Two Visions

Chapter 9

I go to bed after telling Liam I was on a date with Leah. Nothing more. He is my best friend here, but that story is not mine to tell. My mind travels to Leah’s dress, body and eyes. It travels to the whole night, actually. The way she pulls her hair to one side, the way her laughter escapes her lips making her sound like a 4-year-old, the way everything and everyone seem to focus on her when she enters a room. I think I will have to distance myself from her; there is no way someone like her will be with someone like me. I’m not too intelligent, I have huge trust-issues, and I have a personality that is somehow… troubling. The last reason is most important, and what doesn’t match her personality at all. I have to distance myself before she takes the part out of me and disappears with it. No one knows yet, but some day I might just explode.

-

The window is staring at me, trying to wake me up. It’s already 2.00 pm and after a while, I give in and I decide that I will catch up with my homework. I finish all of it, except my biology homework. I’ll do that some other day, because I have all week to do it. I decide to go to a pub on campus where they don’t check ID called The End, what an odd name to give a pub. I haven’t had a drink for what feels like years, and I find myself thirsty for more than one. 

“Wanna join me to The End?” I text Liam.

“Wtf is this a proposal or something?” he responds. I look at the conversation and chuckle. It kind of looks like a marriage proposal, I guess. In a weird way.

“No, the fucking pub.” 

“I’ll meet you there.” The text reads and I get ready in 10 minutes; I put on my Rolling Stones t-shirt, black jeans with holes in it and my beloved boots. Luckily, it’s not too hot tonight. I arrive at the pub, and Liam is nowhere to be seen yet. The pub is covered with brick walls, and has a very rock and roll feeling to it. They’re playing Led Zeppelin so it goes along with the theme of this place. I love it. The furniture is dark and wooden, and it’s covered with famous lyrics. I can see some people sitting in the booths and at some tables, and it’s mostly men in their 40s and 50s. There are two main attractions in the room; the bar and the stage. The bar is huge, but the stage is not. I see some people on the stage talking. Are there going to be a performance today? I finally walk over to the bar and a boy with dark blonde hair walks over from the wall-to-ceiling alcohol shelves and to the back of the bar. He’s wearing a black shirt with rolled-up sleeves and jeans exactly like mine. He couldn’t be more than 22 years old.

“So this is the end, huh?” I make a joke, and he has probably heard it before. He smiles, at least that’s a good sign. He asks what I want, and I order a beer.

“Rolling Stones fan?” He points to my t-shirt with a bottle of beer in his own hand.

“Yeah, I like pretty much all of the classics.” I reply and he nods in agreement. I do, Deep Purple, AC/DC, Guns ‘n Roses, Nirvana. All the songs of those bands go trough my mind in agreement. There's a lot more  bands I like, but those are the ones that just came to my mind.

“I’m Louis.” I sit down on the barstool and take a sip of my beer. Fuck, that feels amazing.

“Harry.” I answer. 

“You don’t look like the typical college student.” He says, still with a smile on his face. I wonder if he's wanting to check my ID, and I get kind of nervous.

“Yeah I’m not. Neither are you?”

“My dad owns the bar. I dropped out of college and just went to bartending school. Still learning from that dude over there, though.” He points at a really tall and muscular man, he’s probably like 26.

“His name is Tyler, we call him Ty. He’s the bar manager and he knows everything about drinks, beer, wine, liquor, you name it.” The man has a scruffy beard and he is also wearing a black t-shirt. That seems to be the way people dress around here.

“He runs the everyday business here, like ordering alcohol, get bands for Saturdays, counting the money… basically everything.” He laughs.

“Do you have bands playing every Saturday?” I’m beginning to love this place. And my beer is empty. I order another one.

“Yeah, and other days we have like 3-4 people who’s kinda a part of our staff singing a couple of songs.” Louis is looking at someone behind me and sends the person a caring smile. 

“Like her.” Leah shows up next to me in a black dress. It looks more like an oversized t-shirt, actually. She is wearing black boots with it, and she looks so good. She also looks as surprised to see me as I am surprised to see her. 

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