This Story's Going Somewhere

Chapter 1 - Patrick

I couldn't believe it, but we'd done it; We released an album tonight, and we were officially a band. Pete had always said that I was his "boy with the golden voice," and that we'd make it in the industry, but I guess I was always just a little cautious about getting my hopes up. Of course, we still had a long way to go, we'd only just thrown together our first record and released it. There was still the chance that nobody would like it, and I couldn't help feeling nervous about it. My nerves, of course, were the main reason that a beer was being pushed towards me over the table by my best friend. Pete looked at me with a wide grin and told me to loosen up, so I took the beer and slammed it back, probably too fast for a kid of eighteen, who had never really indulged much in underage drinking.

We were all at Pete's house that night, since he had thrown a party to celebrate. He invited a lot of people, and most of those people brought other friends with them, so the apartment that we owned together with our friend Joe was absolutely packed. I was currently crammed in between Joe and some guy I didn't know at the kitchen table, with Pete and Andy sitting across from us. It was almost midnight, and this had been the third beer that I'd drank way too fast, and Pete was already pushing a fourth to me. I opened it, letting the bottle cap skitter across the table, and decided that I should probably sip this one slowly.

Our record was playing loudly in the living room, directly next to us, and there were people dancing. I was surprised to see the reception by Pete's friends and whatnot, but I was still unconvinced. Maybe it was just my nerves, but I was scared that all of these people in our apartment just weren't a good enough indicator of how our band would be received. Still, I continued drinking, if only to "loosen up." A few minutes later, as I finished that fourth beer, a group of girls walked into the kitchen. They seemed around my age, and Joe nudged me as they walked past. There was a blonde girl, in a skintight black dress not at all appropriate for her age, and a dark skinned girl, with long dark hair and dressed more modestly. But it was the girl in between them that caught my attention. In the near future, I would regret the way I stared at her.

She was my height, possibly slightly taller, but she was wearing a pair of short heels, with a flowing blue dress that reached halfway down her thighs. Her dark hair was tied back in a messy ponytail, with a few strands framing her face, and she had a camera strapped to her hip by an over-the-shoulder belt. It was an expensive camera, or at least from what I could assume, it was. She and her friends walked by without even glancing our way, but I knew I wanted to talk to her. Perhaps it was the beer talking, but she was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen, and she was already in my apartment.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was standing up and pushing my chair back. Joe said something to me, but I acted like I hadn't heard him and I walked away, further into the kitchen. The girls were standing by the fridge, and the one in the blue dress was bending into it, reaching for a beer. She straightened up and turned towards me, but she still didn't seem to see the awkward teenager standing in the middle of the room and staring at her. I decided to be a little less obvious, and leaned against the counter as they walked by again, heading for the living room. After grabbing a fifth beer, I followed them, earning myself a smile and a cheer of encouragement from Joe as I passed by the table again.

The girls were standing in the middle of the room, dancing half-heartedly to the music as they talked and drank. I found a seat on the couch, next to some other guy I didn't know, and just watched them for a moment. She kept one hand on her camera, as if she were afraid it might just fall of her hip at any moment. She swayed those hips side to side to Calm Before the Storm, and my heart beat faster and faster as I watched her. Suddenly though, the guy next to me left. I paid him no mind, until the girl looked my way and excused herself from her friends. I quickly looked away, focusing on my hands instead, as she made her way over to claim that seat.