Page 3 (1/2)

He didn’t stumble or say "I’m sorry" He just walked up and stopped a few feet away fronition, and then did so so perfect it makes ap and just put his arms around me Tucked my cheek into his chest and wound one arm around my waist, the other around my shoulders, rested his head on o back to that moment in the auditorium, with its cracked wood seats and its shabby, threadbare carpet, its sain how Saainst the wool of his suit, his ar His aftershave, the rasp of his cheek against my ear Sam created a world for me in that one moment, a safe world where I could cry A world where I fell in love What I didn’t know then was that teeks later at the qualifiers, I would dismantle that world, atom by ato it at the time

It should havepleasure as I did when I listened to thebehind that drum set here Sam see him as I tried to make sense of my own rhythms, my own beats, and my own choices

Sam

"What the hell kind of state doesn’t have Happy Hour?" Darla asked, incredulous

She was at every practice and every gig now that she was living here, so service where Darla had a job It must be a day job, because she had plenty of tier and mother hen You wouldn’t know that she had her own apart so ht her a toothbrush Not that I could say anything--I was crashing on their couch for free

"In OhioYou walk in and they’ve got free food--you knoings and s that you can munch on," she said "And then discounts on drinks Dollar drafts, buy one drink, get one free, or buy one drink, get one half off--you name it All the major cities in Ohio have it, but here" She rolled her eyes and threw up her hands "Nothin’ And why do the bars close at one o’clock?"

Trevor shrugged "Beats me I know alcohol can’t be served after two"

"Yeah!" Darla interjected "So why one o’clock? What’s up with being so uptight? Is it the Catholicisainst a s? "

"Darla," Trevor said, pulling her in, their hips touching, his hands all over her aive hie the world Free the mozzarella sticks"

"The poor schmuck ns this place doesn’t control any of that It’s the voters," she insisted

"Run for governor Vote for Darla!" Trevor shouted

"Why would I do that?" she asked "It’s so much easier to just sit here and bitch about it"

Joe walked up in the reen and sick I started to take off and give them a minute for what I kneas about to happen, but Liam marched over and interrupted before Joe had a chance to speak Joe looked relieved

Liam was taller than any of us; he towered over Trevor, and that wasn’t an easy accoer, he’d looked like a wiry praying mantis, always too tall for the society he was in Since senior year of high school, though, he’d taken to lifting weights and had filled out a lot Liaun to manifest a certain personal authority He interrupted Joe without apology, confidently certain that what he had to say was the most important

I wanted to be that way It wasn’t easy aftern of confidence, of assurance, and of contentment--none of which I really felt While that developed, I was cocooned behind ed the truth by omission

Drumbeats and e after page after page The beats, the e that tells you--note after note, tap after tap--exactly what you need to do to get to the end of the song How I interpret the eh--that’s entirely up to o heavy and deep, or shallow and wild If only life were that simple and uncomplicated

I studied Trevor, Joe, and Darla I saw a co No piece of music, no set of lyrics or measures or notes laid out in a blueprint, could capture what they had improvised And they’d done it in three-three time

I preferred to

Areat, aren’t they?" A voluptuous, blonde woman with eyes the color of the ocean and curly, frizzy hair sat down next to me Her personality took up two thirds of the table

And she looked way too fa some sort of a cotton shirt underneath a flannel, like 1991 called and asked her to audition for a part in a Pearl Jam video As I scooched over to ht Chuck Taylors She didn’t exactly fit in with the college crowd on the Fenway Then again, I looked around at the way everyone else was dressed and styled in this dive bar, and realized that I didn’t exactly fit it, either I earing a caet at J Jill…except I got mine at the Salvation Arood," I said, reflexively polite She kind of looked like a lot of the wo hit on? She slammed a beer bottle down on the table froht I took a sip ofclose to the bottom and this was the point where I cut myself off

"You see out her hand

I shook it "Amy," I said

She wiped her hand on her hip Or was it her ass? It was kind of hard to tell, as her curves blended together like er and shaped in a different way "How long have you been following the an adoring look at the stage

"I--" I started slowly, choosing my words carefully