May 1 – Part one

Sit down.

She does, at the bar. There are six stools in the place? He can’t see her. She can’t see him. But she knows he is just on the other side of the sound system platform behind her.

What does she do? Phone out like cigarettes in a much older age, she scrolls, texts, acts busy. The coke she ordered happens to be nice. It is cool to be at a venue when no one is there. You get the sense of the place without the human energy inhabitation.

But this venue already has habitation… painfully aware is what you would say but really jitters, not pain is what she feels. The anticipation of the night is upon all of them. She didn’t expect the music on so loud already. It shouldn’t surprise her. That’s how it’s been all year at the other venue. Loud and empty at the beginning. 

In the beginning, her mentor/friend/guide, told her things without telling her. Things about the shift of responsibility, that her role was changing, that this would be the beginning of a new life,  a transition. It was all true. Neither of us knew how different it would all go.

The crush that had everyone stunned but hopeful. She didn’t see this as part of that transition at all. A looking beyond what is in front of us was not the norm for the folks that walked the halls then, not the venue halls, these other halls.

Few still knew. 

How do you gently get someone settled in a new place knowing you’ll leave them here and hope for the best?  He did that a couple of times. Things stuck in selections, not of their choosing.

The music made it easier. She loved the music. The place was exotic. Not your ordinary type place at all. Perhaps.

Present. It’s time to be in the present. She tucks her phone away. 

The music is on and loud. Friends start popping through the door.

She’s by the stage soon and she only steals glances his way. Why? To give him room.

Not because she wouldn’t smother him with attention, but that she knows flames hate that shit. Room means air and energy to grow.

The night begins.