coffee shop - l.r.h

two

I tossed and turned under the sheets for only a few minutes more when I decided Michael and his company were too much. Groggily, I rub my eyes and drag myself across the hall. Waking up from the hallway lights and the increasingly louder music, I pound on Michael's door rapidly. The guitars came to a sharp halt, and then there were footsteps. A few moments later the door began creaking open.

"Wha- oh hey Ivy!" Michael said excitedly, but then calmed a bit acknowledging my exhaustion. I smiled in reply, distracted by the person behind him. He was looking down at a notebook, mouthing whatever was on the page, and grasping a black acoustic on his knee.

"Hey Michael!" The boy called, looking over towards the door, "I have an idea!"

The boy made eye contact with Michael, who rotated to face him. Michael told him to wait a moment, in which the boy nodded and looked to his notebook. As if doing a double-take, the boy glanced up at me, then his eyes shot back down, but quickly rose up again. His soft blue eyes examined me for a few moments, then retreated back to the papers.

It was then I recognized who the boy was, the regular at the coffee shop.

"Oh my god." I mumble, causing Michael to bring his focus back to me.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing, sorry," I said, drawing my attention away from the boy, "Just can you please keep it down?"

"Did you hear that Luke?" Michael yelled over to him, "Shut up!"

"Michael, please." I whispered at him, almost begging, which he returned with a small laugh.

"I know, sorry," He stopped, but then started up again, "But while you're here can you listen to what we came up with?"

"Mikey." I groaned.

"Pleeeeasseee?"

I sighed deeply and agreed, which made him run back to the spot next to Luke.

"Ivy, this is Luke, and Luke this is Ivy." Michael said quickly, wanting to get on with the song.

Luke scribbled a few little things on his page before looking up at me. His piercing blue eyes stared at me for a moment, and then I could tell he remembered who I was fully.

"Hi, Luke." I smiled, the same way I had when he noticed me in the café.

Luke smiled in return, "Hey, Ivy."

"Okay!" Michael exclaimed, "Let's play the song now!"

"Okay Michael!" I yelled back at him jokingly, "Find your chill!"

Luke laughed at my remark, and Michael just rolled his eyes.

"Alright, for real this time." Luke said, as the two of them adjusted themselves. They then began to play.

The song was the same as Michael had played for me earlier, but definitely more improved. I could tell that Luke was a good songwriter just from how he built upon the song. Watching the two of them play was beautiful, their voices, the guitars, the lyrics, everything. Every once and a while, Luke would glance up at me, which would cause me to quickly shift my focus to Michael. The both of them would try to aggravate each other during their brief solos, leaving small chuckles here and there.

They played the last few strings - Michael doing so over-dramatically as always, and stopped. When they ended the song, Michael dropped his guitar onto Luke, and purposefully fell to the floor. Luke pushed the guitar to the empty space Michael had left next to him, the instrument almost falling off the couch. He had the slightest look of worry on whether it would fall, and when it didn't, Luke sighed in relief and moved it farther from the edge.

Michael was out of breath, laughing at himself as he continue to lay on the floor. After he calmed himself down, his eyes darted up to me.

"What did you think?" Michael asked, panting.

"I love it." I smiled, causing Michael's eyes to light up.

"But did you name it yet?" I asked, causing Michael looking at Luke, who just shrugged in response.

"Nope," Michael began, getting up from where he fell and sitting next to Luke, "I'm leaving that up to you." He said patting Luke on the shoulder.

"Catch Fire." Luke mumbled so quietly it was almost inaudible.

"What?" I asked Luke, even though I was looking at Michael who was as confused as I.

"The song, it's called Catch Fire." Luke said as he looked up from his hands at me.

"I like that." I said smiling.

After not too much longer I was overcome with exhaustion, so I told the boys I was going back to my apartment. Michael hugged me goodbye, promising that Luke and him were finished playing. I waved goodbye to Luke, who grinned a bit and held his hand up to wave back. With that, I left closing the door behind me.

I lean against Michael's door, exhaling. I pull my phone from the pocket of my sweatpants revealing the time, which was just past 2:00a.m. The building was silent, besides the chatter coming from Michael's apartment. I yawned deeply, forcing myself to walk over to my own apartment and into my bed.

All the lights in the rooms were out, the only light coming from the small glow of the city, radiating through the wall length windows. I trudged through the vast sea of nothingness that my residence seemed to be in the dark, trying my best to not hit something. When I finally reached my bed, I fell onto it, disregarding the sheets or the way I was positioned, for I was too tired to care. Merely seconds would pass before I drifted away into the fantasy my mind would conduct, the sounds of guitars still faint in the background.