The Singer and the Teacher

After I took Adriene home, I hopped back into my taxi and told the driver to take me back to where he picked me up. I leaned my head against the window as the lights of San Francisco passed by. Normally they would have calmed me and cleared my mind, but now they only cruelly reminded me that in five days I would have to leave another girl behind.

I would like to say Adriene was the only one, and that I've never felt like this before, but I can't. In my line of business, you meet girls all the time. Tall ones, short ones, skinny ones, fat ones; nice ones, mean ones, shy ones, cocky ones, slutty ones. Well, I've never met any teachers my age, I thought, picturing Adriene standing in front of a classroom, using a pointer on a chalkboard covered in Latin. I shook my head, clearing the image. Whenever I'm anywhere for more than a couple of days, someone has to come into my life and I have no choice but to ruin theirs.

Of all the girls that I've met, Adriene reminds me most of my girlfriend, Pilar, who has become a serious pain in my ass. She was so perfect, lovable and funny until I went on my first tour while we were together. She couldn't stop calling or assuming I was cheating on her. It didn't help that she lived in Chicago and had left everything behind to come live with me in Florida. I know what you're thinking; that I'm a horrible person and I should be faithful to my girlfriend, who would be waiting for me when I got home, and is waiting for me to call just once.

But like I said: I meet a lot of girls. Pilar came from a rich family, and had bought her VIP tickets to a Mayday Parade show in her hometown. I hugged her and signed her t-shirt like I do with everyone, but (she still won't admit this) she followed us to the bar, and then followed me to the bathroom. You can imagine what happened, and I thought I was in love again. It's going to be exactly a year ago the day after tomorrow, so she was not happy that Jake, Alex, Jeremy and Brooks all banded together and told her she wasn't coming with us.

This is also why Alex isn't happy with me. To him, a distraction is a distraction, regardless of how pretty it is or if it teaches teenage girls. The taxi stopped by the graffiti wall and I walked down to the nearest bar. Of course, that's where they were.

"Even though I think you're a complete asshole," said Jake while he handed his empty beer glass to the waitress. "I have to admit you at least picked one that isn't made from the same cookie cutter as the rest."

"I didn't pick her," I said, making him scoot over so I could sit down. "It's more like a happy accident."

"You keep making this sound like a good thing," Alex said, looking at the table. "She's a nice girl, Derek, do you have to do this to her?"

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked

"Seriously? Are we really having this conversation again? Because the last time you went and swept some other girl off her feet for a couple days, Pilar was at my house crying on Jessica's shoulder for over a week," he said, emphasizing with a fork. "First of all, I don't want her to brainwash my girlfriend. Second, she is your girlfriend. At least pretend like you have one."

"Pilar isn't that bad," Jake added weakly, but quickly hid his face in his glass.

"Dude, there's a reason we had to rent a beach house," I said, rolling my eyes. "I should probably call her."

"Good idea," said Alex, handing me his phone. I got up and stepped out to where it was quieter before dialing my girlfriend's number.

"Alex?" she asked.

"No, Derek," I corrected, but apparently it would have been safer to be Alex.

"You know, I love your music and all, but is it really that painful to call me?" her voice was quavering, but she sounded more angry than sad. "Am I such an un-inspirational person that you need to escape?"

"You're doing it again," I reminded her, making her sigh impatiently.

"I just can't stand this famous thing," she said, and I lifted an eyebrow. "Girls are always all over you."

"We've talked about this before," I said, a bubble in my chest reminding me why I had bothered to be with her at all. "You have to accept me for who I am. I love this."

"I know, baby," she said, and I could see her pouty lips through the phone. "It's just...hard."

"It's going to be okay," I reassured her. "I have to be up early tomorrow. I love you, okay?"

"I love you, too."

Guilt crashed into me like the sneaker wave that got Brooks earlier. I had to tell Adriene. She didn't deserve to have to deal with someone like me.

* * *

After Derek had left, I plopped down into my favorite recliner. This night was completely unbelievable. This entire day was something straight out of a fairy tale book, and I couldn't believe my luck. I got out of my dress and into something much more comfortable (flannel pants and a tank top) and grabbed my laptop. After browsing Facebook and Twitter, I went back to Google like I always do. Ah, yes, a new temptation. I glanced around my empty apartment like someone was watching me and typed "Derek Mayday Parade".

The couple of small picture previews made me feel warm. Like in real life, his eyes looked blue sometimes, but in the restaurant they looked green. I erased his name from the search bar and decided to do some research on Mayday Parade, which consisted of purchasing songs from iTunes and looking at pictures. Lots of pictures. Wikipedia was useless as usual, but something about a current girlfriend named Pilar made me nervous. I wasn't going to be that girl, the one that everyone hates.

The clock read two in the morning and I sighed. I turned off my computer, knowing that I'd hate myself when six o'clock came rolling around.

It felt like I had just closed my eyes when I heard my doorbell. At first I was clueless as to why someone would need to see me, but when I saw Derek through the peep hole, yesterday's events were tumbling back into my conscious brain. I unlocked the dead bolt and slowly opened the door. I hadn't turned any lights on and the hallway was bright.

"Morning," he said, holding up two coffees and a guitar on his back. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd bring the coffee to you." I flipped on the kitchen lights and could see the bags under his eyes, and that he was still wearing the same clothes, minus the vest. That told me he had lost more than just one night of sleep.

"You're sweet," I said, smiling and raking a hand through my hair. "Please, come in."

"Is five thirty too early?" he asked, setting the cups down on the dining table and the guitar on the floor next to him as I closed the door. I went into the kitchen to find something to go with our coffee and took a moment to splash some warm water onto my face.

"Oh no, I was just up a little later than usual," I said, patting my face dry with a paper towel. "Books always keep me up past bedtime."

"Are they in English?"

"You are oddly fascinated with my language preferences," I observed, sitting down at the table and inviting him to do the same.

"Just yours," he said, suddenly sounding nervous. "My girlfriend cusses at me in Italian all the time."

"I figured you had one of those," I said, smirking at him. "Amate lei?"

"Is there a language you don't know?"

"Yes," I said, popping the top off of the to-go coffee cup to see what it was. A mocha. Good man. "But Italian is the next language I'm learning for my masters. I asked if you loved her." I must have caught him off guard, because he stared at me with a dumbfounded expression.

"You're not mad?" he asked incredulously, sipping his coffee after a moment.

"No," I said, putting the lid back on the cup and taking a drink. "Everything happens for a reason. You never answered my question." I didn't have to remind him what question I was talking about.

"I don't know," he said miserably, covering his eyes with his hands. "Sometimes I can't imagine being without her and sometimes I want to murder her."

"Well then," I said, containing a smile. Of course I wasn't happy that he had a girlfriend, but I was happy that he wanted to kill her. That moment of satisfaction mortified me, and I tried to hide it behind my coffee. "I will miss you when you leave, regardless."

"I'll miss you, too," he said, grinning. "Oh, do you want to hear a song?" He didn't wait for an answer before getting out the guitar.

"Um," I stammered, feeling my face turn red, its favorite color whenever Derek was around. "Sure?"

"Actually, this is a special occasion," he said, and put the guitar back. "Get ready. I want to take you somewhere."

"What about your girl--"

"Adriene, I haven't had feelings like these in a long time," he said, moving towards me and setting his hands on my shoulders. "Humor me?" While my insides were melted into a puddle, he held my eyes even after I had spoken.

"Yeah. Just give me fifteen minutes." His girlfriend, the consequences of letting myself feel something for someone who was going to leave and that I had work in a couple of hours had been cleared from my mind ,and I was ready to take a leap with someone I barely knew.