folklore

cardigan

but I knew you

dancin' in your Levi's

drunk under a streetlight,

i knew you

hand under my sweatshirt

baby, kiss it better,

and when I felt like I was an old cardigan

under someone's bed

you put me on and said I was your favorite

______________________________________

"Race you to the water!"

"Hey, wait up!!"

Stevie laughs as Javier and Brian both dash through the sand to the ocean's edge, shoving each other good naturedly as they both vie to be the first one to dive beneath the waves. She takes a deep breath, inhaling the sweet salty air as the soft ocean breeze caresses her face. She's always thought of herself as something of a desert girl, having grown up in Phoenix among many other places, but she's starting to wonder if the ocean is her true calling. She's only lived in California for a few years, but there's something about the rolling waves and the salt in the air that just makes her whole soul feel at peace. She's really glad that the Fritz boys have decided to take an afternoon off from rehearsing to spend a day fooling around at the beach.

The band have been rehearsing nonstop for weeks, it feels like - ever since they've gotten the news that they are soon going to be opening for Janis Joplin!! Stevie has barely been able to believe it. She has always known that she was going places - that one day she was going to get her big break - and the fact that it has happened within a year of her joining this band is almost unbelievable. She's had to pinch herself several times since their new manager had called Javier with the news. But it's real! And she knows everyone else in the band is excited too. They've been working so hard to make every song just right. They're in the big time now - no more high school dances, but professional gigs.

Stevie is especially excited because the guys had agreed that one of the songs they should sing is one of her very own, a new one she'd written a few weeks ago that she'd tentatively titled Where Was I. At rehearsal yesterday, she had seen the excited looks on everyone's faces as they finished running it through for the first time. The song requires both lead singers to be in perfect harmony for the entirety of the verses, and she has to admit that her and Lindsey's voices had never sounded better together; as the last note had rung out, everyone had stood there in silence for a few seconds, even Javier struggling to find something to critique. They sounded incredible! Stevie is proud to have made such a contribution to this very important show, and - well, she isn't sure, but she thinks Lindsey was proud of her as well. She had only been part of the band for about a year, but with this new song, she finally felt like she actually belonged.

Lindsey. She can't help but sigh a little bit as she thinks of the guitarist, watching as he jokes around with Bob, the two of them unloading food and cases of beer out of Javier's mom's station wagon. Stevie has realized that over the last few months, she just finds everything he does kind of adorable. He's so goofy sometimes, but he gets so passionate when he's talking about music. He always draws Stevie in so easily with his own earnest brand of intensity when he gets to talking, in a way that makes her feel like she's the only other person in existence. And it only amplifies when they sing together, his eyes boring into hers as they harmonize. She doesn't want to let herself imagine that maybe it's not just the music that he's into, that maybe it's her that he likes so much.

But then again, he's had a girlfriend for the whole time Stevie has been in the band, and even had a longtime girlfriend before that, one who he started this band with. She knows that he cares about Sally, that it's her neck that his class ring hangs on. Maybe when you have a girlfriend for that long, you don't even pay attention to any other girl, whether your voices sound like they're made for each other or not.