Decode

She thanked him for letting her borrow his guitar and hopped on stage.

“Um, hey. I’m Cassie and I’m going to play a song called “This one’s for Keeps.” I hope you enjoy it.”

As she began to play the place quiet down. It was extremely beautiful the way she handled everything as if each movement was part of the show. The song seemed a bit vampirism and I wondered if she wrote this song just to sing in front of Robert Pattinson. Scott watched her as if they were the only two people in the room. It was cute. Jono listened as he lay back in his chair guzzling a pitcher of Mountain Dew. The lights were dim and my eyes were feeling heavy. People began to clap before I knew it. It startled me out of sleepiness and I began to clap as well.

“That was outstanding Cassie!” I exclaimed. She smiled, “Mandabach, you write that on school papers.”

“Well, I don’t lie.”

“Okay, Rob I believe it’s your turn to go.” Cassie told him.

“Oh yeah. Sure, I’ll go.” he said, grabbing his guitar and gracefully walking onstage. He didn’t say anything as the teenies whispered and the adults coughed. Rob sat down and cleared his throat. The guitar was beautiful. His voice was like an angel. I found myself surprised when I realized I was humming along to the tune. I sat in awe as he kept playing. When he was done, he returned to his seat as people cheered him on and insisted an encore, which of course, he denied.

“Rob, you did such an amazing job.” I said.

“I’m so glad I don’t have to follow that up. I feel sorry for the poor bloke that does.” Cassie laughed, drinking some propel. Jono and Scott sat in silence, but glanced at each other. I had more fun that night then I had in ages. Great, now I’m talking like Rob. He offered to give the kids a ride home, but they told us they performed the walk home.

“Be safe kids!” I yelled after them as Rob escorted me to the car.

“Thanks for taking me here with you, Rob.” I said. He looked like he was contemplating something in his head the rest of the ride home. When we pulled into the driveway, he turned the key and lay his head back. He closed his eyes for a minute as we sat there in silence.

“This is great, huh?” he asked.

“Yeah, it was great.” I smiled in the dark.

“Listen Brooke,” he began as the radio whispered a song out the speakers, “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Okay, Rob. You can ask me anything.” I said. I quickly regretted that. I would hate if he asked me anything too serious.

“So the Twilight premiere in London is coming up and, “he began. His words were getting scrambled.

“Just spit it out.” I said.

“God, I can’t concentrate anymore.” he said. He took a deep breath, “I was wondering if you’d like to come with me.”

“You want me to go with you?” I asked in disbelief. He nodded.

“To London?” I asked. He nodded again.

“The London in Europe, right?” I asked. He laughed, “Yes Brooke, I want you to come with me.”

There was a slight pause.

“I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I’d like it if you would.” he said.

“Rob, I’d love to go, but there’s so much I have to consider. I’ll think about it, alright?”

He stroked my hair behind my ears and leaned to kiss the top of my head.

“Okay.” he said, “Do you want me to walk you to your door?”

I smiled, “No, thanks though. I can walk ten yards by myself.”

He chuckled and watched me get out and stayed in the driveway until I had entered the door of my house. I went into the living room where the three girls were sitting there working on their own things, while talking to each other. When they heard me, they all looked up at the same time.

“Hey guys.” I said. They responded back.

“Hey what’s up?”

“Nothing.” they all said at once. I walked upstairs to my room and changed into some night clothes. I walked back down and entered the kitchen to find Jess rummaging through the cupboards.

“Hey Jess,” I called. She looked up at me.

“Hey Brooke.” she smiled, “Ya know, It’s been a while since we’ve actually gotten to talk.”

“Yeah, I know.” I said. I felt bad. She was one of my closest friends.

“Wanna talk?” she asked. I smiled and nodded. I missed how we were.