Lessons Learned I

Halloween, 2000.

Alex and I were on our way to Tacoma, which was about thirty miles from Seattle. He was driving us in his really nice car. It was a miracle that I had trusted him enough to let him drive, but for some reason, I had a lot of trust in Alex.

We were on our way to see Vertical Horizon in concert. I was really excited as they were my favorite band.

We were probably about half-way there. "Thanks again for taking me, Alex," I said, smiling at him.

"No problem," he said, returning my smile while making sure he kept his eyes on the road.

"So, have you ever been to a concert before?" I asked randomly.

"I went and saw Shania Twain a couple years back. I've seen Green Day in concert about three times. And I also saw James Brown," he said.

I laughed. "Shania Twain and James Brown, huh?"

"Yeah..." he said, turning a little red.

I giggled a little. "I love them both. Shania Twain is a guilty pleasure and James Brown just flat-out kicks ass."

He laughed. "Same here. I like the whole 'yow' thing."

"Me, too," I said.

"Wanna listen to the radio?" he asked.

"Sure." I smiled a little, terrified to touch anything in his car. It was really amazingly nice and expensive-looking; I didn't even like touching the door.

He looked at me briefly before looking back at the road and chuckling. "You don't have to be afraid of breaking anything. It's still under warranty and my dad doesn't really give a crap. Open the sun roof if ya want."

"Are you crazy?! Number one, this car had to have cost more than one hundred grand! And number two, it's kind of chilly outside..."

"Pfft, it didn't even cost half of that. And I don't mind, whatever you wanna do."

I nodded and stared out the window.

"So...just out of curiosity...what do you plan to do after college?" he asked.

"Be a writer, possibly a journalist," I answered. "What about you?" I glanced over at him.

"I'm not entirely sure yet. I'm thinking about being a director or something."

I snickered. He glanced over at me briefly. "What?"

"I can just picture you wearing a beanie on your head and sitting in a chair that says 'Alex Bennett: Director'," I said, giggling a little.

He laughed as well. "Yeah, I'll wear poofy pants cos my ass will be fat by then. I'll hold up a mega phone and shout insulting things at the actors."

I laughed even harder. "I can so see that!"

He chuckled a little before sighing. "I'd be the most hated director in Hollywood."

"I can't see you being virtually hated. Or hated at all, for that matter. You're a likeable person."

He turned red before saying, "Thanks..."

"No problem," I said.

He sighed, then suddenly stopped the car after putting his arm in front of me so I wouldn't fly forward. Five little teenagers ran across the road with four huge bags of toilet paper. They were wearing really stupid-looking masks.

Alex rolled his window down and stuck his head out of it. "Watch where you're going, you little ass jockeys!" He politely stuck his head back into the car and rolled up the window before driving again.

I gasped, then began laughing really hard. He paused, then looked at me slowly. "...what? I almost ran those little goat bastards over!"

"It was hilarious!" I exclaimed, laughing even harder. "Oh, man..."

He slowly began to laugh. "Well... I don't wanna be responsible for making their toes curl."

I laughed as we pulled into the parking lot. "Ah! We're here!"

He pulled into a parking space. "Yup."

I smiled, really excited. "My first concert..."

He looked at me and smiled. "It's thrilling."

He turned off the car and got out, then shut his door. He rushed around to my side and opened the door.

"Such a gentleman," I said, getting out. I smiled at him, then hugged him as if I were a kid receiving their first Christmas present. "Thanks again," I said.

He chuckled and shut the door, then wrapped his arm around me. "You can stop thanking me, ya know."

I laughed and pulled away from him. "I'm sorry. I'm just so excited!"

"No problem. I'm excited, too." He led me into the building as I took a deep breath.