave directions to where I wanted to start at Covent Garden. She navigated the lanes at breakneck speeds. Okay, fine, it was a Piaggio and it could get up to traffic speeds in a couple minutes. I could ride a bicycle faster most likely. But it was so much fun to ride in!

We moved fluidly from topic to topic. We both didn't say much about our secondary school years like we were avoiding it. I know I was. She had a way about her that made you want to know more.

She seemed to wrap herself in a sarcastic shell to protect herself from something. I understood that intensely. It was my love and excitement for life that stopped me from dropping into a black depression when I was younger. The music of the world was my shield to keep the darkness at bay.

I noted she didn't ask about my eyes like she was avoiding the subject. Even though I appreciated it because I didn't want to talk about it, I felt a cold pang in my gut that I was making her feel uncomfortable. Maybe I was just reading more into it than was actually there.

As we made our last turn when we approached the Garden, she stared at my hands for a moment. I grinned. “What?”

She shrugged. “Nothing. It's just that you are always tapping a beat or swaying to some imaginary music. Your hands haven't moved since we got in the Ape.”

I looked down at my hands and shrugged, “The motor is drowning out the world. I can't feel the beat.”

We pulled into an open spot by the curb and she shut down the motor, her brow creased in confusion. “What beat?”

I shrugged again, I was doing a lot of that.
Use your words Abigail!
I exhaled then looked around. “Here, come stand out by me.”

I hopped out and it was comical, instead of waiting for her to slide out, Percy crawled over her to get to me, causing her to “Glurk!”

She got out giggling at my golden knight as he leaned against my leg. I said, “I guess we should have taken his harness off so he knew he wasn't working in the vehicle.”

She ruffled his ears then looked at me with a question on her face as she quickly pulled her hand back. “Oh, should I not be doing that when he is geared up?”

I looked around then leaned in like we were conspiring and said, “You're really not supposed to. They say it can get a dog confused about when he is working and not. But Sir Percival is smart, and I indulge the little bloke. He's pretty much a touch slut and will take it when he can get it.” I ruffled his ears. “Don't you boy?” He gave me his silly doggy grin as his tail swished.

I looked at her, released the harness, and stepped to her. I cocked my head a bit and took in the world. I started swaying to the colors swirling around and through me, the sounds of the world, drumming lightly on my legs as I assembled what my senses were feeding me into the music all around us. “Can you feel it? Hear it? It is everywhere.”

She tilted her head to listen, then looked up at me and shrugged. I sighed. It was so hard to explain, so I started with me. “I have what is called synesthesia, my brain isn't quite right, and most of my senses are cross-wired in my head. Most revolve around my hearing. To me sound isn't just sound, it is texture and colors swirling around me. I can feel it like I am touching it, and in some cases I can taste it.”