I'm not Meyer, but I came up with the concept of Colin. Or rather, he revealed himself to me... on his own terms, of course. And, yes I know what's going on and not just making this stuff up as I'm getting to it. This is really what happenes.
-Seven years later-
"Happy birthday, to you!" Everyone in Buddy's Bar screamed the last note.
"Blow out the candles, birthday boy!" the person next to the him shouted drunkenly.
The man took a deep breath then blew out the twenty-one candles on the cake.
Everyone yelled in unison. The man rolled his eyes.
"You know, Dax," the man said, "If you could get drunk when the party started and not before it... you might be able to enjoy it longer and not have so bad of a hangover in the morning."
Dax looked at the man, dully.
"I really didn't get most of that, Colin," he said. Colin rolled his eyes again and stood up, revealing a broad chest stretching a gray wife-beater and nicely-fitting, dark jeans. His coal-black eyes sparkled beneath his equally dark, cropped hair.
"Lets get this party started!" He yelled to his bar-mates. They answered with whoops and hollers. "Bring out the beer!"
'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars,
Colin groaned into his pillow, then raised his head and grabbed his cell phone off his bedside table. He opened it up and put it to his ear.
"Hello?" He said groggily.
"Colin?" A female voice asked.
"Lisa?" Colin said straightening up with an excited look.
"Yeah!" She said, "Happy late birthday!"
"Aw, thanks, baby," he said with a smile. Next to him, Dax rolled over and off the bed with a loud thump. Stifling a laugh, Colin looked over at the floor just as a rumbling snore came from his friend's mouth.
"Yeah, I tried to call you last night, but you didn't pick up the phone the first two times, so I figured you were out partying or something."
"Yeah, that's about right. Hey could you hold on a second? I have a hangover to cure."
"Sure." He set the phone back on the table and got himself out of bed.
He walked to the kitchen and got out a two liter of water and aspirin from the bathroom.
After swallowing the aspirin, he chugged the water in thirty seconds with one break for air. After that had settled, he walked back to the bedroom, kicking the sleeping Dax to wake, grabbed the phone from the table, and walked into the the living room, neighboring the kitchen, and plopped on the couch.
"I'm back," He stated.
"Alright," She said. Colin watched as Dax stumbled into the bathroom then listened with amusement as he proceeded to pee for a minute and a half- Colin was timing.
When he came back out, he had the aspirin bottle in his hand. He looked at Colin dully.
"New record," he whispered with the phone away from his mouth. Dax then proceeded to get out another two liter of water and went through the same ritual as Colin had.
"- was thinking that maybe we could hang out tonight and celebrate," Lisa was saying.
"Yeah, that'd be great. Where we going?"
"Um, I was thinking we could go to the park on College Avenue. I hear it's alright."
"Man, that's on the other side of town."
"I could pick you up. You still live on the corner of Sundance and Royal Crest drives, right?"
"I'm here until I graduate Great Basin, then I'm out of Elko for good," He said, leaning back against the cushion, "bye-bye Nevada."
Lisa giggled on the other side of the line.
"But you're taking me with you, right?"
"Maybay," He joked, getting another giggle, "Love you, babe. See you tonight."
"What time?"
"Um, seven."
"Kay. I love you."
"Bye."
"Was that Jennifer?" Dax asked.
"Naw, Lisa."
"Whatever," he said, rubbing his rump then going to get dressed, "You running off the alcohol with me?"
"Yep." he stood and followed Dax into the bedroom.
Lisa was at the door at seven sharp. Colin was hurriedly pulling a button-up shirt over his broad chest. He buttoned it, then bent down to get his shoes. A rip resounded through the room. Colin cursed and removed the ruined shirt. It had been too small anyway.
He pulled on a white wife-beater and checked in the mirror. That would have to do. He rushed to the door with a college sweatshirt hanging over his arm and his lucky necklace around his neck.
"Hey, beautiful," said, leaning and giving Lisa a peck on the lips. She stared up at him with an odd smile on her face.
"We going, handsome?"
"You bet." With that, they hopped into the car.
They drove north up Sundance Drive, then turned south on 225.
"How's Dax been?" Colin grinned.
"Oh, you know Dax," He said, "He gets up with a hangover, drinks it away, and still has the juice to graduate college. He's my idol."
They turned right onto highway 80.
"I couldn't do it," Lisa said, "I can get drunk on Saturday night and still not be recovered by Wednesday."
"I can recover by the next morning, but I drink about half as much as Dax. He's truly incredible. He's gonna have major liver problems when he gets older."
"Yeah."
"May I?" Colin asked, gesturing towards the radio.
"Go ahead." He turned it to his favorite channel and pumped the volume to a comfortable level. Not blow-your-ears-off loud.
It was Canon, played by Funtwo. The violins were just starting out. The melody started, then Funtwo came in with his guitar. It stayed beautiful for a moment longer, then we were jamming to his tripped out golden guitar.
We jammed until we turned onto Golfcourse road, then into the park.
"Main City Park. How original." Colin commented.
He reluctantly turned Funtwo off and jumped out of the car, meeting Lisa and grabbing her hand.
"I go where you go," she said.
"I won't misguide you then."
It was eight-thirty.
"Oh," Lisa cursed.
"What is it?"
"I have to go drop something off by the school. I was supposed to do it today, but I got sidetracked. I need to run to my apartment then I can drop it off on the way back here," She looked at him, "This may sound really rude, but it's for a private thing that only a few people can know about, so could you stay here?" she bit her lip.
"Sure. No prob," He said, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head.
"I'm really sorry," she said, "I'll be back here so soon, you won't have time to miss me."
She bent down and bestowed a kiss on his lips then left.
He just lay there for the longest time, watching clouds drift across the blood-red sky.
Then a bloodcurdling scream resounded from the Rail yard.
For those of you who are curious, Elka, Naveda is a real place and all these places I'm talking about are real as well. Check if you don't believe me.
And the reference to the song Canon, played by funtwo, it's an actual song on youtube that, I think, will be famous in seven years and playing on the radio.
As for the cliffy... it won't last very long. I'm really excited to write the next few chapters and post them. So, no worries.
Who is screaming? Why? Review with your best guess even if the next chapter is posted. I want to know, people!
Those who review with a guess will get a hug from Alice. (if you don't like Alice, I'll give you a conveniently misplaced chocolate chip cookie instead).
I love all who read this!!