Coffee Shop Soundtrack

I waited patiently in the venues back room for the show to start. I had no idea if Makenna would show up tonight or not, but if she did show up it meant things still weren’t over for us. Garrett paced around the room, seemingly bored.

“Where’s Pat?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “Is Ash coming?”

I nodded. “She’s going to be late though.”

Jared walked into the room and sat in an old wood chair. “Where’s Pat?” He asked.

“That’s what I was wondering,” I said. “Why would he leave once he set up?”

Jared shook his head, “He didn’t set up. I did.”

I looked at him confused. “What? Why?”

Jared shrugged. “He asked me to bring his drums over for him, so I did. He had something he needed to do I guess.”

It didn’t make sense, why would Pat lie about where he was going? Not only to me, but Makenna too. I stood up and grabbed a bottle of water from a mini fridge in the corner before sitting back down in the same spot. I started feeling antsy as it got closer and closer to show time. Not only because Pat hadn’t even shown up yet, but I once again had no idea if Makenna would either.

“Sorry I’m late,” Pat said rushing in the room. He started looking for a pair of sticks.

“Where were you?” I asked, standing up. I suddenly felt confrontational and wanted to know why he had lied to me earlier.

“Hey,” I heard a familiar voice in the doorway and looked up. She came. This meant things were okay, things were good between us.

“Everyone,” she started saying. A dark haired man stepped up behind her. “This is Derek.”

In the matter of seconds my heart broke all over again. She didn’t come for me.

“Yeah, I was picking Derek up from the airport. I didn’t tell anyone, it was supposed to be a huge surprise.” Pat said. At least now I knew why he had lied.

Garrett, Kennedy, and Jared all stood up and introduced themselves right away, but I couldn’t move. I just stood there, unable to look away from the two of them. He was smiling, she was smiling. I wanted to run away, but it was as if my feet were glued to the floor.

The other guys stepped away and Makenna’s smile faded as she made eye contact with me, “John?” She was nervous.

“Um, right,” I said as I snapped back into reality. I stepped up and held my hand out and he shook it. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m John. We’ve all heard a lot about you.” I flashed a look at Makenna. She was still nervous.

“Yeah, I’ve heard a lot about you too,” Derek said back. He could’ve said “she’s mine” and it would have been basically the same thing. Of course Makenna would tell this “love of her life” military douche bag everything about me though, right down to how I broke her heart too many times to count.

His protective overbearing tone made me want to punch him. Or just blurt out that I slept with his wife the other day. I didn’t do either of those things though. I didn’t want to upset Makenna anymore than I already have.

“Excuse me,” I said, “I suddenly don’t feel well.” I pushed past them in the doorway and ran to the exit in the alley. Once I was out on the sidewalk the contents of my stomach came up next to the blue garbage can. I guess puking in alleyways was what I did best. At least this time I wasn’t drunk.

I rested my head against the side of the building for a minute before standing back up. How was I supposed to go back in there and play a show with the two of them standing ten feet away from me? I couldn’t do it, I just couldn’t.

I walked back to my car and started driving. I didn’t know where I was going yet, but I just drove. My phone rang in my pocket but I ignored it. Driving down a main road I passed Ray’s bar. I couldn’t do it. As much as I wanted to drink away my pain right now, I couldn’t do it.

I pulled a U-turn at the next light and pulled into the parking lot of the bar. Nobody had to know I was drinking, as long as I didn’t get drunk. Just one drink, that’s all I needed.

I got out of the car and wandered into the bar, walking up to a bar seat in front of Ray.

“Don’t you have that show tonight?” He asked.

My phone rang in my pocket and I pulled it out. Garrett. I hit ignore and shut my phone off before pushing it back into my pocket.

I shook my head. “I need a drink."