Your Melody Sounds As Sweet As the First Time It Was Sung

Goodbye Las Vegas.

Goodbye my last ties to my best friends.

Goodbye the wonderful life I had made for myself.

Goodbye to everything I knew.

And hello Chicago.

Yes, I have a tendency for speaking dramatically. True, I was saying goodbye to my home, but the only reason it had ever become my home in the first place was because of my amazing friends, and those friends were now all gone.

Kiah had come with mom and I to Chicago too. She didn't want to leave me on my own, and she knew that I had stopped speaking to the others. She also knew why, after I had to explain. She was shocked at discovering my true feelings for Brendon, which means I must have hidden it well. That's a plus, right? Anyway, she thought she should come back and see her mom anyway. Her father had apparently moved out of the country without a word, but her mom still lived here and she decided to live with her again for a while. Of course, Jake didn't like me very much for taking his girlfriend away from him. Kiah broke up with him, not wanting the stress of a long distance relationship, but promising that they would keep in touch. After a tear or so, he agreed. Yes, I did say tear. He actually cried. A little. I guess he liked her more than I thought he did. But it wasn't my fault! It's not like I begged Kiah to move with us, it was her idea. I just didn't argue much. At least I won't be starting college alone, and she did already know people here.

And if you haven't gathered, I have made my decision. I need to get over my infatuation with my best friend. That means no contact. With him or his other best friends, that were so inconveniently also my other best friends. I was going cold turkey, and it was hard. I missed them so much. Everything about them. Once again, that selfish part of me wished that they hadn't gotten the record deal and that everything was the way it used to be. I have somehow conned myself into being convinced that the record deal is what messed everything up, but I know deep down that it's not. It was my own fault for falling for someone so off-limits, and that happened years before Wentz came along.

Speaking of Wentz, he'd been really great since we moved. He was so excited when we told him we were moving to where he was currently residing, although I picked up on the vibe of hesitance. I think that Kiah told him about my Brendon detox, and the fact that he still kept in contact with them too didn't help. But after realizing how important it was to me and how much I needed it, we all had an agreement that neither he nor Kiah would mention them in front of me. I appreciated that, but it did sometimes drive me crazy.

At least mom settled in well. She simply loved it in Chicago, and her job was going really well. She was worried about me, and worried why I didn't talk about the guys as much as I used to. I couldn't bring myself to tell her that I wasn't talking to them. She'd be heartbroken. They were basically her second children.

"Hey hun," I spoke into the phone.

"Hey," Kiah said back. "How you going?"

"Good... I think. I'm nervous about tomorrow."

I'd been there for a few months, and the next day Kiah and I were both starting university. I was excited; I never thought I'd ever go to university, simply because I'd never had the money or motivation. Now, however, we were doing well. Better than I ever expected. And Kiah's loaded and didn't want to leave me alone. So she's coming too.

"Don't worry about it," she said calmingly. "It'll be fine. I think I know a few people that go there anyway, so we won't be total loser new kids."

"Okay," I laughed nervously. "One less thing for me to freak out over."

She didn't buy it.

"Really, Charlie, don't worry about it. I'll be right there with you tomorrow, and remember how great it was when you moved to Vegas? You had your doubts about that at first, didn't you? But it all turned out for the better. If you never moved then, you never would've met Br..." she paused and the conversation became infected with awkwardness. She knew I didn't want to talk about that. She coughed as a cover-up and finished. "...Me."

I sighed. "I suppose you're right. You are right. This will be good. We'll make new friends, focus on our work, and it'll be all good."

I sounded more confident by the end of my monologue, but inside was still the seed of doubt. Or, it wasn't so much 'doubt'. It was nostalgia. Once again, I was reminiscing on the good old times in Vegas. Back when we were all just friends, freshman and sophomore year. I missed it so much. I didn't say it out loud, I was cynical enough, but I knew that things would never be like that again. The world changes, and we just have to move along with it. I wondered if the guys were back in Vegas yet. Probably not, but it would be sometime soon, right? I assume Kiah had told them about moving. I wonder how they took it. She wouldn't have said much about me anyway. I asked her not to. If I was going to be cut off from them, then they had to be cut off from me. Otherwise it's just like... stalking.

"Yeah," she said softly. "It will. I promise."

"Okay."

"See you tomorrow."

"Bye."

***

The next day wasn't too bad. At least we weren't the only people starting there, so we weren't the only people who were a little disorientated. Kiah already had acquaintances, so we looked like we somewhat fit in. Sort of. But you know that promise I made to myself that I'd focus on my work? Yeah, didn't happen. I mean, sometimes I did, but some lectures were just so excruciatingly boring that it was simply too much effort to stay awake, let alone pay attention. It took a few weeks to get used to the routine, but eventually we settled in and began to get the hang of our classes.

Ring Ring. Ring Ring.

"Charlie, could you get that please?" my mom called.

Instead of answering her, I did as she asked and picked up the home phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Charlie!"

I smiled.

"Hey Seb. What's up? Why didn't you just call my cell?"

"Uh..." I could tell he was scratching his head awkwardly the way he always did when he was embarrassed. His face would be flushing a little red too. "Um, I actually wanted to ask your mom if you'd be allowed to stay at my place on Saturday night. I just wanted to ask her before I asked you so you wouldn't have to go through the awkward conversation of asking her first and so she'd know that I'm trustworthy. I mean, if you want to, that is. Because you totally don't have to. It was just a sugge..."

"Seb, relax," I laughed lightly. "I'd love to. What are we doing?"

"Um, well I've got some friends that I think you'd like to meet. One of them plays bass and one of them plays drums. I thought it'd be cool if we all, at the risk of sounding outdated, 'jammed'."

I laughed again.

"Well whether or not it's out of date, I know that you don't mean smearing marmalade over everyone, so..."

"But that is what I meant!" he interrupted obnoxiously.

"Shut up!" I laughed. "But seriously, that sounds awesome. So I'll meet you at yours at, what, five?"

"Yeah sure, sounds good. I'll pick you up if you want. But don't you need to ask your mom?"

"Oh, she won't mind. She's met you before. And she used to let me sleep over at my guy friend's houses all the time, so it should be fine."

I don't think he recognized the reluctance in my voice when I brought that up. He didn't know about the guys that owned my past. I wanted to keep it that way for as long as I could.

I heard him release a sigh of relief.

"Okay. See you then."

"Bye."

I hung up with a light heart and a smile on my face.

Things were finally looking up.