—Hussein Nishah

When I woke up, the sun was just starting to set. Though the blinds were closed, rays of rose and gold were sneaking through the cracks between them, and the room felt hot. The June sun was unforgiving, even in the evening, and I felt thirsty again. All at once, I became aware of how long I had been sleeping, and how strangely rested I felt. I must have been out a very long time.

As the seconds passed, I started making some strange discoveries.

My eyes were not heavy and blurred, as per usual, but rather I felt fresh and new. Even more peculiar than that, I saw every color around me. I even noticed the sweet, floral scent of the freshly washed towel that I still had wrapped around me. The towel was my first cue to remember the night before, and I quickly ran my hand over the bedsheets, searching for my phone.

When I finally felt the hard plastic casing, I excitedly checked my messages. No new texts or calls. But, there in my inbox were the old messages from Arrows. My residual proof that it had actually happened.

Before I could get myself too disappointed that Julian had not contacted me again, I started getting dressed. Off-white khaki shorts and a turquoise tank top were the first pieces of clothing I noticed in my closet, so that's what I threw on. I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen, where I was surprised to see Laina, up and making food.

"Hey, you're awake before me." I smiled at her while eyeing the stove.

"That's a first!" Laina laughed.

I felt a sense of pride in our friendship... that Laina felt as comfortable as she did in my place. Cubed, golden potatoes were sizzling in a skillet and pancake batter was browning next to them in a pan. Laina was sipping on fruit juice while sprinkling salt over the potatoes. I decided that juice sounded really good and poured myself a glass, too.

"Breakfast for dinner." I nodded towards the pans. "It's like you can read my mind."

"I'm starving, and figured you must be, too." Laina stared at me and took a long sip from her glass. "So, are you going to tell me what happened last night?"

"Yeah, you and I went to an awesome concert together." I held back a smile that was aching to spread across my face.

"Oh, ha ha," Laina teased. "But seriously, tell me everything! Start to finish, B! Did you party with them?"

"No, we didn't party." I shook my head, looking down at the tile floor. "I told you, no booze. Nothing like that. And it was just Julian and me."

Laina's eyes got bigger, urging me to go on.

"We just hung out, that's all," I continued. "He's really sweet."

"He's really... sweet?" Laina burst out. "Brooke, you spent the night with Julian Miles and you call him... sweet?"

"Well, he was," I retorted, a bit defensive. "He's incredibly smart and really down to earth. We talked. It was nice."

Laina flipped the pancakes and turned the potatoes over. She was pensive but smiling.

"What?" I asked, a bit warily.

"Oh, no, it's nothing." Laina giggled. "It's just that you think I'm really going to believe you spent all night with a touring musician and all he wanted to do was talk about the theories of space and time with you."

"Ethics and philosophy, actually." My own sarcasm matched Laina's playful tone perfectly.

"Come on, Brooke! Please!" Laina begged unapologetically. "You have to tell me! I'm going to die if you don't tell me!"

"I'm really going to miss you then, Lain." I wiped away an invisible tear from my cheek.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop pushing it... for now." Laina turned off the stove and sloppily piled the food onto two plates. "Let's eat."

The old, wooden table was a bit wobbly, but it still served its purpose. Laina and I sat down and devoured our food, leaving the plates empty, apart from a few streaks of maple syrup. I instantly felt even better to have some sugar running through my veins. So much had happened in the previous twenty-four hours that I completely forgot my own hunger.

I leaned back in my chair for a moment, feeling totally satisfied.

"So, did your mom call?" Laina was using her fork to draw leftover syrup around her plate.

"I'm not sure. Why do you ask?" My stomach instantly felt tight, like someone had a firm grip on my organs and was squeezing from the inside.

"Well, Caleb said he was going to call her last night. I told him not to. I don't know if he really did." Laina wouldn't meet my gaze.

Leave it to Caleb to try and retaliate through embarrassment and blackmail, I thought.

Although I was completely grown, my mom never stopped worrying about me. The fact that she lived several states away from me did not help matters much, and she had a tendency to worry way more than necessary, as mothers often did. Because of those things, I hadn't told my mom anything about my breakup with Caleb earlier that year. Briefly, I wondered if I should have.

With a deep breath, I reached into my pocket and scrolled through every missed call from yesterday. Tons from Laina, a handful from Caleb, and one from Julian. But nothing from my mom.

A sigh of relief escaped my parted lips.

"No, I don't have anything from her." I eased back into my chair again. "I guess he didn't tell her. She didn't call you, right?"

"No, not at all," Laina said, peering up at me once, before looking back down to her plate. "Brooke, I'm sorry about calling Caleb. I didn't realize things were... so bad between you two."

"Yeah, there's a lot you don't know, Laina." My tone was more stern than I had intended it to be.

"You know that you can tell me anything." Laina's heartfelt offer made me smile.

"I know," I said, reaching out to touch her forearm. "Maybe some other time."

Laina glanced at my hands and wrists. I pulled away from her, promptly changing the subject.

"Well, it's Saturday night. We're already together. Do you want to do something?" I could feel the sweat on the back of my neck dampening my hair.

"Sure." Laina smiled warmly. "Can I just use your shower and borrow something to wear?"

"Like you even have to ask." I smirked at her. "Fresh towels in the cabinet upstairs. Help yourself to my closet. I'll check some movie listings while you're getting ready."

Laina started making her way up the stairs, and I went over to the side of the couch. My laptop was there, propped up and charging. I brought it over to the kitchen table and fired it up, feeling a bit impatient at how much it was lagging. Finally, I was able to open the browser and access the site of the theater. There was a mystery thriller playing that looked really interesting, and it wouldn't start for another hour and a half. That would be perfect, I thought.

It was easier than I thought to pick a film, and I heard the water still running in the shower upstairs, so I took this opportunity to check my e-mails. Most of the messages were spam, but one stood out from the rest. It'd been sent in the late afternoon of the day before.

Well, that was fast. I had only applied a week prior, and seeing as I had been out of work for several months, with no explanation for the gap in my resume, I was surprised to see a reply at all, even more so that quickly. Either way, I could not complain. My savings were quickly running dry and this was great news to receive, especially then.

Laina stopped singing and I heard the water turn off, so I knew my alone time was coming to an end.

I decided to check some social media to pass those precious, remaining minutes. At that point, I realized I was not connected with Ascend the Stars online, as individuals. To amend this, I followed Julian, Mason, Devon, Tommy, and Jesse. Jesse had posted an update just a few hours earlier.

I checked the time and figured they must've been there by now. It was only an eight hour drive to Los Angeles from Tucson, and the bus had left early that the morning.

I wondered what Julian was doing at that very moment.

"Brooke, can I wear your red blouse and jeans?" Laina's interruption was a welcomed one.

"Yeah, wear whatever you'd like," I called upstairs to her, while simultaneously closing my laptop screen.

A fresh-looking Laina came skipping down the stairs, what felt like just a minute later.

"You ready?" she asked, all smiles.

"Let's go." I grabbed my keys from the hook on the wall, and we headed out to my car.

The night air was dry and warm, with stars starting to dot the cobalt sky. I heard people laughing and smelled the proof of someone grilling close by. It was truly the epitome of a beautiful summer evening.

Laina and I enjoyed some loud music, and some temperate relief, as the sky shifted completely to black. We made our way to the movie theater with time to spare, and were pleased to find no long lines inside.

I asked for two passes to see The Twelfth Gate. The young worker commented on the good quality of the film before announcing the amount due for the tickets.

"I got this." Laina pushed ahead of me and slammed down some cash before I could protest. "You covered parking last night, so it's my turn."

I was in too good of a mood to argue. I simply thanked my best friend with a shake of my head and a smile.

When we reached our seats in the back row of the cinema, masses of people began piling in, coming from seemingly out of nowhere.

A buzz of soft noises surrounded us. After some minutes of idle chitchat, the lights started to dim, and a notice to turn off cell phones played on the enormous screen in front of us. I took my phone out of my pocket and was about to power off, when I saw a new text. From Julian. I had not felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

It was a picture message.

Been a busy day but wanted to show you how I looked when I woke up earlier. About to go on stage. Talk later. x

I stifled a laugh when I zoomed into the photo to reveal Julian's face, which was covered in permanent marker. Someone had drawn a cat nose and whiskers on him while he was asleep.

"What's that?" Laina's voice was just above a whisper as she tried to peek onto my phone screen and catch a glimpse.

"Nothing." I silenced my phone and slipped it back into my pocket.

"Was that..." Laina stared at me, wide eyed.

"Shhhh!" someone in front of us warned. Laina and I exchanged one uncomfortable look before turning to face the big screen.

1. "Illusion" (cover) by Molotov Cocktail Piano

2. "Beautiful Soul" (cover) by Boyce Avenue