We Are Young. Part one.
I was sitting with them.. With the group of friends
I've known since college. We were twenty-five, twenty-six,
each one of us either dropped out early or already have quite
well careers. This was our table. Only ours, at Ally's Pub
that only us sat at, and if it wasn't us sitting at it then
it was.. Well, that was impossible. Every second of our free time
is spent here, and our free time was the same as anybody elses.
Peg, the manager would stand behind the bar and yell at us, '
free insults ', or so he called them, and if we shot one good
enough back at him, we got ' free acid '. It was quite
the game, I suppose, and it kept from getting the little
chit-chat from Steph about the co-worker she slept with last
night, loose.
Suddenly I was alone- besides Jeffrey who,
though it was a glistening Friday night, had work tomorrow, and
couldn't keep up with the antics my mates played in the
bathrooms, getting high, sat on the tile floors with the faucets
steaming, them all in hopes of getting the mirrors foggy. My one
and only experience in there concluded that you couldn't do
such a thing. Only showers worked.
I grinned, and sat back, sliding an arm along
the top edge of the half circle seating, kicking back, trying to
pay attention to the slurred, tipsy words of Frey. My eyes
flickered from his expression, and I puffed out a laugh to
something only he probably thought funny then to the corner of
the mediocre sized room. Another table- like ours - was placed
without being missed, a group of gentleman with just one or two
ladies sat. My eyebrows perked. Amy? Nah, it couldn't be. I
sat up, trying to get a better view over the crowd. Being short
wasn't an advantage this time.
" Nathan, " I heard Jeff say
pointedly. I heard him sigh- he knew well I wasn't listening
to a word he said.
" Mm? " I barely grunted and shook
my head, tearing eyes from the girl. The sight of her depressed
me- no, not because of any recent memory, but because she
wasn't smiling. Just sitting there glumly while the guy in
front of her attempted something cheery. She quirked a quick
grimace, trying a grin but failing obviously, her oblivious.
I look up to see a pair of thin built guys.
Must be gays. Or I'd like to think so. I myself sighed,
automatically standing up. They had always tried getting these
seats just to annoy us. Today, I'll let them have it.
" Ey, what's with the scar, Reusses.
" How they knew my last name? No clue. The taller man pushed
my hair back roughly with a palm, laughing heartily at, well the
small, unnoticeable scar to people who weren't trying to
look. I put my hands up in defense. I didn't want trouble.
Not tonight.
The other one slid down his shades to the tip
of his nose to peek through them, snickering.
Jeffrey rolls his eyes and hops up from his
seat, stepping in front of my catty-corner vision to block it
from Amy, though I was looking up at him. He gestures with a
thumb towards the bar, " I'm just going to get some more
wings.. " he trails off. Good for the Lad. Good for him. The
amount of grandmothers wearing cheese hats specially made from
Wisconsin in this room right now, was the amount of shyt's I
gave about him getting food.
" Okay, " I answered subtly and
stands as well as Amy does, as well as the two guys plop down in
our booth, as well as Jeffrey meanders up the camouflaged step to
the bar that was always a joke to us old comers, the new comers
usually tripping on it, sometimes even spilling their drinks
though Peg new well not to ever be witnessed giving them their
change back.
She smoked. I knew that well, and that was
what she most likely going to do, unless she lived somewhere
close to this avenue which would have been crazy. Years ago would
I have done something like this. I stumbled, in sobority, over a
leg of a chair and take a moment to breath, looking back blankly
at a overly large dark skinned guy, completely unaware of what
happened to quiet me and shakes head in disappointment at said
society of a pub. What were suppose to be my expectations?
I rub my forehead with the back of my
head, swishing my hair to make it look somewhat similar to
before, and proceed out the revolving door, a blast of cold New
York air hitting my face. It'd just snowed- some more. Great.
My little gape at the incoherent man and the encounter with the
Brookshire brothers made time pass, and it made me think that she
probably did live somewhere close enough. I drooped my shoulders,
scanning left, then right. Oh. I catch sight of her and the grin
from before appears as I wander to where she is, dipping my head
in sort of a respectful way, looking up to her recognizing eyes
from the brim of my hair.
It was her turn to gape- though luckily it
wasn't the same way I looked at the bulky guy and she closed
her mouth, looking at me in quite some interesting way. "
Nate- " She cuts of, huffing out a laugh and I watched the
white air from her breath disperse. " Nate! " she
rather squeals, quietly, widening her mouth, her teeth showing in
a smile, wrapping her arms around my neck in a hug.
I had my own arms both sprawled on either
side, offering the hug to her. When she took it, I took her,
squeezing her gently with them draped around her middle.
" Jesus, how long has it been.. " I
murmur in her ear until I finally decide to pull away, her gaze
resting on mine. I wanted to stop smiling, not sure why, but I
wanted to. I found it awfully hard, though. So I didn't.
" I.. I don't even know.. " She
couldn't stop either, apparently.
What made us close? Well the ideal of
virginity lost sort of does it for us. High school.. Way back
when, nine years. Going our seperate ways we've decided to
just end it the last day of senior and blah.. blah, place more
cheesy Nicholas Sparks words in here, and there you have it. This
is the reunion of a lifetime.
" Quite a while. " I chuckle, my
limbs moving without my consult as I lift my fingers to brush
back a few strands of her hair. It was of habbit. Some just
don't break in 3k plus days. I blink, alarmed, only of which
I'd be able to notice and drop my hand back to my side,
stepping back. " So the hair.. ? " I question, carrying
off as I motion one of my fingers down the side of my head.
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Thanks for reading. I've decided to do a story based off
whatever song I'm listening to at that moment, and I may get
the meanings wrong but who cares, I'm just doing this for my
benefit of practicing my writing since it's a well quality
everyone should try conquering. - Ellee xx