Flame and Leah

On Monday evening, Leah was sitting on her bed, listening to music. She had no homework to do, as she had done it all over the weekend in a futile attempt to not miss Flame to the degree that she was. She looked around her room and realized she had already straightened up everything. She was running out of things to do to keep her mind occupied.

Letting her eyes wander over to her desk, she saw the pamphlets she had received from the University of Maryland. She smiled a little and rose to look them, opening one on her desk as she sat down in the chair. Studying the pictures closely, Leah then began scanning the information in the bulletin. “New Student Tours” were going to be taking place every other Saturday for the next few months. Leah looked at the calendar and realized the first tour would be this coming weekend. Grinning to herself, Leah opened the sleek laptop that sat on the corner of her desk and booted it up.

Opening her e-mail, Leah began addressing a message to Lisa. They had exchanged quite a few notes since the trip to DC. Leah really liked Lisa’s dry wit.

“Hey Lisa,” she typed. “Hope you and Boo are doing good. I’m doing all right, although it’s hard with Flame being out on tour. Actually, that’s why I’m writing.” Leah paused and glanced at the information about the tour before continuing. “I’m having some trouble filling up my time without him here – pathetic, I know! – but I did find out on Friday that I got into UM College Park (not far from you guys!), and I am excited about that. In fact, there’s a thing going on there for new students this coming Saturday that I was thinking of going to. I don’t know your schedules this coming weekend, but I’d love to see you guys. I’m not looking for a place to crash, don’t worry, I’ll just get a hotel near the college. But let me know if seeing you would be a possibility. Take care, Leah.”

-----

There was no response from Lisa for a couple days, and Leah was a little concerned. She knew Lisa checked her e-mail several times daily, and always when she got home at night from her waitressing job. On Thursday evening, Leah was relieved to find a response in her inbox.

“Hi Leah,” Lisa had written. “Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Things here have been busy. Anyway, I hope it’s not too late for you to come, but we’d love to see you – and we insist that you stay with us if you do! I have to work until midnight tomorrow, but Boo will be here to entertain you (or annoy you, depending what mood he’s in), and I have off Saturdays, so we can all go out that night. Let me know your plans if you can still make it. Later, Lisa.”

Smiling, Leah ran downstairs to double-check that the trip would be okay with her parents. They were a little nervous about Leah driving by herself, but she convinced them she would be safe. Heading back upstairs with a grin, Leah was looking forward to getting away and having some fun.

-----

Lisa stared at Leah’s excited response on her computer screen later that night. Boo walked into the room, asking what she wanted for dinner. “We have nothing here,” he told her. “We’re going to have to order in.”

Looking over her shoulder affectionately at Boo, Lisa gave him a sad smile. “She’s going to come this weekend,” she told him.

“That’s great,” Boo told Lisa, walking up behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders. “Lee, give Flame the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully that really was one mistake.”

Leaning her head back against his stomach, Lisa reached for his hands and pulled them around her, causing him to lean down a little. “I know. I just hate feeling like a liar.” She looked over and kissed Boo lightly on the lips.

“You know I’d never do anything like that, right?” Boo asked her softly.

“I know,” Lisa told him. “You’re too afraid of me,” she added, causing Boo to laugh.

-----

Arriving in DC around 10 o’clock Friday night, Leah parked her car in front of Boo and Lisa’s apartment building. After knocking on the door, she was greeted by Boo, who was wearing a t-shirt that read “Masturbating is not a crime” and who offered her a big smile. Leah was glad already that she had come.

At Lisa’s recommendation, Boo had ordered a pizza and bought some beer. He and Leah sat at the kitchen table and talked about Leah’s plans for college the following year. Then Leah began asking some questions about Flame and Boo’s memories from high school. Boo’s stories about being thrown out after sneaking into bars and nearly getting expelled from school for a prank involving a gym teacher and a bottle of urine had Leah laughing out loud.

“Look who’s here,” Lisa said, entering the apartment. Leah stood to greet her, hugging her tightly. “I’m exhausted,” Lisa told them, sitting down at the table.

Boo immediately jumped up to grab a beer from the fridge for Lisa. “You want me to reheat some pizza for you?” he asked her, handing her the bottle.

Leah smiled at the fondness for one another that the couple obviously shared. “No thanks,” Lisa smiled at him and turned her attention back to Leah. “So how was the trip?”

The three of them sat at the table for an hour talking before finally turning in to bed. As Leah settled into the futon, she tried to stop thinking about how much she missed Flame. She wondered if he were thinking about her, too, at that exact moment.

-----

“The crowd fucking loved you tonight,” the singer from the headlining band told Flame backstage after the show. They were both standing over the food services table.

“You guys, too, Tim,” Flame said energetically. “This has been such a fucking awesome experience. Thanks so much for asking us.” As Flame was speaking, a tall brunette had walked up to Tim from behind and reached around to rub at the front of his pants.

“Tim, aren’t you coming back to the bus?” she purred into his ear.

Slipping his arm around her waist, Tim dragged her to his side with a smile on his face. “One minute, Brit. I was just talking to Flame here about how good his band was tonight. Flame, have you met Brittany?”

Shaking his head, Flame grinned and greeted the girl. “Hey,” he said.

“Oh, you’re the singer for the band that opened!” Brittany exclaimed. She took a step closer to him, looking him up and down admiringly. “You guys are good. Flame, is it?”

Nodding and thanking her, Flame looked over at Tim. “You seem busy,” he told him. “I’ll let you go-”

“Why don’t you come with us?” Tim invited him. “Nobody’s planning on leaving for a couple hours. I’ll have one of the roadies tell the rest of your band where you are.”

Knowing that Tim and his band were notorious for not inviting many other bands onto their bus, Flame was complimented by the invitation. However, the looks that Brittany was giving him were making him a little nervous. He shook his head a little, telling himself this was an opportunity to advance the band. “Sounds great,” he told a pleased Tim, who led him and Brittany into the back parking lot, into the super-secured area where the bus was.

“This is fucking nice,” Flame told Tim as they approached it. This was nothing like the small van Flame’s band traveled in. “I could get used to this,” he said as they climbed aboard the bus, causing Tim to laugh.

“After seeing you perform these past couple weeks, I’d say you’ll have no problem getting all of this soon,” Tim told him.

-----

“It’s a bigger campus than I thought,” Leah told Boo and Lisa late Saturday afternoon when she returned from the tour of the university. “We walked around for four hours.”

“Yeah,” Lisa replied. “Mine is about a third of the size of that,” speaking of the college she attended during the day.

“I don’t know how you do it,” Leah said admiringly. “Going to school full-time and working nights. I was intimidated just looking at the library.”

Laughing, Lisa shook her head. “We’re both nuts,” she told Leah. “We should have gotten into computers when we were kids, like Boo here, and we’d already have real jobs.” She gave Boo an approving look. “He has a great graphic design job.”

“Hey,” Boo interjected. “I want to go to school eventually, too. This job was just a good opportunity to save some money for the future.”

“God,” Leah smiled at them. “You two are like grownups.” This made Boo and Lisa laugh, glancing at each other. “No, really, you work, go to school, live on your own… I’m really impressed.”

Gently, Boo took Lisa’s hand across the table and looked at her with adoring eyes. Finally turning his gaze to Leah, he sighed contentedly. “It’s rough, but totally worth it. Now, enough talk about all this crap. Let’s figure out what we’re doing tonight!”

-----

Leading Leah to a small bar near their apartment later that night, Lisa described the place. “It’s not big, but it can get busy. It’s just nice to have a place in walking distance. Plus, we know the bartenders now, so it makes for a pretty cheap night.”

They had reached the door before Leah even realized it, and she nervously handed over her ID, trying not to look the bouncer in the eye. He didn’t even respond, glancing at it and then stamping her hand. Leah let out a breath that she hadn’t realized she was holding as they entered the bar.

“Where are the bathrooms?” Leah asked once they were inside.

Pointing to a corner, Boo asked Leah what she wanted, and she forced a twenty-dollar bill into his hand. “First round is on me. I’ll have whatever you guys are having.”

Maneuvering her way around the bodies packed into the small space, Leah was shocked when she bumped directly into Jodi.

“Leah?” Jodi said disbelievingly. She looked over Leah’s shoulder quickly, most likely checking for Flame.

“Hi Jodi,” Leah replied lightly.

“Um, hi,” Jodi said, a disbelieving look on her face. “I didn’t know you and Flame were coming back to town so soon.”

“Flame’s not here,” Leah told her. “He’s on tour, actually. I was just visiting a college, and I’m staying with Boo and Lisa.” Jodi looked upset, and Leah felt bad for her. It must be embarrassing to run into Leah like this, unexpectedly. “How are you doing?” she asked kindly.

Appreciative of Leah’s demeanor, Jodi smiled at her. “I’m doing good. Listen, I just wanted to apologize for the last time you were here-”

“You already have,” Leah replied with a wave of the hand. “It’s over.”

“No, I mean about-” But before Jodi was able to continue, Lisa had rushed over and interrupted her.

“Jodi, hey!” Lisa said enthusiastically. “Just the girl I was hoping I’d see tonight. Listen, can I talk to you?” She smiled at Leah apologetically.

Giving Lisa a bewildered look, Jodi nodded. “Um, yeah, sure,” she said, confused.

“I’m just going to use the bathroom,” Leah said, a look of puzzlement on her own face. “I’ll see you both in a minute.”

Leah pushed the rest of the way to the bathrooms and looked over her shoulder. Lisa was talking animatedly to Jodi. Jodi opened her mouth, looking baffled, and glanced over towards Leah. As soon as she met her eyes, she looked away and back at Lisa, who now seemed to be pleading with her. With an understanding expression on her face, she nodded at Lisa. A grin broke over Lisa’s face, and the two girls headed towards the bar.

“I wonder what that was about,” Leah thought to herself. She just shrugged and decided it wasn’t her business. Lisa was her friend, and Jodi really seemed like she was trying to be nice to Leah. She wouldn’t question it too much.

-----

Everyone seemed to have relaxed after about an hour of hanging out. At first, Jodi barely looked at Leah, but now their small group, which included a couple that Lisa and Boo were friends with and a girl that Jodi had come with, were all talking and laughing in a corner of the bar.

“Excuse me, love,” Leah heard a deep voice come from behind her, and she turned around. “Ah, it is you, Leah,” a tall man with dark hair falling into his nearly-black eyes said to her with a thick Irish brogue. “I thought it was you when I looked over here.”

“Oh, Shane, hi,” Leah greeted him with a smile. Turning to the group who was looking on curiously, she introduced him. “Everyone, this is Shane. He led the tour of the school that I went on today.”

A chorus of introductions began, and Shane turned his smile back on Leah. “Well, a couple of my mates are over there, so I should get back to them.” He looked like he didn’t want to leave Leah’s side, though. His gaze was transfixed on her. “I’ll, um, catch up with you a little later, love?” The hope was obvious in his voice.

“Absolutely,” Leah replied.

As Shane walked away, Leah turned back to the group, of which every female member was staring at him. Jodi’s friend, Elizabeth, went as far as to tilt her head to the side as she watched him cross the room. Finally, Elizabeth broke the silence. “Damn, that man is fine!”

Laughing, Leah shook her head. “I hadn’t really noticed,” she said truthfully. She glanced over her shoulder at Shane, who was looking at her from across the room. He raised his beer glass to her and smiled.

“And he is all about you,” Jodi told Leah. “He barely glanced at anyone else.”

Blushing, Leah laughed. “No, I told him I have a boyfriend. He’s just friendly, and, like, a big flirt, I guess.”

“That’s not just being a flirt,” Jodi said, glancing over Leah’s shoulder. “Come on, he’s still staring at you!”

The heat was increasing in Leah’s cheeks. “Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. I have Flame, and I’m very happy with him.”

Immediately, Jodi’s smile faded, and she glanced over at Lisa, whose happy expression had also passed with Leah’s comment. “So,” Boo said, breaking the awkward silence. “As much as I love discussing with you girls how hot another man is, I think I’m going to play pool. Any takers?” he asked as he stood up. Rick, the other guy with them, stood up as well, and they headed towards the back of the bar.

“Good, now we can talk about this Shane guy,” Denise, Rick’s girlfriend, said with a laugh, turning towards the group of girls. “That accent! Talk about sexy.”

Feeling a little guilty, Leah was silent for a moment. If Shane was interested in her, she was afraid that she had done something to make him think she was available. “No,” she told herself. “I told him I’m in a serious relationship. He’s just being a flirt.” But as she thought about the tour earlier that day, she realized that Shane had paid particular attention to her the whole time. Maybe she hadn’t been clear enough about having a boyfriend.

“Earth to Leah!” Lisa interrupted her thoughts, and Leah smiled at her self-consciously.

“I’m sorry,” Leah apologized. “What did you say?”

Giving Leah a sad smile, Lisa asked “I said, are you okay? You have a weird look on your face.”

“No, I’m fine,” she told Lisa.

“Well, it’s my turn to get the next round,” Jodi said, standing up. “Lisa, will you help me? I can’t carry all the glasses.”

“Of course,” Lisa replied, standing up. Leah looked at them curiously as they walked toward the other end of the bar to order, but then turned her attention back towards Elizabeth and Denise.

-----

“I feel so guilty,” Jodi told Lisa after they had ordered the drinks. “I feel like scum. Leah’s so nice.”

Nodding, Lisa agreed. “I know. I feel guilty too, for not telling her.”

“And she’s so crazy about Flame,” Jodi said, shaking her head. “I mean, it was just a drunken kiss between two people who used to care about each other, right? He wouldn’t, like, do that to her again, would he?”

Handing the money that Jodi had given her to the bartender after he placed the drinks in front of them, Lisa shrugged her shoulders. “I hope not,” she said honestly. “But what bothers me is how he reacted to it. You, you tore yourself up over it. I mean, when you left me that message on my machine, you were hysterical.”

“Because I don’t want to be that person anymore. I don’t want to be a slut or a boyfriend-stealer,” Jodi explained. “But what do you mean, how he reacted?”

Sighing, Lisa pulled four glasses in front of her. “He just… he didn’t seem to really think it mattered, you know? He seemed to think it wasn’t a big deal.”

Jodi started picking up the remaining glasses. “Well, hopefully it was a one-time thing. I’d hate to see Leah get hurt.” She glanced over towards their table, where Leah was laughing at something Elizabeth was saying. “She is one of the coolest people I’ve ever met, honestly.”

“Yeah,” Lisa replied sadly. “Hopefully it’ll all turn out okay.”

-----

“Oh, no I couldn’t,” Leah said to Shane. He had just come over to their table again and asked her to play darts. “I don’t know how.”

“Then I’ll show you,” Shane replied, nearly pleading.

Just as Leah was trying to come up with an excuse, she heard Lisa. “Go ahead, play one game,” Lisa encouraged her.

Resignedly, Leah stood up and made a face at Lisa. “Okay, one game sounds great,” she told Shane, who beamed at her reply.

-----

“Don’t lean forward like that, love,” Shane instructed Leah. “Doing that robs you of your stability.” Leah did as he told her, pulled her arm back and threw the dart. It landed in the bulls-eye, and Leah smiled at Shane.

“See,” Shane grinned back. “You’re a natural. And you wouldn’t have known it if you hadn’t played with me.”

“Thanks, Shane. That was fun, but I should get back to my friends,” Leah told him.

Taking a step closer to Leah, she could smell the cologne that he was wearing. It was musky and dark, and it smelled wonderful. He looked down at her with a frown. “Love, may I ask you a question?” Leah just nodded, looking up into his eyes. “This afternoon, when I asked, you told me that you’ve got a fella, but I noticed that he’s not here tonight. Would I be wrong to think that maybe you only told me that to stop me from making advances on you?”

“No,” Leah answered, surprised. “No, I do have a boyfriend. He’s just not here. Actually, he’s in a band, and they are on tour right now.”

Nodding understandingly, Shane gave her a small smile. “Too bad,” he grinned. “I was hoping that you had made it up, because if you had, I’d have had a shot to make you change your mind about me.”

Giving him a warm smile, Leah shook her head. “There wouldn’t be a need for that, Shane. If I were single, I would be interested in you, I’m sure. But as it is, I’m very much in love with my boyfriend.”

“Lucky man,” Shane told her admiringly. “I hope he knows that.”

“Well, thanks again for the game, Shane,” Leah said, feeling a blush in her cheeks again. “Hopefully we’ll run into each other on campus in Fall.”

“Oh,” Shane smiled mischievously. “I’ll make sure that we do.” Waving, Leah headed back to the table.

-----

Jodi was getting pretty drunk, and it was making Lisa nervous. She was afraid that in her state of intoxication, Jodi might say something to Leah about Flame and the kiss. Lisa tried hard to make eye contact with Jodi, but to no avail.

“So,” Jodi was saying to Leah. “If you weren’t with Flame, would you be into Shane?” She looked over towards the table where Shane was sitting with some friends. Every now and then, he continued to glance in Leah’s direction. “I mean, he’s fucking gorgeous, that accent is amazing, and he’s totally into you. Would you be interested?”

“I don’t know,” Leah replied honestly. “He’s very nice, and yes, attractive. But I don’t know anything about him, really. Besides, this is pointless to discuss. I am with Flame, and I love him.”

Letting out an annoyed sigh, Jodi began to open her mouth to say something when she looked towards Lisa, whose eyes were pleading with her. Jodi just bit her lip instead in frustration. Finally, she nodded. “Yeah,” she said, giving Leah a small smile. “And he seems to love you a lot, too.”

Smiling at the comment, Leah nodded happily. When Boo came back to the table to see if Leah and Lisa were ready to leave, Lisa immediately agreed, saying she was tired. Leah also agreed, and turned to the others at the table to say goodnight. “It was really nice to meet you guys,” she said to Denise, Rick and Elizabeth. She turned to Jodi, saying “And it was really good to see you. Please, let’s leave everything else in the past and start from here, okay?”

Looking like she might cry, Jodi just nodded and leaned forward to hug Leah. “You are an incredible person,” she told Leah. “Don’t let anyone ever treat you badly, okay?”

“Okay,” Leah smiled, bemused by Jodi’s drunken state and over-emotionalism. “Take care of yourself. And I’m sure I’ll run into you again when I start school.”

Lisa leaned over to hug Jodi. She heard her whisper in her ear, “I hate me, and I hate him, too.” Lisa just patted her back and gave her a sympathetic look. She’d missed being friends with Jodi. She just wished that they hadn’t been brought back together by something that made them both feel so miserable.

-----

“That’s right,” Flame said on Sunday afternoon into his cell phone. “And the card should say ‘I love you, and I can’t wait to see you’.” Chuck walked up to where Flame was standing in the back of the club they were going to play in that night and listened as Flame gave his credit card number to the person on the other end of the phone.

“Guilt flowers?” Chuck asked with a sneer as Flame hung up the phone.

“No,” Flame replied with irritation. “Like I said, I have nothing to feel guilty about. That girl kissed me, and I stopped it. I told her I had a girlfriend.”

“You put yourself in that situation, dude,” Chuck said disapprovingly. “You were alone with her. What the fuck were you thinking?”

“You know what, I wish I hadn’t fucking told you anything,” Flame said to Chuck.

“I wish you hadn’t either, dude,” Chuck told him seriously. “I like Leah, and I’m getting the feeling you are going to fuck her over.” With that, Chuck walked away.

Shaking his head, Flame felt a knot in his stomach. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said to himself. The night before, Tim and the rest of the band had moved to the back of the bus to smoke pot, but since Flame didn’t like pot, he stayed up front. Noticing he was wasn’t going, a blond girl named Teresa that had been there stayed with him. They’d started talking, and at one point Teresa had leaned over and begun kissing him. Flame had immediately pulled back and told her he couldn’t because he had a girlfriend. It was difficult to persuade Teresa that he was serious, though, so he had left the bus. “I did the right thing. I don’t feel guilty about anything,” Flame told himself angrily before heading to meet up with the rest of the band.