For You

04. amaretto and steel strings

➳ J A M I E

       After her tiring eight hour shift at the Firefly Café, Jamie sprinted down the street to the nearest bus stop hoping she would catch the last bus headed into the city. Faded yellow street lights flickered around her as she stepped onto the bus flushed and slightly breathless, the doors immediately closing behind her. Even though she had been a native in the city her entire life, she still managed to lose her balance every time the bus driver pressed on the gas pedal. A couple of stumbles later, she finally found an empty seat near the back.

        Jamie slipped off her jean apron and tossed it into her bag while pulling a hair tie tangled in her hair, releasing the makeshift bun she made on her way out the door this morning. After spending all day in a coffee shop, she wore the scent of freshly brewed coffee on her skin and busy mornings on her lips. Though her hazel eyes were almost electric against the backdrop of the night sky.

        As the bus made its way downtown, the city rushed by Jamie in moving fragments. She leaned her head against the window and glanced out the window, running her finger along the binding of her leather bound journal. Neon lights on shop signs and traffic lights on street corners blurred together, the world sliding out of focus for a split second.

The city bus was almost guaranteed to be full of lost souls searching for a way home this late at night. A young mother sat at the front of the bus with her son's head in her lap, her fingers threading lightly through his chestnut hair. Jamie could tell she was worried from the way her eyebrows were knitted together pensively. A couple seats in front of Jamie, a man headed into his latter half of his life yawned, fighting the urge to slip into an envelope of sleep. His tired eyes were gray and dull, a product of working a lifetime from dawn to dusk in a factory. As the man got off the bus, Jamie noticed a picture of his daughters dangling from his keychain.

       These were the moments Jamie loved about riding the bus this late night, moments where the universe seemed to come together underneath one sky that stretched the entire galaxy. Most people had more in common than they had differences if they were willing to dive underneath the surface. If they were willing to accept the fact that everyone saw the world differently.

When the bus slowed to a stop, Jamie realized that were so many stories in this world that would remain untold, but she wanted to hear them all.

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        Al's Piano Bar was downtown, wedged between an abandoned movie theater and Mediterranean restaurant. Larkin performed there on Tuesday nights as the opening act for a local band called The Riot Club. Her silky voice and alternative sound earned a couple more dollars in tips from the listeners sitting at the bar and encouraging smiles from young couples in the audience. On Tuesday nights, the bar became a home to the community. Jamie loved listening to the conversation that floated around the room.

       Larkin was sitting on the edge of a wooden stool on the black stage when Jamie walked into the bar. She had an acoustic guitar strapped to her body, her voice accompanying the sound of fingers sliding down steel guitar strings. She had a voice that could make everyone around her forget about the rest of the world even if was just for a little bit. The smile on her face widened the moment she saw her best friend across the room, and Jamie knew that she would see Larkin's name in headlines one day.

       Jamie found Keenan sitting at the bar alone with a half-finished beer bottle in his hand. He sat facing the stage, a subtle grin stretching his cheeks. Ever since Larkin started performing on Tuesday nights, Keenan had never missed one of her shows for anything other than a swim meet. He was the one person she could always expect to find in the crowd.

       "What will you have tonight?" the bartender asked Jamie from behind the counter as she slid into her seat.

       "Amaretto Sour for me," she replied with a half-smile, her hazel eyes meeting his ocean blue ones.

He tugged on the corner of his lip and returned her smile cautiously. "Coming right up."

Jamie thought his eyes were kind for someone who had been forced to carry the weight of passersby's secrets on his shoulders. From behind the counter, most bartenders watched married men wearing wedding bands on their ring fingers slide their hands underneath a woman's dress and slip into the bathroom with a woman half their age. They served mothers who stayed at the bar until they were certain their family was asleep, hoping to avoid disappointment. Bartenders never knew who they were going to run into when they showed up for their shift. Sometimes it was just a college student who spent most of her part time salary on memories and overpriced drinks trying to find her place in the world.

       "You made it!" Keenan spun around in his seat and beamed, placing his drink back down on the countertop. "I was starting to think you weren't going to show."

       Jamie laughed, shaking her head lightly. "How long has Larkin been up there?"

       "I think she still has a song left if you're wondering."

       She nodded slowly as she stirred her amber colored drink absentmindedly, twirling the red straw between her fingers. "Where's your friend tonight? I thought you invited him."

       "You mean Oliver?" Keenan glanced at Jamie from the side with a fresh beer bottle in his hand. "He didn't want to go out tonight. Probably wanted the apartment to himself for the night for once."

       "You scared him away, Keenan. He's probably gotten tired of seeing your face all day every day. I know I have."

       He rolled his eyes at her. "You must think you're so funny, Jamie."

"I'm funny and you know it."

Instead of responding, Keenan only shook his head and flashed a shy smile. He turned around in his seat back toward the stage and applauded loudly as Larkin strummed the last chord. The bar erupted into a symphony of applause as she thanked the crowd, but Jamie's eyes remained on Keenan's profile. She couldn't help but notice how he looked at Larkin like she was his entire world when she wasn't noticing.

"Where's Evan tonight?" Larkin asked Jamie as she pulled up a seat and sat down at the counter next to Keenan. Bursting with energy, she fidgeted with everything in sight from the napkin dispenser to the remnants of chipped polish on her nails.

"He's still in New York until the weekend." Jamie checked her phone quickly for any new messages. "Hayden told me she would be here tonight, but she must've missed the bus or something. I caught the last one headed downtown and she wasn't on it."

       Larkin swiveled in her seat to face Keenan. "Where's Oliver? I thought you told me he was coming tonight."

       Keenan placed his hand on Larkin's knee and pulled her closer to him, decreasing the space between them. "Oliver couldn't make it tonight, but I'm sure he'll come next week."

       "Don't you think Oliver and Jamie would get along?"

Jamie smiled as she listened to their conversation, allowing her thoughts to wander aloft. There was a certain stillness associated with her that night, the way her thoughts only skimmed the surface of their conversation. There were days where she wished on shooting stars that things were different in this little town she called home, and this was one of those days.

That night was the first time Jamie heard about Oliver. All she could think about as she lay in bed that night was how she felt a connection with someone she had never even met. On nights like this, she understood the need to be alone better than anyone else because even after twenty years, she hadn't mastered the art of reading the layout her own heart.

Jamie fell asleep that night wondering how broken hearts found their way home in the darkness.

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