Skipping a Beat

Reese Munn showed up at Luna’s during my second year working there. I had freshly turned seventeen and Claire had stepped up my hours so that now I worked both mornings and evenings. This was because I was the only employee she trusted during those busy times not to screw up with a customer, and she knew that these times paid better and she also knew I was saving for college.

Previously I only officially worked during the mornings, but every evening I would stop in and see if Claire needed any help. I loved Luna’s most during the evenings. I loved the wild thrum in the air that was contained into a peaceful slumber, I loved the whispers of friends and lovers in the dark, and I loved the intimacy.

It was only my second official night working evenings when Reese appeared. Claire had been scouring the city for some new talent to play there after our most popular guitarist got accepted to a university in England. As far as I was concerned she hadn’t found anyone worthy of Luna’s yet, but when Reese strode in and took charge of the stage, I was sure that this was our new regular guy. Just the way he walked was as if he was born for a place like this, slow and lazy but confident and focused. He walked like he had a goal but he’d take his own sweet time getting there.

The lights were dimmed then, the mood settling down and people resting back in their chairs as Reese pulled a beautiful guitar out of a case and touched it as if it were his favorite lover. Claire came up behind me, wiping her hands on a towel because she had been cleaning some machines; she had been brought forward by the sudden hush over the crowd.

“Isn’t he just a doll?” Claire asked in her sweet voice, slightly tinged southern. She had moved up here five years ago and each year her accent faded more and more.

“Who is he?” I said, my eyes focused on the way he lightly tuned the instrument, his fingers gentle like a feather or a paintbrush.

“His name is Reese, I found him yesterday playing on a street corner for money and I hired him on the spot,” Claire said her voice bubbly and warm, like she was talking about a grandson she was too young to have yet.

“You really have a problem with that don’t you?” I asked teasingly, my side bumping into hers playfully as I stacked the clean coffee mugs up on the counter in front of me.

Claire laughed softly under her breath and shook her head, “Trust me Laura, you’ll see why. That Reese is something special.”

I rolled my eyes but smiled affectionately at her, “I’m sure you’ll prove me wrong Claire, you always do.”

“Look who’s a good little employee,” She patted my head, mussing the hair that was there and my hands flew to the top of my scalp to pat it back into place.

“Laura why don’t you do me a favor and relax, whenever you’re uptight it freaks the customers out,” Claire said, dropping her voice lower as Reese started his first strums on his instrument.

I nodded and she scurried away back to the kitchen, I checked to see if the coffee was still good and realized that it had turned cold in the late evening hours and dumped the remainder of the pot down the sink. Reese started right into a slow and soothing melody then, the notes coming from his soft strumming fingers like breath in cold air. It billowed up and up, lightly fading with each second until you breathed again and it started all over.

The crowed watched as if they were mesmerized by Reese and it seemed as if they almost were. His notes came out low and gradually got louder. The melody was one I’d never heard before and it seemed as if it was the melody of Luna’s itself, it would its way down the ground, buried roots there, stuck to the walls and to my ears. It snuggled into every crevice like it had found a home and I remember closing my eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath as Claire had told me to do. I let the melody carry me away for a second before my eyes opened and I was back in the real world.

Reese had his head tilted down; chocolate colored hair fell over his forehead and blocked his eyes from my sight. His arms were toned and skilled, the muscles contracted as they moved and his foot tapped a steady and soft beat against the floor. His clothes were slightly loose on him and his T-shirt had slid to show off his shoulder blade. It seemed as if every girl in the room was noticing what I was noticing: that Reese Munn was undeniably attractive.

Some of the girls almost visibly swooned when he lifted up his head with a tiny little grin on his lips. I watched them from my place behind the counter and felt sorry for them. I knew guitar players well, and they were selfish, they looked out for themselves, and their music always came first. They were impossible to be around, much less date or marry. I could tell just from the way Reese’s moss eyes glinted that he was no different than any other musician in New York. He was just as self-centered as all of them, and he was basking in the glory of the attention that he was getting right now.

One his first song was finished; it was only silent for a moment before everyone began clapping. Not loud cheers or whoops, but gentle clapping, skin against skin and he smiled and waved slightly at the crowd, leaning forward on the stool so it let out a creak.

“You guys are a great crowd, thanks for the welcome considering this is my first time playing here. I’m Reese Munn and I’ll be here all week!” He finished, earning a few chuckles from people in the crowd as he ducked his head again and started to play again.

It was at least half an hour after closing time before everyone finally cleared out. Then it was just Reese, Claire, and I left to clean up the mess that the evening crowd had left in their wake. It seemed as if in the evening people were less willing to stand up and walk the two feet to the garbage can. Claire turned the lights brighter again and sighed, blowing her hair up and out of her face, “God I thought they’d never leave.”

I laughed and leaned up against a table, the broom in my hands feeling too heavy this late at night. “That’s only because you’re too nice to kick them out.”

“Damn my niceness,” Claire cursed, making her way slowly over to the garbage cans to empty them. Reese was slowly picking up his things and tucking them into his case on the stage. His set had been filled with one melody after another, each one smoother than the last. It seemed as if the crowd had been hypnotized and it took them a full ten minutes to stir even after he had finished playing.

“What I don’t fucking understand is why the hell people feel the need to put gum on the bottom on the tables. I thoroughly believe there is a special place in hell for people who do that,” I cursed as my hand touched something slimy underneath the table I had been leaning on.

Claire laughed from across the room, “Amen.”

Reese remained silent as he finished packing and slung his case over his shoulders, starting to slink his way over to the door and out into the night.

“Not so fast,” Claire called from the far side of the room, “As an employee here you’re liable to help us clean up, weather you serve the coffee or not.”

Reese froze in his steps, looking up over his shoulder with a guilty smirk on his face, “Damn so close.”

Claire smiled and held out the full garbage bags to him, “Take these out the back to the dumpster.”

He nodded and grabbed them from her grasp, moving past her and out the back door, he never broke his lazy pace or moved any faster and we looked after him for a few seconds before he was out the back door and out of our sight.

“Damn he looks good walking away,” Claire said under her breath but loud enough for me to hear.

I chuckled and started to wipe down the tables, “You cougar.”

She flushed and tucked some hair behind her ear, “He might be too young for me but he’s not to young for you,” she winked at me.

I pretended to gag in the middle of wiping and gave her a sharp glance, “I’m not dating right now.”

She sighed, “I don’t understand while a living, breathing teenager girl wouldn’t want to date.”

“It’s a waste of time,” I shrugged and moved on to the next table, this time my back was turned to her so she couldn’t see my face.

“I don’t buy that excuse missy,” she called me out and i was glad she couldn’t see my face.

“Well it’s the truth, believe it if you want,” I said, my voice sharp and final so that she might drop the subject.

It was quiet for a few moments after then, the silence not uncomfortable yet but it had the potential to be. Just in time to save us both Reese came lumbering back in and smiled at Claire while wiping his palms on his pants.

“Start stacking the chairs on the tables Reese, but only the ones Laura wiped off,” She commanded him, she slowly swept the floor as he moved on to grab the chairs and start to pull them up onto the table tops as I went along in front of him wiping them all down. It was the ancient dance of cleaning up, I was leading it because I already knew all the steps, and he was just learning.

We didn’t talk while we worked, which I was grateful for. I had never been much good at making small talk with people I didn’t know too well. I had never been the social butterfly that my older sisters had been, I was more reserved and quiet and I never knew what to say. Reese didn’t seem to mind the silence; instead he seemed to enjoy it, humming softly under his breath. So softly that I could only hear it when he was close to me, the soft melody recognizable as the first one he had played tonight and I felt the roots start to wrap around everything again and I tried to keep my mind focused on the task at hand.

If only I hadn’t allowed myself to be dragged in by those roots, maybe then I would have never felt this pain.