m u s e

realization | 11

it has been almost a week since she lost saw Ju
ever since that Friday night at the indigo elephant he's been acting weird,
until he just stopped coming around all together.

he had missed three classes since week,
and she was beginning to worry.
she had confronted Dylan about it, and he had acted weirdly,
dismissing the behavior as stress over course work that's been keeping him busy.

but she knew better,
something was up and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

she didn't understand why it took a while other week for her to realize she hadn't confronted Ju like she had planned.

she had tried getting the boys to at least tell her something, but everyone was tight lipped and weird.
the few time Ju had shown up to class, he had left as soon as the class ended.
only leaving her with a quick goodbye and some sorry excuse.

as she sat up front at the bar, waiting for him to come on,
she couldn't help feeling like she was in the wrong place.
it didn't feel right that she was here,
when her friend needed her.

she was so lost in thought that she missed the almost ritualistic tuning of the guitar and the brushing of hair out of face.

yet she was still transported to another time by the melody of his voice.

he sang of Skinny love,
she didn't have to guess what that was.
she understood it completely.
it was one of the phenomenal human behavior she was fascinated by.
she even indulged in it herself when she was younger.
merely for artistic purposes,
until she realized how detrimental it could be.

this song was about a boy and girl,
who loved each other but were too proud to admit it.

it resonated with her.

she watched as the bar emptied out around her after the last performance, the bartenders were in the act of cleaning up, and most of the artistes had left along with the patrons.

but she couldn't get herself to move,
mostly because she didn't want to go home.
and the only place she wanted to go...she was too afraid to.
she wanted to give him time, and space.
but...

'hey, is everything okay'

she was snapped from her thoughts by a familiar voice,
it was him...talking to her.
she waited for the awestruck feeling to take over, or for heart to race and her hands to get clammy.
but it didn't happen.

'whoever it is, you should probably be there instead of here.'
he said.
she looked up at him with wide eyes,
she stuttered trying to come up with a response.
before she could say anything her attention was drawn to the nerdy looking guy who walked in and cane right up to Christian,
giving him a quick kiss on the cheek the man turned his attention to her.

'are you okay hon?'
her eyes widened even further as she realized what exactly she had witnessed.

'I know, you'd never guess right? what with all his sad lyrics and dark depressing clothes that he actually found his soulmate, I'm Perry by the way.'

her shock morphed into a genuine smile as she watched Christian's cheek go red, with Perry around he seemed lighter somehow, nowhere near the man who performed with so much melancholy on stage.

while she watched them, she realize exactly what she needed to do.
Grabbing her purse and phone, she waved a quick goodbye.

'I love your sad music by the way.' she paused to tell Christian before hurrying out of the bar.

her hand already up, hailing a cab.

she hoped she wasn't too late.