Chapter 8: We are Sleepyheads

"It's too dark for us to be awake. What kind of class is held this early?"

"One that you need for your major and one that I need for my minor," Eleanor and Theodore were getting ready for their English 302 class, the last class Eleanor needed for her English minor and one of the last few classes Theodore needed to complete his major, "So we really need to go."

"I understand, my love, but I hate morning classes."

She laughed at his liberal use of ridiculous pet names. Usually he would jokingly called her names, but the use of 'my love' was a bit much for her to handle. "Well. when we get jobs, we'll have to be awake early. Every single day, we'll wake up and go to work."

"Hopefully, I won't be working at a cubicle, and neither will you. I'll write, you'll teach; isn't that the plan?"

"Oh, I would love nothing more than to be a professor, and I know your most recent poem anthology is at the editor's right now, but we need to accept it might not happen."

"Don't say that, we should shot for our dreams then have a fall back. We haven't even tried yet; what's the point of giving up now."

"That's true. Oh, I applied to Notre Dame."

"As did I, hopefully we'll get in. The money they give you will be nice."

She put on her second boot, "Should we drive today?"

"Let's just take the bus, it's cheaper that way."

"Since when did you start caring about money so much?"

He looked at her as they started to leave the house, "I've always cared, but I've never vocalized it. We may be able to live comfortably now, but in the future, that might now be the case."

"You're right, we need to start saving to the eventuality of having a family."

"We need to talk about that too sometime."

"What? Do you not want to have kids?"

"Oh no, I do, but we should decide on how many we want to shoot for. It would be good to get a consensus before hand," they got out of their apartment building and headed towards the bus stop, "I plan on quitting smoking when you get pregnant too."

"I was going to make you. If I can't you can't either!"

He laughed, "But that's a ways away. Right now, let's just enjoy each other," the bus arrived and Eleanor got in.

She looked back to him and jumped out. She turned to the bus driver, "we're good, you can go ahead," she stepped back and whispered to Theodore, "You're right, we should enjoy each other, and how are we to do that by going to class?"

"Sick day in?"

"I think that's a good idea," she grabbed his hand and lead him back to the apartment, they got to the door and their jackets were already off. Shoes followed very quickly, but the door was already unlocked. Eleanor noticed, but her mouth was already preoccupied as they moved into the door. They both gently dropped to the floor. He laid Eleanor down on the clean carpet; her face was perfectly framed by her platinum hair. He was entangled by his love for her. She felt something underneath her back, grabbed it and threw it. It was a shoe they both recognized.

Eleanor pulled away slightly, "That's Brittney's shoe."

"Does she have a key to our apartment?"

"She does, and it would explain why the door was unlocked."

"So she's in the house somewhere," Eleanor got up, "But where? This apartment isn't that big and she better not be in our bed or something," Theodore laughed at this prospect. Brittney had shown up at their apartment in the past after her classes, but never when they weren't there. At least, not to their knowledge. The shower turned on and they rushed over to the bathroom. Eleanor put her ear to the door.

"I can hear her talking," Eleanor turned to Theodore who was right behind her, "Who the hell is she talking to?"

"There's no other sign of other people here, maybe she went crazy," a man's voice perked up and was heard by the two of them.

"Oh what the fuck, she's here with some guy."

Theodore was in deep thought, "I think that was Alvin."

Eleanor gave him a weird look, she didn't agree but they decided to open the door and bust in on them. Slowly, the door opened and they were behind they beige shower curtain. The room was steaming and they could only see one silhouette.

"Alright, get out here."

The two screamed in unison, Eleanor chimed in, "Brittney and what we assume is Alvin, what are you two doing here?"

Alvin cried from in the shower, "Alright, don't be mad you two, we're coming out."

Alvin and Brittney were sitting on the couch, still wet, in bath towels. They were both completely silent as Eleanor and Theodore were standing above them giving them looks of shock, disgust and confusion. Theodore said, after a long silence, "So, how long have you two been using our house for sex?"

Alvin looked up at his little brother, "Only this once man. We knew you guys would be gone and we wanted to be alone."

Eleanor looked steamed, "That wholly unacceptable, not to mention disgusting! Have sex in your own house!"

"I'm sorry Eleanor; it won't happen again," Brittney was showing real remorse.

"You're right it won't! Give me your key, the both of you."

Theodore was surprised by this, "Whoa, Ellie, don't you think this is a tad drastic?"

"I think it makes perfect sense; they abused the key, now it's gone."

"We don't need to punish them so harshly."

She paused for a moment, "We need to really work on our unity when punishing if we're going to have well behaved kids."

"That's true, let's confer for a second," They talked amongst themselves for a while and then got off subject. Alvin and Brittney sat there confused for a while.

Alvin interrupted them, "Alright, it's all well and good that you can discuss your future plans for children, but let me make it simple for you. Here's my key," he handed his key to Theodore, "Brittney, how about you?"

She looked reluctantly at her purse, "Okay, here it is," She gave hers to Eleanor.

"The real key, please?"

She laughed, "I was hoping you wouldn't notice."

Alvin and Brittney changed and they all sat back down together at the dinner table. Theodore had made coffee and they were all enjoying a coffee and a cigarette. Theodore had imported some cloves from Indonesia and they were all enjoying a simple pleasure of a clove. They were talking about nothing important for a while, and then Theodore addressed the Elephant sitting at the table with them.

"So, are you two back together or something?"

They looked at each other, and then they answered in unison, "Kinda?"

"We're not really sure what we want to do right now," Alvin said.

Eleanor gave a distressed look, "But you two continue to have sex?"

Brittney looked at her, "Yeah, everyone has certain needs!"

They all laughed at this except Eleanor, "Oh come off it."

Brittney leaned in, "Well, why were you two here?" she took a drink of her coffee, "I surmise that you two were going to your class, someone said something romantic and you two decided to come back here and go crazy. Everyone just has those times, even you, Ellie."

They were both surprised at the accuracy. Theodore leaned in close to Alvin and whispered, "That's totally what was going to happen," they both smirked at this.

Eleanor hit him in the arm, "I'm not denying that everyone has needs, I was just surprised to see the two of you here. I mean, it's been a rough year for you two; to find the two of you in my shower was kind of surprising if you can believe it."

"It's a very inviting shower," Alvin said jokingly.

Eleanor wasn't becoming progressively less angry, "You two are ridiculous; do you guys have any classes today?"

Brittney finished her coffee and said, "Not today, my Friday's are off."

"As are mine."

"You guys want to just hang out with us today?"

They all got dressed into something warm and went into Philadelphia to grab some more vinyl and incense. Alvin and Brittney didn't care for incense as much as Theodore and Eleanor did. The head shops were plentiful and the money was overflowing. They went to hubs and looked for new shows and smoked in the cold afternoon. They walked to China Town and got some Chinese food.

"Where's Simon at, Alvin? I haven't seen him for a few days." Theodore said in between bites.

Alvin put down his chopsticks and answered Theodore, "He's been doing some research for the last few days. I don't know; something really intense. He's been out all night, coming back completely tired. I've barely been able to get a word out of him."

"I worry about him sometimes. He works so hard and never seems to get a break."

The food kept coming. Theodore had worked in China Town for a short while as a chef so he was well known among their circles. He was treated like a king there, and this wholly amused him and Eleanor, who got the same treatment through proxy.

"How is it, Mister Seville?" The head chef knew Theodore from his time working there. They were both low level chefs when he was there.

"It's wonderful; you all treat me too well."

Alvin leaned in towards Brittney, "Why is he so famous everywhere? It kinda blows my mind some times."

She responded, "Well, while we were all getting well known on campus, he spent his time in the city. I like how I know more about your brother than you do."

"Oh that's not true," she smirked and he shook his head in disapproval, "I know most everything about him."

Eleanor looked over after the waiter had left, "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing in particular," Alvin responded as he took another drink of his water.

"Are you guys ready to leave?"

They all left and continued their crusade on the town. They went to see a movie, played an impromptu show for passers by, and climbed to the top of a building. It was a day like they used to have last year, excluding Simon and Jeanette. They were both missing in action all the time recently. They looked over the city they loved and heard Park Ave. playing in the background.

Theodore's ears perked up, "Holy holy, is that Park Ave.?"

Eleanor looked to him, "Park Ave.?"

"It was one of Conor Oberst's first bands. They two girls in it are now in Tilly and the Wall. They're indie gods from the Omaha movement in the late 90's. They broke up forever ago though, so I couldn't imagine why they would be playing."

Alvin strained to her it, "It's so faint, how can you tell who it is?"

"I can always here a good band," He started to climb down the building and they all followed him, "Come on, we need to find them before they stop playing."

"How do we know that they're even live right now? It's like 4 pm, who plays a show right now?"Alvin said as he got off of the building. He helped Brittney down and she thanked him.

"It's live, you can tell. The sound quality is all off and the levels are weird. It's not a recording."

He took off in the direction of the sound. They all followed him asking questions that he didn't answer. They ran into strangers, but the music was slowly getting stronger. They got to the art district and his ears were muddled by sounds of a million performances. The bright lights, the lingering smoke, the street performers, they all threw him off. He proceeded to get the top of a building. His movements were impossible; he looked like he had been free running for years. The others couldn't follow as he ran back and forth on the roof, trying to find the direction of the sound.

"He's like a man possessed! I've never seen Theo move that quickly!" Brittney said as she caught her breath.

"There are two reasons Theo would move like this, If there's a band playing that he's wanted to see for a long time, or if there's free food," Alvin said in between breaths, they all laughed at this. Theodore descended from the top of the building, sliding down a fire escape. His Blue scarf flew in the breeze and his green jacket flailed in the afternoon sun. He seemed almost heroic in the sun's light.

"This way," Theodore said as he ran off. The others looked at each other and reluctantly followed him. Their coats and scarves all flew behind them as they rushed to catch up with them. Theodore was dipping through the crowds of people walking on the city sidewalks as if they were nothing. Gracefully, he maneuvered through people and flew in between couples. They were slowly gaining ground on him as they turned a corner and he stopped at a light at the next block.

Alvin was out of breath, "Can we take a quick break?" he was close to death at this point. Theodore stood in intense focus and took off without a word when they were able to walk, "Ellie, he smokes and doesn't work out, how the hell is able to move like this?"

"When Theo wants to get something done, he does it. I've never seen him like this though; I guess he really wants to see Park Ave," She said as they ran through a group of tourists. Theodore was half a block ahead of them. He jumped over a fruit cart and slide underneath two guys moving a couch with ease.

Alvin looked shocked as they ran past the fruit cart, "Did you guys just see that? It was amazing!" The girls didn't respond, they were too out of breath at this point to talk and run. Theodore darted into an alley when traffic was light and they followed him. They climbed a fire escape and got to the top of a building; Theodore had stopped moving. The band was playing at the building across the alley.

Eleanor grabbed him, "Finally," she held on to him very tightly, "we can stop running now, right?"

Theodore smiled, "Yeah, I'm sorry everyone. They never play together anymore and I really wanted to see them I wonder what they're doing together here?" He examined the banner; it was a Conor Oberst super show, profiling the bands he's played with, "They just started playing All Boy Band," he looked to Eleanor who was already dancing, "May I have this dance?"

She jokingly acted surprise, "Why, I thought you would never ask," they started to do a waltz; they had learned a few years ago when touring.

Alvin and Brittney laughed and looked at each other. At this moment, they had never known more of what they wanted and didn't want, and yet, they were still both confused. Alvin whispered to her, "What's the next step from here?"

She smiled, "We just dance," he took her hand and lead her to the dance floor where Theodore and Eleanor we're doing a slow dance to a more mellow song. The sun had started to set and the red orange glow of the light reflected off of the buildings, bathing them all in golden light.

Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Tilly and the Wall, Park Ave., The Faint, and The Monsters of Folk all played that night and the four of them stayed on that rooftop in the middle of the art district until nightfall. Around ten, they started to head back. They were all captivated by the show they had just witnessed, and as they walked back to Theodore's car, they exchanged stories of great shows and great parties afterwards.

"Do you guys remember going to Columbus to see the Decemberists?"

"Yeah the people were just awful but they put on such an amazing show it didn't matter."

"Oh yeah, for the hazards of love tour."

They were laughing and moving closer to Theodore's car. Someone had suggested to get coffee along the way, so they made their way to a local coffee house that stayed open late. It was only 10:45, but they didn't want to take any chances. It was a ways away, but they didn't mind. The evening was so perfect that they wanted it to linger. They were a few blocks away from the coffee house when something caught Brittney's eye. She looked over and stopped walk, as did everyone else.

"Hey, is that Jeanette over there?" she pointed across the street to a bar. It was a dive; none of them had ever been there.

Alvin caught notice of her, "I think it is her, but I thought Simon was staying in tonight. I guess they decided to go out instead."

Theodore stepped forward and he and Eleanor saw her, he said, "Yeah that's her. I wonder where Simon is."

Alvin got out a piece of gum and started to chew it, "Maybe he's just about to come out of the bar."

"We should try to get her attention, they can come get coffee with us," Brittney said and then shouted, "Jeanette! Jeanette!," They all started to shout but the sounds from the street and bars muffled their calls. A large semi truck passed by and a man appeared with Jeanette after it had passed.

Brittney look perplexed, "Who's that?" Jeanette and her mystery acquaintance started to walk away and he put his arm around her shoulder, Brittney was speechless but she started to walk with them. Alvin soon followed, Theodore and Eleanor whispered amongst themselves.

"What are we going to do, Ellie?"

"I say go with them, if this is nothing then we just look silly. If it is something, then we would be able to control Brittney's certain outburst," They both started walking in silence. Brittney seemed entranced and unaware of what she was doing. She just followed their every move and they others followed her.

After they followed them for a few blocks, Alvin said, "Brittney, we're acting ridiculous. It's probably nothing. I think that guy's Lucas, he's one of her lab partners. You know Jeanette's too timid to tell some jerk to fuck off if he's bothering her." Brittney didn't respond, she just kept following them. She darted into an alleyway and the others followed.

Alvin continued, "What are we doing Brittney? Let's stop and go get coffee," Jeanette started to get into a car after he held the door for her. The two were far away, but they were able to see them kiss.

Brittney finally said something, "It's obviously not nothing."

The two drove away and the four of them stood in shock for a second. A cold breeze blew into the alleyway that they were hiding in; they all lit up and sat down on the ground. It was filthy but they didn't care.

Brittney looked to Alvin, "Where's Simon?"

Alvin responded, "I don't know, probably at the apartment."

"Should we call him?"

"No, we should wait and tell him in the morning."

"Why?"

"Because, this way, we have a chance to talk to Jeanette first."

Brittney stood up and they all followed, "Allow me to talk to her first."

Eleanor looked distressed, "I'm not sure if that's a good idea. You're really emotional right now."

"I know, but," she started to walk away, "She needs to know the consequences of her actions and I feel like I'm the one that's best suited to tell her." Alvin was saddened by this but they had other things to attend to. They all got up and started to walk back to Theodore's car in silence. Brittney shed a few tears and Alvin comforted her, but she pulled away from him.

Theodore looked to Eleanor, "What do you want to do for the rest of the night?"

"Sleep, I've gotten really tired from all of this."