Everly.

Midnight

Midnight. That was the first time I laid eyes on her beautiful loose brown curls whirling back and forth by the movement of her laughter on the bar stool. In fact, I thought once or twice she would have taken a spill if it were not for her lovely friends there to push her back into place. It was a decent night here, warm breeze but not too hot so that you couldn't enjoy the openness of the fronts of the bars. There was a nice crowd filling the room up by this time. It was Friday after all, and this place would soon be packed wall to wall with shouting people, all trying to speak louder than the next to get their words heard. I had been dragged here by a few of my buddies "trying to get me to be a normal twenty-something year old and enjoy the night life". I, however, would much rather kick back in my box of a room and listen to old records or a read a good novel. I liked my life that way, simple, and doing whatever I enjoyed without being told what to do by anyone else. That was until that night, when my world had surely been flipped upside down for good. I could not resist to the pulling of my eyes to her, pathetic as I may look, she just captured my attention, all of it and I certainly wasn't going to be changing that anytime soon.

An hour had passed by now, and I still felt like I had not drank up enough courage to walk over and talk to the marvelously beautiful creation that had been sitting just feet away from me. Her laugh had seemed to carry on through all the loud voices scattered through the bar, aiming right toward me. That is when we first made eye contact. Had it not been for Jameson, I probably would have started the drooling stage of my staring by now. "Hey man, you going to stop being a pussy and take this? Or will I have to shove it down your throat, again?!" He really gets on my nerves most of the time, but all in all he's a good friend when need be, so I can't get too mad. "All right, jeez, what's your pointless cheer to this time?" After his third ridiculous chant, we downed our shots of overpriced whiskey. My friends enjoyed this kind of stuff, going out every night, drinking the hours away, bullshitting random stories out of random people. I do admit, it is enjoyable sometimes to watch how horrendous they act when they let themselves get to the point of no return. This evening was no different adventure from any other, except for myself trying to build up the strength to go find out who the mystery brunette was at our bar.

2:00 AM. That's when the karaoke started and things began to get wild. Everyone at the bar had been singing along to every song at this point, no matter the choice. By this point I had been drinking enough to make my way over to her side of the room. There she was, giggling and stumbling around, still the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on, but I would never say that out loud. "Uh hey there, I've never seen you around here before." Why did I start with that? 

 " Hey, I'm (hiccup) not from here!" Oh great, just when I had a little slither of hope, that something could go my way, there it was. Another visitor, from some other boring place in the world, that I would never see again. " Oh, really...where are you from?" I said trying to keep eye contact, but it was clear she was a couple drinks ahead of me. " I am from Cleveland, ha ha, probably never even heard of it! But that would not surprise me!" Well, I had heard of it, although I'm not that impressed to ever keep any detail of it. " Oh, yeah I have actually, what are you doing in town?" Wow, am I really that desperate? That pushy? Oh well. " I am visiting my family, and some new friends!" She tries to point at the group of girls standing around her. Now that I take a good look, I have seen them around a couple times before. Blonde short pixie hair, she has definitely been in my apartment a few times. Long black hair, tall as a tree, she has been out to the bar with the group that I call friends. This is getting more uncomfortable as each minute passes. "Well, are you having a good time at least?" "Yeah! this place is great!! Nothing like where I'm from! I'm never, ever leaving!" Well that would be nice. Even though I know it's the alcohol speaking for her right now. "Yeah that seems to be what happened to most of us here." Which is true. Jameson is from Seattle, great place, too much rain. Nolan, well I think he is from somewhere in Florida, not too interested in finding out where though. Ashton came from the deep south, somewhere Alabama, and my favorite of all is Trenton, who came from England. He is the spiciest of our group, always has some comment to some sentence that someone is spewing. I knew a lot of people around here by now, no matter what corner I turned down, block I crossed, someone was yelling out my name. I however, am Hayden, and I used to reside in Los Angeles, which some would argue is the best city, but clearly have never lived in Brooklyn, New York. I hated it there, everyone is so needy, and pretentious, gives you a feeling of vomiting every time you hear someone talk. Well, that is how I felt about it at least. " Oh, so are you like, visiting someone too?" "Nope, I live next block over, right above the pizza shop." I loved my place, I shared it with Nolan and Trenton currently, but most nights Jameson is hogging up our couch. It's pretty small, and pretty pricey which is basically all you can get here if you're not a movie star, or come from some sort of money. But that is perfectly fine, because it's just enough being here that I don't even mind. Plus, who can argue when you can sneak up on your roof and get the most breathtaking view of all of Manhattan. "Oh my god! Pizza sounds so good!! Will you take me ?! I heard everything is open til' sunrise here, it never stops!!" Pretty much true. "Um, well, yeah I could do that, but I don't even know your name, or where you are staying..?" Finally, the rest of her group joins her, babbling on about something I can't hear over the chanting and awful singing, if you would call it that. "Shut up guys, um sorry about that, my name is Everly, and I believe I'm staying...hmm...that way." She points out the open bar down 12th street. Well that could make sense, I know a lot of people that live up there. " Okay, well as long as you can remember where, I will gladly accompany you to some pizza." Shooing her "friends" away finally, she grabs my arm and we basically fly out the bar. I nod toward my group and we take off down the street.