Music Inn

May entered June, and Sam and I continued to go to the farmer’s market together every Tuesday, and he and his band continued to live down the hall from me, and I continued to work at Music Inn. Life had settled into a comfortable lull, which was nice at first, but, like most lulls, got boring.

“Something needs to happen,” I complained. Kiera and I were working, and Dan and Hazel were in the back, supposedly paying bills but most likely having a quickie or something. Either way, I wasn’t going back there until they both came out. “I need excitement in my life again.”

“What you need is to get laid,” Kiera commented, not looking up from her copy of Vogue. I elbowed her in the side, jerking my head towards the customers browsing the store, but she ignored me. “How long has it been?”

“I don’t know,” I sniped. “I don’t keep track.” When she merely looked at me and raised an eyebrow, I sighed. “Three months.”

“Three months!” Kiera gasped. “You poor thing. You definitely don’t need excitement, you need a dick.”

“And how long has it been for you?” I asked, flushing.

Kiera shrugged, unconcerned. “About two weeks.”

“Two weeks? Where have you been having all of this sex? And with whom?”

“That’s confidential,” Kiera said. “Don’t worry about it. The point is, you need sex and you need it soon. But who will give it to you?” She pretended to think. “I know! How about . . . the kindly gentleman down the hall from us?”

“You mean Fletcher?” I asked innocently. “He’s a little too wild, don’t you think?”

“I’m not talking about him,” Kiera said, rolling her eyes. “And you know that. I mean Sam.”

“Sam is my friend,” I said. “Friends don’t have sex with their friends.”

“Some do.”

“Well, I don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Dan asked, coming out of the back room with Hazel following.

I gave him a suspicious look. “Have sex with my friends.”

“Why not?” Hazel asked. “I have sex with my best friend all the time.” She nudged Dan in the side and he laughed. I made a face.

“That was unnecessary,” I said. “And anyways, I don’t even like Sam. So therefore it would be totally unproductive to have sex with him.”

“Lex, Sam literally fits all of your criteria,” Kiera pointed out.

“I don’t have criteria.”

“Yes, you do. He’s tall, dark, and handsome, he’s got brown eyes, he plays in a band, he likes all the same music as you, he has every Grab Your Tuxedo album, he bought you fucking coffee the other week . . . the list goes on. And he clearly likes you.”

“I would also like to point out that he takes his coffee black and he lost his virginity to “Shiver Shiver” by Walk the Moon,” I said weakly. “Those are deal-breakers.”

“You like Walk the Moon, so that doesn’t even make sense.”

“Not to lose my virginity to!”

“And I’m not even gonna ask how you know what song he first had sex to,” Kiera continued. “But it just goes to show that you feel way more comfortable with this person than normal. Therefore, it only makes sense for you two to have sex.”

“Why can’t I just be his friend?” I protested. “A guy and a girl can be friends without sex, right?”

“Not really,” Dan, Hazel, and Kiera all said in unison.

“Look at Jesse! None of us have had sex with him, right? Right?” I looked at Kiera pointedly.

“Of course not,” she scoffed. “But that’s different. That’s Jesse. He’s probably very moody during sex.”

I shuddered. “Now I’m picturing having sex with Jesse. Thanks. Thanks a lot.”

“Fine,” Kiera said. “If you won’t have sex with Sam, you at least need to have sex with somebody. We can go clubbing tomorrow night and I’ll find you a nice rich boy to hook up with. If things go well, he can be your sugar daddy and give you an allowance and we’ll finally be able to pay our bills.”

“Oh, stop,” I said, even more embarrassed than before.

“That sounds fun,” Hazel said. “Can we come too?”

“Sure,” Kiera agreed. “Although I’m not really sure how to feel about my boss coming clubbing with me. Especially when it involves trying to get Alexa some dick.”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough,” I said, throwing my hands up in exasperation.

Hazel chuckled. “Maybe we’ll just catch up with you guys if we see you.”

♫ ♫ ♫

“You look hot,” Kiera told me as we went into Bender. “Stop playing with your hair.”

“I just feel so exposed,” I said nervously. Kiera had me dressed in a black crop top and one of the shortest pair of shorts I owned.

“Oh please,” she scoffed. “That’s enough.” Kiera herself was wearing a polka-dot bralette and a pair of shorts, along with a pair of gold high heels I knew for a fact she’d stolen from her mother. “We used to do this all the time.”

“When we were dumb high schoolers,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, and now we’re dumb college students. C’mon, you need something to drink.” We usually wouldn’t be allowed to drink, but the bartender was friends with Dan and therefore friends with us.

We found a table and I sat there, jiggling my leg as I waited for Kiera to come back. When she did, she was grinning. “Look around you, Lexi,” she said, handing me my drink. “What do you see?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know . . . people?”

“No, stupid. Boys. Specifically, rich white boys who are here for the summer and are more than willing to blow their fathers’ money on hot girls like us.” Kiera took a sip of her drink and winked at two boys walking by, dressed in polo shirts, khakis, and boat shoes. They grinned back.

“Can we pick some who are less . . . preppy?” I asked, cringing.

“No. Those are the ones who have all of the money.”

“Well, what do we do?”

“We wait.” She crossed her legs, adjusted her boobs, and watched the dance floor. Sure enough, once a faster song came on, two boys approached us, not the ones we’d seen before. One had sandy blond hair, the other dark and curly.

“Hey,” the blond one said. “You two wanna dance with us?”

Kiera looked at me, raising her eyebrows and silently letting me know it was my turn to take control of this. I smiled. “You can buy us a drink first, and maybe we’ll see.”

They grinned. “Fair enough.” They went to go do that and Kiera whistled, bumping fists with me. They came back with drinks for all of us. “What’re your names?” the blond one asked.

“I’m Kiera, and this is Alexa,” Kiera said.

“Cool. I’m Graham, and this is Miles.”

“Hi, Graham and Miles,” Kiera said, but the way she was fluttering her lashes at Graham clearly meant she was only interested in the former, which wasn’t a problem. Beach-blond boys were not exactly my type.

“Now do you wanna dance?” he asked, and she nodded, taking his hand and letting him lead her out onto the dance floor, leaving me alone with his friend.

“I’m not much of a dancer,” I said, attempting to smile. “Sorry.”

“Hey, me neither,” Miles said with a laugh. “Can I sit?”

“Go ahead.”

He sat down across from me in Kiera’s now empty seat. “So, do you live here year-round?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. Kiera and I go to college here, and we have an apartment nearby.”

“That’s cool. We’re only here for a few days, but Graham insisted on clubbing the first night we got here.” He rolled his eyes.

Miles and I chatted some more, and I found that he was actually a pretty nice guy. Kiera and Graham had disappeared and were probably off somewhere making out or having sex in the bathroom, but I was content to just sit and talk. At first, it seemed like he did too, but it soon became evident that he was looking for a little more than conversation.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna dance?” Miles asked. “Or go back to my place?”

I fixed him with a sunny smile. “Maybe later.” He looked a little put out, but merely said “okay” and continued the conversation.

Suddenly, a loud voice shouted, “Alexa!” I turned and saw . . . Sam? He was jogging towards me, waving wildly. He had on a snapback, which was new, and some of his dark hair was sweaty and matted to his forehead. “Hey!” he said, grinning at me.

“Oh, hi,” I said, trying not to sound flustered. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, aside from when we play, we don’t really come here, so we thought we’d check out the DJ set. Hey man, I’m Sam by the way,” he added to Miles.

“Miles, nice to meet you. You said you play here?”

“Yeah, I’m in a band.”

“That’s sick, bro,” Miles said, sounding truly impressed.

“Thanks,” Sam was practically preening. “D’you mind if I steal Lexi here for a moment?”

“No problem,” Miles said. His eyes flickered over to a blonde girl near us who’d been sending him flirty glances for most of the night. “It was nice talking to you, Alexa.”

“You too,” I answered, already not paying attention. Sam took my hand and led me out onto the dance floor. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked, pretending to be mad. “I was about to score!”

He turned to look at me, his mouth dropping open. “Were you really? Shit, I’m sorry, where is he, we can go back ‒”

“I’m joking,” I interrupted, smiling. “He was nice, but I don’t think he was really interested in . . . talking.”

Sam frowned. “What a jerk. You’re fun to talk to.”

“Thanks, but this is a club, not a speed-dating session. So do you want to dance, or what?”

He laughed. “Yeah, okay.” Most of the couples on the floor were grinding and rubbing against each other all seductively, but Sam merely grabbed my hands and began to spin me, moving to the beat and twirling me around with him.

The blacklight made his entire body glow, and I could see parts of his face as we danced, from his huge smile to his eyes, which at the moment were closed, and it made me close mine too and just enjoy myself and enjoy the moment.

We danced until I was practically dripping with sweat and Sam’s hair was sticking to his forehead even more. “Wanna go outside?” he shouted. I nodded, and we pushed past everybody and exited Bender into the air that was only slightly cooler than in the air inside.

“Fuck,” Sam said, exhaling and smiling at me. “That was fun.”

“Yeah, it was,” I agreed. Pulling out my phone, I checked the time and saw that it was 2:13 AM. “Oh, shit, it’s late,” I said. “I should find Kiera.” As I said this, I checked my text messages to find one from her: went hime wiht GraHma have fu n lo loooouve u’@@@ I rolled my eyes. Kiera’s drunk texts were practically hieroglyphics.

“Well, nevermind,” I said with a sigh. “Kiera went home with some dude we met. Good thing I have a key.”

Sam was rocking back and forth on his heels. “Well, um, I don’t need to go home just yet.” When I merely blinked, he asked, “Do you want to hang out?”

“Oh. Oh. Yes. That sounds like fun,” I said, pocketing my phone all too eagerly. “What do you want to do?”

“Um . . . well, I’m kinda hungry. Are you hungry?”

“I am, actually.” Before we’d gone out, Kiera and I had each eaten a pack of Lunchables which, at the moment, was all we were able to afford. I had some money in my purse, but not enough to buy me a steak dinner or anything.

“I have like, $10,” Sam said.

I laughed. “Me too.” He grinned and held out his arm. I took it, and we went off to the subway. It was filled with weird-looking people, the kind that only came out at night, and we shared earbuds again, listening to “Come As You Are” by Nirvana and talking about how good they were.

“I miss Kurt Cobain,” Sam said. “I never knew him, but I miss him.”

“Me too,” I agreed. “If he was here, I’d like to be his friend. I’d try and make sure he was okay.”

We did eenie, meenie, miney, mo to pick what station we wanted to get off at, doing the same to pick a place to eat, which ended up being a little diner that was one of the only things open. We went inside and found a booth in the back, each ordering two chocolate shakes and a huge plate of fries, telling the waitress, “Keep ‘em coming, please.” There were only two other people in the diner besides us: an elderly man reading the newspaper, and a woman in her late twenties surrounded by college books.

And just like that, it was like the day at the coffee shop and the day we’d spent getting breakfast: Sam and I talked about everything and anything. The fluorescent lights flickered above us and the waitress read her book at the counter and Sam and I threw fries at each other and told stories and talked about life.

“What would your plan be in the zombie apocalypse?” I asked.

He grinned. “Easy. Stick with the nerd. He always makes it out alive. You?”

“The pretty girl, because a) she does too, and b) I’m all for girls teaming up to fight zombies.”

“You’d be the pretty girl,” Sam said unabashedly. I tried not to blush and probably failed. “So, what brought you to Bender on this lovely Saturday night?”

“Well,” I hesitated, wondering if I should tell him. “Kiera was trying to get me laid.”

“Get you laid?” He raised his eyebrows. “That’s an interesting answer. You weren’t trying to get yourself laid?”

“Well, I mean, I guess. But it ended up with Kiera running off with some random guy and me being stuck with his friend. And I kind of just wanted to talk, get to know him before I . . . you know. And then you showed up.”

He laughed. “That I did.”

“Where are the other three Beatles?” I asked teasingly.

“They went club-hopping.”

“Why didn’t you go with them?”

“I saw you, and I stayed.” He seemed to realize how sappy that sounded, because he drummed his fingers on the table and stared down at his plate. “Opinion on Glocca Morra?”

“Love ‘em,” I said. “What’s your favorite song by them?”

“Irrevocable, Motherfucker,” Sam said. “You?”

“Anniversary Song.”

“Good choice.”

“Likewise.”

I picked at the fries for a bit before glancing up. Sam was watching me, a strange, soft look on his face that made me unexplainably nervous. I thought about what Kiera had said before: “And he clearly likes you,” and swallowed.

By the time we decided to leave the dinner, it was nearly 5 o’clock and the sun was starting to rise, little rays of pink over the tops of buildings. “Now what?” Sam asked.

“Wanna go to the park?” I pointed across the street, where there was an entrance to what was apparently Riverview Park. Beyond it, there were sloping green hills accompanied by the barking of dogs and the clanging of bells from early-morning bicyclists.

“Sure.” So we crossed the road and went into the park, which was mostly empty. We walked around for a while until we came upon a deserted playground and Sam ran towards it excitedly, climbing up the swirly slide until I could no longer see him. I followed.

“Sam?”

“In here,” he answered. I peeked in and saw him in the middle of the slide, not quite able to climb out the top, but stubbornly refusing to slide back down.

“Are you stuck?” I asked with a laugh.

“No, just enjoying the view,” he answered, pointing to the blue plastic top. “Come on in.”

So I went around and climbed up the jungle gym, getting into the slide so my feet were by him. “You’re right, this is a nice view,” I agreed with a grin.

“Yeah,” he said, looking up at me. “Sure is.”

“Come back up,” I said quickly. “We can watch the sunrise.” I climbed out of the hole and sat on top of the side instead, straddling it and dangling my feet over each end, and soon Sam came out to join me, leaning against the railing as we watched the sun rise together, looking over the whole park.

I pulled my phone and saw, in addition to having 18% battery life, it was also 7:06 AM and I had three missed calls from Kiera. “I should probably go home,” I said with a sigh. “Kiera’s most likely done her walk of shame and is wondering where I am.”

“Same with the guys,” Sam agreed, and then he grinned. “Why don’t we end with some fun?” Before I could ask what he meant, he was swinging his legs inside the slide and going down, whooping as he did. I rolled my eyes and smiled, shimmying off the top and doing the same.

I slid down to the bottom and nearly landed on my butt in the dirt. Sam stood a few feet away, looking at his phone. In the rising sunlight, he looked sweaty and tired and so, so real. I pulled out my phone and decided that using up my battery on him was worth it. Stealthily, I snapped a photo of him and pocketed my phone right as he looked up at me.

“Ready?” he asked. I nodded, and we set off for home.

♫ ♫ ♫

“I feel like every time we do something together I end it with ‘Well that was fun,’” Sam said, grinning. “But it was.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever pulled an all-nighter with anyone other than Kiera,” I remarked. “And this was way more fun.”

“It should be a weekly occasion.”

“That might be bad for our health.”

“Health, schmealth. We’re young and invincible.”

“Well, right now I’m young and sleepy,” I said. “So I’m going to go do that.” He’d insisted on walking me to my door, even though it was right down the hall from his.

“Okay.”

“Okay. See you later. Thanks for tonight, and for rescuing me from Miles.”

He grinned. “No problem.” Sam hesitated, and for a second I thought he might kiss me. Before I could do anything, though, he said, “See you later, Lex,” and disappeared down the hall and into his apartment, leaving me standing there alone.