Ignite Your Bones

As he stole some more glances over at Courtney, Halvo began to feel bad. There was John and Andrea, deep in conversation, and then Halvo and Courtney, both just staring down at their menus.

Eric took a minute to observe her. She had medium length brown hair, sparkling brown eyes, and light tan skin. Halvo couldn’t stop staring. She was drop dead gorgeous. Shaking the thoughts out of his mind, he cleared his throat. He had to start some sort of conversation.

“So, uh, Courtney,” Halvo started, catching Courtney’s attention quick. “Tell me about yourself.” In the corner of his eye he saw John and Andrea smile at them before continuing their previous conversation.

Courtney was silent for a second. Eric could tell she was bad at things like this. Finally she spoke, “Well, what do you want to know?”

Shrugging his shoulders, he replied, “I don’t know, uh,” He tried to think of a topic. “How long have you and Andrea been friends?”

The mention of Andrea obviously made Courtney more comfortable, because a smile was planted on her face as she talked about her best friend. “Andrea and I met during our junior year, and we’ve been best friends ever since.” Halvo smiled at her, and Courtney said after, “How long have you and John been friends?”

Eric chuckled slightly and shook his head. “Since the seventh grade,” Memories began to flood Halvo’s mind. “Best friends ever since. Favorite color?”

Courtney smiled. “Purple. Favorite food?”

“Sushi!” Halvo said quickly, smiling.

Making a gross face, Courtney scrunched her nose and shook her head. “How can you eat sushi? It’s gross!”

Halvo looked at her in disbelief. “You must have had sushi from somewhere bad, because the place where I get sushi is delicious.”

Courtney smiled slightly. “I’ll just have to go there one day, then.”

The two smiled at each other for a while, just staring. Courtney really did have pretty eyes, they were brown yet they shined, and it truly amazed Halvo how gorgeous they were. The two were snapped from their thoughts when the waiter came to take there order.

As Courtney ordered her food Eric just stared at her, blocking out all the noise and just focusing on her. He began to study her face structure. Then he moved to her moving lips and her smile. He studied everything about her. She was breath taking, and it almost scared him.

It wasn’t like Halvo had never seen a pretty girl before. He saw pretty girls all the time. At parties, at shows, heck even when he walked down the street he saw pretty girls. Something about Courtney was different; she outshined all the other girls he had ever seen. It terrified him.

He shouldn’t be thinking these things. It was the last thing he needed. He shook his head, and took another sip of his beer, almost chugging it down. He felt a hand on his shoulder, catching his attention and making him but the bottle down.

“Whoa, you alright there?” It was Courtney.

Eric didn’t look her in the eye, but he nodded his head. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He swallowed the rest of the beer in one more chug and he saw Courtney’s eyes widen as he did so. “Excuse me, waiter, I’ll take another one.”

Halvo saw John give him a worried glance. “Uh, Halvo, you sure you ready for another one?”

Rolling his eyes at his best friend, Eric replied, “I’m not a kid, John,” he smiled at the waiter when he handed him another beer. “I can drink as much as I want.”

Courtney’s worried eyes were all Halvo saw in the corner of his eye. He had basically just pushed her away. He felt the guilt sink in him again.

Turning to her, he spoke, putting a grin on his face. “So, favorite movie?”

The smile that corrupted Courtney’s face made Eric’s stomach twist and as much as he tried to fight the feeling away, he couldn’t.

--

Courtney couldn’t help but feel a strange connection to the boy sitting beside her. As they continued their small talk, they conversations got longer and longer. They were in a very intense conversation about music, something Halvo obviously knew about, since he talked about it so passionately. It amazed Courtney how the one topic about music made Eric speak more than he had all night. He listed all his favorite bands and songs, as did Courtney, and she was surprised. His music taste wasn’t half bad.

While Halvo spoke about his band, A Rocket to The Moon, Courtney could tell Halvo truly loved playing. He told Courtney about each of the members of his band, and she felt like she knew them all already by the things he told her. Eric spoke about his personal favorite show they ever played, how so many people had showed up and knew all the words, and it made Courtney smile. She hadn’t seen anyone talk so passionately about what they did before. Courtney only wished some day she could do the same.

Courtney was confused on what she wanted in the world. She was twenty three and had not even the slightest clue of what she wanted. She was jealous of Eric almost. Here he was, same age as her, already in a full blown career. Then there was Courtney, who only had a part time job at Urban Outfitters.

She didn’t say anything about her jealously, though. She just couldn’t, she didn’t want him to feel pity for her. It was something Courtney hated more than anything. Over the past three years it was something she got a lot of. So she kept quiet, and let Halvo speak. It made her happy when other people were happy. If she could choose, that would be her career.

“We just played a Tempe show here, and we’re playing another next month,” Halvo’s words brought Courtney back, and although she spaced out for a bit, she heard every word he said. “I just really love playing Tempe shows.”

Laughing slightly, Courtney nodded. “Trust me, I can tell,” she said, taking another sip of her water, “All the stories you’ve told me were about Arizona shows.”

There was a slight blush that creeped Halvo’s cheeks, and Courtney laughed.

Then he asked the one question that Courtney knew he would eventually ask, but was hoping he wouldn’t. She hated when everyone asked the question. It made her stomach turn and she always felt stupid when answering.

“So, what do you do for a living?”

Courtney gulped before turning to Halvo and looking directly at him, into his eyes. Suddenly she felt more comfortable, and she realized it was because his eyes made her feel calm. His eyes spoke that he really was interested, that he really did care. She could just tell. Courtney wasn’t going to lie to him; she had to tell the truth. It was the kind of person she was. What she spoke were words she had never told anyone directly, not even Andrea, and she surprised herself when she realized she was really telling him.

Shrugging her shoulders, she spoke bluntly, “I do absolutely nothing, and I have no idea what I want to do.”

If only she knew telling Eric those words would change her life, and his, forever.