The Golden Boys

Chapter 9

It was now the middle of September. Fall time in Seattle consisted of a lot of drizzly days, overcast skies, and cooler weather. I was loving it.

My job at Easy Street Records was going great and we were busier than ever. In 3 weeks we would have a grand opening for the cafe section, and I promised Jennifer that I would ask the guys of MLB if they'd be up for performing there in the shop on that day.

Things and I between Jeff were going good as well, although he still hadn't asked me to be his girlfriend. Not that
I was in any rush, but my patience wasn't the greatest. Still, almost every night that he wasn't working late with the band, I'd come over to his place and we'd watch a movie or cook dinner together. On weekends, we'd usually crash on his couch.

Chris and I still saw each other often, and though at times it could still feel tense between us, over all things were cooling off. He hadn't come over to my apartment in the middle of the night or anything like that in awhile, so that was good...

I met Stone's girlfriend last week, and that was a slightly awkward experience. Melanie was a pretty girl with dark brown hair and small brown eyes. She was nice enough, but when we all met up at Sambo's one night, her and Jeff exchanged a hug that was just long enough to go from acceptable to okay let each other go now. Stone and I had both exchanged an annoyed and slightly worried glance.

Today, as Jen and I were closing up the shop, she casually asked me
"What are you doing tonight?"
I thought for a moment.
"Nothing that I know of."
Jen set down a stack of records and dusted her hands off on her jeans.

"I have to make a run down to Olympia this evening. I'm doing a trade off on some records, so I'm meeting the guy there. You're welcome to tag along."

"Sure, I'd love to. I haven't been to Olympia yet," I said.

She smiled. "Great. It's only an hour drive, but I'd like to let some of the rush hour traffic clear out. How bout I pick you up at your place around 6:30?"
I nodded. "Sounds great. I'll be ready!"

At exactly 6:30 Jennifer pulled up to the apartment building, where I had just come down and was sitting on the bench, smoking a cigarette.

I put it out and hopped in her old Volkswagen. "You know," Jen said as she carefully pulled back out into traffic. "You shouldn't be smoking those things. Especially at your age."
I made a face at her.

"At twenty four? Everyone my age does." She just shook her head, then smiled at me.

I didn't want to ask, but I guessed Jen to be somewhere around her early to mid thirties. She wasn't married, didn't have kids... but she loved her music and her little record shop.

The drive to Olympia was very pleasant and went by quickly. To my surprise, we pulled into what appeared to be a college campus. "What are we doing here?" I wondered aloud. We circled around to the backside where there were a bunch of other cars parked. Jen unbuckled her seatbelt as we whipped into a spot.

"This is where we're meeting the guy with the records. He said theres some up and coming band playing here tonight- so we can stay and watch them for a little bit, too."

"Oh cool," I said with a nod. We walked inside and saw a pretty large group of kids- mostly my age group, some maybe a little younger- all talking, hanging out, and waiting for the band to start.

Jen easily found her guy, a man named Jonathan, who was waiting to exchange the records. She introduced me to him.

Just then cheers and hollers began to erupt, and I looked up to see three guys taking their place on stage. A Drummer, a bassist, and the frontman who had a cheap looking left handed guitar.
Jen continued to talk to Jonathan, but I could not avert my attention from what I saw up there.