and the stars will all come out

chapter five! ☆

OCTOBER ARRIVED WITH A KIND OF CRISP CHILL IN THE AIR, the kind of chill that brought on reddish-brown leaves fluttering to the ground, garage sales, and pumpkins at their ripest. Yet another change from Los Angeles that was happily welcomed: on the West Coast, the weather was always sunny, somehow, glamorous and unreal in a way that made it seem almost artificial. This wasn't the case in Virginia, though.

Now, Dave relished in the cold air as he sat on the porch for his morning smoke, even though he was half-strangling himself with the cord of the landline phone belonging to the kitchen, which was currently being stretched to breaking point.

"Yeah, yeah," he said into the phone, looking out at the wide dirt road and the expanse of Virginia greenery. "No, you're good...the second house on the right, keep driving and you'll find it."

He hoped he didn't sound too exhausted - it was eleven o'clock in the morning, wasn't the average person supposed to be up and moving by then? He'd only woken up ten minutes ago, but she didn't have to know that.

For a moment, he could only hear the thrumming of the road on her end, so he took the opportunity to stomp on his cigarette as he waited for her to pull up.

"Is the road normally this long?" Landry's voice rang out amongst a whole bunch of 1998-typical static from the other end of the line. "I - oh my god!"

The shabbiest Volvo Dave had ever seen finally pulled up to the driveway, and grinning, he finally untangled himself from the cord of the landline and let it ricochet back into the kitchen.

"You made it!" he exclaimed, hurrying over to her as the car door opened. Her car was at least fifteen years old, an ugly beige, deeply dented on one side, and in all honesty, he was surprised it wasn't in a junkyard, but he stopped caring about it the moment he saw her.

"I made it!" Landry replied, grinning in return as she climbed out and slammed the dented door shut behind her, shutting her flip phone closed in one big swoop. "You weren't kidding about the drive being long, by the way."

"I can pay you gas money," he said apologetically as he took in the sight of her: way less elegant this time, in baggy jeans and a Twisted Sister shirt that had been hacked and slashed at apparently at random, with some very dull scissors, but oddly beautiful nonetheless. "You like Twisted Sister?"

"My roommate's shirt," she told him. "Laundry day."

"Good band," he commented. "C'mon, come inside, Nate and T are waiting for you."

☆

"IS THIS THE GIRL?" Taylor squawked, moonwalking into the room as soon as the telltale sound of the door swinging open was heard. He was shirtless, barefoot, and holding a plate of pizza rolls; grinning unabashedly, too. "Hi, my name's Taylor."

Dave's worries were starting to get the best of him. Had he not put enough thought into this? Was his best friend going to scare her off?

A newfound wave of awkwardness hit Landry as he bounded towards her, a bullet of merriness with the plate of pizza rolls in hand, but somehow, she managed to shoot him a tight smile and laughed uncomfortably as he extended his hand. "Hi Taylor, I'm Landry."

He shook her hand firmly, a bit too enthusiastically for the time of the morning, and as a blush crept up the side of Landry's neck, Dave had to suppress a laugh.

"Dude, Dave's been tellin' us all about you," Taylor grinned, bright-eyed as he took her in, looking her her up and down. "He said you're, like, the coolest girl ever, and you play the bass in this super cool band..."

"Dude," Dave interjected, smiling slightly, extending a hand as though to physically stop him from saying anything else. "Just get Nate, will you?'