I'm with the Band

Chapter 12: Morning Light

Winter Comes, skies to grey 

It's same old same old everyday

And where it starts is where it ends 

I feel your pain

So run the lights, catch a plane 

I know you just wanna win 

You see my friend 

Life is just.. 

A game 

The gentle whisper of snow never waited until winter to fall. It came at the dawn of November first, whisking through the cold Autumn air and brushing against the now bare trees of the campus. Winter wasted no time creeping in, marking Halloween evening as the unofficial end to the season. It always felt too soon, the autumn leaves changing and falling  within a week or so, only to be trampled by fresh falling snow of the intruding season. I too had experienced Autumn within myself, changing and falling only to be trampled by the fresh falling snow. But that fresh falling snow was Leighton, who had come hurdling into my life at maximum speed, stirring my heart and eventually taking it prisoner, just as the snow does to the leaves trapped under its glistening beauty. 

Halloween was a dream that I replayed over and over and over again in my head. Leighton asking me to go on tour with him, to be his girlfriend, and me responding yes a million times over. Even the next day, when I was sober and thinking straight again, my answer hadn't changed. He had called me after putting his number in my phone at the club to make sure I didn't regret my decision, to make sure I gave my answer sober. I didn't even hesitate when he paused for my answer. It came so natural and so direct. I knew what I wanted and it was to be with him. 

My peers had definitely started looking at me different now, but I was also looking at myself differently. I noticed that I held my head high through the hallways, that I exuded confidence I didn't realize I even had. Being with Leighton made me do things I had never done before and realize things I had never thought of in regards to myself.  You see this Danny?  This Danny, is what a relationship is: your partner raising you up, making you want to be a better version of yourself, being comfortable with yourself. Leighton of course had helped me begin this journey of healing but it is ultimately me who has the power and means to continue along it. He is just a bonus, an extension of my own journey to freedom. 

I zipped up my suitcase with an excited smile on my face before hearing a knock on my door. My heart pounded in my chest. 

After Halloween, Leighton had unfortunately stopped coming around to school for full days. Kill Klub had a month to prepare for their upcoming North American tour and I had to pass my exams. It was a mutual break that we agreed on, to focus our efforts in November to ourselves. After all, we didn't have time for distractions and we both knew that being with each other was the biggest distraction known to man. We texted each other every once and a while, casually here and there, talking about our days apart but most nights the messages seemed tired with both of us pouring our energy into our work. I dreamed about today, December 4th, where he knocked on my door and whisked me away to the waiting carriage that was his tour bus. 

"One second." I said it in a shaky voice. How would he react when he saw me? Would he still be as good looking as I remembered him to be? Would he still like me as much as I liked him? I took a deep breathe, wiped my sweaty hands on my jeans and opened the door to a full on tackle by none other then Sierra.