Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 21:09:44 -0800
From: Teh Genius <stories@tehgenius.com>
Subject: Beginnings/Another Rainy Monday Chapter 6

Legal Note From The Sarcasm Department

Do not read this story if:

You are not over 18 years old (or the legal age where you live).

Reading this story will land you in jail (unless you're into that type of
thing).

You don't want to read about men touching other men in somewhat
inappropriate places.

You are prone to masturbatory spraining.

This story is completely fictional.  It is not meant to represent or
reproduce any person or situation. If this seems to mirror your life in any
way, you're a lucky bastard.

Enjoy!

Beethoven And Bach
==================

	I woke to the sound of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, the gentle
melody interrupted every few moments by a loud sneeze from my mother.  I
crawled out of bed, grabbing blindly for my robe as I struggled to clear
the sleep from my eyes.

	By the time I made it downstairs, my mother had begun to play one
of my favorite piano melodies.  I started humming the tune as I made my way
downstairs, and once my feet hit the floor of the living room I started to
sing along.

	"Drawn by thee... our souls aspiring..."

	My mom glanced at me, smiled and began to play in earnest.

	"Word of God... our flesh that fashioned..."

	How she could get me to sing when I was barely conscious, I'll
never know.

	"With the fire of life impassioned...striving still to truth
unknown..."

	 I took a deep breath and belted out the last line with gusto.

	"Soaring... dying round thy throne..."

	She finished playing the concluding notes as I took a few calming
breaths.  Normally when "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" is played on the
piano, it's a rather sedate and relaxing song.  Unfortunately for me, I'd
recently seen Josh Groban in concert and could no longer sing it with
anything less than my full vocal range.  Once our little mother/son bonding
moment had passed, I headed into the kitchen to rustle up some food.

	I didn't even have a chance to make it to the fridge before she
asked me the most irritating question that I could think of.

	"How come you only sing for me?  You're in a band... you should
take advantage of it!"

	"MOM!  Are you ever just going to let that go?  I play guitar and I
write songs.  I do NOT sing in public, nor am I likely to any time soon!"

	Scowling, I headed out to the garage.  I snatched my pack of smokes
off of the workbench and headed for the tiny section of the patio in which
I was allowed to smoke.  My mother hated the idea of me smoking, like most
mothers do, but at least she had stopped asking me every day when I was
going to quit.  She used to smoke two packs a day until she got pregnant
with my little brother, at which time she appointed herself Queen of the
Reformed Smokers.

	I plopped down onto the little wooden bench that she had placed on
the furthest end of the veranda and lit a cigarette.

	"I figured you'd be out here!"

	Peeking around the corner was the Queen herself.  She was leaning
her head around the corner as if shielding her body from the smoke would
somehow keep her from inhaling it.  By this time I was convinced that she
was just bugging me so that she could get her nagging quota for the day out
of the way early.

	"What do you want NOW?"

	"I don't know why you risk ruining such a beautiful voice with
those things..."

	"It's the slowest and most enjoyable form of suicide that I know
of."

	Years of practice banter had perfected the straight faced delivery
of that line, intricately calculated to achieve maximum anger.  I calmly
blew smoke rings as she came fully around the corner.

	"That's not even funny, young man!  Why do you always have to be
such a little shit about everything?"

	"I learned from the best.  Now would you mind leaving me alone so
that I can get back to my smoky little death treat?"

	Uh oh... I wasn't expecting the wagging-finger-in-the-face move.

	"One of these days you're going to light your last one of those and
then we'll see who's sorry!  Those things cause impotence, you know."

	She crossed her hands over her chest and gave a triumphant mom
look.

	"Well, if my penis ever stops working, you'll be the first one to
know."

	"Sometimes I wonder if they switched babies in the hospital... how
you turned out so different than your brothers I'll never know."

	With that, she stormed back around the corner and into the house.
I sighed, stubbed out my cigarette and resolutely headed inside to make
peace with her.  I found my mom standing in front of the sink, muttering
under her breath and angrily swiping dirty dishes with a dish towel.

	"Are you going to come to the club tonight?  Sarah's going to be
there to hear our new song and I'm sure she'd love to say hi."

	"I don't know... I might.  Your dad is taking Denny to his baseball
game, so it would just be me in the house alone.  Wait... aren't you
supposed to be watching Angie tonight?"

	"No mom, that's tomorrow night.  Angie is spending the night here
so that Tess can go take care of her mom after the surgery."

	She dropped the dish towel and gave me a concerned look.

	"Are things OK with you guys?"

	"Yeah, ma... things will be fine.  Look, I have to go get ready for
work.  If you want to swing by the club tonight, you're more than welcome
to."

	I gave her a quick peck on the cheek and then headed to the
bathroom.  Luckily for me, she didn't follow with any more questions about
the whole Tess situation and I didn't volunteer anything.  After a quick
shower, I grabbed a change of clothes and my guitar and headed out the
door.  There were only 11 hours left until the unveiling of Davey's
Goliath's latest minor hit, which gave me approximately 10 hours and 59
minutes to think about Terryn.

Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk ======================

	"GameTex Marketing, this is Terryn."

	"I know it is, you nerd.  Don't you ever look at your caller ID?"

	I glanced down at the digital display on my phone.  The words
"Conference Room 1A" blinked slowly.

	"Geez Sunny, you could have just come in to my office."

	"No time.  Listen, your 2 o'clock meeting is about to start and
you've got to get ready for your presentation.  The projectors and your
notes are all ready to go, but if you're not in here in 5 minutes, there
are going to be several VPs that won't be too happy with you."

	"Oh shit... it's that time already?  Alright, I'm on my way."

	I hung up the phone, grabbed my jacket from behind the door and
made my way down the hallway.  Halfway to the conference room, I realized
that I was still idly chewing on the pen that had captured my attention for
the last 20 minutes.  I shrugged on my jacket, tossed the pen into a
garbage can and entered the conference room.

	As always, Sunny had taken care of everything for me.  Snacks and
drinks were arranged in an unobtrusive location and everything looked
spotless.  Sunny was standing at the head of the conference table with her
arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her face.

	"You look like you just got out of bed!"

	"Huh?"

	"Come here!"

	Sunny adjusted my collar and tie while I stood staring off into
space.  I've always hated the things, but when you deal with a bunch of 60
year old businessmen on a daily basis they become a necessary evil.

	"Did you even eat lunch?"

	"Huh?"

	"OK, now you're scaring me.  Here, eat this."

	Sunny handed me a Nutrigrain bar, which I gnawed at absentmindedly.

	"Hey... space cadet!  Are you going to be alright for this meeting,
or should I try to postpone it?"

	"Nahh, I'll be fine.  I didn't sleep well last night, so my brain's
on autopilot right now.  The upside is that I know this material like the
back of my hand, and convincing these guys that this is the right marketing
strategy for our next release should be a cakewalk."

	Sunny gave me a blank look.

	"I'll be fine!  Thanks for setting this all up by the way.  It
completely slipped my mind."

	"No problem.  Just remember to stay focused, and try not to eat any
more pens today!"

	Sunny left the room and I sat down in the chair behind the podium
for a final review of my notes.  A few minutes later, the VPs started to
file into the room and I launched into my presentation.  Sunny's fears
proved to be groundless as I went over the marketing campaign that we had
designed for our newest game, and the meeting finally wrapped up after a
rather lengthy Q and A session.  Once that had been taken care of, I
wandered back to my desk in time to see Sunny packing up for the day.

	"Wow... were we really in there for that long?"

	"Yep... it's almost 5:30, which means it's time to leave.  How did
the meeting go?"

	"It actually went very well.  I'm pretty sure that they're all on
board with our ideas, and I didn't even nod off once."

	I laughed and headed into my office.  Sunny poked her head around
the doorframe.

	"Hey... got any plans for tonight?"

	"Mmmm... not particularly.  Why?"

	"Well, I was thinking that you needed to get out some and clear
your head so that you don't end up zombified yet again tomorrow.  My
girlfriend and I are going out for some drinks tonight, and I'm sure that
she wouldn't mind if you tagged along."

	"Ahh... 'tagged along', eh?  Why does that make me feel like a
particularly sad piece of baggage?"

	"C'mon... you should meet Sarah.  I think you two will get along
great!  You're both snarky little bitches."

	Sunny laughed and flipped me off.

	"I don't know Sunny... I'm not really in the mood to go out and be
social tonight."

	"I'll tell you what... you come out with us tonight and hang out
for a little while.  The bar we're going to is right near your house
anyway, so if you don't feel like staying out too late you can always go
home."

	"Alright, alright... you win.  You guys going to Edgy's or The
Stone?"

	"Edgy's closed about 3 weeks ago.  Besides, The Stone has much
better bartenders."

	"OK, what time should I be there?"

	"I have to pick Sarah up after work, so I'd say 8-ish?"

	"Alright, I'll meet you guys there.  I've got a little bit of work
to take care of before I leave, but it shouldn't take me too long."

	"OK, boss... see you then."

	"I really wish you wouldn't call me tha-"

	I hadn't even finished my sentence before she had ducked out of my
office and into the hallway.  I shook my head and sat down to get to work.

	An hour later, I had accomplished absolutely nothing.  It's very
easy to waste time by idly clicking through emails and staring intently at
spreadsheets, and it's even easier just to stare at the ceiling.  Rather
than spend any more time in my chair I decided to head down to the company
gym before I went out for the night.  On my way to the gym, I made a quick
detour to the parking garage to grab my overnight bag out of the car.
Normally I'm not a very big fan of pointless exercise, but the occasional
stint on a treadmill gives me time to think.  Since I had been a full time
employee of GameTex for a few years, I had been assigned a personal locker
in the gym's changing room.  I changed into a pair of running shorts,
grabbed my iPod and hit the floor of the gym.  Luckily for me, there was no
one else using the gym at the time.  As I walked at a nice clip, I flipped
through the songs on my iPod and settled on some vapid Top 40 pop.  Once my
blood had started to flow, I cranked up the volume on the iPod and picked
up the pace.  My feet settled in to a nice rhythm and I began to count
along with my steps.  I had a whole slate of tricks to keep my mind
occupied in times like these, and the rhythmic counting was an easy way of
avoiding less pleasant thoughts.

	1...2...3...4...

	After a while, I started to mentally sing along with the music as I
stared out of the window.  The Gametex gym took up most of the third floor
of the building, and had a full slate of glass windows that overlooked the
street outside.  At nighttime, the windows offered an amazing view of the
bay, the water speckled with tiny lights that flowed back and forth.  If
you could look past the unceasing rows of headlights flooding the freeways
with light, the bay actually held a nicely pleasant charm.

	Once my second programmed run had completed, I shut off the
treadmill and headed back to the locker room.  I still had a bit of time
before I was supposed to meet Sunny and Sarah so I ditched the running
shorts and my iPod, wrapped a towel around my waist and headed for the
sauna.  Apparently the sauna had been used recently as it was still quite
warm and didn't take more than a few minutes to reach the heat that I was
looking for.

	The first blast of hot, stagnant air was a shock.  Since the
heating element was warm, a quick ladle of water added a nice burst of
steam to the air.  I scampered up to the top row of wooden benches and lay
down.  Realizing that I was still technically at work, and that it probably
wouldn't do to have just anyone seeing me lounging around in the nude, I
strategically placed my towel to avoid embarrassment and started breathing
in the cleansing air.

	As I lay on the bench, I could almost feel the steam seeping its
way into my pores.  I watched the air shimmer and sway above my head and
then slid into a nice, pleasant middle ground between sleep and
wakefulness.  Before I knew it, the timer on the sauna dinged loudly, and I
grudgingly gave up my very comfortable and relaxing spot.  As I stood up, I
enjoyed a leisurely stretch, feeling every little minor ache of my calf and
thigh muscles.  Being the good little boy that I was, I made sure to turn
off the sauna as I made my way to the shower.

	No matter how cleansed you feel after a sauna, a minute in the
shower is all it takes to prove you wrong.  As the water poured over me, I
actually felt good for the first time all day.  My workout had given me the
perfect opportunity to temporarily escape from my own mental space, and the
shower made me feel utterly clean and contented.  With a spring in my step,
I dried myself off and got dressed.

	One nice, comfortable pair of jeans and a T-shirt later, I walked
out to my car and headed to the bar.  As I pulled into the parking lot, I
could see Sunny standing in front of the door with what could only be the
girlfriend that she never shut up about.  Once I had parked my car, I
checked my hair in the rear view mirror, did a quick pit sniff and went to
meet evil incarnate.

	Much to my surprise, Sarah seemed nothing like the Tasmanian devil
that Sunny had described.  She was polite, seemed interested in what I had
to say, and showered me with baseless compliments.

	I figured that she was up to no good, but I couldn't figure out
just what was going on in that head of hers.

	We made our way into the noisy bar and found an open table.  The
girls decided on an opening round of rum and cokes, so I made my way to the
bar to get the drinks.  As I stood at the bar, the house lights dimmed and
the bartender stood up on a stool behind the bar.

	"Ladies and gentlemen... once again gracing our stage...Davey's
Goliath!"

	Everyone in the room burst into applause as I waited for the
bartender to take our drink orders.  He finally made his way to where I was
standing and asked me what I wanted.

	"Hey... I'll have three rum and cokes, please."

	He started pouring drinks just as the band started to play.  The
music sounded like a hundred other bands that were playing on the radio,
and I tuned it out as I fished some money out of my wallet.  As I handed
the bartender the money for the drinks, I happened to glance in the
mirrored wall behind his head.  I saw Sunny and Sarah dancing in the middle
of the floor, and I smiled.  They looked so cute together, dancing and
having a good time.  Sunny appeared to have mastered a technique that
involved throwing her hands up in the air with a complete disregard for the
rhythm of the song, while Sarah was doing her best imitation of a weeping
willow.  I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the two acting like
fools and having a wonderful time doing it.

	In the middle or their sporadic flopping, they pulled apart briefly
and between them appeared the band's guitarist.  I slumped into the bar
stool that I had been standing next to.  I turned around to watch Erik
play, drinks forgotten on the bar behind me.  I sat transfixed as I watched
Erik's fingers strum the guitar strings, the notes blending into the
melodies of the drums and the female lead singer.  I was vaguely aware of
someone talking in my ear, but I paid no attention as the song continued.

	As Erik played the guitar, he stared at the strings of his guitar
intently.  Just before the final bars, the tempo of the song picked up and
his fingers started moving even faster.  The sheer speed of his movements
was breathtaking, and every note was distinct for the fraction of a second
until the next one came.  With a crash of cymbals, the band wrapped up the
song.  Once again, the crowd erupted in applause.

	As the applause continued, I grabbed one of the drinks and downed
it in one long swallow.  The alcohol helped numb the shock of yet another
unexpected run-in with Erik, and I felt the warmth spread throughout my
chest.  Sunny and Sarah clapped along with the crowd, completely oblivious
to my discomfort as Erik stood and stepped up to the microphone.

================
Author's Note #
================

Apologies for the lengthy delay.  Apparently my ISP thought that I was
paying them money to NOT be online.

Another short chapter, but all I can say is "It begins...".

Thanks for sticking with me so far! :D

This story is dedicated to the perfect man in an imperfect situation...
here's to hoping that the future brings better tidings.

Copyright 2004 by TehGenius. Comments and constructive criticism
welcome at stories@tehgenius.com.