Unrequited Love...
Joan tried hard to concentrate on the conversation she was having with a fellow guitarist and singer, but her gaze kept lingering on the man standing at the other side of the room, a big grin on his face.
He radiated happiness, smiling at everyone who passed and talking to everyone who greeted him.
Not able to take much more talk from the man standing in front of her and droning off in his loud, slightly nasal voice, she politely excused herself and walked toward the mini bar so she would get a drink. With all the things that were going on, she needed it.
On her way, she was intercepted by the object of her thoughts, and she masked her feelings as she smiled cheerfully into his face.
"So, quite a good turnout huh?" he asked, scanning the room.
"Yeah. But I
expected that. I mean, who could resist the lure of the great Patrick
Onsimons?" Joan teased.
Joan walked off stage, her guitar
slung across her shoulders to the wild applause and screams of the
audience. Once she got backstage, she pushed her guitar off her
shoulder and sank wearily into her chair.
"hey! Joan." Said a familiar voice, and Joan found herself literally jumping off her chair into Patrick's arms.
"I thought you were out of town." She said as she pulled away and took a sip from the glass of water her assistant had just pushed into her hands.
"I was. I came back for your concert." He replied, flashing his dimples at her.
"Really?" Joan asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Okay, no." he admitted, grinning sheepishly. "But hey, you were singing and I was in town. Wouldn't have missed it for the world."
"Course." Joan said easily, and led him to the green room.
They went into her room and closed the door, so they could have some privacy. Patrick plopped himself into the sofa as Joan went to get changed.
When she emerged 10 minutes later in a comfortable pair of jeans and a t-shirt, Patrick had two cups of coffee waiting.
"Ahh…" Joan sighed in relief as she took a sip of the hot brew and sank into the comfortable couch. "So, go on, spill the beans. You have that 'I want to tell you something' look on your face."
Patrick grinned. "Am I that easy to read?"
Joan shot him a cheeky grin in reply.
"Remember Jen?" Patrick asked, now leaning forward as he spoke, his eyes shining in excitement.
"Yeah!." Joan replied, vaguely. Suddenly, she didn't like the direction of the conversation.
"Well, we got engaged."
Joan just sat there for a moment, not able to say anything. Shock, anger and grief raced through her all at once, rendering her speechless.
"So..?" Patrick said, looking at her expectantly.
"That's great!" Joan said, trying hard to put a smile on her face.
"I know!" Patrick said, and leaned forward to hug her. "I'm just so happy Joan."
Joan hugged him back. "Uhh, I'm happy for you too." she replied.
It was at this moment, that Joan's heart shattered, and the only person who could mend it was deeply in love with someone else.
"He's
the reason for the teardrops on my guitar,
The only one who's got
enough of me to break my heart,
He's the song in the car I keep
singing, don't know why I do...
"Of course." Joan
replied, twinkling down at his best friend. "But I'm sure that
the fact that Joan Evans would be here also prompted a few to come."
"Maybe."
"Oh, come one, you know it." Patrick said lightly and chuckled when Joan shot him an exasperated look.
They both stood there in the middle of the large room, looking over at the large crowd of people assembled there. As Patrick glanced over the crowd as was his habit to make sure everything was okay, Joan was lost in her thoughts again.
Joan and Patrick were childhood friends who had started a band at 16. The years had been good to them, and both found themselves among the elite in the music scene, although they both drifted into two different genres.
Patrick was famous for his deep, rich voice and his amazing playing on the guitar as he beat out blues or jazz tunes and Joan was a well known country singer and guitarist.
They had still remained best friends though. And it was always to each other that they came when they needed to share their lives. They stuck by each other during all the good and bad times, and many, Joan included, hoped that they would finally get together, but that was just not meant to be.
Just then, the lights in the room went off and a single spotlight shone on the make-shift stage that was there in one corner of the room.
Patrick and Joan clapped enthusiastically with the others as 'Stolen' a band they were both well-acquainted with came onto stage. Soon, fast, jazzy music was flowing over them and they were totally enthralled, pulled in by the music. There was no denying it, Stolen was good.
When
the band finished their first number, Joan had to shake herself a
little to get back to reality. To enthusiastic applause, Stolen's
lead singer, Jacob, said, "And that ladies and gentlemen, is a
wrap. Now, before we play anything else, I would like to call up onto
stage my favorite singer of all time, Joan, to give us a little
performance."
Joan shot Jacob a look that clearly wished him
a very painful death but smiled at everyone else and made her way to
the stage. Jacob handed her his guitar and stood back, leaving the
entire stage to her.
"I'd like to start with a song that's not mine, it's by Taylor Swift, but it's close to my heart." Joan said as she started softly strumming the opening chords. As she sang, she closed her eyes and let the song take over, reveling in the memories that it brought to the surface.
"Drew
looks at me, I fake a smile so he won't see,
That I want and I'm
needing, everything that we should be,
I'll bet she's beautiful,
that girl he talks about,
And she's got everything that I have to
live without...
Drew talks to me, I laugh 'cause it's so damn
funny,
That I can't even see anyone when he's with me,
He
says he's so in love, he's finally got it right,
I wonder if he
knows he's all I think about at night..."
"Hey Joan!"
Joan stopped and turned, looking for Patrick.
"Over here." He called again, and finally spotted him. He was calling to her from the window of the music room in their school, and she wondered what he wanted now.
She made her way to the music room, lugging her heavy bag behind her.
"What?" she asked him when she had walked in and taken a seat next to him. "What's with the crowd?"
Patrick looked at her incredulously. "Don't you remember?" he asked, sighing when her expression told him clearly that she didn't.
"It's the auditions. We were both supposed to try out remember?"
"Oh no!" Nina said, slapping her forehead. "I didn't remember! What am I going to do now?"
"You're going to audition duh." Patrick said, as if it was the obvious thing to do.
"Without
any practice or preparation? You must be joking. I'm going to
suck."
No, you're not. Besides, I've already put your
name down with mine. My turn's in 15 minutes and then it's
yours."
Joan just buried her head in her hands, berating herself for being such a forgetful person. Not only would she have to audition without any practice, she would also have to do it on one of the dreadful school guitars.
Patrick, sensing her apprehension, put a comforting arm around her and squeezed.
"You'll do fine." He said, giving her a small smile when she turned her scared face to look up into his.
He kept smiling at her in that gentle way until she smiled back faintly.
"That's my girl!" he said and ruffled her hair.
Just then, his name was called out and he went into the other room where the auditions were being held. Despite everything that Patrick had said, she was absolutely terrified. She sat there, almost shivering till Patrick came out a while later, smiling.
"I'm in." he told her. "So just make sure you make it too okay? And don't worry, you'll do great."
She nodded mutely and went in to give her audition.
It went better than she had expected, and when she walked out 20 minutes later, she was almost bursting with joy.
"I'm in too." She told Patrick, and yelped when he suddenly picked her up and twirled her around.
"That's great!" he said, when he set her down.
"I know." Joan said as she smiled back at him. It was then that she knew that she loved him.
She opened her eyes briefly as she sang the chorus, only to see Patrick's fiancée, Jen standing there with him, her head on his shoulder as they both watched her. Closing her eyes again so the tears would not rush out, she began the next verse.
"Drew walks by me; can he tell
that I can't breathe?
And there he goes, so perfectly,
The
kind of flawless I wish I could be,
She better hold him tight,
give him all her love
Look in those beautiful eyes and know she's
lucky 'cause...
He's the reason for the teardrops on my
guitar,
The only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star,
He's the song in the car I keep singing', don't know why I do..."
Drew looks at me, I fake a smile so he won't see..."
Joan let the last note trail softly before she opened her eyes to look at the sea of smiling faces before her. She played two other songs, her songs, before she handed the guitar back to Jacob and made her way back.
Jacob slung the guitar back on, and that night, everyone thought that Joan was the happiest girl on earth. The only person who knew otherwise was a man who, when he took the guitar from her, had seen a tear drop slide gently off his guitar. And that man, Joan's friend, hummed the last verse of a song to himself before he started his performance.
"So I drive home alone, as I turn out the light, I'll put his picture down and maybe get some sleep tonight..."
"Its time to let go, Joan. It's time to let go." Jacob said softly, and struck the opening chords on his guitar.