Love Song

Tommy lay on his bed in his room. His headphones were on and the music on his Mp3 player was as loud as it could go. He heard his parents, his drunken father and his pitiable mother, arguing at the top of their lungs. He heard plates smash and things being thrown. Even over his music he heard the screams and the crashes.
He finally decided that he’d had enough. He needed to get out and he called the first person he thought of — Matthew. Matthew gave him a way out. Tommy didn’t know that Matthew was in a band. It would be nice to see him play some music.
He got his keys and ran out of the house as fast as he could. He got into his car, a Honda civic from the late 90’s; black. Driving across town to the address that Matthew gave him, he felt relieved finally be in silence. He felt nervous to see Matthew again, though. He thought that was odd. He wasn’t really a nervous person.
The house was two stories, painted white with navy blue shutters. Tommy thought he’d traveled to an episode of Leave It to Beaver. He walked up to the door that was on the side of the garage where Matthew told him to go and knocked. He heard a voice tell him to go in, so he gently opened the door and walked in.
The first person he saw was Matthew. He was at the front of the band, sitting on a stool in front of a mike with a guitar. When Matthew saw him and smiled, Tommy felt a flutter in his stomach. He smiled back.
Afterwards, he turned his head to look around the room at everyone else. He hadn’t really noticed that there was anyone else besides Matthew. That’s when he saw her. It was Tanya…or at least it looked like her. She smiled at him and stuck her hand out.
“Hi, I’m June,” she said with a bright smile.
Tommy took her hand without taking his eyes off of her face.
“Is there something on my face?” she asked putting the fingertips of her other hand on her lips.
Tommy shook his head. “No, sorry, you just – ah…”
He couldn’t find the words to express the confusion and shock that he was feeling.
“You just missed Matthew’s song,” said another guy. He seemed cool and calm when everyone else was tense and awkward. “Let’s go through Serenity one more time.”
Everyone except for June got behind an instrument. Matthew stayed in the front. He must be the lead singer, Tommy thought. When they started the song, Tommy couldn’t help but look at Matthew’s happiness and smile. Matthew started to sing words of peace and being alone. The look in his eyes told Tommy that Matthew was speaking from experience.
The band went through two other songs. One was an existential song and the other was about a death and grieving. Tommy was worried that all of these songs were coming from Matthew’s mind. Is that really how he felt about life? He didn’t like that.
The band wanted to go out and celebrate the fact that they had a new manager, which was June. They all caravanned to a local restaurant. They ordered sodas and snacked on appetizers like nachos and Buffalo wings.
“So, how do you and Matt know each other?” Andy asked.
He has called Matthew Matt for the second time. He’d never heard him called that before.
“Um…We knew each other in the sixth grade,” Tommy said.
“Oh…that’s cool.”
The look on Andy’s face was suspicious. He didn’t seem like he believed Tommy. Maybe he just suspected that there was more to the story. There very well could be. But Tommy wasn’t really ready to admit it.
Tommy felt out of place. Everyone seemed close and familiar with each other. Even though he felt uncomfortable, he enjoyed seeing Matthew smile and laugh with his friends. He felt like he didn’t want to take his eyes off of him, but at the same time, he didn’t want to seem weird. So, he looked away every few minutes.
It started to get dark outside and Tommy started to get tired. But they were still there, celebrating. They seemed to talk about whatever they wanted, and they were loud. Tommy could barely gather his thoughts. Finally, June spoke up.
“It’s getting late, you guys. I’ve got work tomorrow.”
“You’ve got work on a Saturday?” Andy asked.
“Not everyone can just kick back on the weekends, Andy.”
Everyone broke apart. Andy and Brian, the bassist, were gonna stay out and go to a night club that was directed towards teenager that was recently opened. It was called Escapade. They asked Matthew if he wanted to go with them. Matthew gave one look to Tommy and shook his head.
“No, it’s okay,” said Matthew. “I think I’ll just go home.”
“I-I can give you a ride,” said Tommy.
Andy smiled and Tommy was suddenly even more nervous than he was before. Not only would he be alone with Matthew, but Andy was beginning to get suspicious of their friendship. But, was it really just a friendship. There seemed to be a lot more between them, even though they spent nearly no time together since they met again the day before.