Reid Garwin was leaning on the door of a large black Hummer waiting for his wingman, his best friend, Tyler Simms. He sighed, running his hand through his hair, getting extremely impatient. He quickly pulled his phone out and started texting.
Dude, hurry up, stop being such a grade grubber and let's go to Nicky's!
Feeling like he had gotten his point across, he put his phone away, and shoved his fists into his pocket. Minutes later, Tyler was seen walking quickly towards the car.
"It's about time, man," Reid exclaimed, "I was about to think we were going to miss all the hot girls!"
'Shut up dude," Tyler said, "You know I had to finish that essay."
"Whatever, let's just go." Reid said sliding into the car.
When they walked into the bar, they immediately found Caleb, Pogue and their girlfriends, and joined them at a table.
"What's up, fellas?" Reid asked, stealing some of Caleb's fries.
Kate, ever the gossip queen replied, "I heard that Nicky's getting some live entertainment for this place!"
"No more jukebox?" Sarah pouted, and they all laughed.
Suddenly a soft accent floated through the bar.
"Hello, I'm Lucy Porter, and I'm your entertainment for tonight." Reid turned to look at the speaker, who was sitting on a stool at a make-shift stage. She wasn't anything special, he had seen hotter at his school, but there was an aura about her, something pure and innocent, in her pale face, and how the light hit her wavy brown hair. Yet, no matter how innocent she looked, her lips pouted out in an alluring way.
He was broken out of his entranced state when she started singing, and strumming her acoustic guitar.
"Well my heart knows me better than I know myself,
so I'm gonna let it do all the talking."
Reid stared at her fingers, moving quickly across the frets, thinking how soft her hands might be. He barely noticed Sarah pulling Caleb onto the dance floor, eager to dance to the upbeat song.
"I came across a place in the middle of nowhere,
with a big black horse and a cherry tree."
Reid tried to shake himself out of it, but became hooked again as she licked her lips, readying herself for the next verse.
"I felt a little fear upon my back,
I said don't look back,
just keep on walking."
Tyler looked towards his best friend, he had never seen him look so dazed, and to think, a girl had caused this. He knew Reid was going to try something with this girl, but for some reason, he had a feeling she wasn't like the other girls he liked. Let's face it, she wasn't busty, or blond, just a skinny little nobody with a guitar in her hands.
"But the big black horse said 'Look this way',
and said, 'Hey little lady, will you marry me."
Reid hadn't even talked to the girl, and yet she fascinated him. For some reason he wanted to learn more. He wondered what these poetic, and yet enigmatic lyrics were about. What the metaphors were. Never before had he done that. "Who is this girl?" He muttered with curiosity.
"And I said no, no,
no, no, no, no,
I said no, no,
you're not the one for me."
" I said no, no,
no, no, no, no,
I said no, no,
you're not the one for me."
Reid wondered why no one was as fascinated as he was. Why everyone else went along with their business, eating and dancing, playing pool or fooseball? Why was he the only one enraptured with this tiny brunette.
"And my heart hit a problem in the early hours,
so I stopped it dead for a beat or two."
Reid couldn't help but admit that the way the dim lights of Nicky's hit her made her skin glow, with a sort of ethereal beauty.
"But I cut some cord, and I shouldn't have done that,
and it won't forgive me after all these years."
He watched her shake her head, emphasizing the disagreement in the lyrics, her dark waves swinging in different directions, only making the shine in it more noticeable.
"So I sent it to a place in the middle of nowhere,
with a big black horse and a cherry tree."
It was strange, this far into the song, and he had only heard what her voice sounded like. It was strong, yet a bit scratchy, and the raw passion in her voice made it only more beautiful.
"But it wont come back, cause it's oh so happy,
and now I've got a hole for the world to see."
Reid suddenly caught this girls eye, and she stared at him, almost contemplatively, and she grinned, and he started feeling this sickness in his stomach. She was smiling at him, and yet, it was bittersweet, because he could still see the sadness in her eyes.
"And it said no, no,
no, no, no, no,
said no, no,
you're not the one for me."
" It said no, no,
no, no, no, no,
it said no, no,
you're not the one for me."
Reid wondered what made her feel that way. Why was she so desolate, yet felt the need to put on a charade for all the people around her? He knew his reasons. But what where hers?
"And it said no, no,
no, no, no, no,
said no, no,
you're not the one for me."
" It said no, no,
no, no, no, no,
it said no, no,
you're not the one for me."
He felt the sudden urge to get to know this girl, protect her from whatever was making her so sad. As soon as the urge came, he suppressed it. He was Reid Garwin, for God's sake, he didn't have girlfriends, just the pleasures without the responsibilities.
"Big black horse, and a cherry tree,
I can't quite get there, cause my heart's forsaken me.
Big black horse, and a cherry tree,
I can't quite get there, cause my heart's forsaken me."
"Thank you." She spoke out, as she put her guitar down. She grinned shyly, as the crowd applauded her, then walked off stage. Reid saw her head towards the bar, and got up, not really knowing what he was doing.
"Dude, where are you going?" He could vaguely hear Tyler call out.
"See you later, man." Reid replied distractedly, and smirked as he thought he heard Tyler mutter, "He didn't even answer the question."
Reid made his way through the crowd, and saw the girl sitting on a bar stool, sipping a soft drink. He walked up, and leaned on the counter next to her.
"You know, I always had a thing for girls who could play the guitar." He said, trying to start a conversation.
"Really?" She replied uninterestedly.
"Yeah, it really turns me on." He smirked. He noticed then that she wasn't wearing a lot of make-up but it was still dramatic. Just black eye-liner and mascara, and a ruby red lipstick.
"Well, where's the button to turn you off, because I'm not really looking for anything like that." She said, stirring her drink absentmindedly with her straw.
"You British?" He asked, distracted by her accent.
"Yeah, from London." She said turning towards him.
"So what would a Brit like you, be doing down in a small town like Ipswich?"
"I had to move in with my Uncle, because of circumstances I don't really feel like talking about right now."
He finally got a good look at what she was wearing, a concert t-shirt from the Who, under an open jean vest, several large and colorful plastic beads, in purple, yellow, and green, black, washed-out jeans that were tucked into combat boots.
"Do you go to school around here?" He asked.
"Yeah, just startin' Monday, at some fancy finishing school. A load of bull, if you ask me. I don't want to be a lawyer, or a doctor like everyone else at that school, I just want to be a musician." She confessed.
"Ah, Spenser's," he nodded, knowing it was the only prep school in Ipswich. "Yeah, I go there, a lot of those kind of people, you're good enough to make it big, though, I can see you have a huge passion for it."
She laughed, and he, not knowing what he did to cause it, just thought he wanted to make her laugh more. "Yeah, I basically live and breath music, so you the doctor type, or the lawyer type?" She asked.
"Neither, I'm the business type, I want to open my own business. Not sure what though..." She smiled at him and held out her hand.
"I'm Lucy, by the way, Lucy Porter."
Reid grinned, and took her hand, taking note of how soft it was, "Garwin, Reid Garwin, and why don't you come and meet some of my friends? You know, before you have to get back up there."
Lucy considered, "Yeah, sure, why not?" She got up off of the stool, and he noticed that the top of her head just about reached his chest, a bit too short to push her way through a crowd. So he put his hand on the small of her back, and pushed her through the crowd.
Lucy looked up at him, "Thanks, I'd probably get stuck if I went in there by myself." And ignored the tingles that were shooting up her spine.
When they reached the table everyone, thankfully, was sitting down, so Reid wouldn't have to fish them out of the crowd. He pulled up a chair for Lucy, and introduced her.
"Hey guys, met the singer." Then, took a bite out of his hamburger. The group of people looked at Lucy for a minute, before Sarah decided to start making introductions.
"Sorry, Reid's rude and doesn't have any manners," Lucy laughed, "I'm Sarah, this is my boyfriend Caleb, Kate, her boyfriend Pogue, and Tyler. You were amazing, by the way." She said pointing to everyone.
"Pleasure, I'm Lucy Porter." Lucy said, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Then Kate struck up a conversation similar to the one she had with Reid. Where she was from, why she was moving here, did she go to Spenser's...
"So you're staying with your uncle?" Caleb asked
"Yeah, real nice of him too, on such short notice." Lucy said nonchalantly.
"Who is your uncle?" Tyler asked "We probably know who he is, Ipswich being a small town and all."
Lucy sighed. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, 'cause my uncle thinks people badger me for free food and whatnot, but you lot seem alright so, what the hell." She shrugged, they all looked at her expectantly.
"I live here, Nicky's my Uncle." They all looked pretty shocked. "I know, I look nothin' like him. His twin sister was me mum."
"Was?" Pogue asked concerned.
"I don't really want to get into it now. It's a pretty long story." Lucy replied, she felt a little more like she fit in now. Not like at any of her other schools, it was weird, but she supposed sometimes you had to leave your life behind to figure out what's important.
A/N: The song was Black Horse and the Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall, in case any of you were wondering.