Kruppo

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“Well, if you guys will excuse me, I have to get back to running the place. There are two bands left for the night, and plenty of things for me to do in the meantime.” Marty left us then. Juggernaut had split up into different groups then; David and I were tired and just wanted to chill on the big leather couch in the back of the shop, while Jessie and the rest of the gang decided to go up to the pit where everyone else was for the music.
I had no energy left in me to do such a thing, and David must’ve felt the same way. He tipped his head back on the couch and groaned. “Who would’ve thought just playing a couple of songs would make you so tired?”
“I figured it would be this way,” I had to admit. “I’ve done this before. You’d think I would’ve been prepared for it better.”
David laughed shortly at me, and then, something came over him. His face became straight, almost dead. And then, speaking in an animated voice, he said, “Hey, can we be completely honest with each other for a minute or so?”
“What’s the problem?” I sat up straight then, turning towards him so that he had my full attention.
“I never mentioned it before, and I kinda feel guilty for not doing so, but uh…” he shrugged. “Rachel and I are dating now. We’re taking it pretty slow, but I thought I should talk to you about it because she told me about what happened between you two at a party not too long ago.”
Here we go. I should’ve known that this conversation was inevitably going to happen. I had been poor to think otherwise. “Yeah? What’d she tell you exactly?”
“Just that you started kissing her and things like that,” he said. “Look, that’s not important. I mean, after all, you didn’t even know what was going.”
“I had my suspicions,” I said, feeling more than a little uncomfortable. “But I was hoping that I was wrong.”
“Yeah, well,” David stared at the band on stage. For some odd reason tonight, Marty had enlisted a screamo band, which was supposedly atypical of him. The noise blasted us as we started shouting to be heard. David leaned closer to continue his thought. “I’m not pissed off, and I hope you aren’t. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before; I didn’t know you were interested.”
“I’m sorry I took off on her anyway,” I held out my hand to him. “Can we just put this behind us then?”
“Absolutely.” We shook hands then, and David smiled. “I like you, man. I wanna be in Juggernaut. I wanna make things work out with me and Rachel, and I don’t want you to feel like I stole her from you or something.”
“Eh, don’t worry about it.” I slapped him on the shoulder. The screamo band went on to pound out the night, and we both sat there, watching the crowd slamming each other around. Marty was telling stragglers at the back and sides of the pit to watch out and avoid hitting things like tables and chairs. It wasn’t working out well in that way, but David and I had a few good laughs when we saw Jessie get knocked out of the crowd entirely, landing on his ass not ten feet away. He glanced up at us, and then waved at us to join the crowd. “C’mon!” I thought I saw his mouth form.
“You wanna go?” David stood up, cracking his neck carefully.
And get beaten up to a bloody bruise for the rest of the night? Upon examination of my other options, like sitting there on the couch, and sitting at the bar with Marty, I figured it was worth it. David and I joined Jessie as the band took a quick break to regain their composure. We shoved our way back to the front, where everybody else was.
The rest of the night was a hazy blur as a few other bands went on to play, and we were almost the last group of guys to leave that night. I recall hanging out with the final band that played for a little while, just hanging out and doing nothing but talking about music and creativity. Otherwise, I let myself slip into the fun atmosphere of a college on summer break, taking every moment of enjoyment and making it worthwhile.

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I'm so post-rock I shit sad birds