Status: Finished.
Your Melody Sounds As Sweet As the First Time It Was Sung
Chapter Nineteen
At first we were bad.
We were really really bad.
We sucked.
We didn’t need anyone to tell us; we knew. In fact, we refused to let any other people hear us. The only person who ever heard was Sebastian’s roommate Jason, the very few times he was ever home. He’d whine and complain about our ‘awful racket’ like a crazy cat lady, but he’d always manage to deal with it long enough to try some lame pick-up line on me. I was running out of witty ways to reject him.
After a while, six months at least, we weren’t so bad. In fact, we even sounded okay.
The only other people we’d let hear our music were Jon, Megz and William. I’d started hanging out with them much more, and Kiah and her friends less.
Don’t get me wrong; Kiah and I still hung out every now and then. We were best friends, once. Maybe not bestest best friends forever, but still best friends. Best friends don’t just leave you, but they can grow more distant. Kiah was different around her other friends than she was around me. I only liked to see her when it was just her, or her and Pete. Pete had gotten busier, so neither I nor Kiah got to see him as much. We spoke over the phone about once a fortnight, but it was pretty special when I got to see him. He refused to talk about work, which was fine with me.
But back to my point. Jon was rapidly becoming my second best friend. Of course, Sebastian was first. I guess Megz kind of replaced Kiah as my best girl friend. She confronted me once about how much she loved Jon. She said she never meant to love him so much, but now she did. I convinced her to talk to him, and now that their uncertainties were all gone, they were seriously the sweetest couple I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. And they weren’t the sickly let’s-give-each-other-lame-pet-names-so-the-whole-world-knows-that-we-love-each-other kind of sweet either. That would have made mestart planning their wedding gag. No, they were subtly sweet and considerate of one another. You’ve never met a pair more in love, I swear.
And then there’s William.
Well, what could I say about William? He was a part of our ‘group’, that much was sure, even though he’d been away a lot because he and his band were recording and finishing up their next album. He was really nice and sweet, not to mention had the most amazing voice and one of the brightest minds I’d ever come across. I was in complete awe of him, but I didn’t think he liked me very much. Whenever I walked into the room he went quieter, and he’d give me these looks. I don’t know how to describe them, because I honestly couldn’t decipher the emotion behind them. I didn’t know what to think. I know that normally I’d just act the same way in return, but there was something about him. He was intriguing, at the least, and I wanted to know him.
Just for the record, yes, I still lived with mom. I could have moved out, and I basically lived at Seb's place anyway, but I was happy living with her. She had been out with some nice men but I knew she was never going to find someone quite like my dadthank god, and I couldn’t leave her alone. It didn’t feel like a burden or anything; she knew that I was an adult now, and she gave me advice but never rules. Band practice was always at Seb’s house, though. I didn’t feel right having it at my house, even though we had a basement. I just… I got this weird pang somewhere beneath my chest and it just didn’t feel right. Call it nostalgia or a heart attack, it doesn’t matter. It felt wrong, and no one questioned my reluctance. So seeing as Chase and Tyson lived in an apartmentt a few streets away, Seb’s house it was.
Now, you might wonder why I didn’t tell Pete about Static Failure. Well, that’s simple; I didn’t want him to know. I didn’t want him to know that I had a band. First of all, if he liked us, I feel like it would be cheating our way into the music industry. Seb, Chase and Tyson agreed with me (since they’re the only ones who know about my connection to Pete Wentz). Secondly, if he liked us, that means he could easily let information about me slip to the wrong people. I shan’t go into any more detail on that matter.
So I guess that’s a rough outline of what my life had become.
Would you believe that I was almost twenty?
I found it hard to believe. The next day, I hit my twenties. My nineteenth birthday had been a small affair, just before I’d met Jon. Just Kiah, Sebastian, mom and I, out for pizza and ice cream. It wasn’t much, but it was nice. This year, however, Chase and Megz have planned something big. Of course, because they’re annoying, wasn't going to find out what was happening until then. Lucky me.
I hate surprises.
***
Beep Beep. Beep Beep. Beep Beep.
Beep Beep. Beep Beep. Beep Beep.
Beep Beep. Beep Beep. Beep Beep.
I groaned and rolled over in my bed – upgraded to a queen size when we moved to Chicago – and slammed my hand down on the snooze button, muttering something along the lines of “I’ll give you something to beep about…”
For a moment, I tried to get back to sleep again, but all thought of that was demolished when I realized what day it was.
Friday. My birthday.
Usually I’d use this as an opportunity to sleep in, but my friends knew just which buttons to press and knew that I was curious as hell. When I was this curious, this close to finding the answer, sleep wasn’t an option. I reached over to my bedside table picked up my phone, pulling it back to me and holding my thumb over the speaker to stifle the sound as it turned on and made noise to signal that people had tried to contact me.
One New Voice Mail: Pete.
“Happy Birthday Chardonnay! Call me back so I can scream excitedly at you.”
Four New SMS
Chase-face:
Hey hun, it’s Chase and Tyson. Happy Birthday! We’ll be seeing you a bit later on. LYLT xx
I shook my head, smiling, knowing that the ‘love you long time’ abbreviation was definitely Tyson’s input.
Megz:
Sup Bitch! You’re 20! I could go on, but I’ll be seeing you VERY soon so I won’t. HB! Love you (Jon says he does too) *huggles*
Sebastian:
Happy Birthday Charlie! I’m probably downstairs in your kitchen making breakfast right now, so come and give me your first 20-year-old hug :)
Now that I thought about it, I could smell a waft of pancakes and maple syrup creeping into my room. I smiled, and checked the last SMS. It was from an unknown number
Happy Birthday.
I was confused for a moment, but shrugged it off. Whoever it was, it was nice of them to say so. Maybe it was Kiah. I kept forgetting to add her new number to my sidekick. I threw my old phone onto my bed as I got up and exchanged my oversized t-shirt for a black tank-top, not bothering to change out of my pink, green and white checkered pajama shorts. I scraped my slightly-greasy hair back into a high ponytail and applied a light line of eyeliner before grabbing a light, pale blue hoodie and making my way out into the kitchen.
The fact that I’d deleted Brendon’s number from my phone last year never even crossed my mind.
***
As I'd thought, Sebastian had cooked pancakes. My mom was already sitting there, eating them happily. I ate mine after retrieving a calming, happy hug from Sebastian, and as soon as I was finished Megz burst in to squeeze me to death in one of her... uh, unique hugs, causing me to splutter and Mom and Seb to laugh. She shoveled down a pancake or two before dragging me back to my room to get ready. Apparently, she was going to be my guide for the day. I had a long, relaxing shower, and she was there to shove some clothes into my hands when I got out, directing me straight back. I looked at them before realizing that I didn’t own yellow skinny jeans.
“They’re part of Tyson’s present!” Megz called out before I could ask.
“Part?” I questioned, tugging the canary-yellow jeans over my hips.
“Yep,” I could hear the grin in her voice. “This is going to be the best birthday you’ve ever had!”
I bit my lip, smiling as I pulled on a black singlet trimmed with a thin line of black lace. I did my usual make-up and added some chunky silver bangles and hoop-earrings for effect before emerging back into my room from my walk-in wardrobe. (Did I forget to mention how much I loved my room in this house?)
“You look awesome,” she grinned, handing me a white handbag decorated with silver buckles and pieces of metal. I gave her a questioning look; it didn’t belong to me.
“Kiah,” she answered my unspoken question. “She left a couple of days ago to visit her aunt in Vegas and asked me to give it to you on your birthday.”
I nodded. That was nice of her. I just hope Noelle was okay. Kiah had told me that her aunt Noelle had been robbed. All that was stolen was a necklace or two and some of her paintings, but the poor woman was quite shaken. She’d been held at gunpoint until the robber had gotten what he wanted.
“It’s nice,” I said, looking at the handbag fondly. It was definitely Kiah’s style.
I quickly transferred my stuff from my usual messenger bag into my new handbag and slung it over my shoulder.
“Okay, so where are we going?” I asked my friend, who simply grinned.
“Get into my magic car and you’ll see.”
We were really really bad.
We sucked.
We didn’t need anyone to tell us; we knew. In fact, we refused to let any other people hear us. The only person who ever heard was Sebastian’s roommate Jason, the very few times he was ever home. He’d whine and complain about our ‘awful racket’ like a crazy cat lady, but he’d always manage to deal with it long enough to try some lame pick-up line on me. I was running out of witty ways to reject him.
After a while, six months at least, we weren’t so bad. In fact, we even sounded okay.
The only other people we’d let hear our music were Jon, Megz and William. I’d started hanging out with them much more, and Kiah and her friends less.
Don’t get me wrong; Kiah and I still hung out every now and then. We were best friends, once. Maybe not bestest best friends forever, but still best friends. Best friends don’t just leave you, but they can grow more distant. Kiah was different around her other friends than she was around me. I only liked to see her when it was just her, or her and Pete. Pete had gotten busier, so neither I nor Kiah got to see him as much. We spoke over the phone about once a fortnight, but it was pretty special when I got to see him. He refused to talk about work, which was fine with me.
But back to my point. Jon was rapidly becoming my second best friend. Of course, Sebastian was first. I guess Megz kind of replaced Kiah as my best girl friend. She confronted me once about how much she loved Jon. She said she never meant to love him so much, but now she did. I convinced her to talk to him, and now that their uncertainties were all gone, they were seriously the sweetest couple I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. And they weren’t the sickly let’s-give-each-other-lame-pet-names-so-the-whole-world-knows-that-we-love-each-other kind of sweet either. That would have made mestart planning their wedding gag. No, they were subtly sweet and considerate of one another. You’ve never met a pair more in love, I swear.
And then there’s William.
Well, what could I say about William? He was a part of our ‘group’, that much was sure, even though he’d been away a lot because he and his band were recording and finishing up their next album. He was really nice and sweet, not to mention had the most amazing voice and one of the brightest minds I’d ever come across. I was in complete awe of him, but I didn’t think he liked me very much. Whenever I walked into the room he went quieter, and he’d give me these looks. I don’t know how to describe them, because I honestly couldn’t decipher the emotion behind them. I didn’t know what to think. I know that normally I’d just act the same way in return, but there was something about him. He was intriguing, at the least, and I wanted to know him.
Just for the record, yes, I still lived with mom. I could have moved out, and I basically lived at Seb's place anyway, but I was happy living with her. She had been out with some nice men but I knew she was never going to find someone quite like my dadthank god, and I couldn’t leave her alone. It didn’t feel like a burden or anything; she knew that I was an adult now, and she gave me advice but never rules. Band practice was always at Seb’s house, though. I didn’t feel right having it at my house, even though we had a basement. I just… I got this weird pang somewhere beneath my chest and it just didn’t feel right. Call it nostalgia or a heart attack, it doesn’t matter. It felt wrong, and no one questioned my reluctance. So seeing as Chase and Tyson lived in an apartmentt a few streets away, Seb’s house it was.
Now, you might wonder why I didn’t tell Pete about Static Failure. Well, that’s simple; I didn’t want him to know. I didn’t want him to know that I had a band. First of all, if he liked us, I feel like it would be cheating our way into the music industry. Seb, Chase and Tyson agreed with me (since they’re the only ones who know about my connection to Pete Wentz). Secondly, if he liked us, that means he could easily let information about me slip to the wrong people. I shan’t go into any more detail on that matter.
So I guess that’s a rough outline of what my life had become.
Would you believe that I was almost twenty?
I found it hard to believe. The next day, I hit my twenties. My nineteenth birthday had been a small affair, just before I’d met Jon. Just Kiah, Sebastian, mom and I, out for pizza and ice cream. It wasn’t much, but it was nice. This year, however, Chase and Megz have planned something big. Of course, because they’re annoying, wasn't going to find out what was happening until then. Lucky me.
I hate surprises.
***
Beep Beep. Beep Beep. Beep Beep.
Beep Beep. Beep Beep. Beep Beep.
Beep Beep. Beep Beep. Beep Beep.
I groaned and rolled over in my bed – upgraded to a queen size when we moved to Chicago – and slammed my hand down on the snooze button, muttering something along the lines of “I’ll give you something to beep about…”
For a moment, I tried to get back to sleep again, but all thought of that was demolished when I realized what day it was.
Friday. My birthday.
Usually I’d use this as an opportunity to sleep in, but my friends knew just which buttons to press and knew that I was curious as hell. When I was this curious, this close to finding the answer, sleep wasn’t an option. I reached over to my bedside table picked up my phone, pulling it back to me and holding my thumb over the speaker to stifle the sound as it turned on and made noise to signal that people had tried to contact me.
One New Voice Mail: Pete.
“Happy Birthday Chardonnay! Call me back so I can scream excitedly at you.”
Four New SMS
Chase-face:
Hey hun, it’s Chase and Tyson. Happy Birthday! We’ll be seeing you a bit later on. LYLT xx
I shook my head, smiling, knowing that the ‘love you long time’ abbreviation was definitely Tyson’s input.
Megz:
Sup Bitch! You’re 20! I could go on, but I’ll be seeing you VERY soon so I won’t. HB! Love you (Jon says he does too) *huggles*
Sebastian:
Happy Birthday Charlie! I’m probably downstairs in your kitchen making breakfast right now, so come and give me your first 20-year-old hug :)
Now that I thought about it, I could smell a waft of pancakes and maple syrup creeping into my room. I smiled, and checked the last SMS. It was from an unknown number
Happy Birthday.
I was confused for a moment, but shrugged it off. Whoever it was, it was nice of them to say so. Maybe it was Kiah. I kept forgetting to add her new number to my sidekick. I threw my old phone onto my bed as I got up and exchanged my oversized t-shirt for a black tank-top, not bothering to change out of my pink, green and white checkered pajama shorts. I scraped my slightly-greasy hair back into a high ponytail and applied a light line of eyeliner before grabbing a light, pale blue hoodie and making my way out into the kitchen.
The fact that I’d deleted Brendon’s number from my phone last year never even crossed my mind.
***
As I'd thought, Sebastian had cooked pancakes. My mom was already sitting there, eating them happily. I ate mine after retrieving a calming, happy hug from Sebastian, and as soon as I was finished Megz burst in to squeeze me to death in one of her... uh, unique hugs, causing me to splutter and Mom and Seb to laugh. She shoveled down a pancake or two before dragging me back to my room to get ready. Apparently, she was going to be my guide for the day. I had a long, relaxing shower, and she was there to shove some clothes into my hands when I got out, directing me straight back. I looked at them before realizing that I didn’t own yellow skinny jeans.
“They’re part of Tyson’s present!” Megz called out before I could ask.
“Part?” I questioned, tugging the canary-yellow jeans over my hips.
“Yep,” I could hear the grin in her voice. “This is going to be the best birthday you’ve ever had!”
I bit my lip, smiling as I pulled on a black singlet trimmed with a thin line of black lace. I did my usual make-up and added some chunky silver bangles and hoop-earrings for effect before emerging back into my room from my walk-in wardrobe. (Did I forget to mention how much I loved my room in this house?)
“You look awesome,” she grinned, handing me a white handbag decorated with silver buckles and pieces of metal. I gave her a questioning look; it didn’t belong to me.
“Kiah,” she answered my unspoken question. “She left a couple of days ago to visit her aunt in Vegas and asked me to give it to you on your birthday.”
I nodded. That was nice of her. I just hope Noelle was okay. Kiah had told me that her aunt Noelle had been robbed. All that was stolen was a necklace or two and some of her paintings, but the poor woman was quite shaken. She’d been held at gunpoint until the robber had gotten what he wanted.
“It’s nice,” I said, looking at the handbag fondly. It was definitely Kiah’s style.
I quickly transferred my stuff from my usual messenger bag into my new handbag and slung it over my shoulder.
“Okay, so where are we going?” I asked my friend, who simply grinned.
“Get into my magic car and you’ll see.”
♠ ♠ ♠
(Twenty years old. University.)