I was stretched out in my seat, the back reclined all the way back and the radio blasting ‘Roadhouse Blues’. Mike was driving, and we flew down the highway to NYC. It was the season for holiday traffic, but we had managed to avoid the bulk of it, so far. We were running late to pick up Jaime, and Mike grimaced when his cell rang and ‘Barbie Girl’ clashed horribly with Jim Morrison. Jaime’s personal ringtone.
‘Let it ring. Can you text him that we’re almost there and that I’m driving? And tell him to enjoy Christmas in the city; it’s the best time of year. I laughed.
‘If there is any time that the city is a nice place to be, Its Christmas time. It’s the only time the place actually heel happy.’ Mike grinned, and then flipped off the car that had just swerved in front of him.
‘Fuckin’ asshole!’ He sighed and leaned back. ‘Traffic is horrible though. I’m making Jaime drive up to Vermont, and I’m sitting in the back.’ I shook my head.
‘Hell no! I’m not having the guy who is 6’1” squeeze into the back of a two-seater. I’ll go in the back.’ At the sight of his face, I knew he wasn’t going to let me win this one, so I decided on a compromise. ‘Ok, ok, I’ll tell you what. We switch every hour until one of us starts driving, then whoever isn’t driving switches with Jaime. Deal?’ The edges of his lips tugged upwards, and he nodded. We pulled up the long over-pass, and stopped in front of a very disgruntled Jaime. He was wearing a light leather jacket and ripped jeans, shivering and sitting on his suitcase, I hopped out and helped him get the bag under the tarp in the back, and told him that he was driving after I got us out of the city.
‘Good deal. I hope Mike is miserable in the back, that’s what he gets for making me stand in the freezing cold. He grinned at me and pulled me into a quick hug. ‘Thanks for inviting me! I could really use a vacation and a distraction right about now. How’s your back feeling?’
‘It is way better, thanks. And Lydia should be a more than sufficient distraction.’ He laughed, and slid into the passengers seat, and I closed the door behind him. I looked through the windshield and saw Jaime turn to greet Mike, who was crammed in the back, his long legs and arms squeezed into far too small a space. I sat down behind the wheel and pulled the door shut.
‘Hey! I thought Jaime was driving!’ I threw on my seatbelt, and turned my keys in the ignition.
‘Don’t worry, he will once we’re out of the city. But I grew up here and learned to drive here, I’ll get us out faster.’ I grinned as the truck roared down towards the highway. ‘You California boys would take hours to get us out of here!’ Mike laughed and Jaime whistled.
‘City girl, huh? How did you end up in Texas? Bit far from home, isn’t it?’ He opened the CD compartment and started going through the collection, humming to the music- ‘Holiday’ by Green Day.
I smiled slightly, feeling the familiar sense of melancholy settle on me again. The topic of ‘home’ seemed to be coming up a lot lately. ‘I said I grew up here, I never said it was home. My parents still live in White Plains, and they both work in Manhattan, so I didn’t want to be stuck in their world. So I left.’ Jaime stayed quiet, and when I looked in the rearview mirror, Mike was looking at me with worried eyes. He reached forward and squeezed my shoulder on the left side, so that Jaime wouldn’t see.
Jaime cleared his throat. ‘I get that. I’m sorry it’s like that, Alex. But you’ve got us! We’re cooler than any parents. And we both still owe you for patching us up!’ I laughed; glad the sadness was blowing away. I had been sad for far too long, and I had been happy lately. I wanted to keep it that way.
‘Thanks, dude. And Mike doesn’t owe me anymore, he’s been driving much more than his fair share for the past couple weeks. I owe him! You, however do owe me. That’s why you’re driving for 6 hours once we’re out of here.’ He groaned.
‘Ah, well it shouldn’t be too horrible. At least I wont have to sit in the back like Daddy Long Legs over here. He grinned back at Mike, who picked up a pen from the floor and threw it at him. We all laughed, and I saw Mike blush in the mirror.
‘Don’t worry hun; I’ll switch with you soon. I fit better anyway, and I got like no sleep last night, so maybe I’ll take a nap.’ Jaime raised an eyebrow.
‘Didn’t get any sleep? What were you doing while not sleeping, huh? Was it... dirty?!’ I laughed.
‘Do you want the short version or the long one? I can do both, but I’m sure you have a preference.’ Jaime winced.
‘Ah, I guess the short one. No need for details, please. I’m sure he’s great, but Mike is really not my type.’ I grinned and unzipped the jacket I was wearing, baring a mean hickey and smaller love bites on my neck and down my chest. He laughed and reached back to high-five Mike. ‘Atta boy, Mikey!’
A hair-raising hour later, we were successfully out of the city, and I pulled over so we could rotate. Jaime got into the drivers seat, and I crawled in back, with Mike reluctantly getting in front.
I lay down and the warm seat and the gentle vibrations of the car lulled me to sleep in no time.
I was resting my feet on the dashboard, and air drumming along to the All Time Low record that was playing. Jaime was next to me, singing softly, and drumming on the steering wheel. Alex was curled up in the back, fast asleep, as she had been for the last few hours. We would have been hopelessly lost, but Alex had highlighted the route we were taking toward the beginning of our trip, so we had some guidance.
Jaime spoke quietly. ‘So dude, what’s up with you two?’ What do I say? Do I say what he expects, that I like her, and that she’s cool?
‘She’s great, man. We’re great. The last few weeks have been rad, way better than going home again.’ He smiled slowly, and his eyes lit up. He turned, glancing between the road and me.
‘Bro! You love her!’ He laughed at my face and the shaking of my head. I knew my face betrayed me, I felt the heat rising in my cheeks. He slapped the steering wheel and let out a cry of victory. I smacked his arm and pointed to Alex, who really had gotten practically no sleep last night. I could fall asleep, but she had remained awake for hours. Insomnia was rough on her.
‘Oh shut up, you so do.’ He was stage whispering, which was still loud, but better than shrieking. ‘I knew you would! She’s totally awesome, Mike. She’s super smart and I’m sure you guys are going to do great. Have you talked about the age thing though?’ His brow furrowed.
‘Yeah, we talked about it. I don’t know why, but she really doesn’t care. I’m not sure why, but I’m sure as hell not arguing with it. Maybe I’m crazy but Jaime, man, I can’t imagine leaving her. I don’t have that desire to try anything new, because I don’t think she will ever get boring or old. She doesn’t have like a certain amount of stories to tell or jokes to crack, because she always comes up with new ones. And she knows so much, and she’s sweet and dude she even got me a birthday present and threw me a party. She invited a ton of people and they had this big party for a guy they didn’t even know! They made a cake and everything, because they all love her so much and wanted to make her happy. Someone who has that many people who care about her has to be something special.’ Jaime grinned, and slouched back in his seat, one hand on the wheel, and running the other through his hair. Still tall and spiky, even after all these years.
‘Keep her then. Don’t let her go, because if you feel that strongly after spending every second of everyday with her for like a month, I doubt you’re going to get sick of it. And where would you go from her? How many city girls do you know who can perform surgery and complex math problems, and are also down for going on an adventure, just for fun? Especially with some guy whom they don’t even know that well? She’s got guts, bro. Not a lot of girls do. And she makes you happy, you even sit up straighter than usual. Hang on to her.’
I was planning on it.
Mike and Alex sure seemed like two peas in a pod! I was amazed that it happened at all, because it wasn’t exactly an obvious match. I mean, a college girl, planning to get a high science degree, and some drummer? Vic always said that we weren’t ‘just some musicians’ anymore, because we were Pierce The Veil, but we hadn’t changed with our success. In my head we were still the loser kids who had started the band, just with nicer cars and no idea what to do with girls.
But it was working out. Mike seemed much happier with her. During our last tour, and for about a year beforehand, he had been drinking more, and smoking much more frequently than he usually did. He hadn’t lashed out exactly, but he seemed to internalize himself, and keep everything bottled up inside. He hadn’t laughed or smiled at much, and he hadn’t gotten angry or even sad, exactly. He seemed more… Empty. Isolated, almost. Lonely.
But when I first saw him with Alexis, he smiled the whole time. He had been bleeding and as she cleaned out the wounds, his eyes had stayed trained on her, and they looked happy. I’m glad he was happy again, because he deserved in. Tony and Vic were both back in S.D., and they were spending their month off with their girls. Vic and Mike’s mother had died about a year and a half ago, and so Vic was staying with his dad, to keep him company and catch up. Mike had not wanted to go back, because the house held too many memories of his mom. He had been very close to her, and her death shook him up pretty bad. He had been planning to go to Florida or stay in Texas, but I thought Alex was doing him more good than anything else would.
The drive was longer than I had thought. It started to snow when were about 80 miles from Monkton, the town we were staying in. The snow was coming down harder as we went further north, and it became hard to see, so I slowed to 35 mph, and we crawled along the empty roads.
After 7 hours of painful driving, I woke Alexis up, to tell me where to go. She woke up, and was giving me directions while rubbing sleep out of her eyes. Mike had put his jacket over her when she was out, and she placed it back on his sleeping shoulders. She directed me onto a small dirt road, and told me to turn up the first driveway on the right. I pulled up to a small, two-story house, with candles in the windows, winking warmly at us, beckoning us in. The garage door went up, and a small figure came bounding out, stopping in front of the headlights. Alexis reached forward and winked the lights at the woman, who laughed and beckoned for us to get out.
She had short, close cropped hair and skin the color of milk chocolate. She was short and full- figured, with exotic eyes and an easy smile. As she pulled open the driver’s door, I saw the flash of rings and bracelets on her fingers and wrists. I saw the bottom of some ink on her arms, stopping when her wool sweater started. She grinned and me, and laughed when Alex shoved me to tell me to get out. Her nose wrinkled when she laughed, and her teeth flashed pearly white. A nose ring gleamed on her right nostril and when she laughed, a silver stud sat on her tongue. I got out, and Alex jumped out behind me, throwing herself into the woman’s arms. When they were done squealing and greeting each other, the woman turned to Alex.
‘Well? Aren’t you going to introduce us?’ Alex grinned, and turned toward me.
‘Lyd, this is Jaime Preciado. Jaime, this is my dear friend Lydia. Mike is asleep in the car, I’ll get him.’ She ran off to wake him up, and Lydia smiled at me.
She was beautiful.