The Music Academy

Songs For Sang: A miniseries in 11 parts ~Part 5~

Today looked like it was going to be a good day to Nathan Griffin. His sperm donor was still out of town on his job, although, he'd need to look at the calendar because he had a sneaking suspicion, he was due back in town soon. And the last thing Nathan wanted or needed was to be caught off guard when he showed up.

He should probably clean house today. There weren't any jobs on his docket and the entire team was in the midst of getting ready to spend a year in an honest to goodness actual school this year. Even if they were working a job, it had been almost five years since they'd darkened a school doorway on the first day of school.

But first, breakfast. "Swim or jog today?" He pondered, staring out at the pool in his backyard. "Jog." He decided. It wasn't quite warm enough for swimming this morning so that would need to wait until later when the sun was higher in the sky.

After a breakfast of toaster waffles and orange juice, Nathan set out on his morning jog, listening to the country music through his earbuds as he approached his favorite part of the woods in their neighborhood. "Dang..." He muttered, stopping short and studying the large tree that apparently fell overnight.

He started to walk around it but stopped again, noticing branches moving. "We're definitely going to have to get this taken care of." He said, before making a mental note to talk to Mr. B. about it later. It shouldn't take long and if they all worked on it, it would be safe. He took his earbuds out, pausing the music on his phone so that he could send a text message when he heard a whimper. "Hello?"

"Hello?" A faint voice came down at him.

"Are you stuck? I never heard of a tree nymph unable to get free before." He felt the hesitation more than heard it since whoever it was didn't choose to speak. "Jessica? Is that you, sweetie? What are you doing up there? Does your brother know where you are? Why didn't you go around the tree, silly?" There was no answer to his running monologue of questions, and it dawned on him that it likely wasn't Jessica stuck up in the tree. "Hey, look... I'm backing away, just jump. Don't spend time thinking about things, thinking always hurts the team, you know?" He'd barely stepped back when a blonde missile flew out of the tree and landed in his arms, knocking him on his ass due to the surprise. He blinked as he looked up at her, blonde hair streaming wildly around her head, eyes as green as fresh mowed grass. He opened his mouth to ask who she was, but he found himself flushing as the words of the last song he'd listened to flowed out, in perfect pitch. "Long legs cutoff jeans. Pulling me in like a magnet. Your eyes locked on me; I knew right then I had to have you..." He sang.

The girl glared down at him before scrambling off him, pushing her hair out of her face. "Of course. Again... stuck in a Disney musical conundrum." She muttered. "Got anymore stanzas to sing, bud?" She crossed her arms. "I don't have all day and I'm not actually here to be sung to every time I meet someone."

Nathan squinted at her as he got up and dusted himself off. "So, you've been sung to a lot lately?" He asked.

She threw him a dark look. "Three times yesterday." She grumbled. "Moving here was stupid. I should go back to Illinois where no one bothered to look at me, let alone sing to me."

He couldn't help it, he laughed. "I'm sorry, sprite. It's a rough gig being stuck in a Disney movie."

She rolled her eyes at him and shrugged before laughing slightly. "If I didn't realize that none of you knew me before you sang to me, I'd assume you were bullying me for my name."

He frowned. "Why's that?"

"My name is Sang. Yes, like you sang me a song." She said, nose wrinkling as she clarified her name tense for him.

"I see." He smiled. "My name's Nathan." He extended a hand to her. "Welcome to the neighborhood." He said.

"Thanks, I think."

He chuckled at that. "I was on a jog... do you run?"

"For fun?" she blinked at him. "Oh, hell no." she shook her head. "Only when I have to for gym class or to get away from a knife wielding psychopath."

"Good to know. I'm happy to walk then, do you want to walk with me?"

"I should probably go." She said, inspecting her wrist.

"Oh, I have some cream at home that will help with that... bruise." He said, his gaze having fallen on her waistband, the shirt she was wearing had ridden up and he could see a bruise above her hip. "C'mon." He offered her his hand. "We'll pop in at my place, get the cream and see if anyone else is around today."

She studied him, a wary look in her eyes. "Okay." She finally said, reaching out and putting her hand in his. "If it helps the bruise go away faster, I'm in."

He grinned at her. "Good." He said, folding his fingers around hers and starting off down the path towards his house, shortening his stride to match hers as they walked.