I groggily opened my eyes as I woke up, smacking my lips together as I yawned loudly, the way I always do in the early mornings. School would begin in a couple hours. It was still dark outside of my window, dim colors barely beginning to paint around the Las Vegas skyscrapers.
I threw my covers across my body and stepped over my best friend who was lying on the ground, or her 'bed' which was really just a fort of quilts and pillows, and blindly made my way to the bathroom.
I opened the bathroom door and felt along the walls until I flicked on the light switch and instantly squinted. Rubbing my eyes, I searched the cupboard under my sink until I found a light blue bath towel and slung it over the shower curtain. I looked at my appearance in the mirror which I normally try to avoid in the mornings.
There's no need to see how last night's sleep drunkenly pulls on my features and makes me look like a totally different person.My hair ran in waves down my spine and my complexion looked discolored due to my heavy rest.
How long was I asleep? 10 hours? Eve and I went to bed early last night. It's the first day of school, considering.
I sleepily rubbed my red cheeks and pulled down, letting out a hearty sigh, and then turned my music library on shuffle. I yawned before removing my clothes from my lanky body, and stepping into the warm shower. Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles played as I mindlessly hummed along and pumped shampoo into my hair.
The way you look tonight by Frank Sinatra began to play and I smiled to myself as I automatically lowered my voice to sing in the same octave as Frank. Gah, what a legend he was. Or still is.
I've lived in Las Vegas, Nevada for as long as I could remember, 17 years to be exact. 17 and a senior in high school and currently sharing a bedroom with my best friend Eve whom is staying with us to also finish out the remaining semesters of her senior year.
I slipped my shoes on, tucking my fingers into the heel to slide my foot in and hollering, "Eve, are you almost ready?"
"Yeah almost, but I'll just meet you there. I have to drive to work after school anyway, so I should just drive my car!"
"Okay! See you fourth hour." I shouted back walking out the front door into feverish, summer air. It was almost fall, August 1st to be exact, and the leaves were beginning to show a slight change of color; however, the weather was still very warm and the sun shone out in the cloudless blue sky.
Las Vegas was always warm. Like living in the scorching fireplace of Satan's den. Maybe an exaggeration. But just walking to my car made the sweat gather on my upper lip.
I plugged my phone into the auxiliary of my car and let my music library continue:
"Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars. Let me see what spring is like on, Jupiter and Mars. In other words, hold my hand."
I loved singing with all my heart but my voice was unfortunately average. My favorite place to sing was in the car because I could sing as loud as I wanted and feel no remorse because no one could even hear me. It was a curse really, to have such a prominent love for music but not feel particularly talented.
I cranked my window down and stuck my arm out as I mindlessly drove down the same, mundane road to school. One more year to go. The same faces, within the same neighborhood, within the same city. This city need some rearranging. Some excitement.
Anyone that's actually been to Las Vegas would know that it's vices are the only thing it actually has to offer. The rest is stretching desert and boring people.
It's an especially unpleasant place to live when your parents keep you on a tight regimen and refuse to let you out of their sight.
I stretched out a fake smile as I waved politely to the Weekes', a family that always waits outside of their house every morning to see that their teenage son gets on the bus for school. Poor Dallon, he was 18 and his parents still treated him like a child.
I guess I could relate.
I continued to drive down the road, seeing the normal sights, when, about five miles out, I spotted a young boy who I had never seen before, jogging slightly with a backpack slung over his shoulder.
He wore dark jeans and a loose white t-shirt and as he ran, his dark brown hair flopped up and down with each step. I turned down my music slightly as I approached him. It's too hot to be running, that's for certain. Maybe I could stop and-
I screamed and slammed on my brakes abruptly when he jumped out in front of my car.
My tires screeched as I stopped in front of him. I must have looked shocked because he doubled over in laughter, but also because he was out of breath from running.
But who the hell just runs out in front of a car? He looks about my age, but I've never seen him before. He dresses nice, thats a sure sign he must be from out of town. I wonder why he's running to school? Doesn't he know that it's at least five miles away from here?
He smiled at me as he ran over to my side of the car and tapped gently on the window for me to roll it down.
"Hey! Sorry for scaring you and jumping out like that. You look like a student and I had to stop you and get directions. Do you know where..." he stopped to read a piece of paper from his pocket, "Palo Verde High School is? I feel like I've been walking forever and I have no idea where I am." He smiled again at me, running his hand through his floppy brown hair and leaning against my car.
Trying not to seem phased by his charm, I replied coolly, "It's about another five miles out. Is this your first day?"
He chuckled and nodded, biting his lip.
I felt butterflies enrapture my stomach and gazed down to his lips momentarily before looking back up to his eyes. He must have noticed my sudden glance and realized the effect he had on me. He acted like he has used his looks to charm girls before. I won't be that easy.
Or at least, I'll pretend I won't be that easy.
He chuckled again and mindlessly ran his finger along the edge of my window before answering, "this is my first day yes. I'm Brendon. And you are?"
"Elizabeth." I smiled sweetly at him brushing my hair behind my ear.
His eyebrows raised to his hairline and he sucked in a breath."Well it's wonderful to meet you Elizabeth! Is there anyway that I could get a ride to school in this luxury vehicle of yours?" He threw his hands up and flashed a heart wrenching smile. "I'll sit in the back. Just pretend you're a cab driver and I'm a customer. Hell, I'll even pay you if you want."
I didn't even have time to second guess myself as I laughed and unlocked the car doors, motioning for him to jump in. His cheeks lifted as he threw another bright smile at me before leaping in and tossing his backpack onto the seat next to him.
"Brendon you don't have to sit in the back." I turned around to look at him.
"Nah, I'm good. I don't want to make you uncomfortable anyway. I mean you just let a strange man into your car whole heartedly."
I glanced back at him, taking in his figure, getting a good look at this 'stranger.' "You don't appear to be strange. And you seem to be friendly enough."
He laughed loudly, raising his eyebrows. "You should be careful of meeting strangers. Especially if they are too friendly."
"What are you hinting at?" I looked at him in my rear view mirror to see him staring straight at me with a smirk on his face before winking. I wasn't expecting him to be looking right at me so I immediately looked away and felt the blood rush to my cheeks.
He suddenly gasped. "Are you playing Sinatra?!"
I realized that I hadn't turned down my volume all the way before picking him up. I blushed a little more before turning up the volume a little bit. "Yeah, I like to listen to him before I go to school. Do you like his music?"
"Like It!? Man, I idolize him. He's a legend, one of the greatest singers to ever live." The way the boy, Brendon, spoke about him made me smile. He was so passionate. His voice became high pitched and he would talk really quickly and excitedly like a child.
A real charmer, indeed.
"Hey why don't you turn it up and we can sing to our heart's content." He muttered coolly in his best New Yorker accent.
I snorted and turned the music dial to almost full blast. As I did so, Brendon and I screamed along to the lyrics. "Fill my heart with song, let me sing forever more! You are all I long for, all I worship, and adore."
As he was singing, Brendon awkwardly stumbled and rolled over into the passenger seat of the car, accidently kicking my head in the process.
I screeched and laughed before continuing to sing to the song, slightly jerking the steering wheel to the left before immediately veering us back on track.
Brendon just smiled at me and teasingly stroked my cheek with the back of his hand as he sang. "In other words. Hold my hand."
From what I could hear, Brendon sounded quite good singing. I wonder if he sounds as good without Frank Sinatra backing him up. I quickly spun the music dial to zero.
He gasped as he realized what I did and flashed me a huge smile before continuing to sing the next lyric. "Baby kiss me." He sang in a low voice, purposely increasing his vibrato. He winked at me before raising my hand up to his lips and softly kissing my knuckle.
I felt the color rise to my cheeks as I quickly pulled my hand away and softly punched him on the shoulder, laughing off his actions.
I tried not to seem affected by the gesture. I brushed my hand through my hair, trying to replace the feeling of Brendon's lips with anything else. Why do I have cold chills? I wiped the back of my hand subtly against the leather of the car seat. All I could think of were Brendon's lips. They were so full and soft. I almost regretted pulling my hand away.
"You're dumb." I muttered to him.
"No, you're dumb!" He gasped pretending to act hurt before playfully punching my shoulder back. He sighed and kicked his feet up onto my dash before grabbing my phone off of my lap. The slight touch of his knuckles against my thigh made my breathing hitch. He was acting very comfortable around me for a stranger.
"What are you doing?" I asked him, glancing over to see him attempting to figure out my passcode.
"I want to see what other songs you listen to. What's your passcode?"
I bit my lip nervously. I don't really like giving out my passwords to people. I enjoy the little privacy I have, plus, I don't really know this boy who wandered into my car and kissed my hand. So why was I giving him my information?
I sighed before relaying the numbers.
Brendon raised his eyebrows and punched in the password before continuing to scroll through my endless library of music. I nervously looked over at him every couple seconds to see if he approved of the music I owned.
Brendon bit his lip as he scrolled through, every now and then his eyes would go wide and a huge smile would form across his lips.
"SHIT, this song is good." He groaned and I felt the need to glance over at him to make sure he was alright. "We'll listen to this next," he stated, smiling confidently and then placing the phone in my lap.
"We may not have time for that, pal." I said while pointing at the now approaching high school in front of us.
Brendon let out a another loud groan before reaching for his backpack from the back seat of my car and slinging it over his shoulder. What's with this guy and moaning?
He pretended to hit his head against my dash, forcing me to let out a loud laugh.
"I kind of forgot we had to go to school." He muttered gazing out the window at the large brick building now swarmed with groups of teenagers.
"Yeah it's kind of a bummer isn't it?" I said. "Hey. We never really talked about it. But what grade are you in? Maybe we will have some of the same classes together." I pulled the car into a parking stall and turned to face him.
Brendon immediately perked up and smiled at me before eagerly reaching into his backpack and pulling out a piece of paper. "I'm a senior. And.... Umm... I have first hour physics with... Mr. Albrecht?"
I looked at my own sheet of paper with the list of my classes for the year. "No, I'm taking advanced Biology first hour." I said sadly.
Brendon frowned before reading off the rest of his list, comparing it with mine. Unfortunately, none of our classes were really the same because I was taking all of the advanced classes, but finally we reached 6th hour and found out we were both taking theatre from Mr. Lester.
"Fantastic! Now I won't be completely alone." Brendon smiled at me. "And uh, sorry for scaring you before, by you know, jumping out in the middle of the street."
I scoffed. "Yeah there are easier ways of getting a ride than just jumping in front of a moving vehicle."
He raised an eyebrow. "How?"
I smiled lightly. "Well if you need a ride to school in the mornings, I could take you. I take my friend sometimes but that shouldn't be a problem to take you as well."
Brendon smirked and brushed his hand through his dark brown hair. "That sounds great actually. Maybe you could give me your number, that way it would be easier to get a hold of you."
"Alright, give me your phone."
We swapped phones and put each other's numbers in before trading back and getting out of the car.