I took a large sip of my whiskey to calm my nerves. Watching Brad dancing with his so called new 'girlfriend' made me want to puke my guts out. High school was such a drag... I started to feel slightly dizzy as my eyes took in the image of a crying Sam. She pushed the wide entrance doors and stepped outside. I guess she finally found out about Craig and his nasty habit. I got up from my chair and followed her into the cold darkness only to find her leaning on the wall, shivering as she lit her cigarette. I took off my suit jacket for Sam and draped it around her shoulders. "Thanks", she muttered. I slowly put my arms around her as she rested her head against my chest, dropping her cigarette. With that, she began to tremble as the tears fell down to the cold concrete floor.
My eyes fluttered open as the harsh light entered my room. Man, I got too stoned last night. My dad better not find out or shit will go down…again. Sam slept in my room last night since she could barely walk properly after last night. I won't go too much into what happened but it did involve me taking a bottle of vodka from our graduation party. I don't even remember most of it. I glanced at my alarm clock which flashed the numbers 13:37. What time did we get home last night? Or, more importantly, how? Both, me and Sam, were way too drunk to drive…Charlie. I must have called him or something. Maybe we stopped by his house. My thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain shooting through my head. Tip 1 for being a teenager with a lifestyle like mine: never, I mean NEVER mix whiskey with vodka. Oh, and Tip 2: whatever you do, DON'T eat Bob's 'special' brownies if you're drunk.
Luckily by the time I got dressed and had a shower and everything, it was about three in the afternoon so my dad and step mom were already at work. 'Good. They don't have to see me with these bags under my eyes' I thought. Sam decided to spend the rest of the day in bed and asked me to get her some ice cream if I get a chance when I go out to the music store... I had a quick breakfast, which ended up being a stolen cookie from the 'Cookie Jar' and two headache pills that I had to drink down with water. After that, I put on my dark sunglasses so the daylight wouldn't hurt my eyes, since they were still in their post-stoned stage, and left the house gently slamming the door behind me.
The journey to the grocery and music store as quite fast since I was able to drive my brand new black Impala. My dad made a deal with me that as long as I get at least B's in all my subjects then I can have his car, since he was going to get a boring silver Volvo and I couldn't borrow Sam's truck because it was currently in repair. I parked close to the music store and switched off the engine of my car. Walking in a brisk pace I entered the little shop causing the bells on the inside of the door frame to jingle. "Hi Jimmy", I greeted the owner. I slowly dragged my worn out body to the Rock and Indie section. Surprisingly there was already someone there which never happened before. I lifted up my sunglasses and saw that there was a brunette girl who looked about my age looking at a 'Death Cab for Cutie' CD.
"Their new album's pretty great."
"I'm trying to check out some of their older stuff. Slightly, widen my horizons I guess." She replied silently, not to disturb any of the other customers.
"Hmm. Have you heard any songs by The Xx?" I asked, continuing our little conversation.
"Yeah 'course, they're quite good, especially 'Angels' and 'Shelter'"
I chuckled slightly, "Those are really good, aren't they? Well if you're a fan of Death Cab and The Xx you should check out The Lumineers. Favourite band of all time." I suggested pointing to one of the band's records.
"Huh. Alright, let me just trust this stranger to pick out music for me" she smiled laughing lightly at her own joke.
"Right, sorry, I'm Patrick. You are?" I took out my hand from my pocket for her to shake.
"Mommy taught me not to speak to strangers" she said pushing her lower lip out a bit, making a puppy dog expression,
"No, I'm kidding, I'm Jo, short for Joanna" She replied shaking my hand. Suddenly something vibrated in my pocket. Quickly, realising it was my phone I excused myself from Joanna and went to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Patrick, where are you? It doesn't usually take you this long to pop into the shop"
"Right, yeah, I'm on my way home, got a bit held up"
"Alright well I'll see you soon, if my ice cream has melted-" I quickly hang up remembering that the ice cream was probably melting inside the car.
"Hey Jimmy! You got a pen?" I half shouted. The bearded man behind the counter took some time but eventually managed to throw a green sharpie which I managed to catch.
"Well it was nice meeting you Jo" I said whilst taking the girl's hand and using the sharpie to write my number on her palm.
"See you around!" I waved my hand in her direction, leaving the store.
"Bye Patrick!"
I smiled to myself as I made my way towards my car. It was great to meet new people, especially ones with great music taste. I got into my car and drove out of my parking space, stealing a quick glance at the tub of ice cream in the shotgun seat. Hopefully, Sam won't mind.
I quickly got back home and locked the car after grabbing Sam's 'Bakes Alaska' Ben&Jerry's ice cream.
"Sam darling, I'm home. Did you miss me?" I shouted in a loud and posh voice.
"Patrick, my dear. How could I not have missed such a handsome face?" Sam replied walking down the stairs dramatically and copying my mocking manner.
"Oh you are too kind, love. Just took kind." I laughed. We always found a way to laugh together even if we weren't really in the mood.
"You got my ice cream?"
"What, no hug? No ice cream for you Samantha." I said turning around to walk into the kitchen.
"Noo. Come here you idiot." She trailed behind me, dragging her feet with her. She wrapped her small frame around me and squeezed the crap out of me before quickly opening the tub of ice cream, taking a spoon and digging in and pushing a mouth full of the cold thing into her mouth. She sat on one of the high stools in the kitchen whilst I leaned against the table.
"So what to you so long?" She asked after a while.
"Nothing…just went to the music store" I replied a tad too quickly.
"Right… I swear you already have every CD from that shop that's worth buying. And almost everyone's away for the summer. It couldn't have been Bob 'cause you know how he gets after those parties."
"Oh God, it takes days for him to 'be able to face the daylight'" I let out a loud laugh thinking about poor Bob, always complaining about the sun being too bright at school.
"So what did you do?" Sam was very stubborn and she could tell when there was something I wasn't telling her.
"I was talking to someone."
"Jimmy?" she enquired.
"Nope. Some girl was in the Indie section. Do you know how rare it is to find someone except either of us or Charlie there?"
"What?!" her eyes were wide open and she looked far more alert than she had before.
"I know. I seriously thought we were the only ones who ever went there. I haven't seen her around town or school before though so I'm guessing she just moved here."
"A girl?"
"Yeah, a girl." I replied sceptically.
"So you just decided to speak to this girl?"
"She was looking at a Death Cab CD" I said bluntly.
"There are others like us, Patrick! I swear it is so unusual to come across someone who listens to Death Cab, I'd rather look for a needle in a haystack." She stuck another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, pondering quietly.
"Well?" she started investigating again.
"Well what?" I asked pouring myself a glass of water.
"What happened?"
"I just suggested some music to her and wrote my number on her hand before leaving."
"What about Brad?"
I didn't expect her to say that. Out of all things she could have possibly said then I would have never expected her to ask me about him. I just wanted to forget it. Forget the whole incident. All of it. All of them. Him.
"What about him?" I sighed.
"I mean you really liked him Patrick. This is probably the weirdest thing I'm ever going to ask but, are you still gay or…?"
I started to laugh. "Well yeah, I think I am but this girl she just had this cute look about her you know. The cute sweatpants look that shows that she's not one of those girls who will get all dressed up just to go to the shop, you know. And her music taste is something quite complimentary, if I do say so myself"
"Hmm, okay. Well if you think she's alright then that's fine with me." She smiled at me, her reassuring Sam smile.
"Great. Well we'll see what happens. She might not even call, no one knows."
"Please. She'll call. After all, who wouldn't want to call a guy who decided to start talking to her, out of the blue in a music store?" Sam joked.
"Shut up and eat your ice cream" I said nudging her with my elbow. I mean who knew, she might not call, but there is the tiniest possibility that she might. I guess it was all up to her now.