"There's no curtain call, and there's no point in life at all, if each day ends and this bent heart of mine cannot heal..."
The beautiful strum of the strings. The chords ringing beautifully in the acoustic guitar. The feel of the cold metal strings under my fingers.
This is what I do. It's what I love. And it's what I live for.
"I can't see a damn thing, but could it be, that the gray clouds that I loved completely blinded me?"
God. As much as I loved this song, I couldn't help but wish that I had something original written. Or, at least, something original written that actually sounded good.
There. Another few bucks just got thrown into the black guitar case at my feet. I loved doing this. Coming to the small boardwalk in town, the fresh sea air filling my lungs. The area was crowded, and people were all around, playing some of the games, or walking along the beach.
Here it comes. The chorus, the heart-jerking chords and the lyrics that cried for help. I could see a few onlookers that were already interested. And this would definitely gather a few more people.
"Deep in my heart, I know for sure...That you are hurt, feel insecure, and surely crying...Because you are only human."
There we go. I could see a few women bring their hands to their mouths. Some of the men raised their brows, surprised by the pained, melodic singing.
Or...Were they unimpressed? I think I messed up somewhere. I probably did...Dammit!
Focus, Enzo...Focus...
"These tears of mine, are screaming out, "it's not a lie," and as I cry...I want to thank you for showing me what I could be...I won't let go...I thank you so..."
I bobbed my head, feeling the beat and rhythm as I finished the song, strumming a few final light chords. My eyes were shut, but I heard shuffling in the case in front of me. The final chord. I let it ring, and I can feel the sound reverberating throughout my body. It was a chilling embrace, and I loved it.
Applause was heard next. Nothing huge, but a few people were clapping their hands, there was a whistle or two as well. I smiled gratefully and opened my eyes, bringing a hand up to adjust my glasses.
"I, ah..." I trailed off, rubbing the back of my neck. "Thank you. I-I'm sorry if I messed up a few times, but, uh..."
Dammit. There goes my confidence.
A few of them waved it off, or even disagreed with me, and a few others walked off. I could see them talking, and I began to wonder if it was about me. I sighed, and checked the time on my phone. a quarter to ten. The place was gonna start dying down soon, but I wanted to do one more song. I could spare the time.
I looked back up, and most of the small audience I had was gone by now, so I didn't bother talking. Just moved my hand down the neck, starting a simple bar chord. One of my favorites.
"Hello...I've waited here for you...Everlong..."
Five minutes, and a few more bucks later, I was packing up my guitar, when I heard a familiar voice call my name.
"Hey, Enzo!"
"Nani?" I muttered in Japanese, looking up. My lips quirked up in a small smile, and I stood upright, slinging the case over my shoulder, and I waved at the young woman hurrying my way.
"Aw, damn, did I miss it?" She asked, sighing and crossing her arms.
"By mere minutes, Eileen." I replied with a snicker, giving her a quick hug. "Thanks for tryin', though." I add with a smile. She returned it with one of her own, pushing back a few stray strands of her pale blonde hair.
This is Eileen Laatikainen. She's been at my back since grade school. She's Finnish, so is pretty pale; not ghastly so, but she still got a few lame words thrown at her when she was younger. I think that's how we met, I tried to get others off her back. But she's a great girl, and I trust her with my life.
"My apologies, Lorenzo," She shot back, using my full name as well. I feigned a wince, and chuckled.
...Yeah, you're probably wondering by now who the mook writing this is. The name's Lorenzo Myles; please, just Enzo, though. I'm a native of this nice little city on the California coast.
You're also probably wonderin' why I'm a lazy street performer. Well, to be honest, I kinda do it for fun; don't get me wrong, the extra money is a plus, especially with the few hours I've been getting at my job. But I just love to perform. I love singing, playing my guitar. I hope that one day, some kinda scout will hear me.
"Right, then. How was work, Eila?" I ask, leading her away from the beach and towards the nearest street.
"Eh, it was alright. Closed a little later than we expected." She replied with a shrug.
"I know how that is." I replied with a sigh of my own. "What were your plans for the rest of the night?" I inquired, looking over at her as we walked further down the boardwalk.
"Oh, nothing. I was gonna call Ame and see if she wanted to hang out." Eila answered, tapping the phone in her hands with her two thumbs. "You?" She asks back, looking over at me.
I opened my mouth to reply, but my phone rang before I managed to even utter a syllable. I held up a finger, indicating that she should wait, and checked my caller ID. I slid my thumb across the screen to answer, and put the phone up to my ear.
"Hey, dad." I answered.
"Hey, Enzo. Are you done, yet?" He asks.
"Mhm. I'm with Eila right now. We're on our way home." I replied, glancing at Eila for a second.
"Alright. How'd it go?"
"Not bad. I haven't counted the money, but I wanna say it's almost fifty bucks. It was pretty packed tonight."
"Nice, that's good. Thank God the economy hasn't suffered too much here, otherwise you'd be bringing in, like, ten bucks." He chuckles, eliciting a small laugh from myself as well.
"Yep. Anyway, I'll be home within the hour." I sighed.
"Alright. Dinner's in the fridge. Is Eila coming over to eat, as well?" He inquired. I glanced over at Eila.
"Wanna have some dinner at my house?" I asked.
"Maybe. Should I see if Ame wants to join us?" She asks, grabbing her phone as well.
"Think she's awake at this time? Or busy, for that matter?" I asked with a raised brow.
"C'mon, Ame, busy on a weekday night? I'm sure she's just browsing the internet or playing a game at this point." She chuckles.
"Point taken," I reply. "Sorry, dad. Yeah, and I think Ame will join us as well."
"Alright. Your mom didn't eat, so there should be plenty left for you three." He informed me.
"Why didn't mom eat?" I decided to ask.
"I don't know. Said she wasn't hungry. You know how her stomach is." He sighs. I sigh as well, nodding my head for whatever reason. "Anyway, we'll probably be in bed when you get home, so I'll see ya when I see ya."
"Alright. Bye, dad." I yawn.
"Bye, son." He says, before hanging up.
I look over at Eila as I pocket my phone, who does the same with hers. "Ame's down. She said she'll wait for us on our way to your house." She informed me. I gave a nod, making it to the sidewalk.
"How's Ashleigh?" Eila asks, looking over at me.
"She's okay," I reply with a shrug. "Same as ever, though. Playing her piano one minute, back to her laptop the next." I chuckle.
"How'd she do in school?" She then asks, her voice sounding a little more worried.
"Well, we just got her report card. Straight A's, but they all said the same thing. She needs to work on her class participation and social skills." I reply with a sad smile.
"I'm sure she'll get better with time." Eila says comfortingly, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah, you're right." I say confidently. We reached the street sidewalk, just as the tourist trolley approached the stop. It was an old-time lookin' piece of work, that the city used for tourism, and locals. It was really nice looking, like something out of 1940's San Francisco. Eila and I boarded the vehicle, and sat in the back, making small talk for the next ten minutes or so.
"Have you decided what classes you want to sign up for next semester?" Eila asked, propping one leg over the other to make herself more comfortable. I snickered and shook my head.
"'course not." I say with another laugh.
"Enzo..." Eila begins with a shake of her head.
"What? We just finished last semester a couple weeks ago. I'm gonna take a few weeks to myself before I even think about school again." I retort. "I don't even wanna look at the community college's website." I say with a shudder, mainly for comedic effect. "Besides. I know for a fact you haven't applied, either." I said with a smug grin.
"Idiootti..." She scoffed in Finnish. "At least I have them picked out. I'm waiting a couple weeks, when I get more money, to apply for the next semester." She said defensively, huffing. I only laughed and shrugged. A few more minutes of silence passes, and we had reached our stop. When we were standing back on the concrete sidewalk in my neighborhood, we cut through a few back alleys to get to my street. The streetlights gave a dull lighting to the area, but we were still able to make our way through. When we neared Ame's house, the nearly full moon finally poked out from the clouds, giving us just enough light to see the street clearly, and also Ame's house. Just as we walked in front of the quaint little home, a short young woman emerged from the front door. Her long auburn hair was tied back into a ponytail, though it was still almost to the small of her back. She turned to us, placing a house key in her pocket, before noticing us. Her ice blue eyes lit up when she saw us, and smiled widely, dashing towards us and placing us both in a big group hug.
"Eila! Enzo! Hi guys!" She greeted happily.
"H-hey imouto!" I greeted with a wheeze. I tried to pry her arms off of us, considering it was pushing up against my windpipe.
"Oops," She giggled, stepping back, allowing me to catch my breath. Ame smiled again, lacing her fingers together behind her back.
Ame Sandoval has been a friend of Eila and me for a few years now. She's a sweet kid, really. A bit naive, and a little lacking in common sense, but a nice girl overall. I don't really know why, but she seems to look up to me sometimes, so I treat her like my sister; that's why I call her imouto. It's Japanese for "little sister." Fitting, considering we're both of that heritage.
"What were you up to? We didn't interrupt anything, did we?" Eila asked, placing a hand on her hip.
"Mm-mm." Ame hummed with a shake of her head. "Nope. I was just watching My Little Pony." She informed us, eliciting a chuckle from myself. "What're you laughin' at?! Ash told me she dragged you into watching it. And we all know you liked it!" She huffed, crossing her arms.
"I said nothing." I replied, shaking my head. "Anyway. Let's get some chow." I sighed, turning the other way and continuing down the sidewalk with the other two girls in tow. We walked down two houses, before I led them up the porch steps to my own casa, unlocking the front door with the key on my white and black checkerboard lanyard. I carefully opened the door, and led them inside. Locking the door behind me, I set my keys on the little end table we had, carefully set my guitar case up against the wall, and flipped on a light. We made our way to the kitchen, and I prepped a few plates of pork chops and rice for us. "Drinks?" I asked, making my way to the fridge in the garage.
"Water." The two girls replied simultaneously. I chuckled and nodded, stepping out to grab each of us a bottle. When I returned, the food was nearly done heating up. We headed upstairs to my room to eat, and I flipped the television on, connecting my game console so we could watch videos through one of my apps.
"Have you even gotten to season three, Enzo?" Ame asks halfway through out meal.
"Season three of what?" I ask, taking a swig of my water.
"MLP." She replies. I shake my head once, going back to my food. "You really should. Applejack finally got an episode where she has her own song." She said happily.
"I'll have to check it out." I reply. She smiled and nodded, grabbing at one of the small MLP figurines my sister had gotten for me, Twilight Sparkle to be specific. Our attention turns back to the television, and we pretty much remain like that for the next hour or so, watching funny little videos. Ame and Eila had gotten a little tired, and I felt like I could use a few winks, too.
"I guess it's time to turn in?" Eila yawns, eliciting a nod from Ame.
"Mhm...I don't know about you two, but I don't work tomorrow. We should do something." I suggested. The two of them smiled and nodded. "Alright. I'll hit you up tomorrow. Night, girls."
"G'night, Enzo." They reply, as I let them out my front door. I stood on my porch, watching Eila cross the street, walking into her house directly across mine. Looking to my left, I see that Ame made it safely to her house, as well. Sighing contently, and with a smile on my face, I made my way back to my room, getting into more comfortable sleeping clothes. I sat straight up at the edge of my bed, bringing my knees just a little closer to my chest. My phone vibrated once, and I read the text. It was from one Eila Laatikainen, and it said, "Look to your left." So, I did, looking out my open window. I could see her across the street through her window, holding a phone in a left hand, and waving at me with her right. I chuckled and waved back, replying, 'You're a dork! Haha.' She read it, and I could see her laugh. 'Goodnight.' Was all she replied with. Her lights soon turned off, and I sighed, turning mine off as well. I set some music through my phone, and slowly drifted off to sleep, ready for a new day.