Bertholdt's alarm went off, making his headache even worse. He fumbled for his his phone looking to hit the snooze button.
Maybe he had one too many last night. The slight queasiness in stomach confirmed that he probably had too much to drink last.
But who could blame him. His band, well ex band, had kicked him out about 3 weeks ago. "Creative differences" is what they said, but Bertholdt knew the real reason.
Their drummer had gotten mad that his girlfriend had made a pass at him. Bertholdt turned her down, incredibly uncomfortable, but that didn't matter to Eren. He didn't see it that way, and he had the most pull in the band.
What caused Bertholdt's hangover was seeing them perform last night at the bar where he worked with some horse face looking guy playing guitar for them.
As he listened to their "new sound" he started wondering if dropping out of medical school was such a good idea.
It wasn't like he couldn't handle the coursework, in fact Bertholdt graduated from high school as Salutatorian, and with honors from Duke. He was doing fine at University of Washington. While he got the drive to go into medicine from his dad, he also developed his love for music. His dad taught him the guitar and piano as a kid, and he participated in choir all throughout school, and was in an acapella group in college.
So he joined a band during his first year as a med student, and a year later was filling out the withdrawal forms.
Squinting against the sunlight, he looked at his phone. It was 10am. He had work in a few hours and knew his fridge was empty.
Forcing himself out of bed, he popped two Advil and got in the shower.
***********************************************
Feeling about 20% better, Bertholdt made he way to his favorite local coffee shop.
"You look like sh*t"
"Thanks Sasha...always the wind beneath my wings"
The barista rolled her eyes. "Your usual?"
Bertholdt nodded, "add a plain bagel to that too"
"You know you need a hair cut"
"Thanks mom" Bertholdt said sarcastically. But he knew Sasha meant well. Her and her husband Connie ran this local spot together. They had bonded during his first year when he would be there for hours studying, and then coming in after late night gigs.
With his coffee and bagel in one hand and phone in the other, Bertholdt turned to head out the door. But he didn't get very far.
Looking at his phone he didn't see the blonde haired girl with the icy stare.
"F*ck!!!"
She winced as hot coffee had splashed on her pale blue shirt. "Can't you watch where you are going?!"
"Look I'm sorry I'm a bit off today" he said as he kneeled down fumbling to pick up his phone and the papers she dropped. "I'll..."
He looked the scattered papers. They were music sheets, and lyrics.
Before he could figure out what the instrument was that she played, or what the lyrics said, she snatched the papers out of his hands.
"Rude and nosy, what a winning combo"
"I-I...you play..." he got his answer when he saw the guitar case she was carrying on her back.
"What does that have to do with my skin burning and my shirt stained?" She said in a snippy tone. Despite the annoyed look on her face, he couldn't help but notice her blue eyes, they made his heart skip a beat.
"What are you staring at?"
"Oh...um...here" he grabbed the napkins that Sasha was holding out for him.
He reached to dab at the coffee stain on her shirt.
"Not you, you idiot" both of the women said.
For a smart as Bertholdt was, he was also an idiot when it came to women.
As the girl was dabbing her shirt off, Bertholdt noticed her ripped jeans, converses, and leather jacket.
"At least I bumped into a cute girl" he thought.
Sasha handed Bertholdt a fresh coffee. "Try not to spill this one on anyone Bert."
The girl let out a laugh. "You got a brother named Ernie"
"It's short for Bertholdt"
"Good luck finding that on a key chain"
"Well what's your name then?" He asked.
"F*ck and You"
***********************************************
He was still thinking about her as he was getting ready for the open mic night.
Thursdays and Fridays were big music nights where he worked. The owners used to be in a band together. Someone Bertholdt was pretty into. He was always so amazed that they were all able to play blindfolded.
Now the lead singer and guitarist owned one of the best music bars in Seattle.
"Something on your mind?"
"Huh?"
"Well you've been cleaning that glass for the past five minutes looking like a zombie" Levi said.
"It's nothing just, still a bit hungover I guess"
"Well Berty boy if if makes you feel any better, I think that Jean guy sucks" Hange said as she came behind the bar.
"I will say he doesn't seem to have the same passion as you" Levi said.
"Yeah but at least Mikasa won't hit on him, met his boyfriend last night". Bertholdt said.
"That too...now hurry up with those glasses, I need the beer cooler stocked"
************************************************
Open mic night was in full swing. For the most part the acts had been pretty decent. Bertholdt had chatted with a few of them artists, talked about possible collaborations.
"So we have a new talent making her debut tonight" Ymir said into the microphone. "She's a Seattle native, with looks that could kill and the voice to match... please welcome to the stage....Annie Leonhart!!"
Bertholdt dropped the empty beer bottle he was holding.
He recognized those ice blue eyes.
To be Continued
