I had to turn Mike down. As attractive as he was I couldn’t risk getting into trouble with the first guy I met, especially not on the first day. I would not be considered the whore of my class. Some other chick can have that honor.

I walked through my apartment door and dropped my notebook on the table in the living room. I lived in a one bedroom apartment with a full kitchen and bathroom. The living area was nice; would’ve been nicer without all the boxes. I sighed to myself at the thought of having to unpack. I had been putting it off since I moved in a month ago but with classes starting I knew I had to get on that. It was just gonna suck since I had to do it all by myself. Maybe I can get Gabi or Brandon up here…..

My thoughts were interrupted by someone wrapping their arms around me from behind and picking me up. I screamed and kicked, making contact with the person’s shin.

“Shit man, what the fuck?”

“B?” I turned around and sure enough, saw my brother on the ground holding his leg. “What are you doing here? How did you get in?”

“I have a key remember? And I came to see if I could take you out to celebrate your first day.”
I gave him a confused look. “Who does that?”

“Well, we could.” I smiled.

“Thanks but I need to unpack.” He looked around at my living room and smiled at me.

“Man, I’d think that you’d have this done by now. You’re always so on top of things.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and opened a box on the floor. Brandon sat across from me and dug through the box. With his help I was able to get all the kitchen stuff unpacked and some of my books.

“So how was your first day?” Brandon asked as we enjoyed a soda on the couch.

“Pretty good. Had a few classes, went to those classes, got syllabuses for said classes.”

“Alright smart ass, don’t tell me.” I giggled.

“No but I did have a good first day. I think I made a friend.” His jaw dropped sarcastically.

“Oh my gosh, little Kaylee Quinn made a friend? What?”

“Hey, don’t go around using my middle name and shit, Brandon Michael.”

“Whatever. Who is she though? You wanna set me up?” Brandon already had a serous girlfriend who he’d been dating since his junior year of high school. She was cute, funny, and really smart. Sometimes I wondered why she would ever consider going out with my brother.

“You don’t think Ariel would mind?” I asked jokingly. He shrugged it off and sat back in the couch with a relaxed expression on his face.

“Oh hey, you wanna do something tonight?”

“Something like what?”

“I know this guy who’s pretty musically inclined. Sometimes he invites me out to this space to listen to his band practice and give them tips and I thought you’d like to go since you’re finally in town.”

I thought it over. “When?”

“Around 6.” I looked at the clock; it was already 5:15.

“Sure, it’d be cool to listen to a new band. They any good?”

He shrugged. “I think they are but I can’t make those kinds of decisions for you.” I rolled my eyes. “Really though, they’re pretty good. Who knows, you might wanna use their music in the future.” He was referring to the reason I was at SMU. I decided to major in music therapy and since Brandon knew that he always tried to find new music for me to use in my future practice.

“Sure man, but if we’re gonna be there at 6 we should leave now.”

“Let’s go then.”

***

The ride was kinda long but Brandon filled it with rave reviews of this band. He didn’t give me a name though. Veiled something or other is all I could pick up on.

We pulled up to someone’s house and parked on the street. “Who’s place is this?” I asked as we got out of the car.

“Don’t know,” Brandon answered. “The band’s been using the space since the lead’s first year so I’m guessing it belongs to a friend of his.” I nodded and walked with my brother to the open garage.

“Hey Jaime where’d you put the mic stand?”

“Check the back, behind the motor oil.”

I giggled to myself and walked I the garage. Surprisingly it was a pretty nice space. There was a red couch against the wall that was probably for the people who came to watch the band. I stood awkwardly in the doorway as I waited to either be noticed or have Brandon introduce me.

“Hey guys!” Brandon called out. The two guys in the garage looked in our direction and smiled at us.

“What’s up man?” asked the short one. He wasn’t all that short, maybe just a couple inches taller than me but then again I’m 5’6 so it’s not like that means much. He was really cute though. He had wavy, shoulder-length brown hair, big brown eyes, tan skin, and a pretty cute smile. He was a very attractive person. He and my brother did the whole handshake-hug thing before he spoke again.

“Who’s this?” he asked, looking at me. I blushed a little.

“This is Kaylee. Kay this is Vic.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said in almost a whisper. Damn Kay, get it together.

“You too,” Vic said. “That dude over there is Jaime.” He pointed to the guy setting up the mic stand he found behind the motor oil. He smiled at me before going back to his task.

Jaime was cute too but in a different way. He had spiky hair and a crooked smile that was just adorable. His tattoos were pretty cool too.

“We’re just waiting for the others and we’ll get to practicing,” Vic said. Brandon nodded and led me to the couch.

“Who are ‘the others’?” I asked.

“Two more guys. They’re freshmen so I don’t know them that well. Vic and Jaime are the only two I really know.”

“How do you know them though?”

“I met them in my freshmen seminar class last year. They’re pretty cool dudes. All four of the guys are from San Diego.” Wow, California.

“What are they doing here?”

“They heard Dallas was big on the music scene and had some pretty good music schools so here they all are.” I nodded.

I watched as Vic tested the mics and tuned a guitar; Jaime was tuning a bass.

Who were the other two guys? Were they as cute as Vic and Jaime? A car’s horn took me out of my thoughts. I looked out the garage to see a skinny guy hopping out of a red sedan. He was pretty tall and tatted like crazy. His ears were pierced and his face was soft and warm. He looked really fucking cute.

Shit, relax Kay. That’s three already.

“Hey, Tone!” Vic called out. The guy smiled and went up to him and Jaime.

“Who’s the chick?” I heard the guy whisper to Vic.

“Oh, that’s Kaylee. She came with Brandon.” The guy nodded and came over to us.

“Hey, I’m Tony.”

“Kaylee.” I shook his outstretched hand and smiled. Gosh his smile is contagious.

“Three down, one to go!” Jaime called out. “Tone go ahead and start tuning.” Tony nodded and went back to his car to get a guitar.

“Where’s our drummer though?” Tony asked as he loosened the pegs on his guitar.

“I have no idea,” Vic answered. “I called him a little while ago and he said he was on his way.”

“He’d better, we’re wasting daylight.”

The guys finished tuning and struck up a conversation with me and Brandon. The three of them were friends from high school and the drummer was Vic’s younger brother. All four of them lived on campus; Vic, Jaime, and Brandon lived together with some other guy in an on campus apartment. Tony and the drummer lived together in a freshman dorm.

“Wait so you’re off campus?” Jaime asked. I nodded. “We’ll have to come over some time.”

“Well if you’d like to help me unpack then sure, come whenever.”

“Sorry I’m late guys. I had to take care of some scheduling things.” The guys turned toward the voice in the driveway. I turned too and wished I hadn’t. Mike stared back at me unfazed and walked into the garage.

“It’s cool bro, just set up so we can do this,” Vic answered. Mike nodded and set up the drum set.

“So, that’s your younger brother?” I asked. Vic nodded.

“Yo Mike, come over here and meet Kaylee.”

“I’ve already met her,” Mike returned nonchalantly. Vic looked back at me.

“We had two classes together today.” Vic nodded and went up to the mic.

“Good afternoon welcomed guests,” he said into the mic. “My name is Vic and we are Pierce The Veil. Alright guys, let’s take it at ‘Currents Convulsive’.”

Jaime started off the song with a bass feature then Tony, Vic, and Mike joined in. The song was fast-paced and loud, really impressive. Vic’s voice was so beautiful and the rest of the band was clearly into it. Mike was killing it with the drums, Jaime was jumping around with his bass, and Tony seemed so relaxed. This was clearly their element. They played another song called “The Cheap Bouquet” before stopping to get some feedback from Brandon.

“So what do you think so far?” Vic asked me. I couldn’t help but smile.

“You guys are great, really.” The boys smiled and said some stupid shit about having their first groupie. I rolled my eyes.

“Well, you guys take care of your groupie. I have football practice.” Brandon got up. “Will one of you take her back to her place? I drove her.”

“Yeah man, we’ve got it,” Jaime answered. Brandon nodded and kissed me on the cheek.

“Be safe, don’t do drugs, don’t get pregnant.” I rolled my eyes again and hit him on the arm.

“Later loser,” I called.

“Bye dork,” he returned. “I’ll come by tonight.” I nodded and waved him away. When I turned back to face the guys I saw Mike’s expression. He looked jealous. Was he jealous? I shook it off and listened to the rest of the band’s rehearsal.

At around 8 they called it quits and started packing up. “That was a totally kickass set you guys.” Tony smiled.

“Thanks. We try.” I giggled.

“Hey Kaylee, you wanna come out with us and go get something to eat?” Vic asked.

“Thanks but I should really get back home. I still have a lot to unpack.” He nodded.

“That’s cool. Mike’ll take you home.” I swear Mike made the most appalled face I’d ever seen on a person.

“Why me?”

“Because you guys know each other and you were late. Also, I’m older so do what I say.” He sounded a lot like Brandon with that one….

“Fine, I’ll do it,” he said with a sigh. I ignored it. He couldn’t still be upset that I didn’t do anything with him this afternoon, could he?

The guys packed up and went their separate ways. I went with Mike to his car. “Where to?” he asked once the car was started. I gave him directions back to my place. Other than me telling him where to turn the ride was silent. I couldn’t get a read on him at all. It was like he didn’t want to be around me but that he also wanted to say something. I don’t know.

He stopped in front of my place and put the car in park. “Well, here you go,” he said.

“Thanks…” He nodded and I opened the door. “Are you upset with me or something? Is it because of this afternoon because if it is that’s a dumb reason to be pissed.”

“It’s not about that,” he answered.

“Then what?” He shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it.” I rolled my eyes but figured it wasn’t worth it.

“Whatever.” I got out of the car and walked into my place without a look back. If he wanted to be a baby then fine, but I wasn’t gonna entertain that nightmare of a guy.

Notes