His music was louder than most people could stand. True, his ears were starting to hurt, but it was a good song. Over the noise of the guitars and the singer crooning lyrics (well,
yelling
is more apt), there was the distinct sound of two beeps, so out of pitch and rhythm with the song that it was immediately apparent that it wasn't part of it at all. He made a downward spiral in the air with the hand that wasn't strumming his air-guitar, and the music
decrescendo
'd until it was merely loud, and not painful. He stopped jamming out, and sat down in front of his computer. He looked at the designs on the screen, and traced over some with his finger. He held a certain button on the screen and scribbled with his other finger, erasing the section of the intersecting lines and symbols that looked like any other section. He released the button, and drew what looked like the same shape again, just at a slightly different angle. He repeated this several times, apparently not satisfied with the several subtle variations on the same angle. Finally, after much trial and error, he leaned back from the monitor and nodded in satisfaction. He raised his index finger, ready to wind the volume up again as a reward, but a knock on his door interrupted him. He pulled off his headphones, and invited the knocker in.
***
"What are you doing in here,
chica
? It's a Saturday night, and you don't have a boyfriend!"
Mary looked up from her project. Her roommate Carmen was dressed to knock down all the boys, as she usually was on any given Saturday night. Her tight dress wasn't much of a covering, but it lived up to its name: it served as a light dressing for the "delights" underneath. Mary smiled internally; that kind of logic was what personified her roommate Carmen. The Latina wasn't exactly the opposite of Mary's more private lifestyle, but it was still different.
"Carmen, I would love to come out with you" she partially lied, "but I have what will probably be the most important job interview of my life tomorrow, and I don't want to answer 'What would you think is your greatest weakness' while nursing a hangover!" She weakly smiled to emphasize her point.
Carmen thought about this, or more specifically, thought of a way around this.
"When was the last time you got laid?"
Mary was surprised at the forwardness of the question, but only for a second. Her roommate wasn't known for her being a subtle conversationalist. Much of the opposite, in fact.
"Umm... Mathew."
Carmen's eyes took up most of her face. "That was YEARS ago!"
Mary rolled her eyes.
"It was 6 months ago Carmen."
"Yea! That's, like, years in
caja
time! You need to get out there and find a man!"
Mary didn't move from her chair, but did make a face. After a year living with Carmen, she learned to recognize some slang.
"How my
caja
ages is of no concern to you, thank you very much!" Mary stuck out her tongue at her roommate.
Carmen rolled her eyes. "Someone has to look out for it if you don't!" She laughed and defended herself from the flung-pencil onslaught. Carmen's smile widened with an idea.
"Alright, stop throwing things at me! I have a great reason to come out with me!"
Mary held up the pen she had ready to throw. "I'm listening."
"If you come out with me and have a good time, you will get some well-deserved relaxation, which will help you be calm and rested for your interview! You don't even have to drink that much, just come out and dace with me, flirt with the boys, and have some fun, instead of being cooped up in here like a
pollo
!"
Mary considered this. She was just in her room worrying about the interview tomorrow. If she got out and forgot about it for a while...
Carmen's usually twisted logic was making some very tempting sense right about now.
Mary heaved a deep sigh. "Fine, I'll com- *gak*!"
Having a shoulder from a flying hug ram into one's voice box is never an elegant way to end a sentence that might change your life forever.
It's funny though.
***
"Why am I here again?"
'Here' was a medium sized bar with a large sized crowed stuffed into it. It was not a very well-known or well-reputed bar, but it served cold beer, and that was all it needed to do.
'I' was a man named Jack. He looked like a mouse surrounded by cats in his current environment. They were drunk cats, to be sure, but all it took was one wayward glance to notice that Jack was not the strongest guy in the room.
"We are here, my friend, because if you spend another night in your room, in front of that fancy computer,
I'm
going to get an eye injury! We are here to have fun and relax!"
Jack sighed as his friend walked over to the bar to get more beer. Jack looked around. The bar was full of jocks in sports jerseys, big-looking guys in leather playing pool, and women that looked like they had been paid to be there.
"High school all over again." Jack quietly said to himself. The current top 40 pop song was blaring over the speakers, making his hard rock-callused eardrums to hurt from the lack of talent and Autotune. He looked over at his friend, who was stopped from bringing over the hilariously named and priced "beer" by a woman who looked like she wandered in by accident and was desperate to get out. Jack had an idea. He pulled out his cell phone, pointed the top of it at the woman's purse, and pressed a button on the side. A few seconds later there was a beep, and the phone's texting window came up. Jack typed a short message, and fought his way outside, narrowly avoiding three mugs of beer and four "I love you" drunks.
When he got outside, he took a deep breath of clean air, relishing the absence of the smell of spilt beer. About 30 seconds later, the woman who Jack's friend was talking to came out, her red-and-yellow patterned blouse darkened by splashes of airborne beer. Jack took a deep breath. What did he always say? Another deep and steadying breath.
Still doesn't help
he thought. One last breath and...
"It's downright dangerous in there, isn't it?"