He was sitting in Starbucks, mostly minding his own business. He tapped on the table while he waited for his coffee. Long white fingers strummed to the baseline that was pounding in his ears.

Lots of people pretended not to look at him. He had a rather startling appearance. Silvery white hair, red eyes, and paper colored skin. He stood out, which he didn't really mind at all. In fact, he liked the attention.

Today, there was one person he pretended not to be looking at right back. For the past few days he had gotten coffee, there was this girl who sat at a table by herself. Unlike him, she wasn't the kind of girl who garnered a lot of attention. She looked mousy and shy. Her long blonde hair was normally kept in pigtails and her glasses obscured the view to her eyes when she occasionally looked up from her laptop. Their eyes met.

She looked away first, a fine pink blush coloring her cheeks.

He couldn't understand why his heart was racing from just a glance. He hadn't felt like that since... Well, since a time he'd rather not think back to. For several days now, he debated whether or not he should say something to her. He'd kind of been hoping that she would approach him first, but that didn't seem to be the case. But she was pretty. Boy, she was pretty. And pretty girls made him nervous.

One of the baristas came out from behind the counter. Her skin was a rich cafe au lait, warm and earthy. She brought coffee to the pretty girl who sat by herself.

The girl looked up in acknowledgement, brought her hand to her chin and took it away again.

The barista stopped at his table next with the coffee. At that moment, his phone erupted with a high pitched squeal of a guitar and a screaming, "yeah!"

He went to check the text message but didn't have to read it when he saw the time.

"God dammit," he said under his breath. He was late for practice.

As he stood up, his chair screeched back. He grabbed the top of his mug with one hand and downed the hot coffee.

"Jesus..." the barista said, as she barely stepped away from the table.

He stole one last glance at the lonely girl. She was looking at him through her long lashes. She looked down at her mug and smiled.

He knew it wasn't just the coffee that was making his head feel hot. But he was already late for practice and God knows he was going to get chewed out.

"Gil, you're fired."

A skinny blond guy struck a cord on his guitar, checking the sound in the speakers.

"Ha!" Gil laughed. "You'd never be able to replace me."

"Easily. We'd just hold auditions for anybody who's even remotely adequate on the bass," the blond retorted.

"True, but nobody else has my charisma," Gil said with a grin. "If you wanted a better bass player, you'd play the bass and let me play the guitar."

"Not in your life."

"Relax, Arthur. He just wants to play guitar because he thinks girls would like him." Another blond man entered the stage. Rather than the messy crop of the guitar player, the drummer had long soft hair that was tied back. "Besides, everyone knows girls always want to bang the drummer."

"I didn't even know you played guitar." The newest member of the band entered stage left. He was tall, brunet, and unfairly handsome. It was his big dumb smile and absurd talent that made him a needed addition to the band.

Arthur scoffed. "I wouldn't call it that..."

"Toni..." Gil tried to appeal to the newbie. "If you'd just let me play your guitar for one night..."

"Oh no..." Toni clutched his guitar defensively. "This is my baby. No one plays her except me."

"See, there you go," Arthur said. "I'd trust Francis to play guitar over you."

"See, now that's not even fair. At least my instrument has strings," Gil defended himself.

"But I'm just good at everything I do," Francis said as he sat down behind the drum set.

"Enough talk. We've wasted enough time, if we nail this gig, the bar will book us for the rest of the month," Arthur said, back to business.

"Awesome," Gil said, plugging his bass into the amp.

Francis clicked off, and they started playing from the top of the set.

Despite the scene, Gil didn't really mind playing the bass. It was simple and easy enough to do his own thing. When he plucked the strings, it felt like the music was reaching his bones.

Arthur was lead singer, rhythm guitar, and manager of the band. He wore a lot of hats, but Gil was pretty sure he'd blow a fuse if he didn't control everything. Francis was a lot more laid back, but he kept everyone together. He tried writing songs a couple of times, but they were a little too mushy for Gil's tastes. Toni, well, Gil was still getting a feel for Toni. He was new but seemed to click pretty well with the group. He was still a little mysterious, but it's not like they all had to be best friends or anything.

As a band, they weren't terrible. They weren't exactly making a living quite yet, but they were booking more and more gigs.

"That's a wrap," Arthur said after they had been playing for a few hours. "Good work today. Francis, you tend to speed up when you hit the second refrain of the third song. Toni, you're slowing down. Gil... Gil, are you even listening?"

"What?" He said defensively. "I'm listening."

"You've been really out of it lately. It's coming across in your playing. You better get it together before tomorrow."

Gil waved him off.

"Hey." Francis wrapped his sweaty arm around Gil. "Let's go out for drinks."

"Drinks?" Toni perked up. "I'm in."

"Arthur, are you in or not?" Francis called out to the last member of the band.

"Piss off." Arthur said.

"Does he not drink?" Toni asked.

"Nah, he's just in a bad mood. When he goes out, he drinks too much, and Francis takes embarrassing pictures to hold over him," Gil explained.

"But that doesn't mean we can't have our fun! Let's get cleaned up and go all out!"

The three of them were more than just a little tipsy and laughing loudly as they sat at the bar.

"Hey, hey, what about The Tarantulas?" Toni suggested.

"Nah, nah, you're still not hitting the right vibe," Gil said.

"The Right Vibe?" Francis offered with his eyebrow raised.

Gil chuckled and nodded. "Better. Better, but no, we need a name that's a lot more badass." He downed the rest of his beer. "Got it, 'Eins, Zwei, Die.'"

"We aren't that metal. What about Heart Strings?" Francis suggested.

Gil rolled his eyes and took a swig of beer. "Way too mushy. There's no way anyone besides girls would ever come listen to us. Not everything's a love song."

"Oh? That's funny coming from you. You've had hearts in your eyes all week," Francis replied. "Who are they? Are they hot?"

It's like the mention of the girl brought her to the forefront of his mind. Gil had always been notoriously bad at lying and hiding his blush. "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about."

"Come on, my friend," Toni added. "You can't deny you've been acting weirder than normal."

"How would you know what my normal is?" Gil accused Toni.

"Plus, you never used to be late. My theory is you've been meeting up with them before practice and can't pull yourself away. So tell me, are they any good in bed? Have I slept with them before? I won't be offended, it's a small world..."

"God, no. She's not even your type," Gil snapped.

Both Francis and Toni put on their piss-eating grins. "Well, now we're getting somewhere..."

"So, what's she like?" Toni asked.

Gil slumped on the bar. "I don't know. I don't even know her. I haven't really talked to her."

"Gil," Francis said sternly. "I know you're all rusty after the whole incident with Liz..."

Gil gave Francis a piercing stare.

"Who's Liz?" Toni asked innocently.

"Nevermind her, she's no one. You're not going to get any sort of girlfriend if you don't at least attempt to start a conversation."

Gil rubbed his face. "Why did you have to bring up Liz?" he groaned.

"You need to move on. Starting with this mystery girl. Start off subtle."

"I don't do subtle. That's the problem. If I start something, I'm gonna scare her off."

"That's why you've got to start off small. And don't be creepy. Compliment her on something she has control over. Offer to buy her coffee. That's an easy first date," Francis suggested.

"Why am I even talking about this with you? I don't need any help," Gil exasperated. "If I wanted a date, I could get one like that." He snapped his fingers.

"Bad advice!" Toni quipped.

Francis glared at him. "Fuck off, my advice is golden."

"No, for a band name. Bad Advice. Pretty good, no?" he clarified.

"You might be onto something..." Gil said.

"Well, boys, I'm going to have to call it a night," Francis said. "It's getting late, and I'm broke enough as it is."

"What time is it?" Toni looked at his phone. He must not have liked what he saw since he comically winced and shot up. "Ay, I've got to go!" He proceeded to run out of there without bothering to settle his tab.

"What the hell..." With his bandmates gone, Gil was left to pay.

He mumbled expletives under his breath as he fished out the last of his cash.

Gil kicked at the sidewalk as he walked home. He was too nice. He deserved something nice for once. Or maybe just someone.