Author's Note: The song I used is called "Mourning Glory" and it's by me.
Changed the rating to R for language.
Chelsea_Broefan ;)
So it was a stupid thing to do. So it was a stupid decision to make, unthought out, and really, truly, just plain stupid. Chloe looked around a town that she had never been to in her entire life. It was a big town. She got out of her car, taking no effort to wipe her eyes, and tried as hard as she could to look like she knew what she was doing. She walked fast, and made herself believe that she knew exactly where she was and where she was going. She sped by the entire city like a gust of wind, but something caught the corner of her eye, and she stopped in the middle of the crowded sidewalk. A small handwritten sign called to her, and she walked to it like she was in a trance.
'Open Mike Night'
No one else was paying it any attention. Chloe looked into the old, clouded, window, but she couldn't see anything. The door opened, and suddenly a girl with short, black hair stood in front of her.
"Well, are you coming in, or are you just gonna stand there and look inside." The girl put her hands on her hips, and flipped her hair, when Chloe said nothing. "Well??"
Chloe wiped her eyes, suddenly aware that she had been crying for a week straight. She looked down at the floor and nodded. "Can you get stuff to eat here?"
"I don't work here, but I'll tell you that they make one hell of a cup of coffee. You look depressed; you came to the right place." The girl that didn't work in the coffeehouse continued to act like she did, and escorted Chloe to the tables and huge couch in front of the stage. "You sing?" She asked.
"Um, no," Chloe lied, suddenly self-conscience.
"Well, come in and sit down then."
"Uh thanks..." Chloe looked around the dirty joint, and suddenly felt even more stupid than she did when she first found herself in the city. She watched everyone come up to the mike, one by one, and listening carefully to everything they said or sang. 15 minutes later, she found herself on the front sofa, with a cup of coffee, understanding everything they were saying, and crying uncontrollably all over again.
"That was a really nice set," Chloe said through sobs to a man coming off the small stage.
He stopped in front of her and smiled. "Thanks, but it was just one song, so it wasn't exactly a set." He laid his guitar on the couch beside her, and sat down. "Who let you in here, anyway kid? Must be one kick ass fake-ID you got."
"What?!" Chloe looked up at him with her huge blue eyes, and started sobbing all over again. "I'm sorry, I'll leave...no one told me...the girl just let me in...and, I don't have, don't have, don't have a fake-" And she was collapsed in the guys arms, just like that.
"Whoa...I was only um, playing with ya," He awkwardly patted Chloe's head, and rubbed a little too, just for good-luck. "It's just a lame coffee place, you don't gotta be 18 or 21 or anything..."
Chloe sniffed and lifted her head, still hanging on the guitar guy. "Oh."
"Do you sing or anything?"
"Yeah, a little...what's you name?"
"I'm Mark. Ya wanna go on stage?"
"Yeah, but I don't wanna go alone...I'm Chloe by the way."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*Note-5 years have passed*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was amazing to watch her. You could never forget that thrill. She sat hunched over her guitar, an extension to her soul, and she poured herself out until she was empty. She always sang to the crowd like they weren't even there. She blocked them out completely, and played with the hope that somehow she was reaching him. Wherever he was, whomever he was with, she just wanted to reach him. Now especially. She began playing, softly at first, and sang to the crowded room, in front of no one at all.
I can't sleep and I don't mind
I don't eat and I don't care
And you haunt me everywhere
You live lost within my mind
For me to find, you're still lost for me to find
I would lie down on the ground
'Would lay down at your door, and I would wait
'Till the sun rises and that ground takes me
And I would have to leave
I will wait 'till morning comes
To last, but it won't last
And for you, but you won't come to me
And then...
It's dark again
I would thank you if I could
I would kiss you'd if you let me
'Wait out all eternity for you, curled at you feet
I might not wanna leave
I would wait 'till morning comes
To last, but it won't last
And for you, but you won't come to me
And then...
It's dark again
I might forgive you if I saw you
But I might forget about us yet
And I might run away
This time I might not run to you
I could wait 'till morning comes
To last, but it won't last
And for you, but you won't come to me
And then...
It's dark again
Like a Morning Glory
I could wait in all my splender
But only for some hours and then I would be gone
And you were like some mourning glory
In your silence, in your shelter
I would watch you as you would drift away
My Mourning Glory
I might wait 'till morning comes
To last, but it won't last
And for you, but you won't come to me
And then...
It's dark again
And I am gone, I am gone, I've been waiting all night
And I am gone, I am gone I'll put my beauty into flight
I am but a Mourning Glory, I am gone
Chloe finished the last chorus softly, and let the final ring of her chord echo though the stunned, familiar coffeehouse. It was really packed tonight. Somehow, she figured her name had gotten around.
"Chloe! Good show, would you just all at all the people here?!"
Chloe grinned, and glanced around again. "Thanks Mark." She hugged him. "Thanks for coming too, not like you've ever not come, but still, thanks…I'm just going to the bathroom, fix my makeup or something..."
Mark watched Chloe disappear in the hallway, and marveled at everyone who had come to know her name. From where he stood, he was catching bits a pieces of all the conversations that were centered around his best friend.
"Hey, you a friend of that girl's?" A man asked Mark.
"Chloe? Hell yeah, she's great isn't she?"
The man rolled his eyes. "Not hardly, I don't get what everyone here sees in her. Her music doesn't mean anything at all, she's just your basic teenage-"
"First off, Chloe is 22, and you're crazy saying what you're saying about her, you must be blind. You think that the music she just poured out to you is meaningless?" Mark felt himself getting madder with each passing second. Chloe had had enough trouble in her life, without some idiot stranger bashing the melodies she spent years perfecting.
"Yeah, I do, actually. I'm reviewing this concert, and what I'm writing up about it is, that it was a waste of my time."
"Have you ever actually listened to her music, or are you just worried about your next paycheck? What you really need to do, is to turn off all the lights in your house, lay on your bed, close you eyes, and listen to her. I guarantee you'll wake up with tears in your eyes."
The man started to say something, but Mark cut him off before anything spilled out of his mouth. "Don't insult my friends. Excuse me, but I wanna go congratulate Chloe again on that Amazing set."
Mark turned away from the man to see Chloe behind him. "Who was that?" She asked confused.
"Just...no one."
"Oh." Chloe cut herself off from Mark, and started looking around. She did this every night after a show. Searching for him... And Mark knew very well what she was going to ask next. It was always the same for her every night, like some sick cycle.
"You didn't see anybody...new tonight did you?"
"...Sorry Chlo, Brady still didn't show, at least the guy you described to me as Brady didn't come."
"Brady? What makes you think I was talking about him anyway."
Mark searched her visually, and it was all he needed to do.
"Well, I just can't believe he's never even looked me up!" Chloe said, giving in. "He's never even called me, I bet he never tried to find me either."
"So did you run away just so he would look for you Chloe?" Mark gave up trying to sound calm, and let what he was feeling just come out. It was just so damn frustrating.
"Of course not...and I know it's dumb, but I kinda wanted him to see me graduate.
Mark sighed. "I came."
"I know." Chloe shut herself off again, following her pattern perfectly. "I think I'm going home, I wanna finish packing my stuff, so I can move out really quickly tomorrow."
Mark felt his familiar compassion for Chloe arise again, and his anger slowly faded. "Chloe, you don't have to leave tomorrow, you can stay as long as you want."
"I know, but it feels right after the graduation. Besides, I've stayed with you for almost 5 years straight, I need something new."
"You staying in LA?"
"Maybe, but I really do want to go now, I have a killer headache."
~
Chloe walked alone. It wasn't safe, she knew that, it was night, and it was really quite dangerous. It was unseasonably cool for late June in California, and she walked home faster than usual, with a jacket. It was the night. It made everything seem so much colder than it actually was.
The night was so kind. Ending days, giving way to the moon and the stars, even though Chloe hadn't been able to see them since she moved. She still loved the night. The wind whispered her name, and quickened her step. She hated it when she thought she heard something, but she wasn't sure. It was enough to drive a person crazy.
"Chloe."
She stopped in a split second, and looked over her shoulder. There was absolutely nothing there, and she cursed herself for letting the dark that she loved so much scare her. She pushed frightening thoughts away, and started walking again.
"Chloe, stop walking."
Chloe didn't listen this time. She wrapped herself tighter in the light jacket that was all she had ever needed in California. She told herself it was a figment of her imagination, and that she needed to stop drinking so much coffee.
"Chloe, just turn around, I need to talk to you."
"Shut up!" Chloe yelled. Her voice echoed on the sidewalk that suddenly seemed for the very first time, deserted. She shivered again, and realized that her jacket was no longer warm enough. A firm hand gripped her shoulder, and spun her around. She screamed, and kicked at air.
"Stop it you're going to kick me. You're more paranoid than I remembered you."
"Get your hands off of me, whoever you are, I need to go home!"
"Home? Where is it that you're calling home now, Chloe?"
The voice of the man was growing oddly, more familiar by the second. "Brady?" She ventured.
"You need to carry a flashlight with you from now on diva."
Chloe was suddenly outraged. "How dare you come here, and scare the shit out of me like that!"
"Have to talk to you. Didn't want to do it in the coffee house."
"Talk to me? Well it's about fucking time Brady! Ya'know what, thanks for calling me, thanks for coming to my graduation, thanks a whole hell of a lot."
"Your graduation from Julliard? I didn't think you applied there."
"Calling me a failure now? So I didn't go to Julliard, but I went to UCLA, and that's a pretty damn good school."
"Yeah, you're right, it's a great school. So how did the music major go for you?"
"What are you getting at? I didn't major in music, so what. Why don't you answer me Brady?" Chloe turned the tables and stared into his blue eyes, which were suddenly focusing in the night. "Where were you?"
"I did come Chloe, as much as you don't want to believe it. I came, I just couldn't stay."
"That's a nice one Brady. Thought you'd come, and just not say anything to me?"
"I couldn't stay."
"So why can you now?" Chloe pushed him away as hard as she could and turned to face him, extremely frustrated that she hadn't even knocked him down. "You didn't choose me Brady. Whatever makes you happy, I don't care, but you didn't pick me to be the one that was with you, and you still aren't picking me."
"I didn't choose her either, Chloe!" Brady said raising his voice. Slowly the calm, even attitude he had worked so hard to master was failing him.
"Right, so that's where the 'it's her' part came in, right?"
"I never said that, it was you who said it."
"You let me go. You let me stay gone."
"I had to test our love, Chloe."
"Test it? Why?" Chloe's eyes spoke volumes and Brady imediately regreted his comment. "I forgive you for wanting to be with her, I forgive you kissing her or for doing whatever it is you two did, but the fact that you had to test our love...Brady, I would NEVER have to do that, NEVER."
"Chloe, I'm sorry, I really am-"
"And it took you five years Brady. Five." Chloe shook her head in disbelief, and without so much as a goodbye she was walking down the cold, dark street again.
Brady ran both his hands through his hair in anger and frustration. He pointed a solitary finger at her in the dark. "Ya'know Chloe, faith is what you really need right now, and faith is failing you!" He yelled, and then, he was gone too.
Changed the rating to R for language.
Chelsea_Broefan ;)
So it was a stupid thing to do. So it was a stupid decision to make, unthought out, and really, truly, just plain stupid. Chloe looked around a town that she had never been to in her entire life. It was a big town. She got out of her car, taking no effort to wipe her eyes, and tried as hard as she could to look like she knew what she was doing. She walked fast, and made herself believe that she knew exactly where she was and where she was going. She sped by the entire city like a gust of wind, but something caught the corner of her eye, and she stopped in the middle of the crowded sidewalk. A small handwritten sign called to her, and she walked to it like she was in a trance.
'Open Mike Night'
No one else was paying it any attention. Chloe looked into the old, clouded, window, but she couldn't see anything. The door opened, and suddenly a girl with short, black hair stood in front of her.
"Well, are you coming in, or are you just gonna stand there and look inside." The girl put her hands on her hips, and flipped her hair, when Chloe said nothing. "Well??"
Chloe wiped her eyes, suddenly aware that she had been crying for a week straight. She looked down at the floor and nodded. "Can you get stuff to eat here?"
"I don't work here, but I'll tell you that they make one hell of a cup of coffee. You look depressed; you came to the right place." The girl that didn't work in the coffeehouse continued to act like she did, and escorted Chloe to the tables and huge couch in front of the stage. "You sing?" She asked.
"Um, no," Chloe lied, suddenly self-conscience.
"Well, come in and sit down then."
"Uh thanks..." Chloe looked around the dirty joint, and suddenly felt even more stupid than she did when she first found herself in the city. She watched everyone come up to the mike, one by one, and listening carefully to everything they said or sang. 15 minutes later, she found herself on the front sofa, with a cup of coffee, understanding everything they were saying, and crying uncontrollably all over again.
"That was a really nice set," Chloe said through sobs to a man coming off the small stage.
He stopped in front of her and smiled. "Thanks, but it was just one song, so it wasn't exactly a set." He laid his guitar on the couch beside her, and sat down. "Who let you in here, anyway kid? Must be one kick ass fake-ID you got."
"What?!" Chloe looked up at him with her huge blue eyes, and started sobbing all over again. "I'm sorry, I'll leave...no one told me...the girl just let me in...and, I don't have, don't have, don't have a fake-" And she was collapsed in the guys arms, just like that.
"Whoa...I was only um, playing with ya," He awkwardly patted Chloe's head, and rubbed a little too, just for good-luck. "It's just a lame coffee place, you don't gotta be 18 or 21 or anything..."
Chloe sniffed and lifted her head, still hanging on the guitar guy. "Oh."
"Do you sing or anything?"
"Yeah, a little...what's you name?"
"I'm Mark. Ya wanna go on stage?"
"Yeah, but I don't wanna go alone...I'm Chloe by the way."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*Note-5 years have passed*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was amazing to watch her. You could never forget that thrill. She sat hunched over her guitar, an extension to her soul, and she poured herself out until she was empty. She always sang to the crowd like they weren't even there. She blocked them out completely, and played with the hope that somehow she was reaching him. Wherever he was, whomever he was with, she just wanted to reach him. Now especially. She began playing, softly at first, and sang to the crowded room, in front of no one at all.
I can't sleep and I don't mind
I don't eat and I don't care
And you haunt me everywhere
You live lost within my mind
For me to find, you're still lost for me to find
I would lie down on the ground
'Would lay down at your door, and I would wait
'Till the sun rises and that ground takes me
And I would have to leave
I will wait 'till morning comes
To last, but it won't last
And for you, but you won't come to me
And then...
It's dark again
I would thank you if I could
I would kiss you'd if you let me
'Wait out all eternity for you, curled at you feet
I might not wanna leave
I would wait 'till morning comes
To last, but it won't last
And for you, but you won't come to me
And then...
It's dark again
I might forgive you if I saw you
But I might forget about us yet
And I might run away
This time I might not run to you
I could wait 'till morning comes
To last, but it won't last
And for you, but you won't come to me
And then...
It's dark again
Like a Morning Glory
I could wait in all my splender
But only for some hours and then I would be gone
And you were like some mourning glory
In your silence, in your shelter
I would watch you as you would drift away
My Mourning Glory
I might wait 'till morning comes
To last, but it won't last
And for you, but you won't come to me
And then...
It's dark again
And I am gone, I am gone, I've been waiting all night
And I am gone, I am gone I'll put my beauty into flight
I am but a Mourning Glory, I am gone
Chloe finished the last chorus softly, and let the final ring of her chord echo though the stunned, familiar coffeehouse. It was really packed tonight. Somehow, she figured her name had gotten around.
"Chloe! Good show, would you just all at all the people here?!"
Chloe grinned, and glanced around again. "Thanks Mark." She hugged him. "Thanks for coming too, not like you've ever not come, but still, thanks…I'm just going to the bathroom, fix my makeup or something..."
Mark watched Chloe disappear in the hallway, and marveled at everyone who had come to know her name. From where he stood, he was catching bits a pieces of all the conversations that were centered around his best friend.
"Hey, you a friend of that girl's?" A man asked Mark.
"Chloe? Hell yeah, she's great isn't she?"
The man rolled his eyes. "Not hardly, I don't get what everyone here sees in her. Her music doesn't mean anything at all, she's just your basic teenage-"
"First off, Chloe is 22, and you're crazy saying what you're saying about her, you must be blind. You think that the music she just poured out to you is meaningless?" Mark felt himself getting madder with each passing second. Chloe had had enough trouble in her life, without some idiot stranger bashing the melodies she spent years perfecting.
"Yeah, I do, actually. I'm reviewing this concert, and what I'm writing up about it is, that it was a waste of my time."
"Have you ever actually listened to her music, or are you just worried about your next paycheck? What you really need to do, is to turn off all the lights in your house, lay on your bed, close you eyes, and listen to her. I guarantee you'll wake up with tears in your eyes."
The man started to say something, but Mark cut him off before anything spilled out of his mouth. "Don't insult my friends. Excuse me, but I wanna go congratulate Chloe again on that Amazing set."
Mark turned away from the man to see Chloe behind him. "Who was that?" She asked confused.
"Just...no one."
"Oh." Chloe cut herself off from Mark, and started looking around. She did this every night after a show. Searching for him... And Mark knew very well what she was going to ask next. It was always the same for her every night, like some sick cycle.
"You didn't see anybody...new tonight did you?"
"...Sorry Chlo, Brady still didn't show, at least the guy you described to me as Brady didn't come."
"Brady? What makes you think I was talking about him anyway."
Mark searched her visually, and it was all he needed to do.
"Well, I just can't believe he's never even looked me up!" Chloe said, giving in. "He's never even called me, I bet he never tried to find me either."
"So did you run away just so he would look for you Chloe?" Mark gave up trying to sound calm, and let what he was feeling just come out. It was just so damn frustrating.
"Of course not...and I know it's dumb, but I kinda wanted him to see me graduate.
Mark sighed. "I came."
"I know." Chloe shut herself off again, following her pattern perfectly. "I think I'm going home, I wanna finish packing my stuff, so I can move out really quickly tomorrow."
Mark felt his familiar compassion for Chloe arise again, and his anger slowly faded. "Chloe, you don't have to leave tomorrow, you can stay as long as you want."
"I know, but it feels right after the graduation. Besides, I've stayed with you for almost 5 years straight, I need something new."
"You staying in LA?"
"Maybe, but I really do want to go now, I have a killer headache."
~
Chloe walked alone. It wasn't safe, she knew that, it was night, and it was really quite dangerous. It was unseasonably cool for late June in California, and she walked home faster than usual, with a jacket. It was the night. It made everything seem so much colder than it actually was.
The night was so kind. Ending days, giving way to the moon and the stars, even though Chloe hadn't been able to see them since she moved. She still loved the night. The wind whispered her name, and quickened her step. She hated it when she thought she heard something, but she wasn't sure. It was enough to drive a person crazy.
"Chloe."
She stopped in a split second, and looked over her shoulder. There was absolutely nothing there, and she cursed herself for letting the dark that she loved so much scare her. She pushed frightening thoughts away, and started walking again.
"Chloe, stop walking."
Chloe didn't listen this time. She wrapped herself tighter in the light jacket that was all she had ever needed in California. She told herself it was a figment of her imagination, and that she needed to stop drinking so much coffee.
"Chloe, just turn around, I need to talk to you."
"Shut up!" Chloe yelled. Her voice echoed on the sidewalk that suddenly seemed for the very first time, deserted. She shivered again, and realized that her jacket was no longer warm enough. A firm hand gripped her shoulder, and spun her around. She screamed, and kicked at air.
"Stop it you're going to kick me. You're more paranoid than I remembered you."
"Get your hands off of me, whoever you are, I need to go home!"
"Home? Where is it that you're calling home now, Chloe?"
The voice of the man was growing oddly, more familiar by the second. "Brady?" She ventured.
"You need to carry a flashlight with you from now on diva."
Chloe was suddenly outraged. "How dare you come here, and scare the shit out of me like that!"
"Have to talk to you. Didn't want to do it in the coffee house."
"Talk to me? Well it's about fucking time Brady! Ya'know what, thanks for calling me, thanks for coming to my graduation, thanks a whole hell of a lot."
"Your graduation from Julliard? I didn't think you applied there."
"Calling me a failure now? So I didn't go to Julliard, but I went to UCLA, and that's a pretty damn good school."
"Yeah, you're right, it's a great school. So how did the music major go for you?"
"What are you getting at? I didn't major in music, so what. Why don't you answer me Brady?" Chloe turned the tables and stared into his blue eyes, which were suddenly focusing in the night. "Where were you?"
"I did come Chloe, as much as you don't want to believe it. I came, I just couldn't stay."
"That's a nice one Brady. Thought you'd come, and just not say anything to me?"
"I couldn't stay."
"So why can you now?" Chloe pushed him away as hard as she could and turned to face him, extremely frustrated that she hadn't even knocked him down. "You didn't choose me Brady. Whatever makes you happy, I don't care, but you didn't pick me to be the one that was with you, and you still aren't picking me."
"I didn't choose her either, Chloe!" Brady said raising his voice. Slowly the calm, even attitude he had worked so hard to master was failing him.
"Right, so that's where the 'it's her' part came in, right?"
"I never said that, it was you who said it."
"You let me go. You let me stay gone."
"I had to test our love, Chloe."
"Test it? Why?" Chloe's eyes spoke volumes and Brady imediately regreted his comment. "I forgive you for wanting to be with her, I forgive you kissing her or for doing whatever it is you two did, but the fact that you had to test our love...Brady, I would NEVER have to do that, NEVER."
"Chloe, I'm sorry, I really am-"
"And it took you five years Brady. Five." Chloe shook her head in disbelief, and without so much as a goodbye she was walking down the cold, dark street again.
Brady ran both his hands through his hair in anger and frustration. He pointed a solitary finger at her in the dark. "Ya'know Chloe, faith is what you really need right now, and faith is failing you!" He yelled, and then, he was gone too.