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

The first stop was Starbucks for a little morning caffeine. In my opinion, 10.30 counts as morning. We stopped off where Jon worked and he gave us free drinks (well, Megz had to pay for hers with a smooch).

“Happy Birthday Char,” he smiled, giving me a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you a bit later.”

“I guess so,” I said, taking a sip of my vanilla mocha.

When Megz managed to pry herself away from Jon, we went shopping in the heart of the city. Her present was to get me an outfit for tonight… whatever tonight may be.

So the day went by. Shopping, shopping, shopping, lunch at a nice little café with to-die-for sandwiches, shopping again, escaping for ten minutes to call Pete back, shopping, more shopping…

All in all, I was very sick of shopping by the end of it. But I was very pleased with my purchases (well, most of them were Megz’s purchases, but they were for me so I count them as mine).

We had some light salads for dinner that mom had made when we got back to my place before I was once again forced upstairs to get ready. We both got changed, and then did each other’s make-up. I was quite proud of my job with her make-up; all black, silver and green to match her black strapless dress with silver belt and green and silver stilettos. I even added a small star for effect near the corner of her eye, remembering vaguely an old friend of mine who used to do the same to me.

“Now you’re ready,” Megz nodded, pulling the lipstick slowly away from me.

I stood up and went to my bathroom mirror, inspecting my reflection. I was wearing some non-ripped dark blue skinny jeans and a flowy cream colored top, made sophisticated by the black edges. My only jewelry was a silver charm bracelet from my mom, diamond stud earrings and a sparkly silver ring that had been given to me several years before. My make-up was done perfectly, as though by a professional. My skin looked flawless, my eyes looked dark and intriguing, outlined in black liquid eyeliner and then glittery silver, and my lips were tinted a dark burgundy kind of color. My dark red hair was curled elegantly and pulled back high, my fringe sweeping across my face. I looked more like an air-brushed model version of me. It was weird.

But the best part of my outfit was the shoes. I paid for them, because they were relatively expensive, and couldn’t refuse them because they were the last pair left and they just so happened to be in my size. Platforms and high heels of black patent leather, the rest of the shoes looked like they were made of layers of cream/pink tissue paper, although they were actually stronger than that. They allowed a peek of my red-painted toenails, and were completed with a patent black leather bow. It was love at first sight. And these shoes seemed to reciprocate the emotion.

“Are you going to tell me what I’m ready for yet?” I asked Megz, walking back into my room.

She grinned.

“Clubbing, of course.”

***

“You do realize that this is my twentieth birthday, not my twenty-first?” I told her again as she drove, but she just laughed, shaking her head.

It had never really occurred to me before that all of my friends were older than I was. Apart from Kiah, but we’ve been through that. Megz, Seb, Chase and Tyson were all a year older than me. Jon and William were two years older than me. Pete was like… seven or eight years older than me or something like that. It had just never been a big deal. Until this. They wanted to celebrate my birthday. But I wasn’t allowed into clubs yet. This was kind of… weird. They’d all done it all before; this wasn’t new to them. I, on the other hand, had never seen the inside of a club before.

“How do you intend on getting me in?” I asked skeptically.

“Fake I.D, of course,” she said, like it was the most obvious answer in the world. I guess in movies it would be.

“Uh, I don’t have one.”

“We know,” she said, still smiling as she watched the road. “Relax honey; it’s your birthday! Seb’s roommate Jason got one for you. It’s in my purse.”

I searched through her bag and found the small card, inspecting it for any lack of credibility. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a distinguishable difference between my fake I.D and Megz’s real one. And why was I not surprised that I'd acquired it through Jason?

When we got there, I didn’t even look at the name of the place. I was so fucking scared that I was going to get caught out. And that bouncer dude looked so scary…

I needn’t have worried. My fake I.D was gold. They didn’t even look twice.

As my heart rate decreased back to normal, Megz dragged me over to a booth on the second level where all my friends were sitting. They greeted me with loud cheers, and each took their turn to hug me.

Not a word was said about my being underage to drink. Thank god. So I settled back next to Seb and Jon with a girly breezer (for starters) and we all just talked like nothing was new.

Of course, there was an exchange of presents and ‘thank you’s. Tyson, as well as the awesome yellow jeans that I’d worn earlier, got me a bunch of skelanimals merchandise, much to my delight. Chase gave me a bunch of movies; some were random ones with stupid titles or covers that still had their ‘Buy me, I’m cheap’ stickers on them, making me laugh, and some of them were movies that we both loved. I was wearing Megz’s present, of course, and Jon had given me several books that I either loved or intended to read and a Starbucks mug for at home. Even William had gotten me a kind present; a poetry book. Sebastian told me that both his and Pete’s presents would be there for me when I got home.

I gave out about a million hugs and expressions of gratitude, and even rolled my eyes and allowed them to sing an obnoxiously loud rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’, causing people to stare. I didn’t intend on drinking too much (unlike some… *cough* Chase *cough*) so after my breezer I decided that I’d have a vodka-and-coke and be done drinking for the night. Halfway through my glass, Megz grabbed my wrist and whisked me away to the dance floor, where we both proceeded to dance to the best of our abilities.

I danced a lot with Megz, then a song with both her and Jon, then with the manwhore Chase (drunk, mind you), some strangers, and then back to Megz again after she and Jon had finished making out for the millionth time.

I don’t know how many songs passed. I don’t know how many minutes ticked by. I was just having so much fun. I was truly happy. All I know is that eventually a slower song started playing. It was the first song that I knew, and a song that I never ever thought I would hear at a club. When I looked at Megz, she was looking with a curious smile behind me.

“I’m going to find Jon,” she said, and darted away as I felt someone tap my bare shoulder.

“May I have this dance?”

I spun around to see William standing there, tall and lanky and smiling his adorable crooked smile that I rarely ever got to see. It was such a shock that I was a little breathless.

“Sure.”

His arms slid effortlessly around my waist and mine slithered up to connect behind his neck. We both started swaying to the song, a song that I have loved for a long time. All the awkwardness that William had ever made me feel had disappeared in these moments, and I found myself relaxing and sighing in contentment, resting my forehead on his shoulder. His head was bent down a little, and his lips were softly singing the words to the song next to my ear.

“The first star I see may not be a star.
We can't do a thing but wait,
So let's wait for one more.”

Have I mentioned how positively breathtaking William’s voice was? Well it was a million times better when I know that I’m the one he’s singing to, and the only one who can hear it.

“The time, such clumsy time, in deciding if it's time.
I'm careful but not sure how it goes.
You can lose yourself in your courage.”

Subconsciously, my grip on the man in front of me tightened.

“When the time we have now ends,
When the big hand goes round again,
Can you still feel the butterflies?
Can you still hear the last goodnight?

The mindless comfort grows when I'm alone with my 'great' plans.
This is what she says gets her through it:
'If I don't let myself by happy now then when?'
If not now when?

When the time we have now ends,
When the big hand goes round again,
Can you still feel the butterflies?
Can you still hear the last goodnight?”

I’d honestly never heard anything so beautiful in my life.

“Close my eyes and believe wherever you are, an angel for me.”

He stopped singing at this point, and I felt as his fingers gently pulled my hair out of the elastic it was tied up with.

“I like your hair out,” he said softly, as my hair fell in red ringlets around my shoulders.

I looked up at his beautiful brown eyes, and he smiled softly at me.

“Uh, thanks,” I mumbled, blushing.

What is this?

What’s happening?

The song faded out and another fast-tempo techno song came on.

“Could you come outside with me for a second?” he asked, uncertain teeth biting his lower lip.

I just nodded and he took my hand to lead me out of the busy club and into the cool Chicago street. We didn’t walk far; just far enough to be illuminated by the streetlights.

“I have another present for you,” he murmured, his gaze penetrating mine, our hands still entwined.

“Oh?”

He reached into the pocket of his black skinny jeans and pulled out a small blue box, holding it out to me. I took it and opened it with one hand; he hadn’t yet broken our hands, so I had no incliation to either. Inside was a delicate white gold chain, supporting a semi-quaver charm of the same metal. The music note contained one small red gem. I gasped at its beauty.

“Do you like it?” he asked me, biting his lip.

“It’s beautiful,” I said sincerely. “And it looks expensive. Why would you spend so much money on me?”

There was a pause as he slowly brushed my fringe out of my eyes. He picked the necklace up gently and clearly went to put it on for me. I lifted my hair up at the back as he fiddled with the clasp until it closed around my neck, his slightly calloused fingertips touching my skin and sending tingles down my back.

“Because I wanted to,” he said quietly. “Because I really like you, and I wanted to show you that.”

Our eyes connected fully, and it all made sense. The reason he acted strangely around me, the reason I was so intrigued by him. It wasn’t dislike. It was attraction.

His eyes asked mine, and mine gave permission before he leaned in slowly and took my lips in his.

It was a little strange at first. It had been a long while since I’d kissed or been kissed by anyone. His lips, although gentle, warm and welcoming, were not familiar to me. Then again, neither was the idea of kissing anyone I wasn’t ‘just friends’ with. The only person I’d ever kissed before was Ryan.

After the ‘new’ sensation wore off a little, I kissed him back a little more enthusiastically. His hands were already around my neck from putting the necklace on, so they pulled me in closer and I hugged him around his shoulders. Our lips both parted and tongues began to search; search and remember all the new territory they were being given access to. He was very gentle and caring, as if he was afraid that he’d break me. But although he made my knees weak, my emotions were only getting stronger.

We pulled away after a few moments, both breathing a little raggedly and both blushing just a bit.

“Charlotte, will you go on a date with me on Sunday?” he whispered against my lips.

I smiled and kissed him quickly once more.

“If you promise to call me Charlie.”

He grinned triumphantly and we made our way back to the club, arms around each other’s waist.