----Art by Ardibahart on Deviant Art----
"Hi Maeve. Were you sleep?" Josh asked.
"Oh no. I'm wide awake." Maeve chuckled nervously. It was quiet for a minute until he spoke up.
"So you wanted to hear about the concert?" Josh asked again.
"Yeah! What was the setlist?" Maeve settled back into her couch.
"Well there was an intro jam that led into Can't Stop," Maeve cut in.
"Oh I love that song! I never know the lyrics without singin' along to the song though." Maeve laughed. Josh did too and continued to talk.
"Can't Stop led into Dani California and Snow.", Josh paused trying to remember the set.
"Snow sounds so difficult to play." Maeve commented.
"It is at first...well I assume it is." Josh replied correcting himself. If Maeve didn't know who he was he wanted to keep it that way for now.
"Ya know, I've always wanted to learn guitar." Maeve confessed.
"Really? What stopped you?"
"Time and money," she laughed "I know the basics of the keyboard and reading sheet music, but that's where it stops."
"It's never too late to start." Josh encouraged.
"Nah. Just a teenage dream." Maeve said.
"As long as you're passionate about the music you can do it. " Josh replied. Maeve kept those thoughts in mind. She hadn't known him for long, but she could tell he was extremely kind.
"Thanks Jay. I'll think about it." Josh smiled at the way she said his name.
"Great, well, I hate to cut this short but..." Josh was worn out and could feel himself falling asleep. Maeve caught on to what he was trying to say.
"No worries! It's late and I'm sure you're exhausted." She said.
"We could meet up sometime...If you want.." this was a bold move for Josh. It usually takes him a while to ask someone out.
"I'd be happy to, but I thought you weren't going to be in town long?" Maeve asked.
"I..I have an extra day. Any place you'd like to go?" Josh quickly changed the subject.
"There's a pretty awesome art gallery here!"
"That sounds great." Josh said.
"Great I'll let you get to bed. We'll set a time in the morning." This was really happening. Maeve was going on a date.
"Alright, goodnight Maeve. "
"Night Jay."
~
It was around 10am when Josh woke up. He rolled over a bit to stare out his window and figure out when to book his flight back to LA. Then he remembered Maeve.
Josh sat up and grabbed his phone. He opened it, clicked to Maeve's contact, and almost pressed call. "Maybe I should wait she might be asleep." Josh thought to himself. He bit his lip thinking for a minute. Even though his mind was protesting, Josh pressed call.
The phone rang for a long time. It took so long Josh thought Maeve wasn't going to answer. Josh was about to hang up when she finally answered. There was some rustling before she spoke.
"Morning." Her voice was low a d sounded as if she had just woken up.
"Morning...did I wake you?" Josh inquired.
"No, I was up. " Maeve said yawning afterwards.
Josh chuckled and asked, "Too tired for the art gallery today?" If she said yes, Josh would still go see the art. He would just see it in a bad mood.
"Don't be silly! I'll be ready in an hour and a half!" Maeve's voice lightened up and so did Josh's face.
"I'll meet you at your place then."
"Sure! Do you mind walking to the gallery? It's not much of a walk. "
"Not a problem. Walks are always fun."
Maeve laughed, "Great. I'll see you then." The two said goodbye and got ready for their date.
~
Maeve was ecstatic. This was the first, real, official date she's been on in years. After doing her basic hygiene she had no idea what to do. What perfume should she wear? What clothes? Should she repaint her nails?
Maeve had to take a deep breath. "It's just a date." She tried to tell herself, while picking out her nicest pair of jeans. She was going to wear a Metallica sweater, but decided against it. She didn't want Josh to think she was trying too hard to impress him. Instead, Maeve put on her favorite Supernatural sweater and a pair of tennis shoes.
By the time Maeve had gotten herself together and fed Archer it was 12:15. Jay would be there soon, so she locked up her apartment and stood in front of the building on the sidewalk. At the moment, Maeve's apartment wasn't very clean. It wasn't a pig sty, but she would be embarrassed if he saw all of her dirty laundry.
Maeve stood there, waiting, waving at people as they walked by. Soon in the corner of her eye, Maeve saw his slim stature. She turned in his direction and made eye contact with him. Jay gave her a small smile and a wave that Maeve returned. He walked a little bit faster to get to her and the two shared a hug.
"Hey, the walk wasn't too far from your hotel was it?" Maeve asked.
Jay shook his head, "No not at all."
"Great!" Maeve said as they started walking. While they were walking Maeve would answer any of Jay's questions about the buildings they were walking by. Maeve really appreciated him paying attention to her rambling on about the history of Shreveport. They even stopped once for him to take a picture of one of the murals painted on the side of a building.
In return, Jay told Maeve what he knew about Los Angeles, but what really fascinated her was his views on music. He told her about starting off as a drummer, his process of writing songs, and even about the first guitar he broke, arguing with his parents. Being the lead guitarist for the Chili Peppers was never mentioned though.
It didn't seem like it, but they spent hours together. Just laughing, sharing stories, and looking at art. Maeve gasped at one painting though. Tugging at Jay's sleeve to look at it.
"Look at the colors," she began, "it looks as if it's moving...almost like ocean waves, ya know? What an amazing work of art."
"You're a work of art." Josh mumbled. Maeve looked up at him. He looked as if he realized what he said and seemed shocked at himself. "I'm sorry...I was just trying to say...you're pretty... well more than pretty ... I just meant..." Jay was stumbling all over his words, but Maeve smiled.
"Jay it's alright. That's the best compliment anyone has ever given me. Thank you." His face was still red when he spoke again.
"You're welcome." Maeve grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the exit.
"Ya like pizza don't ya Jay?" She asked. He nodded his head yes.
"Awesome! I know just the place."