Interstellar

Five: Break-ups and Hook-Ups

"God dammit I can't stand her!" Jasper screams, kicking his drumset when I enter the studio. 

"Dude this is like the fifth time you have broken up, I'm pretty sure you'll get back with her. You are just going through another rough patch," Reed says trying to calm Jasper down. Lento walks over to me.

"Jasper got dumped and he's just a little mad, did you get the song I asked you to pack up?" Lento whispers to me.

"Yeah, I Hate Everything About You by Three Days Grace. I'm now seeing why we are playing this," I whisper back as I watch Jasper literally snap one of his old drumsticks in half. 

"We just aren't telling him this is what we are playing. We'll just do instrumental then slowly add in the words. He'd probably get more mad if we went straight off the list," He whispers back to me.  I nod my head in agreement.  

"Why don't we stop screaming and breaking things, and actually play music?" Lento shouts to Jasper. Jasper stops his rage and looks at his hands. He sighs.

"Yeah, I guess, hit me with the music," He says slowly calming back down to his usual giggly self.  Lento hands him the sheet music that doesn't have a title on it.  "This is rockin'. I like it."

"Just starting instrumental then we will slowly work in the lyrics," Lento tells us. We start playing and at first then Lento decides to add in the lyrics. When Jasper realizes the song we're playing he stops.

"Hey guys i thought we were playing Amnesia by Britney Spears, not Three Days Grace," he says busting us. 

"I thought we could play this while I give some voice lessons on the side to Star. Then when our gig at The Air Palace rolls around, we'll have some more material that sounds good. And in case we are extremely wanted we will have more under our belt," Lento explains calmly. Jasper seems to buy it.

"Well to make sure these voice lessons are real, I want to sit in on the next one, if that's okay with you Star," Reed snaps. He's been jealous of me spending extra playing time with Lento lately. According to him, I'm "stealing" his best bro from good hours of drinking. I mean you can sip a water or something on your own you don't need to do it all at once and with people.

"Uh sure I guess," I say and Lento gives me a look. The look kind of says, I wanted to be alone, but okay. Reed smirks like he'll ruin things, but honestly I don't care because the lessons are kind of awkward. I always feel like I have something on my face. I mean I should if Lento is always staring at it weirdly.

We continue to play a little while more. Jasper seems to put his anger into playing the drums on the song. i turn around a couple times to watch him banging his head to the song. After a bit we transition into playing, not singing, Amnesia. I get nervous and hum the words while we play so I can sing it later if i absolutely have to. 

During the song I notice Lento do this weird thing with his eye. I wonder if something is stuck in it or he is signaling to me that something is wrong.

After practice I go to confront Lento about his mini eye attack. "Lento are you okay, you had a mini eye attack during the song and I didn't know what to do," I ask him. He laughs a little. 

"Star, I winked at you. I heard you humming and thought you sounded good. I was pretty much telling you that you sounded good, but with my eyes," he tells me with a chuckle, "have you never seen someone wink before?" 

"What?" I ask him. I've  never heard of a wink or seen it. I'll just play it cool and tell him I have. I nod my head and laugh like I remember what this so called winking is. 

"Hey Star, do want me to drive you home? I know you usually walk and it's raining right now, so," Lento asks me leaning closer to me. 

"Um, sure I guess. Thanks," I tell him being polite. I would prefer to walk no matter what. Plus, it's always awkward being alone wit Lento. I feel all strange and bubbly inside and I just don't know why. Maybe he is giving me an illness. I finish packing up my stuff and walk out to Lento's car with him. He smiles at me and puts my bass case in the backseat. I get in the passenger seat at the same time Lento starts the car.

"Hey Star, you okay? You seem nervous for some reason," He asks me as he starts to drive.

"Yeah, I'm . . .  okay," I tell him. The streetlamps light up his face enough for his hair to cast a funny shadow on his face. I notice it got a little curly from the pouring rain. I've always known him to have straight, slicked back hair and seeing him like this is weird. "Lento what is the magic that makes your hair go from straight to curly or curly to straight?" I ask him. 

"You're serious aren't you? Well in the morning after I shower I put gel in my hair to slick it back to make it go from curly to straight. Any water, like rain, sweat or taking a shower makes it curly again, just my many struggles in life," He says with a little chuckle. "Your hair is wavy so you don't really have my struggles."

"That's really cool how much effort you put into your hair," I tell him staring at the curls. The one little strand that always is in his face still remains the same way. He pulls in front of my apartment building and turns to me.

"Hey Star wait," he says as I put my and on the door handle to get out. I turn to him. 

"Yeah?" I say as he leans in closer to me. Lento places his hand on my cheeks and kisses my lips softly. shocked I get out of the car and run into the building. I t wasn't until I got all the way up to my apartment that I realized I left my bass in Lento's car.