Night's Not Over

The Strokes was just finishing their gig that night, when Julian spotted a girl by the bar. The distance between the bar and the stage wasn’t close, but he knew a pretty girl when he saw one.

After helping his band mates putting away the instruments, he dashed to the bar so he could talk to the girl he saw.

“Julian!” Fab shouted at him but sighed when he knew he wasn’t going to turn around. “He didn’t even place my drumsticks properly, man. He just put it on the table and it fell,” he complained, taking his drumsticks.

“He’s probably getting a beer or something,” Nikolai replied.

At the bar, Julian ordered for a glass of beer next to the girl. He was about to talk to her when she talked to him first.

“Aren’t you the vocalist, just up there?” she motioned at the stage.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m Julian,” he introduced himself, offering his hand.

“Gemma,” she replied, shaking it. “I like your sound. You guys are going to be big, someday.”

Julian chuckled. “Thanks, I hope so. Can I buy you a drink?”

“I’m good,” she smiled, holding up her bottle of beer.

“I see you have met my cousin,” Nick suddenly appeared, his arm around Julian.

“Your cousin?” Julian asked.

“His cousin,” Gemma repeated. “I just moved here to live with his family for college.”

“Julian I don’t want you to monopolize my cousin, I want to introduce her to the others,” Nick butted in, putting his arm around her shoulder and guided her to the table where the other boys were. Julian watched her walk away to his band mates and came to the conclusion that he liked her ass.

As the night went by, Nick found Julian staring at his cousin every now and then, and he knew what was on his mind.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Nick said as Julian threw a dart to the board.

“Please elaborate,” Julian mumbled, aiming the dart.

“You’re thinking of fucking my cousin.”

“What? No. I don’t fuck people, Nick. You know that.”

“Well, not yet,” Nick shrugged. “At least, you’re thinking of getting in a relationship with her, find a new girl, and then dump her like you always do to the other girls.”

“God, you make me sound so horrible.”

“I’m telling the truth, man. Just promise me you’re not going to, like, screw around with her mind or something.”

“Please elaborate again.”

“Don’t be too close to her, I know what kind of guy you are,” Nick ended the conversation and went to the pool table. Julian just chuckled, shaking his head. Yeah, right.

∙ ∙ ∙

For the first time in ages, Julian held back the urge to sip every alcohol he saw that night just so he could remain sober enough to chat with Gemma when Nick was wasted enough to not pay attention to what was happening, and it was working. Julian found it safe to start talking with Gemma as soon as Nick started singing Bee Gees and slurring every word.

“How can you stand being Nick’s cousin?” Julian started the conversation, motioning his cigarette between his fingers at Nick.

Gemma shook her head. “I’d never seen him wasted like this before.” She flinched as Nick hit a high tone really, really badly. “Someone’s going to get a really bad hangover tomorrow.”

“So, um, from which side of Nick’s family are you from? The Tunisian side, or the French side?”

She leaned her chin on her palm and smiled. “Que pensez-vous?” (What do you think?)

Julian just gulped, hard. He found it extremely sexy when a girl spoke in a foreign language. “Français.”

“Oh, you speak French?”

“Well, I did go to Lycée with Nikolai. Here. In New York.” He flicked the ash of his cigarette onto the ashtray. “So what college are you going to?”

“I’m going to NYFA.”

“You act?”

“No, no. I mean, I do – a little. But I’m taking filmmaking.”

“You want to make movies?”

“I’m not sure if I want to, yet. It’s just – filmmaking is just really interesting to me, you know? I made a couple of short movies with my friends before and being behind the camera, recording and directing . . . it was just a really fun experience and I want to do stuff that I love for life.”

“You and I both,” Julian said, sipping his light beer. “So the answer to my question is you want to make movies.”

“That’s the conclusion, yes. What about you? When was the first time you felt like, ‘Damn, making quality music is what I want to do. This is what I want to do’?”

Julian sighed. “Maybe when I was... eleven? Or twelve? I don’t really remember. I just remember my stepfather introduced me to The Doors’ music and I was just like, ‘This shit’s awesome. This is what I’ll be doing when I’m older.’ And here I am, drinking light beer after doing a gig in a bar in New York.”

“And watching your best friend wasted, horribly singing – is he singing ABBA now?” They both turned to Nick who was now singing Dancing Queen with Fab, dancing with each other on the sofa. Nikolai just quietly sat at the end of the sofa, drinking his beer and held back the need of punching them so they would shut up.

“Apparently so,” he laughed. He looked back at her, adoring her stunning facial structures. “This will come out cheesy, but what he’s doing right now doesn’t matter because I’m talking to his beautiful cousin,” he finished.

Gemma turned her head from Nick and found Julian’s brown eyes boring into her blue ones. She just scoffed in amusement as a response. “Yeah right,” she shook her head, sipping her beer.

“What? I’m serious,” Julian smiled, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. She looked back and let Julian place his thumb under her chin and lean in. Their lips were an inch apart when Nick suddenly collapsed, hitting Julian from the side and knocked them down to the floor.

“Julian will always be the prettiest dancing queen,” Nick slurred on top of Julian.

“Get off me, man!” Julian said, pushing him off. Nick just laughed before closing his eyes. Of course he had to pass out on me before I could kiss his cousin, Julian thought, rolling his eyes.

Gemma sighed, staring down at her cousin lying on the floor, completely passed out. “I’m going to need some help getting him home.”

All six of them left the bar in Albert’s minivan, Julian driving because Albert wasn’t even more sober than Nick was. They reached the Valensi’s house fifteen minutes later. Julian scanned the minivan and it seemed like Nikolai was the most sober one, so he decided Nikolai was the one to watch over Fab and Albert.

Julian and the cousins went inside the house, only Nick was on his shoulder unlike Gemma who was walking by her own. After for what it seemed like forever for Julian, they finally reached Nick’s room and Julian basically threw him on his bed. Julian sighed in relief, watching the tall bastard curl up, cuddling his pillow and snored away. For someone that looked like a walking stick, he was pretty heavy.

“Gemma? You’re home?” Nick’s mother, Christine, suddenly appeared in the hallway and walked towards them. “Oh hello, Julian,” she greeted in her sleepy state before turning to see her son on the bed. “Always pass out after a night out at the bar, that boy,” she sighed, shaking her head and walking back into her room. Julian and Gemma only stared at her the whole time.

“Do you think she was sleepwalking?” Julian asked.

“My mother did mention something about Aunt Christine and sleepwalking...” she answered. They both walked downstairs and when they were at the door, Julian slipped a small paper into her hand.

“We should go out some time,” he offered. “Call me?”

With the dim light from the foyer adorning his face, Gemma just couldn’t say no. A small smile played on her face. “Sure.”

Julian smiled, nodding as a salutation. “Good night.” He turned around and walked back into the minivan, Gemma still watching. She finally closed the door after Julian drove away.