The Bane Of My Existence ~ Analogical

Bop

Virgil's POV:

I had been looking forward to this trip for a while. I would never admit it, but the idea of a road trip sounded kind of... fun. However, thirty minutes into our first stretch and my anxiety had already started to kick in. I'd met Logan once or twice a while ago and he'd seemed like a nice guy, but sitting in close proximity to someone I was unfamiliar with definitely made me uncomfortable. Logan sat there, across from me, sat up tall against the seat, lost in a million thoughts, occasionally shutting his eyes and sipping from his flask of— what was presumably— coffee.

I realised then that I could hear sounds coming from outside my headphones. I opened Spotify and pressed pause on the music I was listening to (Infinity On High). Without removing my hood or my headphones, I listened closer to hear music playing from the car speakers. I also noticed an auxiliary cord snaking from the car radio to an iPhone with a glittery white and red case. I recognised the song immediately: the opening sequence from The Greatest Showman. Musicals were one of my guilty pleasures, and I'd only recently watched that particular one, so the lyrics were fresh in my mind.

"Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've waited for." I rolled my eyes as Roman shut his eyes dramatically and lip- synced to the song. I noticed Patton in front of me, tapping at the wheel and humming. He was an amazing friend, he'd decided from the immense kindness of his heart to invite me of all people along with him on this trip. Roman and Patton were recently inseparable and Roman knew Logan from high school. Why would they chose to have me tag along? "It's fire, it's freedom, it's flooding open!" Roman seemed to know every lyric, and most certainly made it known. I wasn't too unfamiliar with them either, but if I wanted to make a din for the sake of making a din I would've started by now. "-I'll let you know, so tell me do you wanna go?"

As the chorus started up, I peered back over at Logan. He seemed as reluctant as I was to get into the music that was currently playing through the speakers. Confused, almost. I chuckled under my breath as I spotted Logan in the corner of my eye as he wrinkled up his nose at a note Roman had sung out of tune. At the sound of my laugh, the pair of eyes that belonged to the same face as the nose that was wrinkled prior turned in my direction. I quickly redirected my glance to the window, as if he would forget that I'd been looking his way.

"It's everything you ever want, it's everything you ever need, and it's here right in front of you, this is where you wanna be." That bit was my favourite, it gave me goosebumps in the cinema.

Oh, and don't doubt for the most momentary of moments that Roman went all out to scream Lettie's line, because, of course, that's exactly what he did.

"This is where you wanna be!"

Logan and I exchanged a knowing look; Roman really was something else. He knew me better than the others, and really did have a warm heart, it was just difficult to uphold a serious conversation with him. We'd talked about certain things before, and I really did feel like I would get on well with him from the very beginning. Of course, with Roman being Roman, he loved to take the piss out of me at every given opportunity: that's just the way he was. But the man could keep a secret. I owed him.

Soon The Greatest Show was over, and I heard a very different yet familiar riff start through the speakers. I figured this must've been Roman's shuffle playlist or something like that. I heard the sound of Camila Cabello's voice and audibly groaned. I despised this kind of music, most things popular like this were overplayed and overrated. However, there was something about Camila's song that really drove me over the edge.

"Half of my heart is in Havana oh-na-na."
It was just so darn catchy!

I scolded myself for wanting to tap my foot, or move just a little to the beat. I listen to Fall Out Boy, not this crap. I sighed internally at the realisation that this song would probably be in my head for the remainder of the day, possibly even the week. Okay, it was quite entertaining seeing Roman impersonate the trumpet player later on in the song. He really was a doofus.

By this point I'd taken off my headphones; there really was no point in pretending any more. Anyway, I was kind of curious to see what else this playlist had in store. After Havana, I was slightly confused to why there was snare drums playing. It took me a little while to figure out what song it was, but when I realised, I couldn't help but release a little laugh.
"Roman?" The man twisted and rested his arm on the back of his seat, pointing his elbow at Logan and his torso towards me.
"Yes, V?" I did my very best to contain my laughter at this grown man's sincerity.
"Is this... Disney?" He responded with a proud smirk.
"Would that be a problem?" He asked, bobbing his head lightly to the pulse.

I shook my head as he turned back to the windscreen.
"Let's get down to business," he boldly sang. Patton joined in as the next line began, "to deafeat the huns!" Then it was Logan's turn to fondly shake his head at the pair's behaviour. I barely knew the man, but thankfully we both saw humour in the moment, and he even let out a chuckle when I started mocking Roman by dramatically lip-syncing to the music.
"Mister I'll make a man out of you..." I sang, holding my fists in the air for mock-drama. Seeing who I'd known as a bit of an indifferent and skeptical kind of person attempt to contain his laughter at my actions gave me a sense of achievement, at least.

As the song resolved, I collapsed back onto my seat, exhausted from the small amount of (what I classed as) exercise that I'd just put myself through. The two hours flew by, Roman's playlist making it all worthwhile. We continued to drive on toward the early-setting winter sun, jamming out to whatever decided to come onto shuffle. Although we were reluctant to admit it to ourselves, we did spend the last fifteen/ twenty minutes just letting Roman repeat Africa by Toto over and over again. Not that I was complaining- that was a song I could get down to. As some might've said: twas a bop.