Author's Note: This is a story that I wrote a while back, its a college songfic to 3 Doors Down "Be Like That" Its one of my all time favorite songs. I hope you enjoy it.
"Be Like That"
A Friday night at the local drive-in movie theater, up on a hilltop 20 year old Gar Logan watched the movie from under a shade tree. He sighs and he wonders to himself.
"Why can't that be me on screen?"
The film ends with a kiss scene. After a few seconds the movie is over. Headlights shine against the silver screen and engines come to life. Garfield gets up and stretches. As cars are leaving the drive-in. Gar gets on his bike and rides down the hill, without anyone ever knowing he was there. As he rides back to his apartment he thinks about all the things he has going in his life right now; college, a job, training to be a vet. He'd like to be an actor. He smiles and shakes his head slightly, as he continued peddling down the sidewalk. He gets back to his campus dorm, where he's a student at the University of California. He carries the bike up the stairs to the second floor and opens the door. His roommate Vic looks up from the TV,
"Hey, about time you got back." he said.
Gar carried the bike inside and shut the door behind him.
"Let me guess, drive-in?" his friend asked.
"Yeah." Gar said.
Opening the sliding door and putting his bike out on the balcony and locked it up for the night coming back in shut the door behind him.
"Uh, leave it open it's a little warm in here." Vic said.
"So, anything interesting happen while I was gone?" Gar asked him.
"I went out and partied tonight. You know the usual. So what did you see?" Vic asked.
"Went and saw some old black and white movie they were showing. Only saw the last 25 minutes of it." Gar said.
Vic thought for a moment and then asked
"Do you still want to be a movie star?"
"Definitely I've wanted to get into acting ever since I was 6." Said Gar
"So what kind of movie would you want to be in?" Vic asked.
"Comedy." His roomie answered.
Vic smiled, "You always were the class clown. So you're going to be the next Jim Carrey?" he asked.
"Just might." Gar said.
"What would you do to become an actor?" Vic asked again,
Gar looked over his shoulder at Vic and smiled.
"Do you even have to ask?" Gar shakes his head.
"Man, if I could be like that. I would give anything. Just to live one day in those shoes if I could be like that. Man, what would I do?" he finished.
"So, why don't you?" Vic asked.
"I don't know, I guess I want to get my schooling out of the way first before I try anything like that." he said.
Vic nodded his head in agreement.
"Probably would be the best for now." he said.
"Yeah, but one day I'm going to be an actor." Gar said.
"Good luck on that, as for me I'm headed for bed. I'll catch you later." Vic said.
"Ok, later man." Gar said.
Vic shut his bedroom door behind him. Gar got himself a drink from the fridge and went to bed.
The next morning, students walked to class as Gar was walking across campus he spotted a girl standing on the other side of the iron fence a woman about his age, with long blonde hair and big blue eyes. Well this girl had caught his attention. But he'd never saw her before. Of course there's tons of students here he doesn't really know. But this girl didn't look like a student. Her clothes were a little worn, she had holes in the knees of her jeans and she wore a brown coat. She didn't stay there for long, and left. As much as Gar would have loved to find out who she was, he was running late to class. As he sat in class, tuning in and out of the lecture he couldn't help but think about that girl he saw. Who was she? Was she really a student or just passing through? Class let out a while later and it was time for lunch. He went to the nearest burger joint where he usually ate. When he got done he decided to talk a walk through North Park a while later he looked and saw the girl from earlier sitting on a park bench feeding the birds and decided to approach her.
"Hi." he said.
"Hi." she said.
"My name's Gar." he said.
"I'm Tara." she said.
"You mind if I sit down?" he asked.
"No." she said scooting over.
"I saw you outside the gates, at school this morning." he said.
"Oh...yeah." she said.
"Are you a student?" he asked her.
"No." she said.
"Oh sorry I thought you were." he said.
"I get that all the time." she said.
"So...where do you work at?" he asked.
Tara's dainty hands balled up into fists.
"I'm...from out of town." she answered.
"Oh, I see." he said
"Tara?"
She looked up at him,
"I know we just met but...I was wondering if you'd like to go out sometime?" he asked.
A little smile graced her lips
"I'd like that." She said.
"So, where do you live?"
Her face fell, "Uhhh...maybe we should just meet someplace." she said.
"OK, where do you want to meet?"
"W-what would you suggest?"
"I was thinking, College Pizza Palace 7 o'clock tonight if your available?" he suggested.
Tara smiled. "That sounds great."
"Great, I-I mean cool. So I'll see ya then?"
"Yeah, 7 it is then." She said.
"Awesome. I'll see you later Tara." he said and gets off the bench.
"See you Gar." she said as she watched him walk off.
While Gar returned to school, Tara walked down a sidewalk on the far side of town, holding her coat close to her body. She turned into an alleyway, walking down the street she sat down on a crate and sighed, before her sat her residence; a large cardboard refrigerator box. A tattered blue curtain, covered its entrance inside was couple of blankets that covered the floor of the box and in the corner of the box was an old stuffed bear. This is where she lives; this is why she couldn't let Gar know any more about her. Tara is homeless. A couple of hours later Gar returns home and throws his book bag on the couch, it slid off and landed on the floor books spilling out and carelessly leaves them there.
"Hey Vic, I got a date." he called,
His buddy was in the kitchen cooking up something.
"Who did ya'll meet?"
"Her name is Tara."
"Where at?"
"I met her in North Park."
"Cool, so what's she like?"
"Blonde, blue eyes really slender she's a real cutie." Gar sat down at the table and continued their conversation.
"Where's she from?" Vic asked.
"I don't know. I didn't think to ask her." Gar Said.
Vic was putting his dinner on a plate.
"So, what are you guys doing tonight?" he asked.
"We're going out to Pizza Palace, might go for a walk maybe a movie."
"Cool." Vic said.
"Yeah." Gar chuckled.
"What time you meeting her?"
"Seven." he said.
Vic sat down at the table. When Gar saw what he fixed he gave his friend a funny look.
"Scrambled eggs?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm kind of in a breakfast mood." Vic said.
"But its 4 in the afternoon." Gar said.
"Yeah, so?" Vic asked.
Gar shook his head "Never mind."
On the other side of town Tara sat on her crate thinking to herself, her legs tucked up to her chest.
"What was I thinking? I shouldn't have said yes. This was all a mistake." she thought to herself. "I don't have any money; I don't even have a place to live."
She continued lost in her thoughts contemplating whether she should through with it. She decided to talk a walk, try and clear her thoughts before she came to a definite decision. As she walked down the street, she thought back on today.
Flashback: She was just walking back to her "place" this morning, when she saw him in the school yard. She glanced at him only for a second and then left. Didn't even remember his face then later she met him for the first time in the park...
The next time she glanced up, she noticed she was right across the street from the pizza place. She didn't realize she had traveled this far. She could see him sitting close to the window. Tara's feet wouldn't budge all she could do was just stand there and watch him. She studied him for a second. He seemed nice, friendly, and kind of a goof. And the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to be with him. It was just one date after all; he doesn't have to know everything about her. She was smiling.
"Maybe this is the right thing." she thought making her feel warm inside.
She started across the road to the restaurant.
The front door opened and the little bell ringed, Gar looked up there she is.
"Hey Tara!" he waved she looked to her left and saw him sitting by the window.
"Hi Gar!" she waved back.
A waitress walked up to Tara. She was about the same age as her.
"Good evening, welcome to the College Pizza Palace. I take it your with him?" she said cheerfully.
Tara chuckled.
"What gave it away?" she asked.
The waitress smiled and said "This way."
She ushered her over to the window seat where Gar was sitting. Tara sat down across from him.
"Hi." she said.
"Hey!" returning the gesture.
The waitress laid down their menus in front of them.
"And what can I get you to drink?" she asked taking out a pad and pen.
"Coke." Gar said.
"Is Pepsi, ok?" she asked.
"Yeah." He answered.
"I'll have Mountain Dew." Tara said.
"Ok, I'll be back with your drinks." she said leaving them. Gar turned to Tara.
"So what have you been up to?" he asked.
"Not much. What about you?" she asked.
Gar shrugged "The usual, go and watch a movie was the hilltop at the drive-in."
"I've never been out there, I always wanted to go."
"Would you like to?" he asked.
She looked up at him and smiled, nodding her head. Gar smiled back. A second later the waitress came back with their drinks and laying their menus down in front of them.
About an hour later they were finishing their pepperoni and cheese pizza. Gar leans back in his seat and belches.
"Oh god, that was good." He said.
Tara took a sip of her pop and let out an even louder belch, her face went red and she covered her mouth making her date laugh. They left the restaurant after paying and went down to the ice rink. Gar knew a friend who runs the place, so they had the entire rink to themselves. Much of the time was spent with both of them falling on their butts. But after awhile they started to get the hang of it. Gar took her by the hand, and started swinging her around. She didn't feel scared she felt safe, secure. Like there was no greater force on earth that could tear them apart. As they begun to spin around faster, Tara bended her knees kept going down, down, until her butt was only inches from the ice. She then began to rise up until she was standing again. It wasn't until then that Gar lost his balance and fell on top of her. The both of them laughing their heads spinning It took them a few seconds to realize what kind of position they was in. they look into each other's eyes, Gar felt something soft in his hand. She smiled at him; he gently squeezed and realized what he had a hold of. She didn't seem to mind. He smiled back at her and continued squeezing it; she placed her hand over his. She giggled softly, placing her right hand on his back. She squeezed his hand that was softly squeezing her breast. Slowly they closed the distance between their lips and held their first kiss.
After a while they got up cold…and yet…really warm at the same time. They smiled their faces heated either by blush or by infatuation. They left the arena a few minutes later, and were walking down a sidewalk with some dimly lit streetlights. There was a giant full moon out tonight against a cloudy midnight blue sky. She felt safe with him, true he wasn't the strongest person around. But that didn't matter to her. They made their way out to the drive-in movie theater and sat on top of the hill, Gar was sitting at the night before. As the movie started she leaned back and relaxes into his chest. Gar smiled as he brushed the strands of hair from out of her eyes.
"I love you Gar." She tells him.
"I love you too," he says and kissed her on the brow.
He spends his nights in California
Watching the stars on the big screen
And then he lies awake and he wonders
Why can't that be me?
'Cause in his life he's filled with all these good intentions
He's left a lot of things he'd rather not mention right now
Just before he says good-night
He looks up with a smile at me and he says
(Chorus)
If I could be like that
I would give anything
Just to live one day in those shoes
If I could be like that
What would I do?
What would I do?
Yeah
Now in dreams we run
She spends her days up in the North Park
Watching the people as they pass
And all she wants is just a little piece of this dream
Is that too much to ask?
With a safe home
And a warm bed
On a quiet little street
All she wants is just that something to hold on to
That's all she needs
Yeah
Chorus
If I could be like that
I would give anything
Just to live one day in those shoes
If I could be like that
What would I do?
What would I do?
Yeah
Yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, oh yeah
I'm falling into this
In dreams, we run away
Chorus 3x
Yeah, Yeah
Falling in
I feel I'm
Falling into this again
Author's Note: Well, what did you think? Please review.