Bar Crawl(10)

I took a deep breath and clanked my glass with of hers. “Here’s to impressions.”

She allowed a soft giggle and sipped her drink. “I didn’t realize you could sing so well.”

“Thanks…I think.”

Frankie’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant…don’t drummers usually just…drum?”

I nodded. “We do. Some of us get lucky, though.”

The truth was, I knew I was lucky. Not only to be able to sing on a technical level, but to be part of group that didn’t mind an extra vocal lead from time to time. It gave us more depth, since we all sounded slightly different. And, frankly, it’s exciting to watch a drummer sing while they’re playing. I know this because when I was in high school and saw it myself at a Metallica concert, I quickly made a plan to learn how to sing. And well.

Frankie looked over her shoulder and seemed to note, as I did, that her friend was engaged in conversation with another group of people. I watched her shoulders rise and fall as she took a deep breath before looking back to me. She didn’t seem like the kind of girl who needed social security blanket.

Maybe it was me. I didn’t mean to make her uncomfortable, and I wanted to change that, but time was running short on our intermission between sets. “Come with me for a minute.” I nodded my head to the back of the deck.

Frankie followed without saying a word until we got to the top of the stairs. “Where are we going?”


I walked down a few steps and sat, patting the space next to me. “Here.”

She looked back over her shoulder, biting her lip slightly before holding her skirt against the backs of her legs as she sat. “What’s up?”

“Come have coffee with me tomorrow.”

Frankie gazed up at the stars, licking her lips as she seemed to consider my request. “No,” she said, looking back at me.

“Wh—”

“You come have coffee with me tomorrow. You’ve made an awful lot of plans for the two of us already today, wouldn’t you say?” She brought her lips forward, pursing them slightly in an apparent attempt to ward off a smile.

I chuckled, realizing that I spent the day walking the line between demanding and desperate. “Fair enough. Where?”

“Seaboard Coffee,” she said after a moment. “It’s down on—”

“I know where it is,” I cut in with a nod.

“You do? You don’t really seem like the coffee shop-going type.”

I cocked my head back. “Yeah? And you don’t seem like the rock band-watching type.”

Frankie pressed her tongue into the inside of her cheek. “I’m not.”

I let out a full laugh. “Right. Except for all the times I’ve seen you rocking out over the last several months?”

She winced, scrunching her nose, which made her freckles come together in an unusual pattern. “Several months?”

I stood, offering my hand, which she didn’t accept as she stood. “I told you I remembered the first time I hit on you, Frankie. That wasn’t just a line.”

She sighed. “Well, whaddaya know.”

We were quiet for a few moments as we walked up the stairs and back onto the loud deck. “Well,” I stretched my arms overhead, “I’ve gotta get back to it.”

Frankie nodded, crossing her arms in front of her in an almost protective-looking stance. “Play some Green Day.”

My eyes widened. “All right. Which song?”

She huffed and looked up for a moment. “Oh, I don’t know. That ‘do you have the time’ one.”

I chuckled. “Basket Case.”

“Excuse me?” she shrieked, only serving to make me laugh louder.

“That’s the name of the song, Frankie. Basket Case.”

She looked down, seeming embarrassed. “Oh …”

I couldn’t stop myself. I reached forward and touched a very calculated spot on her cheek. She leaned into it for a millisecond. Maybe she didn’t. Maybe I dreamt it in my head. But I’m certain she leaned in.

“You have a heart there,” I said softly.

She looked up, a confused glance in her eyes.

I touched the spot once more. “There’s a heart-shaped freckle. Right here.”

“Oh,” she said again, not sounding an ounce embarrassed this time.

“See you tomorrow. Two o’clock okay?” I removed my sticks from my back pocket and spun them by my legs.

Frankie nodded.

“Great,” I winked, “see you then.”

My mouth felt dry as I made my way back behind my drum set. As I sat, I had to readjust my jeans twice before I was in any condition to start the next song. As I tore into the Green Day hit Frankie had suggested, I realized that while I didn’t have to be fully honest with her about anything…I wanted to.





Frankie




I parked my car a block away from Seaboard Coffee and locked the door. I needed the block-long walk to steel myself. That sounds archaic and harlequin, I know, but I also knew that, once again, I could feel CJ’s finger on my cheek from the night before.

That heart-shaped freckle had been there forever, and no one other than my grandmother and Bradley had ever pointed it out. Ever. This dynamic drummer seemed to have my number, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted his. I was slowly getting over the “but I’m not his type” thing, but there was more to it. I’d moved past my physical insecurities because, truth be told, I had seen CJ flirting with, kissing, and otherwise ogling women of all shapes, sizes, colors, and cup sizes.