the jazz bar | s.zender

Chapter 2 | a boy

A boy
—

after that night tallulah woke up to the sound of aurora on the phone. she could hear the sound laughter through the walls and could tell she was out on the balcony, which was rather odd for her. she knew that aurora would only go out there when she didn't want tallulah to hear what she was saying. so yeah, it was pretty odd. they're always open with each other, when something happens auroras first on the list to know. and for them, that list only consisted of each other.

so for a while she sat in her room pondering what was happening, before giving up and moving into the kitchen. she saw aurora through the large glass panes waving to her, looking more excited than usual. tallulah smiled back, knowing whatever it was she was doing she'd probably end up telling her later anyways, so there was no reason to stress.

she sat at the kitchen island after making herself a bowl of cereal with the scraps she'd managed to find in the cupboard. infront of her lay a poster of all the latest local bands. the news agency right across from her work always released a new poster weekly so she made sure to always snag one after a shift and bring it home. plus she found about fifty percent of the bands would usually end themselves up at the music bar, so it was nice to get a sneak peak.

"jamiroquai," she read, lightly chuckling at the name. she began running her index finger down the page reading, 'lead singer jay kay of jamiroquai quotes "i truly do enjoy what i do, and if making music can buy me a shit ton of cars then i suppose i wouldn't dream of doing anything else."' god she thought whoever this jay kay was sounded like a real pommy bastard.

there were a few more bands on the poster, one with the name scream. their description being, 'punk rock band all the way from LA to make some noise and party hard.'

how cliche, she thought. tallulah had never seen a punk rock band that didn't do either of those things. but majority of the performers at the bar were middle aged men that played the piano just like every single other guy before him did. so it'd be nice to see a change of scenery for once.

"hey, what you lookin' at?" aurora walked inside from the balcony and stopped at the edge of the kitchen island.

"just this weeks band line up," she looked up and smiled. "i think its gonna definitely gonna be an interesting one."

"oh im excited! but dont tell me.. i like the suspense."

tallulah shrugged and folded the poster, storing it in her large bag pocket. rarely was she excited to work, but she had a good feeling about this week. she watched aurora open the fridge, groan and close it immediately after.

"today, we are going shopping girl." aurora said, hands on her hips as she walked back into her room. she came back out wearing a large fur coat, bootcut jeans and her old reeboks which tallulah is pretty sure she wore when she was ten.

tallulah agreed and ventured into her own room looking for todays outfit. she opened her closet filled to the brim with large jackets, colourful scarves and jeans of every design. and because it was a bloody freezing monday morning she opted for a oversized leather jacket layered over a grey sweater and some dark wash jeans. she walked over to her mirror and messily tied her hair up while also applying her favourite lip gloss.

as she walked out to the living room she saw aurora sitting on the coach watching mtv's latest crib tour. so she sneakily grabbed the tv remote laying on the counter and turned it off.

"hey i was watching that!" aurora turned around and groaned.

"are we getting food or not?" tallulah questioned. she wasn't gonna lie, staying at home and watching vince neil show her around his house sounded much more fun. but she knew if they didn't go out today they'd end up starving themselves to death.

"fine.." she rolled her eyes and the two put on their scarves and left the apartment.

it was a long and perilous walk to get there. but they enjoyed the company of eachother. aurora could talk for hours without stopping, it was like she had these pre recorded sentences in her head that she could whip out whenever the silence got a little too awkward.

"what do you think deaf people think when someone farts and everyone starts laughing?" aurora started.

"well maybe they just have to laugh along so they can fit in."

"but from their perspective it looks like everyone is screaming, so i would be pretty scared."

"well next time i meet a deaf person ill ask them." tallulah said and they both paused before breaking out into laughter.

"you can't ask them cause they cant hear you idiot!" aurora hit tallulahs arm in a laughing fit.

"what do you mean? i can speak sign language, watch this—," just as tallulah was about to show aurora some nonsense she'd made up, a man bumped into her shoulder running in the other direction.

"i'm so sorry i wasn't watching where i was going!!" he turned around and quickly apologised. when he did she saw he looked around the same age as tallulah if not a bit older, and he was a couple feet taller too. his hair was dark brown and long enough to be tied behind in a messy bun. he wore the baggiest velvet jeans she'd ever seen and an oversized black sweater. and in his right hand he held some kind of instrument she couldn't quite make out.

"its okay its completely my fault too!" tallulah said feeling bad. his eyes lingered up and down her body before looking her in the eyes and apologising once more. he then took off in the other direction and disappeared behind a corner. tallulah, who was slightly stunned by the whole ordeal, stood still before turning to face aurora who looked back at her with a smug expression plastered on her face.

"what?"

"he was totally checking you out!" aurora silently screamed as they continued walking. tallulah couldn't help but blush when she remembered the way he had looked at her. although, she thought it was silly for her to keep thinking about it.

"he's just some random guy, i doubt i'll ever see him again."

"he was practically eating you out with his eyes lulu." aurora made the shape of a v with her fingers and stuck her tongue out.

"stopp!!" tallulah smacked her shoulder. they could never take each other seriously and so they just began laughing again as they continued their trek. when they made it they argued about what foods to buy, and desperately searched their bags for coupons to save money.

"oh i've got a coupon for a free block of chocolate!" tallulah smiled.

"don't you know im trying to be healthy."

"yeah right, you wake up exclusively at three in the morning to eat cheese so i don't think some chocolate will hurt you."

"whatever." aurora rolled her eyes and threw it in the basket along with some bread, meat and a shit ton of strawberries. because no one can convince tallulah that they're not the superior fruit. they paid and left, feeling proud of themselves for getting out.

as they walked back to the apartment tallulah remembered everything she heard about the new local bands, for once in her life she was actually excited about her shift later.

and she had completely forgotten about the mysterious man who ran into her earlier.