A Time for Love

Day 3

Tonight is my first gig at Manny's Bar and Grill, and I am excited to go. I am a part of a 4 person band. There's Alex - the second guitarist, Christian - the base, and Justin - the drums. They recently hired me after their lead singer was kicked out for disagreeing with Alex on the choice of music. Alex had gotten into electronica, and wanted to go away from melodic rock. Alex's dad funnels all the money that goes into the band from his general doctor office. Personally, I side with the sister. Lucky for me, though, he had grown out of it by then.

Do you know Amber sings too? Makes sense then that she's half-Filipina. This is something she never fails to demonstrate - as she's uploading videos of herself all the time and people comment on what a cute / lucky guy Steve is.

There's a thunderstorm tonight from a coming hurricane.

The wind seems to be moving in a circular motion. The hurricane, which is not moving more than 1 mph, is said to be hanging out with us for days. It will be the largest hurricane on record.

I'm getting my coat on and packing my bag. I search for my metro card, and cannot find it. Then Amber comes in.

"Everything okay?" she asks, looking over my room.

I turn away to hide my frustration with her kindness

"Looking for my metro card" I mutter.

"Oh!" she exclaims, smiling. "I know where it is!" She picks it up off the kitchen counter before coming back and handing it to me.

Steve comes in from behind, rubbing her shoulders.

"Where are you going?" Steve asks me, with casual interest.

"I have a concert. I'm a singer with a band called Aclarion. We are singing at Manny's in midtown."

"Oh" responds Steve nonchalantly, slightly popping out of the room, as if he's trying to get away from what a boring person I am.

"That sounds funny, doesn't it cookie?" calls Amber from my room.

I think I am going to barf.

"Yes. Let's go hear Annie sing. After all, you two are going to be spending so much time together" says Steve. He pauses, as if meaning to say that spending time with his girlfriend is the last thing he wants me to do, and that I should leave the apartment soon as possible.

"I'm coming too!" shouts Annie from her bedroom, probably huddled over her graduate homework.

So it is decided then. The 4 of us cram into Steve's car and we are driving down to my band practice. We are 15 minutes late because Steve thought he knew better than the directions. My bandmates are irritated, and they know more than Callie about who Steve really is / what he had done to me. They even make snickering comments about his size. I see Steve redden up from far away, hinting in on our conversations to try to break the ice with them. I wince at him, and it is then that he cannot look at me. Amber, however, notices.

Then it's time for the opening act. I sit back with the band while the first goes up. It's only at the second act that the audience is invited to sing a song - this time a volunteer to "Brown Eyed Girl." Amber's hand immediately shoots up in the air. She is led up to the stage where she is a part of a duet with another man. The crowd loves her.

"Is there a lucky man of this one out here?"

Steve voluntarily raises his hand. He goes up on stage, swoops Amber up into his arms, and kisses her deeply. The crowd goes wild.

My act went swimmingly. I may not be cute or angelic, but music is my blood and lyrics come from my heart. I scan the crowd at the end, but Amber and Steve are nowhere to be seen.

A redhead girl buys me a drink. She asks me if I'm single and I tell her the truth - I think I'm hete-romantic. That's okay according to her, as I wasn't "giving those vibes anyway, so am probably not gay." We agree to give each other shots - the strongest we can find and soon - we head to a downtown club.

We grind against each other and move our curves in S shape. I must confess, I rather liked the way her hips felt against mine, especially when it attracted the men. They handed us little packets of powder, and soon the world is full of color. Bursting.

I head outside, and no one follows me. I walk along the edge of where the high wall looks over. The cold sea breeze whips me all around.

Soon, I'm stumbling into the metro that I know by heart. Into my apartment, where I hear Amber and Steve fucking on the couch. In my stupor, I turn on the light and yell "Oh fuck off! Does it take you that long to ejaculate Steve? You're such a little shit, it's a wonder she even wants you."

Amber starts to cry as Steve tries to cover them both in blankets to shield them from view. I stare at them and wave my hands in the air.

"Really... go in the car for once..."

I hear what I think to be Callie getting up next door, but I turn on my heel and head back to my apartment.