The Middle | ✔️

Chapter 3

Jamie

The second day of classes was fairly uneventful. I've had dinner, fed Benji and taken him for a walk. And now I'm standing in front of mirror in my underwear wondering what the hell I should wear to go over to Aubrey's dorm. Her friends are gonna be there, and I bet they're all pretty and super into fashion and style and all that shit. I, am not. Gimme a band t-shirt, ripped jeans and converses or vans any day. But I guess I should put in a little effort. I wanna make a good impression with these girls. If they can't handle my weirdness later, then I'll know it wasn't meant to be. But for tonight, I want them to think I'm normal.

So I decide on a black leather pencil skirt, black leather boots, and a grey top coupled with a black choker (I'll stop wearing black when they make a darker colour, okay?). I put on mascara, black liquid eyeliner and a little blush. I paint my lips nude, paint my nails black. And I'm ready.

"Oh, don't look at me like that." I say to Benji, who is lying sulking on my bed because he knows I'm about to leave.

I pop in my contact lenses (for vision purposes only, I don't like wearing my glasses when I go out), spray myself with some of my favourite perfume, grab my purse and I'm good to go.

As I walk down the stairs, I can hear male voices coming from the garage. The guys are here, why am I not surprised. So rather than walking out the front door, I head down the stairs in the kitchen into my garage. It's a spacious double garage. I always park in the driveway, so it's only my dads jeep parked in one half. The other half contains Patrick's drum kit, some of our guitars, amps, a couple of couches, a TV and a mini-fridge (which is usually stocked with soda, water and beer). And right now, Patrick is sitting at his drum kit, fiddling with his symbols and Joel is sitting on one of the couches opening a soda. They don't even notice me coming down the stairs.

"Why can't Jay just come here?" Patrick asks as he focuses on whatever he's doing with his symbols.

"He said Jamie's going out with some new girlfriends or something." Joel says, while examining his soda. It's like he's never seen a coke before.

"So what? We can keep Benji company while she's out. Where is Benji anyway?" Patrick asks, still not looking up.

I'm suddenly filled with confidence that these guys would be fantastic defenders of my property if a burglar ever came around. Not. They still haven't even noticed that I'm standing here. So I clear my throat.

"Oh, hey Jame. Wow, it is a big girls night out indeed, huh?" Joel beams at me, as Benji runs past my feet and over to Patrick.

"Aww, who's my best friend? Benji is, Benji's my best friend!" Patrick gushes at Benji as he pets him. He still hasn't looked up at me. At least Joel is always complimentary.

"Why thank you, Joel." I say with a smile. "I thought I'd put in a little more effort than usual, wanna make a good impression with these girls, you know?"

"Totally," Joel says, "I guess most girls usually dress like that when they go out drinking. You'll fit in just fine."

"Dress like what?" Patrick says. He stops petting Benji and sits up straight, finally looking at me.

"Jesus Christ, Jame." Patrick leans forward and rests his arms on his legs, openly staring at me at in mock fascination. "If you weren't my best friend, I would totally be hitting on you right now."

"Shut up. Joel, please throw a cushion at him."

Joel obliges, laughing at Patrick pretending to be wounded by the cushion.

"What are you guys up to tonight?" I ask. "Did I hear you say you're gonna go over to Jays?"

"Yeah, we'll have a couple beers at the palace then meet you and your new friends at The Grill later." Joel says.