Here’s your first taste and if you’ve already read it…bear with us!
<3
-K.&M.
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My eyes fluttered open slowly. My head hurt and my body ached. My dream that I had woken up from was a memory I hadn’t wanted to revisit, or a memory of a wish I’d once had. It was then that I noticed my hand clutching the keys around my neck. I released them gently, pondering momentarily if I should finally take them off, but unable to move myself to actually perform the act. I shifted, untangling my legs from my black and white patterned comforter.
I moved my head and caught sight of the clock; it was about time to get up. I sighed. Today was supposed to be…well going to be an eventful day. I was curious, terrified, and somewhat amused, but mostly terrified.
I stared at my ceiling a few more moments before slinking out of bed.
I walked out of my room quietly like I always did, the white carpet feeling good on my cold feet.
My feet, or at least my toes, were always cold. It was one of those unfortunate side effects that came along with Type 1 Diabetes. It had been discovered that my pancreas was failing just before I turned fourteen.
Another exciting adventure I embarked on just before entering high school.
That was four years ago.
I was in the kitchen now, beginning to make some breakfast, when a girl walked in.
She had somewhat curly hair that was mostly brown except for the pink underside. She had decent amount of rings on her fingers and toes along with two sets of earrings that she wore pretty much twenty-four-seven.
I smiled. That was Tristan Bowman, my best friend for nearly five years, and she hadn’t changed much at all.
Tristan smiled back at me, but didn’t speak. It was too early for that just yet.
She saw that I had the food pretty much covered already so turned around and sat on the couch in the living room that was still in view of the kitchen.
I let myself giggle while I had the blender on and I waited.
I thought momentarily how lucky we were: at eighteen to be two friends with their own place, with good jobs, and living independently. We may have been renting, but for the time being it was ours.
We worked at a small book shop that was owned by an old couple and it surprisingly did a lot better than most people would expect. Tristan had been working with them four two years now and they were kind enough to let me work during the summers, then full time once my parents allowed me to really have a job. Tristan and I contributed a lot there, whether it was simply stocking shelves or creating an entire display and they recently asked us for ideas on how to organize the entire store. Sometimes they would mention actually leaving the place to us or at the very least letting us co-own it.
We were also attending a local college and doing well. So I was rather content with our lives when you looked at it that way, but why did I still feel like something was missing?
I turned the blender off and the buzz of the television wafted into the kitchen. I filled two glasses with fresh strawberry smoothie. I began to walk it over to the table when I heard a small gasp from the front room.
It was coming.
I looked up just in time to see Tristan scurrying toward me. She slowed down just to cautiously wrap her arms around my waist. She squeezed me tight as I held the glasses over my head.
“We’re going to a concert today!” She exclaimed finally looking at my face using the full effect of her brown eyes on me. They shined at me as they usually did when she smiled with a particular sparkle in them. It was once of my favorite of her traits.
“I know.” I said simply, handing her her smoothie once she released me.
“Aren’t you at least a little excited?” she asked, getting straws out of the cabinet and plopping mine in my drink.
“It’s too early to be excited.” I mumbled over my straw.
Tristan knew how insanely terrified I was of the whole situation, but I wasn’t going to continue to mention that today. I wasn’t going to ruin her good mood as much as I could.
“But it’s your first concert!” she said excitedly. “And we’re going to see The Jonas Brothers!”
She almost squealed this last part, but ended with a mild set of giggles.
We were adults now and so being this excited over a teen band wasn’t something we usually did. We liked them, don’t get me wrong, we just weren’t the giggling types, but when it came to exposing me to the kind of culture I missed out on as a teenager the giggles were on full throttle. I might let out a nervous chuckle later.
“It’s going to be so much fun.” Tristan giggled.
“Hush and eat your smoothie.” I complained.
I stood in front of the full length mirror in my room and sighed. I was wearing tight jeans and a top with a made in corset. The shirt behind the corset and the jeans were black, but the corset itself was black and white plaid with a hidden hint of pink inside.
Tristan picked these out and I let her, being too indecisive to actually pick anything out for myself that wasn’t just comfortable. I did refuse though, when she tried to convince me to wear a pair of knee high boots to finish off the rock-star affect and stuck with my worn in converse.
I fluffed my hair a little and blew my bangs once they fell in front of my face.
“Katie?” Tristan called. I could hear her voice echo out of the bathroom. “You ready?”
“Coming.” I called back, still not the least bit enthused.
I went obediently into the bathroom and took my seat on the toilet and without hesitation she began my make-up.
This was routine when we were doing something extremely special and I really didn’t mind. If I just turned myself over I always looked better than I expected.
Once she was finished I examined my eyes in the mirror. The smoky eye she did was marvelous, bringing out the darker blue that was in my eyes. They glowed at me and screamed, I turned away, ignoring them.
Finally we were ready to go. We stashed our things in the car, along with my emergency supplies. Tristan looked things over as I walked out the front door, my bag flung over my shoulder.
Once satisfied she bounced, her head bobbing up and down over the top of the car.
“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Then she clambered into the driver’s seat.
I got in the passengers and, as was also routine, she handed me her iPod with the converting cassette player. I was co-pilot, so I was in charge of the tunes.
“What-” I began, trying to ask her what she wanted me to play.
“Do you need to ask?” She answered.
“Oh,” I chuckled nervously. “Right.”
A moment later The Jonas Brothers were blasting from the speakers. I remembered briefly our last summer. We’d do this exact things with the windows rolled down. Driving along the country road of our small home town and singing at the top of our lungs. Not a care in the world, feeling big, bad, and awesome.
The January air was much too cold to roll down the windows, but that didn’t stop me from opening them a crack and breathing in the cool air. The scent filled my nose: pleasant smoke, wood, ice, and a hint of something else.
A face flashed in my mind.
I turned the music up loader to make it disappear. It faded a little, so I started to sing along moving around in my seat. Tristan smiled at me.
We picked up our other friend, Mersades. Her strawberry blonde hair straightened around her face as it always was, her freckles dim in the gray light. We greeted her warmly and she did the same, commenting on our wardrobes, especially Tristan’s hot pink and black plaid blouse with various fancy looking buttons and ruffles. The color matched her hair, that was why she picked it out. The buttons gave it a little flair that reminded me of that light in her eyes.
Mersades climbed in the back and we drove out of town and onto the big highway.We were on our way to L.A..
———-
I was excited and bounced from foot to foot. My best friend Katie, who was standing next to me, appeared less enthused.
She tossed her multi brown hair and looked at me. “Why are we doing this?” she asked with a mixture of annoyance, confusion, and dread. Annoyance was the strongest.
“Come on Katie! This is going to be fun. And besides…” I placed my nose in the air snobbishly, “this kind of stuff is expected from a best friend.”
She stuck her tongue out at me causing me to laugh at my joke.
“Come on!” I pleaded again “You like their music. Why aren’t you enjoying this?”
She sighed. “It’s the people. The kind of people here.”
I rolled my eyes at her and tilted my head so that I was looking at her from under my now furrowed brow. “Ignore them. They don’t matter. It’s just us here tonight. Just you, me, Mary, Mersades, and Melissa.”
She sighed again. “I know.” She smiled at me.
“Good. Your first concert is going to be fun.”
———-
The performance finally began and the screaming increased. I winced, but I couldn’t close my eyes having them locked on the stage. The music was so loud that I felt it in my chest next to my heart and it felt good. I couldn’t pull myself away, feeling a smile creep up my face as the boys appeared on stage. I giggled as they began to move around. I was sucked in, I was one of them. Part of this massive crowd that seemed to become one person, and I didn’t mind.
————
Later that night…
My head spun after the small blow. Suddenly everything was louder and more painful. The roar of the crowd was constant. “I have to go to the bathroom!” I yelled at Katie.
Later that night…
I was alone. And lost.
Later that night…
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Those who are unfamiliar with what happens next might hate us right now…you might be completely bored! Just hold on! ^^
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