"Aidan, Matthew said you're going to the party tomorrow."
And there goes my mood. I stop playing and look over at them. She's sitting on his lap now and he has a wide grin across his face.
"Against my will, yeah," I said without taking importance to her comment.
"Don't be a party pooper, Aidan," she said, jumping off Matthew's lap. She skips to my bed and sits right in front of me. "You need some fun and meet a girl."
I laugh. Is that really essential to them? Or do they think it’s essential for me? "Yeah, not the first time I heard that." I continue playing while she tells me the many reasons why it's good to go to college parties. It never made sense why people said you should take advantage of the fact that you're in college to party when you're here to study for a career. I'm here for that, not for all the alcohol, girls and sex, no matter how prude it makes me sound.
Jessie takes my hand, stopping me from playing when she realized I wasn't paying much attention to her. "Look, me and Leila are taking our new roommate. She needs a little more social experience and so do you. Perhaps we can all hang out and have fun, what do you think?"
I sigh, leaning against the wall. "I'm not saying that I'm not going, I'm trying to say that going to that party isn't really exciting for me. There's a difference."
Jessie stands up with a jump. "Well, it should be. The girl we're taking is very cute, you'll like her."
As much as I hate when people insist on things I never want to do, Jessie is a different story. She has the ability to convince people in a matter of minutes and with her big black round puppy eyes it’s hard to say no. I don't even know why she keeps insisting, I'm already going. Do they want me to be excited about going to a party where everyone is going to be drinking? Or does she want me to talk to the girl they're taking? Either way, tomorrow night is going to be a long night.
The next morning I take advantage that Alex and Matthew are sleeping in late to take the car and go to my favorite coffee shop, Poppy's Café. Mr. Manuel is the owner of the coffee shop. He's a very old and a very friendly man. His wife passed away a few years ago and for what he has told me, this shop was everything to her.
The smell of fresh coffee invades my senses the moment I walked in. The café is already packed with people waiting for their coffee or sitting on the tables with their attention placed on their computers.
"Aidan, you're here!" Mr. Manuel greets me excitedly when I walk in the shop. I smile and walk up to the old man. He extends his short, hairy arms to pull me in a tight hug. His belly pressed against my stomach and the few hairs on his head tickled my nose. I pull away with an awkward smile and scratch my head. He's always friendly and happy every time I come. "Come, I reserved your seat."
I chuckled, letting him guide me across the shop to my usual spot next to the window with the view of the port on the side. From afar I could see the mountains and the boats sailing from one edge to another. He walks away and comes right back with my white hot chocolate mocha.
"On the house," he said with a smile.
I shake my head. "No, Mr. Manuel, I can't let you do that."
He laughs, his fat belly shaking as he did. "Aidan, I don't mind as long as you come and play every Wednesday night." He pats me on the shoulder. "Now, I'll leave you so you can continue writing. Call me if you need anything."
"I will. Thank you."
The man is a walking smiley face. There hasn’t been a day where I haven’t been greeted with that exact level of enthusiasm as I was today. He walks back to the register and takes the order of the next customer in line, providing that number 1 customer service experience.
The walls of the shop are brown, covered with aesthetic pictures and old sayings. The dark wooden floors are always spotless and the round tables take over space. My eyes land on the piano on the stage where I play on Wednesday nights. I'm surprised by the number of people that come, the shop is always packed which is why it has been a hit ever since I started a year ago. That's why Mr. Manuel loves having me here.
I sip my white hot chocolate mocha, take my book out and with a content smile, I start writing my music.
* * *
"Hello?" I answer my phone. I've been in the shop for three hours and three hot chocolates. I figured Alex was going to call at some point.
"Aidan, where the hell are you?" He asked. Judging by the hoarse tone of his voice, I know he just woke up. "Come on back, we need to get ready for the party."
The party, the party, the party, the damn party. Does he really not care about anything else? I roll my eyes, drinking from my hot chocolate. "It's noon, Alex. Aren't parties supposed to start late at night."
"Yeah, but I'm not going to a party with old clothes and you need new ones, too. You look like Napoleon Dynamite."
What? I look down at my green button-down shirt and jeans. I see myself with my glasses that I only need when I'm reading or writing something on my reflection in the window. I'm nowhere near looking like Napoleon Dynamite, this guy is talking crazy.
"So, come back so we can go look for some new fresh clothing," he said before hanging up.
I groan and take my wallet out. When Mr. Manuel sees me, he shakes his head aggressively and motions me to take the money back. I nod, leaving a generous tip and get my backpack.
Alex rushes out when I make it back to the dorm, taking my backpack, throwing it back in the dorm and drags me out of the building. Matthew is already next to the car waiting for us. Alex takes the keys from me and jumps in the driver's seat.
“Took you long enough,” he said, turning on the engine.
I keep all comments to myself and sit in the back, listening to how Matthew and Alex talked about the last games of the Raiders and Chargers. This is going to be a long ride.
* * *
We park in front of the house - or mansion - where the party has started. There’s already frat guys and girls in the front yard laughing, playing around and drinking. The music is blasting from the house, there’s cheering and cursing coming left and right. The smell of marijuana is heavy as well. I take a moment to myself to prepare for what I’m about to endure and take my seat belt off.
I follow Alex and Matthew to the house as they greet people on our way inside, where the music was blasting loud to the point it hurts the ears. The living room was the dance floor where everyone was dancing their souls off. There was yelling, cheering, beers flying everywhere and people bumping into each other. I wonder how long it will take to clean this all up tomorrow. Also, it reeks of the smell of weed and sweat.
Alex pats me on the shoulder with a huge smile. The bastard must be really proud of himself. "Now this is a party!" He screams over the loud music. He rattles me a little too harshly and yells in my ear: "Now, loosen up and have fun!"
Fear rises up inside me as I stare at the wolves. People kept on dancing, jumping from one place to another, throwing beer cans at the walls and jumping on the furniture. The girls were shaking their butts to the guys and dropping to the beat of the music. I do not like it and I want to go home, I don't care if Alex kills me. I rather die than spend another second in this place. Suddenly, Alex and Matthew disappeared into the crowd leaving me here standing in the middle of a party I never wanted to attend. If I could cry, I would, but I’m not that much of a loser.
A blonde girl that notices me standing alone walks away from the dancing crowd and motioned me to join her, waving her finger in my direction. I shake my head, mouthing a no, thank you trying to find Alex or Matthew somewhere in the crowd. I would leave right now, but I don’t have the car keys and the dorms are miles away. The girl walks up to me and takes my hand.
"Come on, handsome! Let's have some fun!" She yells over the music.
I pull my hand away. "No, thanks! I'm looking for my brother!"
She starts tugging me to the dance floor, not taking no for an answer. "No. You look like you need a bit of fun!" She's drunk, I can smell it on her breath. She drags me to the dance floor where two other gir
ls wearing matching pink mini skirts joined.
More music began to play and the girls started hovering all around me, trying to grind themselves on me. Something tells me my brother is the one who planned this whole thing. I try my best not to touch any of the three girls who insist on rubbing their bodies against mine. I remain rigid with my hands to my sides as guys look at me as if I were the luckiest guy in the world, but right now I feel like a complete idiot for letting my brother dragged me here.
Once the song ends, I find a way to get away from the crowd. I have to literally tear their hands from my body in order to get away from their trap. I reach the snack table where I grab a bottle of water and drink it to the last drop. At least these people were thoughtful to know water is a prime necessity. I need to get out of here before those girls try to drag me back to the dance floor. I look around the room trying to figure out where the hell could these two be. This is the last time that I'm ever going out with my brother. I'm going to shove his brother bonding up his...
I keep looking around until my eyes fall on a small figure on the other side of the dance floor. There's a girl standing alone, leaning against the wall with her arms wrapped around her figure and looking so out of place. She looked like a little kid who lost his mom at Walmart. She has big round chocolate eyes. Eyes that can almost match her wavy hair that fell down her shoulders and her chest. Her skin was olive, her cheeks were slightly rounded and covered in a bright red blush and her lips were full and soft pink. She had a curvy body that was covered by the large jacket she wore.
In just a short split second, our eyes meet. Brown with green. What was the chance that out of all the people in the room, we ended up finding each other? I smile at her and nod my head, silently telling her that I see her, that I know she’s here, whoever she is. She does the same, just in a shy way before looking away.
She doesn't fit in here. Everything about her makes her look so out of place. She belongs somewhere else other than this party filled with drunk people and brain-damaging music, she belongs somewhere where she can be the primary center of attention.
A hand suddenly grabs me by my shoulder and pulls me back. It's the bastard himself.
"Where the hell have you been?" I yell over the music.
He ignores my question. "Come with me, Jessie is looking for her friend." I look back at the girl quickly and see she's talking to Jessie. She looks relieved and nods to whatever Jessie is saying to her.
"Let's go, there's someone we want you to meet," Alex said, guiding me to the girl.
Chapter Three
Aidan
We made our way across the dance floor where Jessie and her friend stood with Leila and Matthew. Everyone, except for the girl and I, had a smile on their faces, clearly enjoying the party judging by the red cups they were holding. The girl smiles shyly at me before looking back at Jessie. It was her way to acknowledge my presence.
"Aidan, this is Katherine Dawson. She's our new roommate!" Jessie said over the loud music.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Aidan," I said to Katherine and shook her warm hand.
"Nice to meet you, too," Katherine said back, forcing a smile.
"Okay, now that you two know each other, let's party!" Alex yells at the top of his lungs, making other people that were not included in the group cheer with him. They all scatter to the dance floor, leaving me and Katherine all alone next to the wall in an awkward stance.
Katherine gives Jessie a pleading look, holding onto her arm like a little kid who's about to go to their first day of school, but Jessie pulls her arm and walks away with a proud smile.
"No, no, no, no," Katherine pleads under her breath. After Jess was gone, she sighs and leans against the wall. I’m pretty sure the little bump I hear is her head hitting the wall.
I knew this was going to happen. What was the point of coming if they are just going to bail on us like that? I spot the girls that dragged me to the dance floor with another victim that seems to be enjoying their little dance. Maybe it wasn't Alex's idea after all. They call that dancing? I hear Katherine giggle next to me. She smiles shyly and leans in to say, "You're not much of a dancer, are you?"
I laugh at her comment. "Not when girls are rubbing their bodies against mine." She nods her head biting her lower lip again. Her eyes are focused somewhere else other than me. "Are you?" I lean in and ask her. If we were both bailed on, we might as well talk to each other.
"No. I'm not a party person either and I was born with two left feet." That makes two of us. We chuckle together and silence between us takes over again. Well, not so silent because of the music. "Jessie and Leila dragged me here because I'm not the social type."
Welcome to the club, my friend. We're both not party people and dragged to this party by our roommates. There has to be a place where we can talk like normal people without having to yell into each other’s ears.
"Want to go out for a walk?" I ask.
"Yes!" She said immediately, jumping at the offer. My eyes widened at her sudden excitement. That was unexpected. She notices my surprise. Her cheeks take a deeper shade of red that’s too adorable to ignore. "I mean, yeah, of course."
I chuckled and led her outside. My eardrums are thankful for the pleasing silence outside, except for the little ring that was left behind. We walked away from the party down the street, side by side in silence. I wonder how the neighbors are able to live next to a frat house that throws parties like this one, it’s a surprise the cops have not shown up. When I look back at Katherine, she still has her arms wrapped around herself with her head bowed down.
I decided to talk first. "So, um, you're new? Where do you come from?"
"Oceanside, California. I lived there with my mother and her husband," she said and looked up. "I didn't like the college over there and I preferred to live somewhere... Cooler."
"What about your dad?" I ask.
Her smile turns sad. Shit, Aidan, you just made it more awkward.
"He died when I was five," she answers. "Car accident."
See? Stupid.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." I want to kick myself for making such a personal question.
Katherine assures me it’s fine and that it doesn’t bother her at all.
"What are you studying for?" I asked to change the subject.
"English Literature." She answers with a little hint of excitement in her voice. Bingo. "I'm a classic aficionado." She giggles a contagious childish giggle that makes me want to giggle myself. "Maybe that's why I can't fit in a party like that." She motions her head behind us as we walk further away from the party. I couldn't agree more, who can fit in those parties? "What about you? What's your major?" She asked.
"Bachelor’s in composition and songwriting," I said, proudly. "I write music, I play it, I listen to it. I technically live with it."
That seems to surprise her. Her eyebrows rise almost to her hairline and her eyes widen. "So, you're like a modern Beethoven." She thought about it for a second and said, "That's awesome."
I laugh, putting my hands in my pockets. "Yeah, my family used to call me the Jr. B, you know-" I shrug "-the Jr. Beethoven." Katherine chuckled. "So, do you just like to read or do you write?" I ask.
"I write as well. Nothing that's ready to be shared," she points out. "I don't know, I feel like literature is something magical, you know? Like I have the opportunity to be someone else no matter if I'm reading or writing. It's something that takes me away from reality and into a place that's extraordinary."
"It's like your own little world that you have a chance to control," I said.
"Yes! Thank you, someone finally understands. All this time I thought I was the only crazy person who felt that way." She sighs at her own comment with a big smile and runs her hand through her hair.
"I know the feeling. It's the exact feeling I get every time I write or play music. My brother, Alex, he's always been the sports guy. The captain of the football team, soccer, track, you name it. During our free time
he and our dad would spend hours outside playing any type of sport in our backyard and they would come back covered in mud and sweat, driving my mother crazy because of her carpet. Then there's me and I chose the piano and my guitar,” I add. "I always thought perhaps my dad might have been disappointed that I wasn't a sports aficionado like him. We never sat down and talked about sports. The Super Bowl is his pastime with Alex, not me."
It was my biggest fear growing up. When dad was in high- school he was the popular kid, the varsity captain of every sport he joined. He was an Alex and he wanted both me and my brother to be as into sports as he was. I was for a fairly short amount of time, I tried my best to find the love for sports like my brother had until I found love for music instead.
"He couldn't be," Katherine whispered. "He wasn't, right?"
There's the thing that shocked me the most the day we left for college.
"He never was. The day before we came here he told me that the only thing that would ever disappoint him was if I didn't play the hell out of that piano."
He didn’t need to tell me twice, I knew I’d be disappointed in myself if I didn’t make it as a musician. I looked at Katherine and smiled when I saw her own smile. It was a different kind of smile, there was something about it that made it look so sweet.
We continue walking down the street until we reach a small park. It was dark with the only light coming from a picnic table on the other side and the street lights. Katherine and I find a swing set where we decide to rest.
She looks deep in thought. Her fingers twirled around with the ends of her hair that made a slight brown curtain around her face, hiding her matching eyes. We started swinging in silence, not an awkward silence like before, but it was obvious neither of us had anything to say. Katherine finally looks up and smiles at the sky. I follow suit and smile when my eyes catch the sight of the starry night.
Same Old Song Page 2
