One Thing

All through my life guys have walked in and have walked out of my life. They never stayed for too long. My father didn’t stay but for about 5 years. He and my mother were in love at one point; they were in love enough to have my two sisters and me. When my dad left my older sister was 9 and my younger sister 2. I was his little girl and I can remember the day he left…

It was early in the morning, like mommy hasn’t even gotten Annie up for school yet and it was still dark outside, and Daddy was taking his bags out to the car. He came back in to get more and I turned to him, “Daddy are we goin’ on vacation again?”

He turned to look at me standing in the hallway. I stood there in my favorite gown, it had Ariel on it, she was my favorite cause she got to play in the water all the time. He put down his bag and kneeled in front of me. “No, mermaid, we’re not going on vacation again. Daddy is just going somewhere.”

“Where’s daddy goin’? I wanna go!” I bounced up and down. I loved it when Daddy and I took trips together. “I’m gonna go grab Mr. Stump and den we can go!” I turned to run down the hallway.

Daddy grabbed my shoulders. “No, mermaid, Daddy has to go by himself.”

“Oh,” my shoulders slumped and I looked into his face. “Well when are you gonna be back? My game is on Saturday and you said you would never, ever, in a million years ever miss a game. And you pinky promised.” I pointed my finger in his face. You never broke a pinky promise that is rule number one.

“Mermaid, Daddy doesn’t know when he’s going to be back. I might have to break my promise, princess.” Daddy looked really sad, probably because he’s breaking his pinky promise.

“But daddy, that’s rule numba one! You never break a pinky promise! And you promised you’d never miss one of my games!” I started crying. It wasn’t fair! They went to all of Annie’s games and I’d bet they’d go to all of Kathy’s games when she gets big! “You promised!”

“I know, mermaid, I know.” Daddy tried to pull me into a hug but I jerked away and crossed my arms. Daddy was crying to. “Daddy just has to go, okay? I don’t know when I’ll be back, okay mermaid? Now come give daddy a hug.”

I shook my head. He broke a promise. Daddy sighed and went into his and mommy’s room. He came back out with the watch thingy grandpa gave him. He kneeled down in front of me. “Mermaid, I want you to have this. Your grandpa gave me this before he joined the angels and it’s very special to daddy. Can you keep it safe?” I nodded my head. He put it in my little hands and looked behind me. I then felt Momma wrap her arms around me.

Then I saw daddy crying. “Daddy don’t cry. I’ll take care of it, I pinky promise.”

Daddy stood and grabbed his bags. He turned back to Momma and me. “You best take care of that, Mermaid. Remember that Daddy love you forever and ever because he probably won’t get to see you ever again. Daddy won’t be back, Mermaid.”

Daddy wouldn’t be back? Daddy was leaving for good? But he couldn’t! He turned and walked outside. I wrestled free of Momma’s arms. “Daddy! Don’t go! Please! I’m sorry!” Momma held me back as Daddy put his bags in the car. “Daddy! Please! I’ll be a good girl! I pinky promise!” Daddy got in the car and drove away. “DADDY!”

That was the last day I had ever seen him. Sure he sent birthday and Christmas cards, but my mother always told him not to come over. After my dad left mother had an unending string of boyfriends; some good, some bad. But the majority were bad. I moved out of my mother’s house the day I turned 18. My older sister, Annie, had done the same and I’m sure my younger sister, Kathy, would too. I felt bad for leaving Kathy there, but I couldn’t stand it any longer.

I moved from our small town in Kentucky to Chicago. I rented out the cheapest apartment I could find and worked at a very expensive restaurant, a bar, and a club. I worked all day most days, so I never had time for friends or any kind of social life really. If I had any free time, besides sleeping, I would play music. I would play on my guitar and sing. My boss at the bar even had me be the entertainment there once a week. The nights when I played we had more business. It was mostly just locals who really liked the way I sounded, but we still made more money on those nights.

But there was one week where the events would change my life forever. It all started on a regular Monday night at the bar; all the regulars coming in for a drink after work. They were getting themselves settled as I situated everything up on the stage; tonight was my night to entertain. I plugged in my amp and the speaker for my microphone. After I made sure everything was set up how I liked and it was all on the right level and setting I got off stage to go in the back and tune my guitar. I played a couple songs to warm up and get everything right. I went and grabbed Tony and told him I was ready to go on.

The two of us made our way to the stage. He cut off the music from the overhead speakers and made his way on stage. I lowered all the other lights and turned up the lights on stage so that the focus would be on him.

“Good evening everyone. I see some unfamiliar faces out there, so allow me to explain. Tonight is a Monday and on every Monday we have our very own Violet Martin to provide entertainment. So, without further ado, I present you Violet Martin!” He walked off stage as I walked on. We high-fived each other as we passed and I made my way to my stool where I plugged in my guitar.
I smiled out at the crowd. “How’s everyone doing tonight? Like Tony said I’m Violet Martin and tonight I’m going to play a few songs for your enjoyment. This first one is one of my favorite songs, so I hope I do it justice. It’s Fix You by Coldplay.”

I really did love this song. It was so beautifully written and I always hoped that I was talented enough to do it justice. I looked out into the audience to see a group of about five guys just hanging out in a booth towards the back. I caught the eyes of one of them and smiled lightly. Normally I wouldn’t have done that, but I’m a different person on stage; I’m freer.

I finished that song soon enough and went on to introduce the next song. “So, this next song is a newer one that I’ve found that I have fallen in love with. So, you should definitely go look this one up after I’m done. It’s The A Team by Ed Sheeran. You hear that Tony,” I called out jokingly, “Ed Sheeran! S-H-E-E-R-A-N. He’s a really good artist Tony!” I laughed. “Tony doesn’t like gingers and this Ed fellow is. I like to mess with Tony a bit, but anyways here it is.”

Once again, as I was singing my eyes caught that one guy’s. This time I had the chance to take in his eye color before I looked away; blue. One of the most beautiful blues I have ever seen in an eye. I made a decision to add a song in later in my set because of his eye color.

It was soon time to introduce the next song. “This next one is called Moondance by Michael Buble.” During this song I could see blue eyes dancing and it gave me a small chance to catch another of his features; his hair. It was blonde and swept up into a small quiff. I smiled and turned my concentration to the song so that I could add an under layer of seduction. I didn’t want it to have too much seduction and come off as slutty, so an underlying touch of seduction had to be perfected.

I powered through my next four songs; On My Way by We Are The In Crowd, Take Me Dancing by The Maine, Therapy by All Time Low, and Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. Each song, I studied blue eyes a bit more. I found him to have some slight muscles, a lovely wide smile, brown roots (so he died his hair), and a very piercing and penetrating gaze.

It was now time for my last second add-in that I had decided on earlier. “This next one is something I just decided on playing because of a certain guy here. He’ll know who he is,” I smirked and laughed a little. “This next song is called Baby Blue Eyes by A Rocket To The Moon.”

I smiled as I played making sure to catch blue eyes in a stare again and wink at him. I smiled and played with all my heart. I love doing this so much. Monday nights were the highlight of my weeks. They made working three jobs and having no social life worth it. If I could have it my way I would do this for the rest of my life.

I wrapped that song up soon enough. “This next song is a bit of a classic, so I do hope to hear you sing along to it. It’s Kiss Me by Six Pence None The Richer.”

From the crowd I heard someone yell, “New Found Glory did it better!!”

“Who said that?” I yelled into the crowd smiling. I looked out and saw a curly headed guy raising his hand. The curly headed fellow just happened to be sitting with blue eyes. “Fuck you! I’m the one performing and I say Six Pence None The Richer did it better, so you lose!” Everyone in the bar laughed.

I laughed with everyone else and began the song. I always got a bit emotional singing this song because my dad and I would dance around the living room to this song before he left. I always played it in case, by some miracle, he heard of me playing here and would come see me, that, when I played this song, he would remember how much he loved me and come back to me. It never happened, it was just a childhood fantasy but it kept hope inside my heart.

“Alright, this final song is kind of new so I hope you like it. It’s not my normal taste but, hey, when am I ever normal? I mean,” I gestured to my vibrant pink and red hair in a ‘duh’ motion, “c’mon.” I laughed lightly. “This is One Thing by that hot new British slash Irish boy band One Direction.” I had been practicing this song for the past week or so, so hopefully it was good enough. I really slowed it down and stripped it down, so it didn’t sound like it was written for a boy band.

I didn’t really pay attention to blue eyes during this song as I was really focusing on not screwing up the damn song. Luckily, it was over quickly. I turned to the crowd about to say my goodbyes for the night when that curly headed guy shouted something out again. “How sexy do you think those One Direction guys are?”

“What the actual fuck? Dude, did you not hear me say they’re not my normal style? No? Let me clarify then; I heard the song randomly, downloaded it, and learned it. Fuck if I know what those dudes look like,” I laughed. “Anyway, as I was about to say before that curly headed douche interrupted, again, that was my last song for the night. My name is Violet Martin, I hope you enjoyed my set, I’ll be here working the bar for the rest of the night.” I smiled and climbed offstage after turning everything off and the lights back to their original setting.

I went behind the bar and peacefully worked the night away.

The next night I worked at the restaurant rather than the bar. That’s the way it usually went: Mondays and Wednesdays I worked at the bar, Tuesdays and Thursdays I worked at the restaurant, Fridays and Saturdays I worked at the club, and then Sundays were a toss up.

My shift was going pretty slowly; well it was, until my manager pulled me aside. “El, tonight we have some very high profile customers here tonight. They’ve rented out the back room and asked for some privacy. Normally I give this kind of job to Tina or Vincent, but neither of them is working tonight. I need you to work this; I need to be as professional as professional can be. Got it?” He stared me down for a few seconds.

“Yes, sir,” I responded confidently. I immediately made my way to the back room where I saw a table full of suits, minus five guys around my age. I made my way to the head of the table and started, “Hello and welcome to Everest. My name is Eliza and I will be your waitress for tonight. May I start you all off with some drinks?”

I was about to take the first drink order when one of the younger guys said, “Hey, are you that singer from last night at the pub?” I looked at him. He had blonde hair, with brown roots, swooped up into a quiff, blue eyes, a very nice smile, and a penetrating gaze. It didn’t take me long to realize that this was Blue Eyes from last night.

It took everything in my body not to answer the affirmative. I tried so hard to keep my jobs separate. I guess I should probably come up with a disguise or something. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now drinks?”

The rest of the night with them went as smoothly as can be guessed. Every chance he got Blue Eyes was talking to me. He kept nagging me about last night. I’d finally had enough so, when I went into the back, I wrote the address of the club and put Friday at the top. I slipped it at his place at the table when I was going around picking up plates. After that, they left and I didn’t see him afterwards.

Wednesday and Thursday were normal, if you counted the fact that Blue Eyes was on my mind 24/7. Work; I was thinking about what Blue Eyes would be doing right now. My apartment; I was thinking about if Blue Eyes would show up Friday. On the street; I was wondering about Blue Eyes back-story. Everything about him had me questioning. I could wait for Friday to come.

When it was finally Friday; I was ecstatic. I hoped beyond hope that he would show up. And that’s when it him; he had broken down my wall and was already close to my heart and I didn’t even know his name. But his eyes, his eyes told his whole story. This is what I was mulling over as I walked to the club on Friday.

At the club I tended the bar. I got to serve the same drinks unending for 10 hours each night I worked and then another 2 hours for cleanup and setup. I was about halfway through my shift when I heard a voice call out, “A pint of your strongest.”

I turned around and there he was; there was Blue Eyes. I made my way over to the tap. I swayed my hips lightly to the heavy bass in the club as I poured his beer. I walked over and set it in front of him. “S’not exactly a pint, Blue Eyes, but it’s the closest we’ve got.”

“So it was you at the pub,” he smiled as he took a swig of his beer.

“It was,” I agree smirking. “Is there anything else you wanna say, Blue Eyes?”

“Just that you’re a bloody fantastic singer and you’ve just got this one thing ‘bout you. I’m not sure what, but it’s driving me insane. Can I get your name, your real name?” He stared into my soul, trying to pry it out of me.

Those eyes are what broke me, they held so much innocence and pure curiosity that I broke. They were just so pure in their intentions that I forgot about everything else. I forgot about my fears and insecurities. I decided to trust whatever fate brought us together that night. I decided to let myself begin to fall knowing, just from the purity in his eyes, that he would be there to catch me. He would be my Superman.

“Tell me this first, Blue Eyes, do you believe in love at first site?”

“I’ll tell you when I know,” he smiled cheekily.

“Well, then my name, my real name is Elizabeth Daniel Martin. And yours, Blue Eyes?”

“Mine would be Niall James Horan.”

And that was how, with only his eyes, Niall James Horan climbed the walls into my heart and stole it away.