Stuck On Strings

Sending Big Waves and Emotion

Jake felt the collision before he registered what had happened. He had slammed into another person, who was also rushing to be somewhere. The two bodies tumbled to the ground, their bags being pushed to the side. Once the realization hit him Jake pushed himself up and looked down at the person he had ever so rudely crashed into. It was a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, her hair came just above her shoulders and she wore elegant white framed glasses. Jake didn't say anything for a few moments after seeing her face. She seemed to take a moment to register his face as well. She blushed and gently pushed her hair out of her face.

"Sorry..." she mumbled. Jake immediately got off of her and held his hand out. She took it and he pulled her up, his face matching an equal shade of red like hers.

"No, no! It's my fault really!" He explained, flustered. "I'm a bit of a dunce I should have been paying attention to such a beautiful lady." The girl giggled and fixed her clothes, a beautiful blue sundress over top of white stockings and black flats all wrapped up by a wool-like black cardigan. She examined Jake as he made a fool of himself. Normally she would have let him continue to shower her with compliments but she had places to be.

"As much as I enjoy being complimented by such an endearing stranger," she cut him off with a smile. "I really have to get going somewhere. But if you want I could give you my number."

"Yes. I mean. uh. That would be lovely." Jake stumbled on his words. He picked her bag up for her and she pulled out a sharpie.

"I don't really have any paper, do you mind me writing on your arm?"

"No, go right ahead." He held his arm out almost too enthusiastically. She took his arm and wrote on it delicately. Afterward she put her sharpie back in her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"I have to go, but text me alright?" She smiled at him. He nodded and she waved, taking off down the street. Jake watched her go, almost in a daze. He looked at his arm and read what she had wrote. In delicate, curvy numbers was her phone number. Underneath it, written in a beautiful cursive, was a single word.

"-Ariel"

He stared longingly at the name. Wondering what kind of person Ariel would be. He briefly wondered if Liam knew her but quickly decided that she was of a higher caliber then all of Liam's friends. He had almost forgotten about band practice until there was a loud car honk from beside him. he jumped and looked at the silver convertible that had pulled up next to him. A Boy with wavy black hair of Korean descent leaned out of the driver window. He nearly laughed at Jake

"Please don't tell me your this hung up on a girl, dude," he snickered. "Dude you just bumped into her. If you were any other person she would have hated you."

"What does that mean Ryan?" Jake asked his friend.

"She would not have tolerated that had you not been so dorkily-charming. Ah yes, Jake Vance, sexy, free and single." Ryan winked at him. "Get in the car, don't want Ty to think your late huh?" Jake sighed but took his friends offer and got in after putting his bass guitar in the backseat. Ryan was the most wealthy of the band. However that was because he still lived with his parents. As much as Ryan would love to move out his parents simply wouldn't let him. They were very pushy and tried to control his life. The band was one of the few places he could go to get away from his parents. Ryan and Liam have been best friends ever since they met back in middle school. While Ryan and Jake didn't meet until after Ryan had graduated they still got along greatly. Tyler and Liam were initially worried about introducing their best friends to each other but it all seemed to work out well.

The two boys drove to the studio. Ryan was tapping out a tune on the steering wheel. Jake glanced out the window. He must've stared out the window for a while because once they pulled up to a red light Ryan cleared his throat.