Let Me In

The air outside was chilly for a spring night in Los Angeles. I had just come out of recording some things for the new album and I was ready to relieve some stress and drink, a lot. I took the box of Marlboros out of my pocket and removed the last cigarette from the box along with my lighter. I placed it between my lips and after a couple of attempts at getting the flame to stay on, I managed to light up the cig and a wave of relief hit me.

I inhaled the initial dose of the magical mixture of nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide and it brought an instant sensation of ecstasy mixed with the calming of my chills. For the past three months, my stress had been off the charts and I had grown more attached to my cigarettes.

My car was parked a couple of blocks away from the studio and so I had a chance to smoke two cigarettes before heading home to change and meet everyone for some drinks. I’d learnt that leaving your car on outdoor parkings could be a little dangerous because assholes tended to fuck around with the cars and so I began to park on the underground parking lot.

I paid my fee at the entrance and headed down to my car.

-“Mike,” I heard a female voice from behind me that startled me as I opened the door of my car, making me freeze in the spot; it was her. I turned around and found Alysha fast walking towards me. I’m not sure how she found me, or how I didn’t see her as I walked into the parking lot, but I knew this wouldn’t turn out good.

-“Are you stalking me now?” I asked rudely; she was really the last person I wanted to talk however she remained silent “What do you want?” I continued now in a cold tone, as I tried to restrain my anger. It’s not like I would hit her – I’d never hit a woman, no matter what – but I was afraid I was going to smash someone’s window or throw whatever I had on me to the ground.

-“I just want to talk to you,” she said with a soft and innocent-like voice. This pissed me off like nothing else. Here she was, probably with some bullshit excuse to justify her reasons for cheating on me. “You’ve been ignoring my calls for the past months now,” she added and I chuckled.

-“You’re not serious right?” I asked rhetorically and when her face remained serious, I couldn’t help but chuckle “You fucking cheated on me after dating for almost a whole year and you expect me to pick up your call to hear you say some bullshit excuse?” my tone of voice grew angrier as the words escaped my mouth “for once I was ready to get my shit together and stop fucking around and well, you pretty much ruined all that. How did you find me anyways?”

-“Erin told me you guys had recording today.” She answered with watery eyes; before she knew that whenever I was pissed at her she could solve it with tears but this time they didn’t mean shit to me “I’m sorry Mike, what I did has no forgiveness I know but everyday I wish I hadn’t done it… I miss you,” she finished and we both remained silent for a couple of seconds that felt like hours. “I need you,”

“Goodbye Alysha,” I told her as I got into the car. Her cries became louder and as she stood next to my window begging for me to come out of the car, listen to her and give her another chance. I saw her black make up smear with the tears that now rolled down her cheeks like waterfalls, but if there was one thing I truly couldn’t tolerate was this. She’d broken my heart and I wasn’t about to let her back into my life. I placed my car on drive and rolled away from her.

I was the first one to leave the studio because I needed a shower before going to the bar with the boys; Kellin and Katelynne found a baby sitter and wanted to hang out and so we agreed on meeting tonight for drinks. Itseven thirty which meant I had plenty of time to go home, clean up and arrive there early. And that’s exactly what I did
_______________________________________________________________

As expected, I arrived to Jessie’s earlier than the rest of the people. I took my phone to text Vic but I knew that it was pointless and so I headed to the bar where Melissa awaited with a scotch on the rocks. Melissa worked for Jessie’s - which was always our go-to bar - for a while and we quickly befriend her seeing how often we were here.

-“Well you look like shit,” she said bluntly; since our friendship went a long way, the politeness had been replaced with honesty which was a nice change. Usually people sugar coat breakups and shit to try to make you feel better but she told you things like they were; no bullshit.

-“Alysha cornered me in the parking lot and asked me to take her back,” I said, chugging my drink in a matter of seconds and by the time our eyes met, she had the bottle of scotch out and ready to serve a second one.

- “Please tell me you didn’t,” she said and I shook my head “Oh forget about her. Yeah she was hot and I know you were really into her but she’s a bitch man, you deserve better,” she added “that said, no judgment but all these one night stands are not good for you either,” She was referring to the flock of women I had been with these past three months and deep down, I knew that what I was doing was wrong, however every night I swore it’d be the last and well, here I was, sitting in the bar looking around and eyeing the single girls desperate for some game.

As I glanced at the entire bar, my eyes caught the sight of a brunette girl with long straight hair walking through the doors. She was medium height and was wearing black ripped jeans and a white tank top

“I’ve never seen her before,” I said turning my head back towards Melissa who rolled her eyes at me.

“You’re a lot cause,” she added, making me laugh.

“A mojito please,” she said to the other bartender as she sat down on the bar and took out her phone. That’s when I knew it was my queue to make my move. I stared at Melissa with a cheeky grin as she poured me another scotch before I winked at her and sat by her side.

“Uhm, may I help you?” she asked, raising her perfectly shaped eyebrow as our eyes met. She had very light green eyes that were enhanced by the dark make up she wore. Now that I was closer, I caught a glance of her ear piercings and the small space-grey stud on her nose.

“No, I’m just here having a drink,” I said grinning. She’d clearly seen me move but she was going along with it. “I’m Mike,” I extended my arm towards her. She hesitated for a few seconds, but then shook my hand.

“I’m Sarah,” she smiled back. Our hands disconnected from our greeting as she headed for her drink and thanked the bartender before turning towards me. “Well, cheers I guess,” she said lifting her glass and clashing it with mine as we continued to talk.

_______________________________________________________________

“So you’re from the north?” I asked, signaling the bartender for two more drinks and she nodded. Her cheeks were a little flushed as the effects of the alcohol and the heat in the room made their effects.

“Yeah born and raised in New York,”

“Then what brings you to the nice and warm area of California?”

“Well, I needed a tan so you know, I moved all the way here for that,” she joked. I liked the witty sass she had and it was refreshing to find someone that would become a little bit of a challenge.

“I think that would be quite an expensive tan, no?” I responded, amusing her.

We kept on talking about various things, like how I was a drummer - but I didn’t want to use fame as a way to get laid and so I left it at that, and at around twelve thirty, my phone vibrated with a message from Vic:

Dude where the fuck are you? We’ve been waiting for like an hour?
That’s when I realized we’d agreed to meet somewhere else, not at Jessie’s like usual. I was close to taking this girl home and so I couldn’t leave now:

Thought we were meeting @ Jessie’s. Can’t leave rn. Gotta get laid ;)
Vic instantly replied:

You’re a pig. See you home :P

“Sorry, it was my brother,” I said as I placed my phone back in my pocket before the bartender handed us a new set of drinks.

“So you’ve got a brother?”

“Yeah just a little older than me,”

She smiled at me and pushed her hand a little towards mine. She’d had a couple drinks in her system already and so constant flirting became more and more obvious as the night went on; I may be a man but I’m not stupid and this chick was definitely coming home with me.

“Well I think I’ve had a drink too much, so it’ll be the bill for me,” she said to the bartender who was approaching with another set of drinks but I stopped him.

“Just put it under my tab,” I winked. She told me I shouldn’t bother and all the things girls say when they are flattered that a boy bought them something and smiled again. She had beautifully white, pearly teeth.

“Thank you, but I think it’s time for me to call it a night,” she said.

“You’re intoxicated, let me take you,” I added, in order to smoothly find a way to get into her pants “cabs can be pretty expensive in this area,”

However, her reaction surprised me.

-“Oh darling, I may be intoxicated but I don’t give it up on the first date,” she started with the same sweetness she’d kept all evening “However, if you become interested in more than simple one-night stands, here’s my number,” she continued handing me a napkin with her name on it before walking away from me. I had to admit that this was shocking considering the amount of flirting that was exchanged throughout the night and I thought I had it in the bag; plus I’d never been rejected.

Once she was far enough away, Melissa began to laugh erratically as she made fun of me.

-“Well let me say that was definitely amusing,” she said as I sat down in front of her.

-“She gave me her number,” my thoughts couldn’t wrap around the whole situation. She knew my plan all along and still kept along with it and a part of me found that incredibly attractive.

“Are you going to call her?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly “There’s something so mysterious and kinda hot about her,”

Notes