Sway

Sidewalk

In high school, Phineous was quiet. Some of our teachers would even refer to him as a mute, on occasion.

I remember freshman year, he was the shortest guy in biology, and I was the ugly nerd with huge wire glasses and braces. It seemed only natural that the two of us found each other during lunch period, and bonded over how terrible the next few years were going to be. It also seemed natural that on that same first day, we promised to stick together throughout all of it.

It was a proud moment as I walked around Phineous's loft in heels that threatened to break my ankles, I was proud that we had managed to keep our promise. I had gotten rid of the wire glasses and braces, and no one with ears would dare refer to Phineous as a mute! Obviously we weren't in high school anymore, but our friendship never dwindled.

After the cab dropped us off, we went into the loft and sat down for a bit. We drank a glass of Chardonnay and talked about how our past year had been. I told him more about Indiana, how my last year as an undergrad was miserable and how all I wanted to do all the time was sleep. He looked sad for me, especially when he asked about Brianna and Thatcher and I told him that they were great but that I didn't feel like they understood me. I hated the pitiful look he had on his face so I tried to change the subject. He seemed to understand and went ahead and told me about how his art was going. He had new paintings hanging everywhere in the loft, some were almost the size of the wall. His art always had been mesmerizing, and I believed him back in high school when he told me that he'd move to NY to pursue art. What I hadn't expected was for his art to sell for thousands.

Eventually my stomach couldn't wait any longer, so Phineous drug me into his room and forced me to sit on the bed while he rummaged through the closest. He came out holding an outfit that was absolutely not my style, and he knew it! He said it was one of his friends and that she had left it after one of their wild party nights. I sniffed it when he tossed it to me, it smelled like Tide pods.

"What do you think? I'd make you wear some booze infested shit?" With his hand on his hip, he gave me the look. So I went into the bathroom attached to his room and changed out of my skinny jeans and t-shirt, and into the gut wrenching black mini dress. It was so tight I felt an immediate loss of breath, "How the hell do people wear things like this?"

He appeared in the bathroom doorway wearing bright red leather pants, a silver shirt, and silver chains around his neck. "I don't know, they want to feel sexy so they suck it in," his words weren't helpful as I stared at myself in the rectangular mirror above the sink. Despite my dark hair still being infused with dry shampoo, and my slightly pink lips being drier than usual... my brown eyes held a sparkle of excitement that I couldn't deny.

"Are you doing my makeup or what?"

He screeched, "I thought you'd never ask!"

👐

Sometime after we left the loft, we walked a few blocks down until we were surrounded by little corner stores and greasy food spots.

There was this tiny burger joint at the end of the block that we decided to eat at. It reminded me of one of those retro restaurants from the 70s — bright neon lights, leather stools, and waiters wearing white aprons. Phineous and I flopped into a booth.

"Have you ever eaten here before?" I asked as I flipped through the pages of the laminated menu.

"Yeah, I have, the burgers are alright," he didn't even open the menu, "but they have your favorite!"

I looked up from the menu with curiosity, "What's that?"

"Banana Nutella milk shakes!" His green eyes glimmered under the bright neon.

"No fucking way! I haven't had one of those in over a year!" The thought alone made my mouth water.

He laughed and gestured to the waitress that we were ready to order. I went with a double cheese burger with fries, and of course a milkshake. Phineous got grilled cheese and tatter tots. We handed off the menus and settled into the booth. The place wasn't too crowded for it to almost be 11PM — there was a couple on the other side of the restaurant, a mom and her kids, and a few people eating alone.

"Bloody god, I don't think I'd be able to do it..." Phineous saw that I was looking at all of the people eating alone.

I shrugged, "I wouldn't mind it."

"See this is why you need to get the hell out of Indiana!" I laughed at his serious expression, "they're turning you into a hermit!"

I shook my head, causing my long dark strands to move, "It's not Indiana... I just want to be done with school."

"Then be done with it." He stared right into my eyes. He never liked the agreement my parents and I had made, he used to say it was a deal with the devils.

"You know I can't do that," I spoke right as the waitress carried our plates to the table and placed them in front of us. She offered us some condiments and refilled our glasses before leaving again.

Phineous popped a tatter tot into his mouth as I took a bite of the greasy burger, "you're making me want to slap you. Why do you feel like you have to finish college? Haven't you done enough for them already?"

His questions made me think about the past few years of being in college. It was as if I was on repeat, living through the same agenda each and every day. But I knew how much it meant to my parents, and if I didn't do it... if I didn't go to school for them, they'd probably never talk to me again. So it didn't matter what I wanted, I owed it to my parents to finish school, then I could move to NY and really start working on my music.

As I continued to eat, I realized I never answered his question. "You know how my parents are, they'd look at me like I was nothing if I didn't finish school."

"That's just so fucking pathetic, Tal. Don't you know how much of a musical genius you are? You're wasting your good years by living for other people!" His grilled cheese was gone and I could tell that he was getting heated by the deep red in his cheeks.

"Chill out Phin," I gave him a look, "I've got a couple years left and then I'm free! Plus, I'm still making music... I'll never stop."

He released a breath, "I know you won't, you're too damn good at it."

We had both managed to finish our food while conversing. We paid and left the waitress a tip, "Ah! I'm in some serious need of sleep! Let's walk faster!" I linked my arm in his as we left the restaurant and headed back outside.

"You've got to be kidding me if you think I'm letting you go home and sleep right now!? I haven't seen you in forever, and you just got here!" He stopped walking and looked like he was thinking of something, "Aha! I've got it, let's go..." My arms pulled as he yanked me down the street in the opposite direction of his loft.

"Where are we going? It's late." When I say the streets were crowded, I mean it. It was like trying to shove your way through a packed elevator and nobody wanted to move.

"It's not even midnight yet Talia, live a little!" He shouted the motivating words into my ear.

"Fine, but can you please tell me where you're yanking me?" The little black dress was riding up my exposed legs, and every time the wind blew, my skin shivered.

"Here." There was a smile on his face as we came to a stop, "I'm yanking you here."

My brown eyes looked down an alley, it was dark and the ground was wet. Dumpsters lined the brick walls and some ways down, there was a door with a neon sign above it. The sign read 'Sidewalk'.

"Sidewalk?" I questioned

"It's a bar," he looked at me, "and every Friday night is open mic night!"