Langour ・❥・Joost Klein・❥・

5.

At the studio, Joost was trialling some new sounds. With his headphones on, he watched Teun adjust the base and volume on the soundboard. He trusted his friend to come up with something new and it wouldn't be long until Joost would need to write up some lyrics. But while performing most weekends with his latest album, Albino, they were early enough in the production stage to just experiment.

In a sweatshirt and trackpants, Joost fiddled with his earphones that hung out from his collar. Nothing was playing but the cord that ran down to his pant pocket was plugged into his phone, which he was itching to look at.

He had sent a spontaneous message in the morning and was yet to feel it buzz with a reply. He was getting nervous and hoped he hadn't jumped in too soon. By being in the studio and hearing Teun's ideas, Joost thought that he would be distracted from the enchanting girl that refused to leave his mind. But as the day went on, the image of her blue dress and tipsy smile made it difficult to think of any hard-hitting lyrics that suited his usual crude, absurd genre.

'Do you know what I've been thinking about?' Stuntje said from his place on the sofa.

'What's that, Stunts?' Apson said from behind Joost. With his headphones on, he could hear the conversation but was busy looking at the soundboard's screen. This meant that he didn't notice Apson's poor attempt to sound like he didn't already know what Stuntje was about to say.

'Highschool.'

A mildly interested Joost turned his head to Stuntje. He leaned his palms on the table and waited for his friend to grace them with his strange, spratic thoughts.

'Do you remember when we threw that tinfoil ball of paint at the bathroom wall?' Stuntje reminisced, laughing to himself and shaking his head.

'I think it's still there. There's no way they would have bothered to paint the whole bathroom to cover it,' Apson added. Joost smiled at the memory.

'And when you said you wanted to be a teacher, and Mr Brouwer said he wouldn't trust you to run a bath, much less a classroom?'

Apson's recollection made Stuntje and Joost laugh aloud. It appeared that they were having a trip down memory lane and it felt good to reflect on their teenage years.

'Yeah, yeah, whatever,' Stuntje rotated his hand. 'What about you, Joost? Remember Fenne Meer?'

The light-hearted talk came to a grinding halt. Joost's lingering grin dropped and his neck almost snapped with the force he turned to Stuntje. With wide eyes, he analysed the young man who leaned his face against his propped up fist. Joost pulled the headphones down to hang around his neck and tried his best to appear unfazed.

The surprise and panic in Joost's chest had a crippling weight to it. It couldn't be a coincidence that the talk of highschool was brought up more than three years later. For Stuntje to bring up the subject and smoothly direct the conversation to the one person Joost had been thinking about was nothing short of ridiculous.

'Whose Fenne Meer?' Teun decided to ask while looking up from the soundboard. The two men who appeared innocent at the back of the small studio waited to answer, and Joost flicked his eyes to Teun in a quiet panic.

'No one. Why-' he cleared his throat and straightened up to appear nonchalant '-Why would you bring that up?'

'Well, you liked her, right?'

Heat splashed Joost's clean-shaven cheeks.

'T-That was years ago-'

'But you were smitten, dude. You used to scan every room to see if Fenne was there, and if she was, we could barely have a conversation with you,' Apson teased. 'Like a deer just waiting to be caught.'