My Heart Will Stay In This Mid-Western State

I had lived in Joplin for about five years but I had never been to this venue before. I honestly didn’t know it existed.

People were filing in and not even being considerate of one another.

“Is this how it always is at shows?” I asked Chris who was standing beside me.

“Not really. It could just be you.” His tone wasn’t overly cheerful today. He seemed a little annoyed.

Did I annoy him?

He glanced at my outfit then lightly laughed.

My eyebrows furrowed. “What is so funny?”

“Nothing. You’re just wearing cowboy boots. I was in love with a girl who wore cowboy boots all the time.”

“Oh.”

“Well I am about to go on. You can just stay here backstage and watch. Personally I don’t think you could last out there in the crowd.”

He smirked at me then grabbed his guitar and walked out on stage. His ‘band’ followed suit.
I covered my ears as the crowd screamed terribly loud.

Chris began talking to the crowd as if everyone one of them in there was his friend. It was kind of annoying. They came here to see him play not talk.

Eventually he began to sing and it all sounded the same to me.

I do admit I tapped my feet to California. But it was just an overall catchy song.

The last few songs he sang were from “the old days”. They were actually pretty good too.
Though I could kind of tell that he was younger when he wrote them.

“Okay guys. To finish this off I’m going to play a sort of sad song. I’m sure we all have been through something like it in our lives.”

My ears perked up at the sound of it.

“It’s called The Past.”

I raised my eyebrows and listened closely to the words.

“I sing songs about the past. How I was raised and I was thrown out on my ass ‘cause I didn’t care about going to school.”

. . .

A few minutes passed and I was on the verge of tears. The raw emotion in the song made me have a little respect for Chris and his music.

After he ended the song and thanked the crowd for being so wonderful he walked off stage and the venue erupted in loud screams again.

Before Chris could see me tearing up I wiped my eyes then put on a touch façade as he approached me.

“What’d you think?” He asked in a considerably better mood then before he went on stage.

I shrugged. “Who knew that Mister Christofer had a past? You were alright.”

He seemed a tad disappointed at my remark but brushed it off.

“You should meet my family.” He said suddenly.

“What?” I asked in shock.

“Meeting my family could contribute a lot to your biography of me.” He replied smugly.

“Hmph. Fine. I guess we can do it tomorrow if your family isn’t at church or something.”

“They don’t really go to church anymore.”

“Is there a song about that story too?”

He rolled his eyes in a non-playful way. “Yes, there is actually. I played it. Weren’t you listening?”

I folded my arms across my chest in a defensive manner then replied, “I was listening. It’s not my fault you can’t hold my attention.”

He whispered something harshly under his breath then turned away from me.
“Come on, Carolina. I have to take you home.”

I followed a few paces behind him. The ride home was going to be another awkward silence. I just knew it.

As we left the venue Chris took a different road that did not go to MSSU.
“Uhm, where are we going?”

“You and I started off on the wrong foot. If you’re going to actually finish this assignment we need to get properly acquainted.”

I sighed a very loud and annoyed sigh.

“Like I asked before; where are we going?”

“Learn to have patience, jeez.”

I then began complaining rather rudely how I don’t like being kidnapped and how I could call the police on him.

He responded by blasting the radio.