Away From Everything We Fear

Lacey:

“Why is it so fucking hot?”

I cringed as my best friend and I walked into my cool house. She set down her bags on my counter, “Oh, sorry.” She mumbled. She knew I didn’t like when people cussed around me.

I don’t really know why, but I couldn’t stand when people swore. There were so many words in the world, amazing, rarely spoken words. Words much more capable at conveying how you were feeling better than any cuss word ever could.

We had just gotten back from shopping, but she wasn’t kidding when she said it was hot. I could already feel perspiration on my forehead. That was phoenix for you. In the summer, the only times I really wanted to go out was in the morning or at night, anything in between wasn’t worth the sweat.

I looked over at my friend, Chloe, Chlois as I liked to call her. She had been my best friend throughout high school and now we were going to college in Tucson together. I wasn’t the only one that desperately needed a break from Phoenix.

“I need to change.” I told her before going into my room. I opened my closet and shook my head at the large array of clothing. Shutting it quickly, I went to my drawer and pulled out a plain, white tank top and denim shorts. I then went back to my closet and pulled out a brown belt.

The clothes I was currently wearing were sticking to my body. I lifted my shirt over my head and threw it in my dirty clothes basket. I turned to Chloe about to tell her that she could change too; I knew she must have been feeling the same way I was, but she was already going through my drawer. I smirked, we were way too comfortable with each other.

“What’s this?” I looked up from my belt buckle to see what Chloe was referring to.

My eyes focused on a small white piece of paper. I knew what it was, but I hadn’t looked at it since earlier this morning. “It’s a number.” I said nonchalantly with a shrug.

Her eyes opened wide and she raised an eyebrow. “And who is this Johno?”

“John.” I corrected. “And he’s just some guy I met this morning when I was running.”

A smile spread on her face, “And you asked for his number?”

I sighed and plopped down on the bed next to her. “It wasn’t like that. He almost hit me with his car,” I admitted.

“Oh…” She looked at me with squinted eyes. She was observing me. “There’s more to this story isn’t there?”

I shook my head quickly, “Nope, that’s pretty much it.”

She smirked, “You’re lying.” She got up to pace in front of me. “But the reason is why?” She stopped pacing and looked at me with bright eyes. “He was hot wasn’t he?”

I felt me cheeks grow warm, “Really hot? Except…”

Chloe squealed and sat back down on the couch, “Except what?”

I closed my eyes in frustration, “He’s not my type.” She looked at me confused so I continued. “He’s not like any other guy I’ve dated before, like everything about him is the exact opposite of Cam.” I said referring to my ex-boyfriend.

“Oh…” Chloe said. “Like the type of guy your parents wouldn’t let you date?”

“Exactly. He had this whole bad boy vibe about him, but for some reason I found it really, really attractive.” I didn’t know it was possible for my cheeks to burn even brighter, but they did.

We were laying on our stomachs now. I had buried my head into my bed. Chloe looked down at me with her bright light blue eyes. They were twinkling. “What?” I said, lifting my head up slightly.

“You should call him.”

I buried my head once more and shook my head making my hair fly around me. “That is not an option like at all.” I mumbled.

She shook my arm, “Look at me, Lacey.” I peered up at her excited, beautiful face. “Live a little. Make this summer worth it.”

I looked at the devilish grin on her face and I had to admit the idea of having a summer fling sounded like fun, except it wasn’t like me at all.

I smiled.

It was time I lived for a change.



John:

“Yeah, yeah, alright.” I said as soon as the song finished. “Let’s go over it again, but maybe move the guitar up half a step on the bridge.” I said addressing Kennedy. He nodded.

The sweat was pouring down our faces as we practiced in the small, cramped studio, but trust me; everything about making music no matter how much I sweated was worth it. I took a swig of my water letting the cool liquid cool me off a bit.

“Fuck, I feel like this city is burning from the ground up.” Garrett complained.

“You know what they say?” I said with a chuckle. “The weather in Phoenix is just preparing us for the after life.”

Pat looked at me with his head cocked to the side.

“Hell, Pat.” I told him. “We suffer in this heat now to prepare us for life in hell.”

He nodded, “Oh, I knew that’s what you were saying.”

The rest of the guys burst out laughing.

“Sure you did.” Jared said with a chuckle. “But hey, I don’t understand half the things John says either. He’s so cryptic.”

I shook my head with laughter, “Okay, enough with this small talk. Let’s get back to work!”

We began the song we were playing earlier trying to fine tune it for how we would be playing it on our next tour. My fingers itched with excitement at the thought. I couldn’t wait to hear the screams of the fans and to feel the rush of adrenaline I always got when I was in front of a crowd.

I smiled with content as the words came out of my mouth. I didn’t care if this sounded fucking sappy as shit; I felt so damn lucky for getting to do what I did. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I let out the last note letting it fade out of me slowly.

I gave Jared a high five, “That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”

“Can we take a fucking break now?” Kennedy groaned. His hair was flat with sweat at the back of his neck.

I nodded, “Yeah, we were great. We deserve more than a break.”

Kennedy’s face brightened, “Does that mean a party?”

“I could really use a drink.” Garrett agreed.

“Me too—” I stopped and let the rest of my words fade at the sound of my phone. With difficulty I fished it out of my tight jean pockets.

“Hello?” I asked.

“John?” A small voice said back. I nearly dropped my phone in surprise. “Hello, is anyone there? Oh my god, I think he hung up.” I heard her mumble.

I found my voice, “No, no, I’m still here. Is this lacey?”

“Yeah!” She said excitedly and I could tell she was surprised that I had remembered her name. I heard her clear her throat and another voice came through, but was muffled. Finally she spoke again, “Um, I was wondering if you wanted to uh… hang out with me tonight. There’s this party and—”

“I would like that a lot.” I blurted without even giving her time to finish.

“You would?” She questioned.

“Yeah, but…” I looked around at the guys around me. They were giving me questioning stares. I had yet to tell them about Lacey, but it had only been this morning and honestly from the look Lacey gave me this morning I didn’t expect her to even call. “Would it be okay if I brought a few people?”

She took a while to answer, “Who exactly?” And I could tell that she was trying to picture my friends.

“Just the guys in my band.” I said quietly. I don’t know why I was suddenly—I don’t know, ashamed? My mind flashed back to Lacey’s house. She definitely didn’t seem like the type of girl to date a guy like me, but I couldn’t deny that I had felt something between us earlier.

“You’re in a band?” She asked and I wanted desperately to see the expression on her face to see what she thought about that. To some girls being in a band was a complete turn on, but to a girl like Lacey who knew.

“Yeah, that’d be fine.” She said finally.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Let me just give you the address. Do you have a pen and paper?” I scrambled to get a pen. I covered the phone and shouted at the guys to get me a piece of paper. Why I was so frantic I had no idea?

I went back to the phone and steadied my voice so that it came out sounding collected and reassured, “Alright, go ahead.” I nodded as I wrote down the address. I don’t really know why since she couldn’t see me. I just always have been an animated talker.

“So, I’ll see you tonight?” She said breathlessly.

I smiled to myself, “Yeah, tonight.”

“Bye, John.”

As soon as we hung up the guys bombarded me with questions. I didn’t even mind their annoying questions. I liked talking about her.

But I liked the fact that I would be seeing her again tonight even more.