Nashville University: Crescent Moon

by Fumise Love

  It was already dark…what did Johanne have in mind?

  I was surprised when he went inside the Ozone bar, the place where I had my first gig with Crescent Moon. I went inside because I did not have a choice. I stayed silent even though he ordered a shot glass of tequila.

  Was it in his plan to drink alone?

  Maybe he was going nuts.

  I wanted to stop him from drinking but I knew for myself that I was not in the place to do that. Who was I in Johanne’s life anyway? Maybe I was just a friend who did nothing but frustrate the hell out of him.

  But still.

  I admitted that he was my friend…and I did not like seeing my friend suffering like this.

  ◆◆◆

  He continued drinking that it came to the point that I could not keep track of how many tequila shots he had. I just stared at him as I was drinking my cola. I could not drink because there was a huge chance that I would get drunk and if in any case that occurred, what would happen to me and Johanne?

  “Johanne…” I called for his attention. “Let’s go back to the training camp,”

  “Who are you?” he asked while his eyes were half-closed.

  Look at what the alcohol did to him…even though I was the person that he tormented almost every single day, he forgot about me.

  I was alright with him tormenting me every day rather than seeing him like this.

  I would rather have him look at me like I was the most frustrating thing in the world rather than have him forgetting me.

  Why was it a big deal to me if he forgot my name while he was drunk? This was okay so that I would not find myself falling for him.

  This was alright so I would not feel the awkward things whenever he looked at me or whenever we made skin contact.

  But, even though I kept telling myself that I was not falling for him…why did it seem like I still was?

  I was scared to admit to myself that I was starting to like Johanne because in the end, I knew that I was going to get hurt in the process. I knew that the decision of not saying anything about my feelings was the right thing to do.

  Maybe Johanne would ignore me once he knew that I was starting to fall for him.

  I needed to stop myself from falling any deeper.

  And I knew that Johanne and I would not be a good match since he was the type of guy who was considered as perfect. He was handsome, wealthy, talented, and it was obvious that he also got the brains. Girls like Stephanie would be the perfect match for him.

  Two hours had passed by and he looked at me, “Why are you here?”

  Wow. He suddenly remembered me.

  “I followed you,” I stated the obvious. “How about you? Why are you here?”

  “Because I’m in pain,”

  Johanne possibly did not want Paul and Matthew to see him so…vulnerable. This might be the reason why he was dealing with the pain all to himself. This guy was so full of pride.

  I could say that Johanne always wanted to appear strong in the eyes of those people who were surrounding him.

  But it was alright to appear weak in front of other people once in a while, right?

  ◆◆◆

  “Hey, lady. He’s already knocked out. Why don’t you join us?” a random guy who approached me nudged at Johanne who was sleeping on the counter. I could not describe his face since it was so unique…and exotic.

  I did not want to be cruel but boy was he so ugly.

  Note the sarcasm.

  “Pardon?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Drink with me,”

  “I’ll pass,”

  “Don’t play so hard to get,” he took hold of my arm and pulled me closer to him. “But on the other hand, I really like girls who are a challenge like you,”

  “I apologize, but I don’t like talking to a stranger with a face like a frog,”

  “Why ar—“

  “Bro, she already said that she doesn’t want to talk to frogs, right?” it caught me by surprise when Johanne stood up and placed his hand on top of the frog’s shoulder.

  “Who are you to interfere. Don’t mess with me, bro,” the frog warned.

  If Johanne was not drunk, I would find myself laughing because it seemed like it was a battle between a gorilla and a frog.

  Johanne did not waste any effort to talk and immediately landed a punch on the guy’s face. I did not know what to do even though I knew that the frog was on the upper hand because Johanne was already drunk.

  But I was wrong.

  They exchanged punches but in the end, Johanne won and the frog was on the floor, knocked out. The only bad thing that happened was Johanne got this bleeding lip because of the frog’s punch.

  Johanne hurriedly walked outside of the bar after paying his bill, including mine. He was not walking straight that was why I went to his side and placed his arm on my shoulder.

  I accompanied him back to the Nashville University Training Camp and all the way to his room. It was that easy to locate each room because there was a directory at each floor. I placed Johanne gently on top of his bed and went to get a towel from his closet to tend to his bleeding lip.

  Unlike me, Johanne was not the one to puke while drunk.

  As I was tending to his wound, I noticed that Johanne really looked angelic while sleeping. Before I could drown myself from looking at his face, I tried to stand up…but Johanne grabbed hold of my hand and he pulled me until I was beside him on top of his bed.

  What?

  He placed his arms around me and I felt the heat rose up to my cheeks. I attempted to stand up but Johanne was stronger than me even though he was asleep.

  Damn.

  This was Johanne and I knew that he hated me. Nothing was going to happen even though we were going to sleep beside each other.

  I would just go back to my room later once he was fully asleep.

  Chapter Twelve

  Gabrielle

  “What is this?” a familiar guy voice woke me up from my sleep. My sleep was heavenly…why did someone have to ruin it? “What are the two of you doing?”

  I slowly opened my eyes and I was greeted by the sleeping face of a gorilla. I quickly turned around until I landed on the floor from the surprise. What happened last night came back to me like I was struck by lightning. I was tempted to slap myself on the face because I forgot to wake up like I was supposed to.

  Why did I not wake up?

  Was my sleep really that heavenly…?

  I looked at Samantha, Paul, and Matthew who all had their eyes widened. It was obvious that it was Paul’s voice that woke me up.

  “Whatever you’re thinking…those are all false,” I reasoned even though they had not voiced out the things that were inside their heads.

  The three of them all spoke together at the same time until it came to the point that I could not understand a single thing that they were saying. Ugh. Why did I follow Johanne yesterday? At the back of my mind, I knew that it was going to turn out like this.

  I knew that this would cause an awful lot of misunderstanding.

  “Why is my room so crowded?” Johanne sat up while scratching the back of his head. I hoped that he would not remember that I slept beside him all throughout the night. “What happened?”

  How was I supposed to answer his question?

  “W-What?” Why the hell did I have to stutter? “Nothing happened,”

  “Can you please stop talking?!” Johanne yelled at the other three and I was thankful that they were all able to shut their mouths. “Ouch! Shit!” Johanne raised his hand to his lip. It was not bleeding anymore but it was slightly wounded.

  “Why is your bottom lip like that? Did you and Gab kissed all night long?” Matthew teased.

  Kissed?

  Matthew’s imagination was so broad.

  “It seems like the two of you enjoyed what happened last night,” Samantha smirked. She obviously found this scenario amusing.

  Enjoyed? Johanne was drunk last night and he got hurt because
of me. My conscience was knocking on my door but I remembered that it was Johanne’s fault why I went to the bar in the first place.

  “What really happened?” Johanne directed his question to me. So that I would not find myself into anything irrelevant anymore, I explained everything that happened last night to them. I also did not forget to tell them that Johanne was the one who pulled me to his bed.

  I was sure that they were still going to tease if even if I had already told them the truth. These people were so slow-minded.

  “Tell me…” Johanne flashed me a smile. “Did you enjoy what happened last night?”

  I thought that Johanne would be there to back me up but boy, I was wrong.

  I was not able to stop myself as I landed a punch on his face and stormed outside of the room.

  ◆◆◆

  Johanne

  I never expected that Gabrielle’s punch would be this hard. It was alright with me if she slapped me…but punching me?

  No. I was not mad at her because I found it relaxing whenever I teased her. The greatest thing about teasing her was when she would get mad after.

  To be honest, I woke up before her. I was surprised when I saw her by my side while I had my arms embracing her figure. I stared at her sleeping face for almost an hour. I pretended to be asleep again when I heard my door opening.

  I remembered everything that happened last night even though I was drunk. I just pretended that I did not remember anything in front of our friends. When Gabrielle stormed out of my room, Samantha quickly went to follow her while Paul and Matthew, who were laughing, remained here with me.

  “Why are you laughing?” I asked the two of them.

  “Nothing,” they both responded.

  “I could accept that the two of you are here…but why is Samantha here also?”

  “She thought that Gab was missing,” Paul answered. “Sam texted you to ask where Gabrielle was but you did not reply. We knew that you were still asleep that’s why we went here to ask you where Gab was personally and then bam! A miracle just happened!”

  Even though my friends were teasing me, I just laughed together with them.

  Nothing bad had occurred but all I knew was that I was happy with what happened last night between me and Gabrielle.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Gabrielle

  It was our fourth week of staying here in the Nashville University Training Camp. We would soon go home and the days of spending time with strangers and newly found friends would come to an end. Of course, I would not forget that the new semester would be starting soon.

  There was no need to admit that I enjoyed the weeks that I stayed here in the training camp even though Johanne just kept on tormenting me. It was quite funny to think that even though we always argued, our relationship with each other became very close.

  We would have a gig on Wednesday and we had two days to practice. I did not know why Crescent Moon always wanted to only have two days of spare time to polish the songs that we were going to play.

  But even though they were like this, I did not regret joining Crescent Moon and in fact, I was thankful for Samantha for convincing me to join. I was glad that I was able to perform side-by-side with them and even though I hated admitting it to myself, I was honored to be in the same band as Johanne.

  I also did not know why I was so dramatic today even though it was not yet time to go back to New York.

  I entered the music room and noticed that I was the first one to arrive. I walked my way towards the piano and started playing. It had been a while since I played by myself.

  “Making my way downtown,

  Walking fast, faces pass and I'm homebound,

  Staring blankly ahead,

  Just making my way,

  Making a way through the crowd,”

  The thought of Johanne entered my mind. Why did it seem like I was playing this song for him? Who was he for me to sing to anyways?

  Why did it also seem like I was lying to myself?

  Alright. I really liked Johanne…but I was so sure that he would not be able to like me back. I was nowhere close to Stephanie when it came to physical appearance.

  I needed to forget these feelings that I had for Johanne.

  If it was not possible to bury these feelings, I was alright with admiring him from afar. This was the only solution so I would not make a fool out of myself.

  “And I need you,

  And I miss you,

  And now I wonder,”

  Why did this song come into my mind?

  I should not think of Johanne.

  Once this training camp came to an end, my feelings for Johanne should also come to an end too. Once we were out of the Nashville University Training Camp, I would not be able to see him again because he was currently enrolled in a different campus in Philadelphia. Maybe I would see him next year if me and Samantha decided to spend our vacation here again.

  And who knew?

  Maybe next year, somebody else would take a hold of his heart.

  I realized that I was really being dramatic while singing this song that I could even outshine Vanessa Carlton in her music video.

  Guys were really just a pain in the ass.

  There were so many guys to like in our campus, why did I have to fall in love with Johanne? I could have directed these feelings to other guys so the pain would lessen. I was scared that Johanne would just push me away once he knew that I liked him.

  Because so many girls liked Johanne, it was impossible that he would choose me.

  “If I could fall into the sky,

  Do you think time would pass me by,

  Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles,

  If I could just see you tonight,”

  “Are you really that in love with me to sing me a song?” I almost fell on the floor from the chair when somebody familiar spoke up.

  I glared at the owner of the voice, “What are you doing here, Johanne?”

  “We have a practice today and you’re asking me of why I’m here?” his eyebrow arched. “And you’re the newcomer because I was just sleeping at the corner before you came inside,”

  Why did I not check every corner of this music room? I had not realized that he was sleeping behind the drum set.

  “And what ‘in love’ are you talking about?” I changed the topic. “Why are you so full of yourself? Nobody will ever like you!”

  “Nobody? What do you call yourself, then?”

  “Ugh. You frustrate me so much! Me?!” I pointed to myself. “You’re telling me that I like you? You wish!”

  “Oh…alright,” he sarcastically nodded. “To whom are you dedicating that song to and you’re like making your own music video because of how you sang it?”

  “Why do you care?! Is it wrong to sing alone?! And I just want to practice how to sing it properly!”

  “Did I say that it’s wrong to sing alone?” Johanne walked to my direction and pinched my cheeks. “Just admit that you’re in love with me, witch,”

  “You’re so full of yourself!” I repeated the phrase that I told him almost every day. “You’re so stubborn! I told you that I’m not in love with you! Nevertheless, I don’t even like you!” I slapped his hands away that were pinching my cheeks while I took a step backward to get away from him.

  “Why is your face turning red?”

  “It’s because my blood is boiling!” my back landed on the wall. Why did the music room seem so small compared to how it was earlier? Johanne placed both of his hands on the sides of my head as if cornering me. “H-Hey!” I complained. “Go away!”

  “Isn’t this what you’re wishing for?” I could feel Johanne’s breath on my face. What was he doing?

  “You’re delusional!” I attempted to push him away but he grabbed both of my wrists and placed it on the wall again. “Let go of me!”

  His face slowly leaned in closer to mine.

  Was he going to kiss me?

  I did not know why my eyes automatically
closed. I then heard Johanne chuckling which made me snapped my eyes back open, “What’s going on inside your mind, witch? You think that I was going to kiss you?”

  “What the –“

  “You’re assuming too much,”

  Damn.

  I thought that he was really going to kiss me but he was just going to tease me instead!

  Why did I not expect it? This was Johanne that we were talking about!

  “You dickhead!” I pushed him with all the strength that I could muster. “I closed my eyes because I did not want to see that gorilla face of yours that near!”

  I ended up being the embarrassment because of what I did.

  “You’re just thinking of loopholes to get out of this one! Just tell me that you’re in love with me!” he walked away from me.

  My hand itched to throw a punch again to get revenge, “You gorill—“ I charged at him but my right foot got caught into the wire which made me lose my balance. I did not make contact on the floor, which I think was my forte, because I managed to drag Johanne down with me. He caught all my weight because I landed on top of him.

  This was also considered as a revenge since he got hurt.

  “You’re so heavy,” he groaned. “Clumsy witch,”

  He struggled to stand up and I did not move an inch so he would have a hard time getting up. “Serves you ri—“

  “What are the two of you doing again?!” Johanne and I immediately turned our heads at the direction of the door where Paul and Matthew were standing up.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Gabrielle

  This was the second time that a misunderstanding had occurred. This was the second time and I did not know if I was unlucky or if it was Johanne with the bad luck.

  This life sucked.

  “Alright,” I inhaled a huge amount of air. “For the second time, your imagination is false,” Paul and Matthew suddenly started to laugh and I knew that this would cause a lot of teasing from them.

  “You two should pick a place where you’re going to do that,” Matthew suggested. “The two of you each have your own rooms, why don’t you go there and continue what you’re doing?”