cigarettes [Leighton Murray]

the first days

rue sat on her bed tying her shoe laces when she heard the knock on the door of her room, Kayla peeking her head inside 

"hey rue" she greeted, seeing rue grab her guitar case "are you going somewhere?" 

"oh yeah, i'll-" she cut erself off "i'll tell you when i am back, it'll take a while to explain" 

"oh that's okay, i was just calling you because abigail decided UNO will be a great bonding exercise for us" kayla chuckled at herself 

"yeah well, i'll bond with you guys tomorrow" rue walked out and it was dark, she could see the moon, that's what she liked about the nighttime.

she tucked her hands inside the pockets of her jacket and she saw the blonde from earlier looking like she had been through some shit, with a very attractive man. they make a hot couple.

walking for 15 more minutes, she reached the place. at the door a guard saw her and let her in without questions, she walked into the underground place and smiled to herself 

"impressed, are you?" she heard a deeper voice 

"jordan" she dapped the guy up "how are you" 

"will be happy, if you play that thing" he pointed at her electric guitar case 

"that's the whole reason i am here, buddy" she looked around nervously "do you think they'll consider me?" 

"well" she took a sip of his beer "they sure are exclusive but if you play like you always do, nothing will stop them from choosing you" 

"you always know how to cheer me up" she sarcastically commented before shaking her shoulder to get rid of nerves 

"okay" he said laughing "go backstage, they'll start in 10" rue followed his instructions, and backstage was something else. 

there were around 4-5 people packed in a very small place, all with different kind of instruments, she and one more guy were playing the guitar, but his was acoustic. she found an empty place and set her guitar case down, taking the black instrument out, tuning the strings a little.  

a few minutes later, she heard a voice on the mic placed on the stage, as the crowd went feral, there were about 30 people packed in the place, who were all here to have a good time and judge the performers. 

"how are we feeling tonight?" the guy Theo asked as the crowd erupt into cheers, we'll be starting off with this years candidates, we've got about 5 people, we can either select 1 or 2 or we'll send them all home, you know us" the crowd once again cheered as Theo called the performers out.

the drums guy was first, he was fairly good, followed by the acoustic guitar guy who got no cheers and then it was rue

"this is rue and" she said into the mic, looking around, the lights blinded her vision "if you know this song, go feral. if you don't, it'll make you go feral" she remembered how jordan said, confidence is what they look for. 

she played the first couple notes slowly, looking around biting her lip as everyone started guessing the song, some getting it right. she did a slide on the fretboard, before playing 'gossip' by maneskin as the crowd caught on, and jumped around dancing, spilling their drinks, screaming the words, humming with the guitar. all were out of breath by the ending. 

the first day of classes was a chaos for rue, she was surviving on her 3rd can of energy drink when she got back to her room, she flopped down on the bed and decided on taking a 20 minute nap. 

she woke up 4 hours later to excessive knocking on her door. 

"good, you're up" Kayla said when rue opened her eyes 

"get up you're gonna miss the first theta party of the year" abigail peeked her head inside the room applying her lipgloss 

"yeah, you guys go ahead" rue said hoarsely "i have no interest" 

"whatever suits you" kayla and abigail ducked outside the room leaving rue to her devices 

after a couple of texts and a 45 minute car ride, rue stood at the apartment door, knocking on it. 

"good" she heard the woman who pulled her inside the place by her collar 

"hi" rue mumbled biting her lip, the woman clashed their lips together, wrapping her arms around rue and rue's hands caressed the girl's waist 

"i am so glad you're in new england, rue" the woman grunted when rue bit her bottom lip

"are you though, ashley?" rue smirked before pushing the brown eyed girl on the her own bed