A Little Bit Yours

Chapter VIII - The Other Guy

I arrive at Harry's house and I can hear noise coming through the basement window. I text him to let him know that I'm at the door and shortly after his tall figure shows as the door opens. He leads me down the stairs to the basement and I'm surprised by the amount of musical equipment that he has. I'm snapped out of my admiration state as Michael wraps his arms around me in a bear hug.

"Jesus Michael, I can't breathe!" I playfully shove him off me and we both laugh. I notice that a strange face is in the room and they must have noticed my surprise because Harry quickly makes the introductions. "Josh, this is Hunter, he is a friend of ours that moved to the States for school, he's a year older than us. He's just in town for a couple of days and we invited him to hang out."

"Nice to meet you, Josh." Hunter extends his hand to me and I shake it. I'm not going to say that I don't like him because I haven't even had a proper chat with him but there's something about him that just feels off to me. "Hunter here is currently studying at USC but he still makes time to play some jams with his buddies." Michael pats his back and they smile at each other. I'm guessing that Hunter and Mike were pretty close before he left, it must've been tough on him.

"Yeah but I see that in the meantime they found me a replacement." Hunter laughs but I don't know to which point he is actually joking or being serious. Punch him in the face, go go, you can do this. Stop, Jack, I'm not going to punch a guy that I barely know in the face. I look around and I see Michael sitting down with his bass and Harry with his electric guitar. Hunter gets up and sits on the cajon and I pull out my acoustic guitar. "What are we playing tonight, lads?"

Harry puts on his best thinking face as he pretends to really be wondering what we could play. 

"How about we play Slow Dancing in a Burning Room?" I speak out and Michael nods his head. "For sure a classic, I'm in."

Play Slow Dancing in a Burning Room by John Mayer.

I take the lead with the guitar while Harry follows suit with his guitar. The music echoes through the room and I close my eyes to appreciate it.

It's not a silly little moment
It's not the storm before the calm

This is the deep and dying breath of
This love that we've been working on

I start to sing along much to the surprise of my friends but they don't comment and just keep playing the song. Being around them allows me to be myself and not too concerned about what they will think about me. They are for sure one of the best parts of being back in town and actually getting to have friends.

We're going down

And you know that we're doomed

My dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room

I start to think about the real reasons why I chose this song and if it's in any way related to the relationship that I have with Ella. Are we really doomed? Can we make it out alive after everything we've been through?

We carry on with the song until it ends and Michael just starts clapping excitedly. "Dude, I knew you could play guitar but I had no idea you could sing like that!"

"For sure, very well kept secret, Josh." Harry pushes his shoulder against mine playfully. "By the way, what happened between you and Ella?"

"Ella? Ella Kent?" Hunter immediately shows interest in the conversation which makes me raise an eyebrow at him, wondering if he knows her. Oh hell nah, get this bitch out of the way. "Do you know her, Hunter?"

"Oh yeah, Hunter and Ella were like best friends and if I'm not mistaken, you guys even got to date before she started dating Richard, right?" My blood starts boiling in my veins and I clench my fists. Josh, you're making it too obvious, breathe in and out, c'mon buddy. "Yes, we dated before I left the country and we decided that we should break up for the time being. Since USC is one of her colleges of choice, we always planned to hit restart when she moves there. I'm pretty sure that with how bright she is, she will for sure get in." A proud smile shows on his face and this is suddenly starting to be too much for me to handle. I can't stay here any longer and listen to this. How could she lie to me like that? How could she say that she wanted to move to the US as it would possibly be the only way for us to reconnect and now I found out that this was all a game for her to get back together with her ex? What would happen when she got there? She would simply leave me after all that we've been through?