Passenger Seat

“You got a text!” Blue shouted over the music. We were driving down the highway at 1 in the morning, on our way to nowhere, with the windows down blasting music. I did this a lot. Usually when I couldn’t sleep or just needed some ‘me’ time. And sometimes my best friend joined me.

I turned down the stereo a bit. Not much, but enough to hear her, “Read it too me,” I said as I focused on the dark road ahead of me. I loved driving at this time of night; the roads were pretty much deserted.

“From Niall,” she read, “’I’ll be back in town in a few days. I want to talk about this mix.’” From the corner of my eye I could see her put my phone down in her lap. I could feel her eyes on me, “Is this the same ‘Niall’ that comes into the bakery a lot?”

I shrugged, “Yeah.”

“And the same ‘Niall’ that’s in the biggest boy band on the planet? And since when do you text each other?”

I rolled my eyes and glanced at her fleetingly, “Yes it’s the same Niall. And I don’t know we exchanged numbers a while ago. What’s your point to all this?”

She turned her whole body towards me in her seat, “My point is, you made him a mix CD!”
“I don’t see the problem here. I make them for you all the time.”

She sighed dramatically and turned the music down more, “The only time you make mix CD’s for a guy is when you like them. Do you like this pop star?”

I rolled my eyes again, “As a friend, yes. I made him a mix because we had this conversation about music, so before he went on tour I made him a CD with some different bands I thought he’d like.”

“Mhm.”

I scoffed, “You’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

“No I’m not. If it were anyone else, I’d believe that excuse. But this is you we’re talking about,” I glanced at her as I turned off an exit, “You, my dear Ayden, use someone else’s music to express how you feel. Remember that time when we were 15 and we got in the huge fight? You made me a mix CD of angry ‘I hate you’ songs. So excuse me if I don’t believe you when you say you made him a mix just to school him on his music choices.”

I pulled off the side of the road, to the cliff that over looked the city. It was my spot.

I turned the car off but left the radio on then turned toward Blue. This girl knows me better than anyone on this planet. We grew up together since diapers. She was there when my dad died. She was there when my mom took off and I had to move in with my Aunt. She was there when I went through my first heartbreak, and vice versa. Bottom line, she’s my other half. Soul mate if you will, but in a sisterly way.

“Look, I know you think that the mix I gave him is some secret love letter confessing my deepest desires for him, but it’s not. It really was just me giving him some new music to listen too.”

She eyed me for a moment, “Well I still don’t believe you,” she sighed, “But I’ll let you live in this fantasy world a little bit longer.”

I rolled my eyes, “Whatever. You of all people should know I’m done dating guys in bands anyway.”

Blue scoffed, “Just because you and Josh didn’t work out doesn’t mean you should write off all musically talented men,” she said waving her hand to brush off my comment.

I rolled my eyes when she brought up Josh. I met him though Blue’s boyfriend Max, who was in the band You Me At Six with him, about 2 years ago. I’d hardly call what we were ‘dating.’ It was more hooking from time to time. But when he went on tour, it ended. Leaving me to realize I may have liked him more than I let on. But what did I know? I was 17 at the time, and he was older and in a band, it was exciting. But that was old news. I was over it and we were more or less just friends now. “Besides,” she continued, “technically, boy bands aren’t bands. They don’t play instruments.”

“Niall plays guitar,” I corrected.

She gave me a knowing look, “Pretty quick to defend, are we?”

“Oh my god, will you drop it?” I said dramatically. “He’s just someone I like talking music with.”

She threw up her hands in surrender, “Okay, okay. Whatever you say! We’ll change the subject.”

“Thank you.”

“So, guess who called me today?” She said sitting up straight. Something she did when she was excited about something.

“Um… Prince Harry?”

She let out a giant sigh, deflating her posture, “No smart ass, not Prince Harry.”

“Just tell me,” I laughed.

She perked up again, “Tom Sykes.”

That was probably the last person I would have guessed, “Tom Sykes as in Oli Sykes from Bring Me The Horizon’s brother?” I said shocked.

A massive smile stretched across her face, “Yes, that Tom Sykes! Remember how the live shots to took of You Me At Six made it into the last issue of Kerrang? Well he saw them and loved them, then he found my website,” she was getting more exited as she went on, “And he wants me to shoot the next BMTH concert with him!”

“What? That’s huge Blue!” I said leaning over to pull her into a hug. She’s been a freelance photographer for bands for years now, even before we had finished our A Levels. She was only in her second year at Uni and things were already looking up for her photography. She wasn’t making enough yet to just live off the money she made off that, so she also worked at my Aunt Jenny’s bakery with me to help pay for her half of the rent for the flat we shared.

“I know, I’m so excited!” She said as she pulled away, “He said he wants to see what else I can do, maybe do some shoots with him for Drop Dead.”

“This is just amazing! I can’t believe you waited all day to tell me!”

“I know, but I was just so excited and didn’t want to jinx it, but I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I had to tell you!” She gushed. “You’re so coming to the concert with me, by the way.”

I nodded, “Definitely! When is it?”

“Next week, it’s the show they’re playing with the Architects. I know it’s kind of last minute, but we wanted to go before we found out it was sold out, so now everything works out!”

“No, this is awesome! I’ll ask Jenny if I can have the next morning off. Shouldn’t be a problem,” I waved off.

She leaned back against her seat and looked out into the city below, “It’s all happening,” she said dreamily.

I smirked and looked out the front window as well. Blue was all saying stuff like that. ‘It’s all happening,’ or ‘fate meant for this to happen.’ She was a firm believer that things happened for a reason, and I loved that about her. She was always there to find a silver lining in every situation. She was diffidently someone you wanted by your side when everything was falling apart.

“Don’t you have to work at 6 in the morning?” She asked breaking the silence.

“6:45 actually.”

“Well it’s almost 2, I don’t know how you do it.”

I shrugged, “Just don’t need a lot of sleep. You should know that by now.” Ever since my dad died when I was 8, I always had trouble sleeping. Then when my mom left when I was 11 it got worse. I just don’t fight it anymore. I frequently function through my days on 2 or 3 hours of sleep, and it worked for me fine.

“Yeah,” she sighed, “I’m just glad I don’t have to be in the bakery until 1.” She laughed, “And you can bet that I won’t wake up until 12:50.”

I laughed and turned the radio back up a bit, filling the silence with the end of “Heart and Soul” by Joy Division. As soon as that song ended though, “Back To You” by One Direction came on. That’s what I get for using shuffle on my iPod.

Blue turned and smirked at me. I rolled my eyes, “Go ahead and say it,” I sighed. I knew exactly what she was going to say.

“This is a sign. Fate is trying to tell you something.” She giggled.

“Yeah, it’s telling me that his band’s new album is really good,” I said and stuck my tongue at her.

She shrugged, “Okay, fine. Deny it all you want.”

“I’m not denying anything,” I said innocently, “Just stating facts.”