Ready When You Are

I shoved my keys into the lock, pushed the left, then to the right, until I felt a small click and turned the handle.

“You’re home late.” A voice said from the living room.

I sighed. “I got the job! There is this girl named Em who works with me and she is super-”

“I wrote a new song today.” I was interrupted.

I shook it off. “Oh, that’s good honey.”

Brendan was my second boyfriend, next to Jimmy King in the sixth grade. But that relationship lasted six days. Brendan and I had lasted 5 years. I loved him, and he loved me.

“It’s probably my best one yet.” Brendan told me as he got up from the couch.

I leaned up to kiss his cheek as he brushed by me, but he didn’t notice. Instead, he ran over to our computer. I sighed. Brendan had been super stressed about the band lately.

“Well,” I tried, “Could I hear it?”

Brendan bit his lip, his eyes still on the computer, “Maybe later.”

I nodded and walked to our bedroom. It had been a long, long day. All of a sudden, I felt my phone buzz.

I flipped it open and smiled at the message. “Hey best friend! It’s Em. From the record store.”

Why did she clarify herself? I chuckled at the last part. It wasn’t like I was meeting tons of people in Tempe. She was the first real friend I had here. She was also one of the first people to call themselves my best friend in my entire life. I just wasn’t that type of girl back in Seattle.

I texted her back and flung myself on the bed, curling up in the covers. Brendan always stayed up pretty late, usually chatting with fans on the guy’s myspace or going on with the band. Everything was about the band these days. Sure, it annoyed me sometimes. But I needed to support my boyfriend.

“Brendan, I’m going to bed!” I called from the bed.

I heard a call back, something along the lines of “Ok-fine-sure-yeah.”

I guess you could say Brendan and I were kind of like a married couple already. Right?

***

“Good afternoon, beautiful!” Emerson greeted me as I walked through the door, the bell on the top jingling.

I waved. “Hey Em.”

She smiled and stared at my shirt. “Where the hell did you get that?”

I looked down at my shirt. It was a navy tank top with a picture of the Love is Hell album cover. It was one of my favorite shirts, I wore it practically every day.

“Oh, it’s Ryan Adams. I got it online. Do you not like him?”

How could anyone not like Ryan Adams, I thought.

“The real question is, can I borrow it sometime?” Em said, still gawking at it. “But it looks so much better on you. Heck, everything looks good on you. You’re lucky I like you, Ken. Or I would probably hate you.”

Before I could even begin to process that statement, Em spoke up again.

“Ken, could you do me a favor? I haven’t eaten dinner yet and I just want to run over across the street and grab some Chinese.” Em said, looking over at me for a nod, “Plus there is a really cute delivery guy and I’m pretty sure this is his shift.”

I laughed. “Go for it. I’ll hold down the fort.”

“You’re the best.” Emerson said as she ran out the door.

I sighed as I walked over to the counter and sat on the stool, mindlessly reading a magazine Em had sitting out about celebrity gossip. I had never really been into that kind of thing, but the guy on the cover was pretty cute. Plus the store was empty, and there wasn’t much to do besides read into celebrity lives.

All of a sudden I heard the door jingle open.

A boy walked in wearing jeans ripped at the knees, a blue shirt, and boots. His hair was a dark reddish brown and he greeted me with a closed mouth, half grin. I gave him a sweet smile back. He was cute. And he didn’t look like the guys from back home, or really any guy I had met before.

I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he scanned a section of brand new acoustic. I knew Ryan Adams had just come out with a new album of acoustic songs, and I had been meaning to pick one up. From what I saw, there were only a few left.

The boy picked up a CD and smiled smugly and he brushed back his hair and looked at a few of the other ones. He saw one and made a face that I would make if someone had just spit on me. His facial expressions made me laugh.

He walked over to the counter, pulling out his wallet and setting down his money. I brushed my hair back and smiled, eyeing the CD he was buying.

It was Ryan Adam’s acoustic.

Now usually when it came to strangers that happened to be extremely attractive boys around my age, I was extremely shy. But I couldn’t help but mention Ryan Adams. He excited me.

“I was just thinking about how I wanted to buy this!” I noted to him.

The boy smiled. “Really? Yeah I love Ryan Adams.” He pointed to my shirt. “Apparently you do too.”

I nodded and laughed. “He’s my favorite. My brother got me into him.”

“No way, me too!” The boy said back.

I handed him his bag and change. I was really proud of myself. Not only was I holding a conversation with a cute boy, but I was holding a conversation with a cute boy who had a good taste in music. And by the way his beautiful green eyes were eying me, I thought maybe he liked me.

I shook myself for a second. I had a boyfriend.

“That’s so funny!” I laughed, looking at the counter and then back up at him. “I’m Kenley.”

I held out my hand and the boy opened his mouth as the door jingled.

“Babe, what’s taking so long?” A girl with red hair said as she walked over to the counter, immediately hanging off of the boys shoulder.

The boy looked down at her. “Sorry, I was just paying. Look!” he flashed her the CD.

“Great!” She said sarcastically, “We can listen to in the car. While you drive me home. Right now.”

The boy looked at her for a second, and then back up at me. “It was nice to meet you, Kenley.”

The only thought left in my mind as they walked out was ‘He forgot to introduce himself.’ And he had a girlfriend. And I had a boyfriend. So this works out.

I looked at the door as it jingled. The boy waved to someone in the distance as he hopped into a yellow car, the girl entering the passenger side. I sighed.

The door jingled again.

“Hey Ken! Did you see Garrett?” Em said as she walked in

I looked up at her with a puzzled look. “Who?”

“Garrett! That was Garrett. He comes in here all the time. Oh, and he’s in that band I told you about.” Em explained.

“Oh,” I nodded, “then yeah. He seemed nice.”

“And you met Sara too.” Em said in a less excited tone.

I laughed nervously. “Something wrong with Sara?”

Em simply said, “A lot is wrong with Sara.”