~~Year 2010~~
~~Ashley~~
Ashley sat up. Her bed. Her lovely, awesome, comfortable, super amazing bed. And normally it'd be empty.
"Julee, get up."
"Nnnng." Her friend rolled over and sank her face into her pillow.
"Get up!"
"Nng. Nnnn."
Ashley rolled her eyes, and pulled down the blankets to expose the brunette. Both of them were in pajamas, pink for Ashley, purple for Julee.
It was Ashley's bedroom, and the pink blankets were covered in pictures of kitties with big anime eyes. Julee preferred darker colors, and dogs instead of cats. Cause she was dumb. Cause cats were the best.
"Don't you have classes today?" Ashley said.
"Nnnnno. Professor taking day off."
Lazy ass professor. Julee was breezing on through her writing class cause the man was content to let his students not bother with class. Ashley's Language Arts teacher wasn't so nice. Second year university introduced some odd professors with weird habits.
Ashley crawled over onto Julee's back, and straddled her. Her friend didn't respond with anything more than a whimper and groan, and tried to dislodge her with as much effort as a comatose bear. Pathetic. Ashley laughed and lay down on her friend, elbows to the blankets.
"Got a boyfriend yet?"
Julee groaned and shook her head. "No. I thought Rick liked me, but I tried getting his attention a little more. Smiled at him, batted my eyelashes and stuff. Nothing."
"He's just a man, dumbass. You can't flirt and expect him to pick up on it. Get some of those marshalling wands those airplane guide dudes use, and guide him right to your pussy," Ashley said. And she laughed. Julee didn't think it was so funny though, and she whined into the pillow. Ashley's extra pillow. "Well fine, if you're going to be a baby, go to your room."
"No. I'm lonely."
"Oh I get it. You want love." Ashley snuggled her chest into Julee's back, and squeezed her legs around her hips a bit.
"Not from you anymore! Meanie." Julee squirmed a little more, but gave up a few seconds later. As per usual, girl gave up on anything after three seconds, even escaping Ashley's advances.
"I don't believe that."
Ashley put a kiss on Julee's ear, before her lips lowered to find her friend's neck.
Friends with benefits. Neither of them had boyfriends yet, or had ever slept with a man. But they'd found each other when they came to university, and when Ashley had flirted with her a little, just for fun, she'd been surprised to find Julee receptive. University was a time for experimentation after all, and a little alcohol later, the two got naked and spent the night having sex.
And kept having sex. A lot. University had a way of destroying inhibitions. Something to do with all the alcohol probably. And the weed. And just being surrounded by horny young adults all the time. And it was easier than finding boyfriends, men they could get along with.
Ashley leaned her weight onto one elbow, and slid the other hand down Julee's body. The brunette didn't resist; never did. Much as Ashley was often the initiator, Julee was always ready to receive. She slid her hand under the waistband of her friend's pants, down the crease of her lovely dancer's butt, and down to the folds of her delicate little pussy.
Julee wriggled and squirmed, but only enough to give the pretense she didn't want this. Ashley was a hornball, but Julee was like paper in front of a fire. Normally, perfectly calm, but the moment someone touched her with a flame, Julee was primed for major fucking. Any guy would be lucky to have her; a kiss on the neck and she was wet. Literally. Ashley's fingers found just a hint of moisture budding in the entrance of her canal, and she'd been teasing her a total of one minute.
"God you are such a slut."
"Not... nice..." Julee's voice melted into little murmurs, and her wriggling ceased. Which was Ashley's signal to get off of her, and pull off her pants. Girl didn't resist, not even a little. Not even as Ashley flipped her over, and grinned down at her.
"Legs all nice and smooth. Pussy too. Looking to jump Rick on the first date?"
"... maybe."
Ha. Ashley got down on her elbows between her friend's toned thighs, and leaned in to put a gentle kiss on her friend's clit. Immediate mewls. Ah, Julee Julee, acting so sweet and shy and innocent all the time, and craving sex more than any guy she knew. Ashley blamed the internet and all the porn.
Chuckling, she started to plant tiny kisses on Julee's swelling clitoris. But five seconds in, the door knocked, ruining what could have been an orgasm-filled morning.
"Yo, Ash! Come on, you're going to be late." Brad, yelling outside the apartment door.
"Shit, right. Coming! Twenty minutes!"
"What the fuck, twenty minutes?" he called. Yeah they were going to be late at this rate, fuckity fuck.
"Up up," Ashley said, and hopped off the bed. "Got twenty minutes to get dressed."
Julee sat up, and glared daggers at her. "Yooouuu bitch."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ashley sat down in the seat, and grinned her biggest jackass grin at the old fogy next to her. He had no business staring at her like she didn't belong. She was dressed nice! It was a beautiful, strapless thing with poofy shoulders, black with black gloves, and tasteful cleavage. Probably just staring cause she was young; his wife stared at her the same way.
Julee sat down next to her, and Ashley leaned in to her friend.
"We're surrounded by old farts."
Julee giggled, and pushed her back into her seat. She was wearing a similar dress to Ashley, but she opted for white instead of black, and her dress went down to the heel while Ashley's stopped at the knee. They were a matching set, as per usual. She liked that.
"Yeah well, I hear the Pale Lady likes to mix things up with her playing. Attracts the young and old."
"Yeah." Brad, looking delightful in his tux, leaned in over Julee to join the conversation. "I hope Chris was right."
Brad's boyfriend. The man had great musical taste, and he managed to find something most people could enjoy. But Ashley and Julee were different, they listened to music for more than just background noise. So, a little skepticism was warranted.
It was a damn nice place though, and Brad had the tickets, so it was a free nice place. The Grand Manorla Opera House! Fucking massive, with rows upon rows of seats, and a balcony, box seats, a fancy chandelier, and glorious, grand, red drapes. Drapes that would kill a man if you dropped them on him. The seats were so soft and lined with the same red color, and the railings between rows were colored ivory. And the stage, oh god the stage was massive. The red drapes were down, lined with ivory thread, and above were ivory dragons carved into the decor. So beautiful.
The building housed fifteen hundred people, and from the looks of it, every seat was full. Lot of talking going on, everyone some degree of excited or worried the show would be bad. No one had ever heard of the Pale Lady before a few weeks ago, when she'd suddenly started doing shows. No advertising though, just pure word of mouth that spread. And while Ashley and Julee weren't really into classical music, they appreciated it, and a lot of their musical taste included music with a lot of depth and complexity. Just because it was played on a synthesizer instead of a cello didn't mean it couldn't have depth or beauty!
The lights started to dim. The crowd started to quiet. Ashley's legs started to bounce. What would she sound like? What would she look like? Didn't matter, so excited! Just visiting the Manorla was a treat.
The curtains parted, and the crowd went silent. A woman sat in the center of the stage upon an armless chair, a simple thing of wood and black cushion. The lights were dim except for a single one pointed at the musician from a distant corner, casting her shadow long behind her. The cello stood proud on the stage, and she held it by the neck with finesse. Ashley didn't know what graceful looked like, until she saw the pale woman holding the monstrous instrument.
Whoever she was, she wore a black dress, sleeveless, with tiny straps over the shoulders. The skirt was long, very long, longer than her legs so it hid her feet. But it was the black veil over her head that had Ashley staring. It was see-through, and the light exposed the shape of her, the long hair that fell behind. White hair? It went well with her pale skin. Maybe she was very old? She was too far for Ashley to see her skin well, but she certainly didn't seem old.
And she seemed... majestic. She wasn't doing anything, just sitting there and waiting, bow in her hand and still upon the strings of the cello. No sound, no movement, nothing. Pure, distilled silence. Ashley listened, straining her hearing as best she could, until the sound of people breathing around her, and the sound of her own heartbeat was apparent. Everyone in the room waited, doing the same thing she was doing, until she was sure some people started holding their breath in hopes to hear the Pale Lady do something. Anything.
At last, she started to play. Slow, quiet, a deep note that she dragged out for a long time, with a touch of waver. Like a crying mountain. The urge to start writing danced on Ashley's fingers, but she'd have to wait until the show was done, then she could vomit words on the page until she had something worth sharing. Focus on the show for now. Another note, higher pitched, but still slow, shaking, a lamenting breeze.
The Pale Woman started to play faster. And louder. What were once quiet notes rose until the stirring and breathing of the audience was buried in the power of the instrument. Other instruments joined in, invisible until more lights joined the stage to expose the new musicians. A drummer, a bassist, a guitarist, and a keyboardist — definitely not a piano, as each note hit wasn't the typical vibration of piano string, but the digital-yet-beautiful sound of a choir. And the bass and guitar were electric! Electric, with distortion, but it was the cello that lead them with a louder, heavier sound. It was her show, and everyone else was there to support her playing.
And play she did. What had started as gentle melodies and eventual loud melodies, evolved into a flurry of notes that grabbed Ashley's ears, and pulled her into a skyward journey. The girl struggled to keep her eyes open; she wanted to close them so she could let the sound take her into the clouds in a rapid ascent before the turbulence and shredding notes spun her around. But she kept them open, desperate to see the motions, the way the Pale Lady almost banged her bow against the strings. The guitar was playing the classical melody, the cello was playing the shredding solo.
For an hour. Over an hour, the song went through movements, evolving the melody but keeping its structure. Key changes, time signature changes, tempo changes. For an hour, the Pale Lady and her four companions mixed classical music with metal with unique blends, with pinches of jazz, blues, and rock. But always it came back to the classical sound, controlled and dominated by the cello.
