La Vie En Rose

“Volcano Burrito” Garrett sang loudly as he settled himself on the cement and opened up the wrapping, “Get in mah belly!”

It was almost one in the morning by the time we arrived at Taco Bell. Unfortunately, only the drive-thru was open, so we took our orders and parked our cars in the deserted parking lot; luckily the back of Halvo’s truck had a latch to release the back and our Honda CR-V backdoor opened so we could sit on the ledges. The weather had suddenly dropped since the sun set, making me instantly regret not bringing a cardigan or jacket. Luckily, Lola had left her cheerleading hoodie in the backseat. I reluctantly put it on with no complaints. It could of been worse.

Halvo turned on the music from his car stereo and rolled down the windows. I recognized the music instantly. A Day To Remember. Finally, some music I’ve actually heard of.

“Awwww shit!” Garrett hopped up suddenly and started jumping up and down like a sardine with his burrito at hand, “Turn it up, Halvo, turn it up!!”

The red head, who I found out earlier was named Jared, started jumping along with Garrett. The music was turned up and the minute the singer screamed “LETS GO!”, Garrett and Jared crouched, swaying back and forth, pretending to air guitar. Bits of Garrett’s burrito began plummeting to the floor as he banged his head to the music vigorously.

I started laughing as I watched them, completely amused by the fact that they could air guitar so well. I was sitting on the back of my car, with a plate of cheesy nachos and a large coke. Everyone was gathered around the two cars, carrying on conversations amongst each other. The majority of the Maine were around my car - Garrett was now situated on the ground once more by Kennedy who was only a couple of inches away from my dangling feet. John and Jared were standing opposite me, who looked like they were having an engrossing conversation while Ross, Halvo and Lola were sitting on Halvo’s truck, doing impressions from the tv show The Office.

As I carefully picked at my nachos, I started eavesdropping on Garrett and Kennedy’s conversation. Garrett was babbling on about how he read an interview with A Day To Remember in some magazine and was complaining that they said their inspiration was based on bands like Slipknot.

“But A Day To Remember aren’t even remotely close to Slipknot’s sound.” I commented, without stopping myself.

Garrett looked up at me with a quizzical expression, “No offense or anything but have you ever listened to Slipknot?”

I moved my plate of nachos to the side, crossed my legs and sipped on my drink before replying, “How could I not listen to Slipknot? They’re a guilty pleasure of mine. Volume 3 of their Subliminal Verses albums was phenomenal.”

And the ice was finally broken.

Garrett and Kennedy looked at me with shock. Even Pat looked up at me with surprise.

“You-” Garrett started, “YOU like Slipknot!?”

“Shhh” I teased, “No one is suppose to know.”

“Lola!” Kennedy called to my sister, “Where have you been hiding this girl!?”

I laughed as they started asking questions like how on earth would a girl like me be into a hard metal band like Slipknot. I explained thoroughly about my wild endeavors during my high school years and how for the longest time I wanted to become a girl drummer as a profession because of a silly video I found of Slipknot’s drummer doing a ‘gnarly’ drum solo. A couple of jokes, funny stories and sarcastic remarks later, I was finally making my way with the guys. Jared and John were even taking part in our conversation.

Three O’clock lingered and we all realized it was time to go home. Despite it being piercing cold out, I was feeling melancholy that the night had to be over.

But maybe I was speaking too soon.

“G!” Lola caught my attention while we were alway saying our goodbyes, “We’re giving John and Ross a ride home.”

“Oh.” I answered in a nonchalant tone, “Cool.”

“Hey!” Garrett called to me, giving me a friendly hug goodbye, “You and me. Hang sesh soon. We need to paint the town red sometime, na mean?”

I laughed and nodded, “Sounds good.”

By the time I got back to the car, Ross had already called ‘Shotgun’ meaning I was in the backseat with John. Hey, I wasn’t complaining.

The minute my legs touched the leather interior of the backseat, I shivered. It literally felt like I was sitting on ice. I slammed the door shut and hugged myself in a very tight grip.

“Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.” I repeated through my chattering teeth.

Lola rolled her eyes as she started the engine, “Alright, alright. Don’t get your knickers in a twist!”

I looked over to my right and noticed John sitting comfortably, with a pleasant smile on his face.

“How are you not freezing?” I asked him as I rubbed my arms up and down vigorously.

“I’m not wearing a skirt.” He waved his hand over his black, skinny jeans.

“Uh oh” Lola said loudly, “I’m about to run out of gas. You guys don’t mind a quick detour, do you?”

“Not at all” Ross answered, “I think there’s a gas station around the corner, actually.”

I leaned my head on the window and sighed, still hugging myself tightly. I was trying to think of something clever to say to John but I was at a loss for words. So in risk of sounding like a complete imbecile, I sat quietly and listened to the soft hum of the radio. I think the song ‘Fireflies’ by Owl City was playing. Whatever it was, it was making me feel sleepy. My eyelids suddenly felt really droopy as the thought of sleep came to mind.

We arrived at the empty gas station in a matter of seconds. I lifted my head slightly and took in the surroundings while Lola parked.

“Lola, I should go in with you.” I sat up properly now, “This place is kinda sketchy looking.”

“How about I go in?” Ross insisted, already unbuckling his seatbelt, “Sending two, young ladies in there alone just screams trouble.”

I shrugged and sunk back into my seat while Lola agreed.

They took the keys out of the engine, hopped out and slammed the doors behind them. Complete silence. I looked over at John, who was texting on his phone. Well. This is sufficiently awkward. I turned my head towards the window and pretended to be interested with the descriptions on the pumps. They’ll be back here any second now.

“He has it bad for her.” John suddenly stated.

I whipped my head back around and looked at John with a raised eyebrow, “Who?”

“Ross” He pointed to the gas station mini-mart with his eyes, “He has it bad for your sister. He doesn’t shut up about her. He wants to ask her on a date but he doesn’t have the balls. In fact, he’s probably asking her right now, now that they’re alone.”

“Wow, well thats a relief” I chuckled, shaking my head.
“How so?”

“She doesn’t shut up about him either.” I replied.

Now he was laughing softly, “Ah, young love.”

“Tell me about it.” I muttered, suddenly feeling very envious of my sister.

“So, I have to ask.” John said as he stretched his arms behind the head-rest. I noticed as he did so, his shirt lifted up slightly, revealing a small part of his tanned stomach. I quickly diverted my eyes somewhere else, “What was that whole thing with the two girls back at the venue? How did they know you?”

“Wait, you didn’t know? I’m actually a porn star...” I answered sarcastically.

He laughed, “Yeah, and it makes total sense that a bunch of teenage girls are fans of your porn movies!”

I was impressed. Answering a sarcastic remark with another put you in my good books automatically. Not that he wasn’t already in them. God, those eyes...

“Kids these days, right?”

He laughed again shaking his head, “Come on, you have to tell me!”

Lola and Ross were now walking out of the mini-mart with huge smiles on their faces. Oh yeah, he definitely asked her. They both walked over to the pump and carried on a light-hearted conversation, acting as if John and I didn’t even exist.

“I’m a fashion designer, actually.” I answered honestly after my laughter died down. I thought about my answer and quickly added after, “Well, trying to be, anyways.”

“Wow, thats interesting.” He nodded, “I shouldn’t be surprised though, you dress yourself really well.”

“Thanks?” I answered. I was the surprised one now. I didn’t think he’d notice my outfits.

“Well it’s just, not most girls dress like you around here.” He now shifted his body so he was facing me, “It’s all about the sweatpants and their ASU college shirts. It’s pretty obvious you’re from out of town. Where are you from anyways?”

“I’m posted up at fashion school in New York City” I replied. A small smile creeped up on my lips at the thought of Manhattan. I missed it already, “It’s busy but I love it.”

“I’m going to be there in the spring, I think.” I tilted my head in confusion, leading him to explain, “I’m going on tour. It’s a huge tour, actually. We’re opening up for All Time Low and Mayday Parade.”

“Wow, congratulations!” I exclaimed, “I’m gonna be honest with you, I wasn’t aware of how big your band was until tonight.”

“We’re getting there.” He shrugged, “I guess you and I are on the same page. You know, trying to get our names out there and all.”

“I suppose you’re right.” I agreed, a soft yawn escaped from my lips, “Are we crazy?”

“Probably” He grinned at me. I felt my heart lurch in my chest.

I was so entranced with John’s magnificent smile, that it gave me a small fright when Ross and Lola got back into the car.

“Finally.” Lola stated as she turned the car back on, “That only took forever. Let’s go home!”

Ross turned the music up loud enough that it would be impossible to have a conversation. So for the rest of the ride home, we all sat in a comfortable silence, listening to the radio. I couldn’t help but steal several glances at John. I noticed he had a small smile spread across his lips as he had his elbow propped up against the window and leaned his head against his hand.

The first thing I did when I got home that night was turn on my macbook, open up iTunes and typed in the search bar, “The Maine”.