Meet You There

Two taxi rides and a stop at the liquor store later we made it back to our apartment. “Well this is home” I said as Taylor opened the door, “home is nice” Sebastien commented. “well there’s 2 bedrooms there, bathroom there, and everything else is here” I said giving a basic tour as Taylor racked the fridge for soft drinks and pulled out some plastic cups and a bucket of ice… our fathers had us trained well in the art of ice making and to always have it on stock mainly because we never knew when they would drop by and have a drink.

“Okay, our make shift bar is open for business, feel free to be your own bartender” Taylor announced before finding a good chill kind of playlist for us to hang out to. “Drink?” I asked Sebastien looking at the counter and pouring myself some Alize and Lemonade, “whatever you’re having” he said gesturing to what I was pouring. I handed him his glass and took him outside onto the balcony, watching the sun set. Pat of course had his camera out snapping photos of the sky and us as we all sat there lazily.

“Hey wanna see something cool?” I asked Sebastien, he smiled so I took that as a yes, I took his hand and walked round the side of the balcony to the stairs that led to the rooftop. “This is… this is… wow” he said looking at the view which only got better as you came higher, I walked over to my favourite spot on the roof and sat down, my back against a wall, gesturing to Sebastien to sit down next to me. “So how have you been Sebby?” I asked him, we hadn’t really had much of a chance to really talk just us two all day. “I’ve been good, busy” he sighed, smiling at my choice of nickname, “how about you?” he asked, “I’ve been good, second last year of uni” I said shrugging.

“Question, what’s on your necklace?” he asked breaking the momentary silence, “Your guitar pick” I said simply looking down at it, “the one I bought you for Christmas 5 years ago”, “you turned it into a necklace?” he asked, “ah yeah, so that I could carry a part of you with me everywhere I go” I said quietly, awkwardly taking a sip of my drink, “and you still wear it even now?” he asked intrigued, “truth be told I’ve never taken it off” I admitted shyly. “Why?” “because no matter what, even after all these years I think you still have a small part of my heart, and I think I have a part of yours” I admitted, it might sound cheesy but it was true. “So does that mean you don’t have a boyfriend?” he asked slyly, “not currently, I had a few but… what about you, got a girl?” “Not right now… but there’s this girl, she’s beautiful, I’ve got my eye on her” he admitted making him smile. My heart sunk in my chest, there was no way he would be talking about me and therefore no way he’d be returning my feelings, “If you’re happy then I’m happy” I said, uneasily pulling a smile, it was true, no matter my feelings.

We sat there for a little while longer just enjoying the music and talking about random things, I didn’t think I had missed him this much to be quite honest. “Another drink?” I asked about half an hour or so later, “Sure” he said standing up then outstretching his hand to help me up. As we walked down the stairs and around the corner the rest of the balcony came into view, “umm when did all these people get here?” I asked really confused, “we haven’t been up there THAT long have we?” Sebastien asked looking at me, “I don’t recall bringing so many people back here…” I said as we walked through a maze of people on my balcony and inside to grab some drinks, as Sebastien disappeared off to the bathroom.

“Hey Kate… Dee… umm when did you get here?” I asked my friend Kate, looking at her a little confused, “about 10 minutes ago” Kate said, as Deanna held up a few bottles of drinks they had brought with them. “aha… I see…” I responded trying to work out when hanging out with a few friends had turned into about 50 people squeezed into my apartment. I knew every person in here, I just wasn’t expecting this to happen. “so where were you?” Deanna asked as I picked up a bottle of Vodka, “I was up on the roof with Sebastien” I said quietly, “Sebastien? That name rings a bell” Kate joked, “so you finally found yourself another guy named Sebastien aye?” asked Deanna, “ahh something like that. So did Tay tell you guys we were having a party or something?” I asked, quickly changing the topic. “yeah something like that” said Deanna, “I recall getting a message that said ‘chill kind of party at ours, wont let you in unless you bring a bottle of something for the table’ so here we are” explained Kate.

“I see…” I muttered, “looks like Pierre got the party he was looking for” Sebastien whispered into my ear as he reappeared behind me. “and this is?” asked Kate nodding her head towards Sebastien, “oh sorry, guys this is Sebastien, Sebastien Lefebvre. Seb this is Kate and Deanna” I said introducing them. “nice to meet you” Sebastien responded politely, “what are you having?” he asked stepping around me towards the counter, “vodka and lemonade with a few slices of lemon pretty please Sebby” I responded as he poured a few drinks.

“wait a sec, is this THEEEE Sebastien?” Deanna whispered to me sounding shocked, as her and Kate’s eyes widened in anticipation of my answer. I stood there bitting my lip not knowing how to answer the question as Sebastien came towards me handing me my drink, so I just nodded. Their eyes widened and they began to grin as Sebastien threw his arm around my shoulder and smiled at me. “Hey guys I’ll be right back…” I said with a smile, wiggling out of Sebastien’s grasp and heading over to the stereo.

If there was THIS many people here for a ‘party’ we might as well have a REAL party, so I changed the playlist to one that had more upbeat/party music and turned the volume up a little louder. “Now THIS is a party” Pierre yelled slinging an arm around me, beer bottle in his other hand, “Pierre you’re lucky I love you and love a good party, but I swear if you trash my apartment…” I warned him. “Don’t worry I won’t trash it” he said with a devious smile, “you better not Mr Rockstar” I warned him again, this time while laughing.

“Speaking of Rockstars, go speak to your rockstar!” he said pushing me back towards Sebastien. I didn’t realise my feelings had well… be so clear to people other than myself, making me wonder if the attraction I thought I was seeing from Sebastien was apparent to everyone else. I left Pierre with a cheeky smile on my face and returned to Sebastien and the girls, “If you lot don’t mind I’m just going to steel this, this and some of this … and him” I said picking up an almost empty bottle of vodka, some raspberry soda, ice and Sebastien, before disappearing back towards the roof.

“I don’t recall you being such a drinker” Sebastien said pointing to everything that was in my hand, “please, there’s like what? Three maybe four drinks left in this bottle… and last time I checked, I can drink just as much as you” I said with a ‘smart ass’ tone, “and a few drinks never hurt anyone when telling each other stories” I added. “okay then what do you want to hear” he said smugly, raising his eyebrows, “okay, recording process. Go!” I shot at him. “stayed in Montreal, we were all broke because everything went into making the record, our parents thought we’d get nowhere with it all so didn’t really help us out, and the producer let us stay in in the studio which was essentially a house” “Really? How’d the cooking and cleaning go for you boys?” I teased, “not to bad actually but there were some funny times. Like how every night Chuck would take his quilt and pillow and go sleep on the couch, even though we were told specifically not to sleep downstairs” Sebastien said chuckling, “sounds… interesting” I said laughing thinking about all the things that could have possibly happened in that house.

“okay university life?” he asked me, “pick a more boring subject?” I asked, “you were always good at school” he said shrugging, “so were you but someone decided to be in a band instead of go to university” I joked. “A SUCCESSFUL band touring with my FAVOURITE band” he corrected making me laugh, “So university?” he asked again, “okay okay, umm I study communications and law at UTS – the big ugly building in the middle of the city that says ‘UTS’ on it, and yeah” I responded, “and by communications and law that is what exactly?” he asked, “my course is sound music and design, which is music industry based, mainly stuff to do with sound engineering and production, and then my law degree basically gives me a working knowledge of the law and I can become a lawyer if I want after” I explained “wow” he said grinning at me, “and you said you interned somewhere a few days a week?” he asked me, “just in the mail room over at Frontier Touring in Woolloomooloo” “that’s actually really awesome” he said smiling

“Okay, places you’ve been so far?” I asked, “ummm we’ve done the US and Canada, obviously, Europe; so we did Germany and the UK and Paris and a few other places, and we’ve been to Jamaica umm the list is long” he said thinking about it, “bands you’ve toured with?” I asked, “Sugar Ray, MxPx, Green Day, JOB, we did Warped tour last year so theres like 20 bands there” he said laughing, “oh we played with the Goo Goo Dolls, Nickelback and Billy Idol at a festival here once” he added making me spit out my drink, “you were here once before?” I asked shocked and honestly a little bit hurt, “For one day, well okay one show and then back to America the next morning,” he said sadly, “When?” I asked hopelessly, maybe the attraction I thought I saw coming from him was in fact him just being friendly, and what he had said earlier really WAS about a different girl.

“About 2 years ago, I was going to call you but…” “but you didn’t” I interrupted, “I wish I had, I really wish I had called you. I’ve regretted not calling you every minute of every day since” he finished, making my heart skip a beat. “Jessie…?” he asked after it was silent for a moment, “yes?” I responded, “you’re absolutely beautiful” he whispered moving closer to me so that we were hip-to-hip. “Jessie, everything is rushing back to me” he breathed against my cheek before giving me a light kiss on the cheek. “What makes you say that?” I breathed out as my face flushed pink, “because even after 5 years, the moment I lay eyes on you yesterday in that crowd, I knew I wasn’t going to let you slip through my fingers once again” he whispered, getting closer to me making me smirk. “Sebastien…” I whispered, only to be cut off by a kiss. It was soft, familiar, something I had missed dearly, and after a moment I began to kiss him back, softly, but enough so that he knew I felt the same way. “I’ve missed you” he said softly moving a strand of hair out of my eyes and putting his arm around me. “Jess, when I’m with you everything feels right” he admitted looking right into my eyes leaving me no choice but to look into his which were still an endless pool of beautiful blue.

“THIS is where you two have been hiding!” Jeff said startling us, making me bolt upright removing my head from Sebastien’s chest, “Ah yeah” Sebastien answered for both of us, “Wow, Taylor was right the view is even nicer from up here” he said, good old naive Jeff. “I take it as you told her?” Jeff asked Sebastien, he clearly not as naïve as I thought, “no” Sebastien said sarcastically before sweetly kissing me, “I will take that as a yes” Jeff said rolling his eyes heading back towards the stairs, “Jeff can you ah not say anything to anyone please?” I asked, “not even the boys or Taylor?” Sebastien asked curiously, “just the boys, but not Tay, I need to tell her myself” I explained and they both nodded understandingly. “So what exactly am I telling her?” I asked Sebastien once Jeff at left, “hopefully that you and I are together and that you’re never going to think of another man because you have me to think of” he said promisingly, winking at the end, making me smile, “with the exception of the guy from the notebook because he’s just amazing” I joked and he pretended to seem hurt, “didn’t I tell you? I’m actually Ryan Gosling” he said cracking a smile, “Oh well then, aren’t I lucky. You’ve got nothing to worry about Mr” I said giving him a kiss on the cheek, “but that fact that you knew I was talking about Ryan Gosling is a little worrying” I joked.

“Shall we finish this bottle and then join the party?” I asked Sebastien as we sat there, “If we’re going to party we’re going to party hard!” he said cheerfully pouring another drink.