A Thousand Times Before
Chapter 1
By: Nicole
--------- Monday, December 3, 2007 ---------
Something's gotta change again I'm losing, my inspirations gone, oh no oh no Seeing through some different eyes I can't find, my medications failed, again again
I sat at my desk, Sugarcult blaring out of my computer speakers. I sang along with the song absent mindedly, concentrating on the task before me. A small pocket size notebook, open roughly half way, had a few words scribbled on the sheet that was earlier blank.
I chewed on my pencil, erasing the last line and replacing it with a fresh set, blocking out the Sugarcult song and turning to the one I was writing. I laid my pencil down and switched on my tape recorder, so I wouldn't forget the melody of the song, and sang it from the beginning. Satasfied with my work I closed the little graffitted and tattered book and shut down my computer.
When I got out of high school last year I moved from a small town on the Alabama-Georgia border to Montgomery. Why's that so important? Turns out Matt had moved here a year earlier to... take a guess... Seek out a music career. Yeah that's what I came here to do too. I turned 19 one month and three days ago (October 31, 2007) and Matt had turned 20 around June.
I remember when I was 13 or so and I came across this band, Good Charlotte, and I instantly adopted them as my favorite band. They were one of the main things that made me wanna be in a band. And now, 8 years and 6 CD's later, they still are.
Ring Ring! I dashed to my phone. "Hello?"
"Hey Nic, It's Matt." My heart nearly jumped out of my chest! We hadn't talked in a long time due to some..past problems, but I still had a thing for him. I mean seriously, how many guys would get their lip peirced JUST for you?
"Oh hey Matt" I played it cool, using my superb acting skills to cover my nerviousness. I sat down in my oversized chair, my knees were starting to feel wobbly and my hands were shaking.
"Listen I got news of a concert this weekend and um, I was just uh.." he paused and spoke in one breath "wonderingifyouwannagowithmecauseyourfavoritebandisgonnabethereandmaybethiscouldbeadate"
Silence.. I was wondering if I had bad hearing or he was intoxicated, "Matt.. Are you high?"
"No, why?" I could tell he was trying to hide a hint of disappointment.
"Because, we haven't hung out since..then.." I curled up in my chair sideways, the phone tucked between my ear and the back of the chair.
"Well, if you don't wanna go I'll understand..I mean after all, we don't talk very much anymore.."
My heart started racing, what if he was for real? I mean I was missing my chance here, and if it was a joke, it wouldn't hurt much, he was right, we rarely talk. "No no! I'd love to go"
"Great! The concerts a bit far, so we'll leave Friday night and get a hotel room near the venue and ya' know, go to the concert and we can spend the week there if you want" He started sounding nervous.
"Yeah thats fine, But where's the concert at exactly?" I was really getting excited.
"Oh Heh, sorry I forgot, It's in Atlanta."
"Okay, what time Friday?"
"Um how does 3:00 sound?"
"Thats cool, I can get off work at 1:00 so that'll work, is that everything?"
"Other than pack lots of clothes, that's it. Seeya Friday Nic" I could practically hear the grin in his voice.
I smiled "Peace and Mad Love Matt" He laughed and hung up.
I switched my phone off and checked the time. '10:15, time to get ready for work."
I walked over to my cd player and popped in GC's latest CD: Forsaken, Fogiven, and Never Forgotten. I was instantly relaxed as Tattoo To You blared though my speakers. I sang along to the song, making my way to my closet. "And this is, my tattoo, dedicated, to you, and this is, my heart, don't you remember?, the one you pulled apart.." I shuffled through my millions of clothes, settling on a pair of 40" kahki pants with rings up the sides, a red shirt with a black outline of a star on it and black chucks. I pulled my long brown, red and blue hair into two pigtails at the base of the head and put on my black beanie.I walked into the bathroom and put on my red eyeshadow and thick black eyeliner.
I grabbed my car keys, stopping infront of the mirror to check over my appearance. Turning my cd player off, I walked out of my second story apartment and down to my car. I got into my car and put in GC's very first CD, putting it on I Heard You and starting my car up. I sang along, blaring my music extremely loud down the busy streets to our local mall. "Tooday I screwed up agian, I wasn't paying attention, I walked into a wall agian, I heard you laugh and saw you grin, While you were sitting at your t-shirt staand with all your cool friends, They're really cool, I get the pooint!" The second verse was always my favorite and always managed to make me laugh. I turned the ignition off and my music died out in an instant and I climbed out of my car, a wide grin pasted on my face.
I was singing as I walked through the over-sized mall, reciving dirty looks for my appearance and applauses for my singing abilities. I walked past a girl, obviously just out of school, in a cheerleading uniform and looked her dead in the eye, grinning widely as I continued singing, " I saw your boyfriend he's 6' 3, Quarterback on varsity.." She gave me a dirty look as I broke into a sprint, making a sharp left into a store. Still laughing I slowed to a walk and headed to the back of the store "Morning Kerri! How's life?"
"The same as yesterday Nic. You goin' to the concert Saturday?" She was stocking CD's.
"Yeah, Matt's taking me" I nodded egarly, grabbing a box of CD's and started to put them in their places. We worked at a small store called Lashes. It was pretty much a store for local punk bands and rock bands to sell their cd's and merchendise. My band, Twisted Flame, was one of 168 bands across the state to invest in the store. Surprisingly we were among the top two sellers, the other being Countess Bynite.
"Wow? Got room for a tag along?" She put the CD's in her hand down and look at me curiously.
I blushed and punched her in the arm jokingly, "Yes we have room sister Kerri! It's not like we're gonna make out or anything!"
The rest of our shift was pretty busy, we started selling merch for two new bands, bringing our total toooooo 170 bands! I asked my boss, Mark if I could take my vacation for the whole week and he agreed. It was a good night, all of my band's merch sold out and we took the rank of best-sellers..for the time being.
When I got home at 5 in the afternoon I packed my bags and took a long bubble bath. I changed into my home made Rancid pajamas and grabbed my cordless phone from it's charger. I dialed Matt's number and waitied for him to pick up.
Finally after the 3rd ring he picked up,"Hola Nic" He said my name so smoothly.
I laughed, "Hey. My friend Kerri wants to go to the concert with us, do you mind?"
"Nah, But that means two people will have to share a bed" He was hinting to the obvious.
"Okay, fine! We can share a bed" I rolled my eyes and grinned as I heard a faint 'Yes!' followed by a loud thud. "Matt?"
"heh, Uh..Sorry I kinda..fell, okay well uh seeya!"
"Peace" I clicked off my phone and headed to my room.
Crawling into my king-sized black velvet bed, I quickly feel asleep to the melody of the rain beating on my window.
-----
The next morning I was up around 10, since Mark told me I could take Friday off as well. Kerri had called a little after I got up and informed me that Mark agreed to let her off for the week too.
So, here I was, Jumping around my living room, clad in my Rancid pajamas and pink bunny slippers, brush in hand as an imaginary 'microphone' and my hair pulled up in two pigtails, and singing my heart out to Mest 'Fucked Up Kid'. It was a moment to be remembered and marked when I took a chance at 'stage diving' from my coffee table to my couch. Needless to say, it ain't as easy as it looks! I completely missed the couch and hit the floor arse first, my head taking a good smack at the end table. "Shit!" I rubbed my head and could feel a knot starting to form. "Great, if I were going to a Mest concert I could represent with a lovely shiner on my head!" hah! I could see it now, 'Hey Tony! I was rockin out so hard to Fucked up Kid that I really fucked myself up!' I laughed and stood up, turning off my stereo on the way to my room.
About an hour later I was sitting on my couch, just chillin' and laughing at the show, MTV: Past and Present. They were showing clips from 2002 when I started watching it. "I don't think people realize that I'm a skater chick and not a pop chick.." I nearly died from laughing! Avril whats her face, I couldn't even SAY her name. She always put a smile on my face, trying to be so much that she wasn't. When I was in highschool I used to rewrite her songs into making fun of her, one of my guy friends even published one in our school newspaper. I still remember the title "Punk-Pop Princess or Punk Poser?"
Ding Dong!
'Ahh, who could be comming to MY apartment at this hour?' I glanced at the clock, pulled myself off my couch and walked to the door. '2:15, okay so maybe it's Kerri..'
I opened the door and sure enough, there stood Kerri with two huge duffel bags. "Hey Nic! I figured I should come over so you guys wouldn't have to make a detour to my house." She was bubbling over with joy.
"For Billy's sake Kerri! Calm down! The concerts not til' tomarrow" I took a step back from the door,allowing her to enter the room. She set her bags down beside my two in the 'dining room' and took it apon herself to flop down on the couch and grab one of the four unopened Dr.Pepper's on my coffee table.
"Jee, just make yourself at home, I'm gonna go get ready" I laughed and she just flashed me a toothy grin. I turned on my heels, heading for my bedroom. "Hmm.. Descisions, descisions.." I shuffled through what clothes were left in my closet and finally settled on a grey Nightmare Before Christmas shirt with Jack on it, a pair of black 28" Altered Mind pants with reflective bondage straps and a pair of black chucks with random Good Charlotte lyrics written on the sides.
I stepped into my bathroom and burshed my hair and my teeth.I put my contacts in and applied a thick coat of eyeliner and black eyeshadow. I opened my 'travel case' that I kept all the barbells, studs, and hoops I'd collected over the years, and started shuffling though the eyebrow rings first. I decided to go with a matching Nightmare Before Christmas barbell with the Jack face in the top ball.
"One down, 17 to go if you count the earrings as individuals." I moved onto the one marked 'Tounge Rings' and instantly grabbed the one that said 'Fuck You'. Heh I used to wear it to school and if a teacher would piss me off I'd just stick my tounge out at them. Moving on, I managed to find a set of celtic designed lip rings, two studs and a hoop.
I glanced at the digital clock on the sink counter. "2:45, wow I'd better hurry." I decided to leave in my silver hoop nose ring and changed my earrings to various stars: outlines, cetlic, nacturnal, and solid, and a set of small hoops at the bottom, all in silver mind you.
I sprinted out of the bathroom to the living room to find Kerri and Matt both chilling on the couch.Matt looked me over. "Wow, took you long enough in there with all those holes in your face!"
I shot him an evil glare. "Let's just go"
He smirked and jumped to his feet and grabbed two of our bags from the 'dining room'. Kerri and I got one apeice. So we were set, on our way to a kick ass concert, which would turn out better then we would expect...