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

Sebastian Daniels.

He was a friend of one of Kiah's old friends. Kiah and I had gone to the lake to meet her friend and some of his friends. Seb and I got along straight away. He was a year older than me, but that didn't bother me. So was Ryan. He was tall and lanky, a glossy mop of chestnut hair that covered his right eye. His eyes were unlike any I'd ever seen before. They were the brightest, most sparkling hazel you could possibly imagine, but if ever he wanted to blend in or whatever they could darken a little. I was in a daze the second those gold-flecked jewels met my burnt chocolate eyes. You just couldn't help it. He was only my friend, but even with friends, you notice if they're attractive. And he was definitely attractive. Made it difficult whenever we went out though. Girls would flock, but he politely turned most of them down. He was very picky when it came to girls. Not so much with their appearance, just personality.

Anyway, back to that day we met. He was casual, wearing black skinny jeans (that were, embarrassingly, exactly the same as the ones I was wearing, therefore introducing the first discussion we ever had) and a greyish blue v-neck t-shirt, cons on his feet. We got talking about music. He played guitar too. And he had the most gorgeous accent you could possibly fathom. It wasn't easy to notice at first, but the subtle hints of an Irish accent completed him. He only lived a block away from me, so we met up a few days after. And then a few days after that. And then a few days after that.

He was a great friend to me, and he didn't know anything about Brendon or the guys. When I was with him, I could get away from it all. I mean of course I could never just forget about my best friends, but that doesn't mean I couldn't let new ones in. Seb was a new best friend. Before long, we met up every day after our classes. At first, Pete didn't like him. When I first told him about Sebastian, he thought I was trying to replace Brendon. But then I introduced them to each other, and they got along pretty well. I don't know why, but I really did want Pete's approval. I guess music connects us all, though. They got talking about guitar riffs and that's all it took. Kiah likes him. She thinks it's good that I'm not harboring any hatred towards the male species. And she's happy that I've got another close friend.

“Hey babydoll!”

I rolled my eyes at the nickname, smiling as I walked towards his car where he was grinning. I know he meant it well, but the name did kind of annoy me a bit. Just because Brendon used to call me 'doll' all the time. But Sebastian is not Brendon, and although they have similarities they are completely different people. Keeping this in mind, I let it slide.

“Hey,” I greeted, sliding into the passenger seat.

“So it was cool with your mom?” he asked worriedly, lifting his dark sunglasses and tossing a glance towards my house as if to check that my mom wasn't running after him wielding a butcher knife.

He’s just a tad paranoid. Even though it’s painfully obvious to everyone but him that my mom loved him. Apparently since one of Seb’s exes left him for ‘causing a dent in her family’, even though it was totally her fault for sneaking out all the time, from what I’ve heard, he’s blamed himself for anything like that. Which sucks, because he is the last person on earth who would ever try to come between anyone.

“Yes, it was fine. You’re one of my best friends, not some serial rapist. Relax.”

He released the breath he'd been subconsciously holding and smiled at me before backing out of the driveway and stepping on the accelerator. We spent most of the ride not speaking, just absorbing the lovely sounds of the radio. They played a My Chemical Romance song, which made me smile. It was actually amazing how famous those guys were now. Little Frank Iero, who I'd known since I was born, was now out there living the American dream. A rockstar. Pretty damn cool. I didn't feel like mentioning it to Sebastian, though. My Chemical Romance was what made Brendon and I become best friends. I didn't like to think of that any more than I needed to. We could go back to being best friends again some day, but I had to get over him first. God knows how long that could take.

By the time we pulled up outside his place, I was a bundle of nerves. I really didn't like meeting new people, and Kiah had made me meet way too many since we moved. I guess without all that I never would have met Sebastian, but still. The usual self-conscious thoughts rush through my head. What if they don't like me? What if they think I'm ugly? What if they try and talk to me and I sound like a complete idiot? You know, the usual.

“Hey?” he spoke softly and I turned to face him.

For a split second, I thought I saw Brendon sitting next to me, but the image returned to normal so quickly that I could probably pass for not-quite-crazy.

“Y-yeah?”

He smiled at me and put one of his warm hands under my chin. He leaned towards me and kissed my cheek.

“They'll love you. I know I haven't known you for all that long, but I consider you one of my best friends. They will too.”

“Okay,” I gave him a half-hearted smile.

He was such a good friend. Personally, I reckon he and Kiah would make the sweetest couple, but when I mentioned it to them separately, Seb said 'She's cool, but not really my type' and Kiah said 'No way! I'm not stealing your man!’ Of course, being Kiah, she expects Seb and I to hook up and eventually get married. I think not. Sebastian and I are like Brendon and I were before I fucked everything up. But let's not go back there. I'm trying to move on here.

We walked inside without any worry for how much noise we were making. Sebastian lived on his own in a small house with a roommate who was always either a) not there or b) doing unspeakableand unfortunately loud things in his room with the door sporting a 'do not disturb' sign. Thankfully, it was usually option a. Seb didn't much like living with him, even though he was apparently a really nice person, but he couldn't afford the house on his own and Jason (his roommate) never failed to hand in the rent money on time.

“Guys?” Seb called out.

What? They're already here?

Tugging on my hand, Sebastian pulled me into the lounge room to see two guys sitting on the couch.

One of them had jet black hair that sat well but not neatly. He was wearing bright purple skinny jeans (which I must admit I was quite envious of) and a black t-shirt with red and white hearts on it. He was sitting on the couch with his legs bent and converse-donned feet resting on the edge of the coffee table, chewing at a black painted thumb nail. I couldn't help but notice that his hips were quite nice and slightly girlish, jutting out a bit from the rest of his body.

The other was flipping absently through the issue of AP that I had left there last time I was over. He had sandy blonde hair in a skillful mess on his head, curious green eyes sparkling even from across the room. He had average colored skin, not particularly pale and not particularly tanned. A small silver ring pierced his bottom right lip and he was wearing olive green cargo pants with a black and yellow band shirt for some band I'd never heard of.

“Hey guys,” Seb greeted, pulling me forward. “This is my friend Charlie. I've told you about her.”

“Hey,” the other two chorused, nodding their heads slightly in further acknowledgement.

“I'm Tyson,” purple skinnies guy waved slightly. “That loser over there trying to imagine you naked is Chase.”

“Shut up asshole,” Chase scowled humorously. “Stop reading my mind.”

An automatic blush rose into my cheeks. Unwanted attention alert!

“But I'm a hot asshole,” Tyson pouted.

I laughed slightly as Chase dropped the AP and made his way across the room to kiss my hand. Whoa. This guy is smooth.

“You're hot,” he stated bluntly.

Okay. Smooth moment ruined.

“And you're way too self-assured,” I replied, causing his jaw to drop and Tyson to burst into hysterics. I tried to ignore it, but smiled a little in spite of myself. “Seb, I'm gonna go get something to drink.”

I walked back past him to the kitchen, but I could still hear their discussion.

“Dude, she owned you!” Tyson laughed, and I heard a slap to guess that he and Seb had just high-fived.

“Wow...” Chase started. “She did!”

Ha. I guess he's not used to not getting what he wants.

“Get used to it, guys. She may be shy, but once you get to know her that's Charlotte all over.”

“Call me Charlie,” I said, returning to the room with a bottle of lemon lime and bitters in hand. “Charlotte sounds way too fancy.”

“Okay,” Tyson answered, still chuckling.

“So, you guys got any nicknames?” I asked, trying to start conversation. What a stupid ice breaker, though. I mean, really. I'm so pathetic.

But apparently there was something funny, because Sebastian and Chase both turned to look at Tyson who immediately groaned and covered his face with his hands.

“SONNY!” the other two yelled between fits of laughter.

“Shut up!” he mumbled, blushing slightly.

Even though I didn't know the story, I couldn't help but smile. It was interesting how much these guys reminded me of the ones I left behind, yet how incredibly different they were at the same time.

“Okay,” Seb started, ready to tell the story. “Basically, Tyson's ex-boyfriend was the clingiest guy ever and wouldn't call him by anything other than 'Sonny'. Well, he loved pet names too...”

“In my defense,” Tyson started. “I didn't even really like the guy. I just didn't want to go through the whole breaking up with him thing.”

“In the end, I did it for him,” Chase laughed, shaking his head. “Well, sort of...”

“They pretended they were together when they knew he would see,” Seb finished. “Quite the scene it caused...”

I was laughing just as much as the rest of them by the end of it. Like I said, ridiculously similar yet so so different.

“Nice,” I finally managed after the laughter subsided.

“Hey Charlie,” Chase started. “Tyson's just the kind of guy who looks gay, don't you think? Like, did you suspect it when you first saw him?”

“Eh. Maybe a bit,” I answered. Now that I knew I could see it that way, but it wasn't the first thought on my mind when I walked into the room.

“I'm bi, actually,” Tyson started. “But I usually date guys more than girls.”

“Cool,” I nodded, trying to ignore the buzzing of my phone in my pants. I could guess that it would be either Kiah or Pete, but I didn't feel like answering when I'd just met new people.

“So you play guitar, huh?” Chase started after a comfortable pause.

“Yep,” I nodded, taking a swig of my drink. “You?”

“Drums,” he grinned obnoxiously.

“Why am I not surprised?” I rolled my eyes humourously. “So Tyson, you play bass?”

“Damn straight,” he smiled, puffing out his chest. “I'm the next Pete Wentz.”

That was too much for me, and I burst out laughing.

“What?” he asked, a cute frown of confusion on his face.

I pretended to look in thought.

“You two are Pete Wentz fans then, I take it?”

“Yes! That guy is hot!” Tyson slapped his thigh for effect.

Seb snorted next to me. He knew exactly why I was laughing. I shot him a look as if to ask him why he hadn't told his friends that he had in fact met the bassist of Fall Out Boy, but he simply shrugged.

“Well how would you guys like to talk to him? As in, right now?”

Tyson and Chase blinked.

“Hilarious, Charlie,” Chase said, rolling his eyes and picking up the magazine again.

“I'm serious,” I said, whipping my phone out of my pocket.

Three missed calls from Pete. Perfect. I called him back and put the phone on speaker, telling everyone else to hush. Tyson and Chase looked at me curiously, and Seb was leaning against the wall watching their reactions.

“Charlie?” came a voice. “Why didn't you answer your phone? Oh well I'm glad you called ba...”

Pete was cut off by a relatively high-pitched squeal. Yes, it did belong to Tyson. Seb and I laughed.

“Hey Pete,” I said. “You're on loudspeaker.”

“Hey Pete,” Seb said, walking across the room to kneel next to me against the coffee table.

“Sebastian?” Pete asked.

“Yep,” he answered.

“Was that... was that your scream?”

Seb and I laughed and Tyson brought a hand to cover his mouth.

“No. Pete, I'm tele-introducing you right now to Tyson and Chase. Tyson wants your babies.”

Pete laughed and Tyson swatted my arm.

“Hi guys,” Pete said.

And so began a very fast-paced and excited conversation, while Seb and I sat back and watched. After that phone call, it's safe to say that the guys and I became pretty close. Wow. It's weird calling them 'the guys'. I'm used to that collective term belonging to three very different, yet similar, people.

At this rate, I might just be able to change my life around.