Tommy was in his third year at the University of Missouri. It was April, early on a Friday afternoon. It had been raining all week, but today there was finally a respite. The sun was shining, birds singing, flowers blooming in bright colors. Tommy and his friend Chris, a sophomore who still lived in the dorm that Tommy had lived in the year before, had been jamming together on their acoustic guitars for an hour outside in a park next to the dorm. They decided they wanted to smoke a little pot and then continue jamming, so they went back to Chris's dorm room to puff a bit. Tommy produced the weed and Chris had a small glass hash pipe. They smoked a couple bowls and decided to jam in the common room of the dorm.
Tommy hadn't really missed living in the dorm. He liked having his own space, he liked not having to be wary of the RA whenever they smoked some pot. Chris made sure the pot smoke was blowing out the window, so no worries today. While Tommy was happy he didn't have to live in the dorm any longer, he did miss all the young college girls. Since it was a nice warm day, and the first one in a while, the girls going to and from class were all wearing short shorts and tight little tee shirts. Tommy sat back on the sofa and watched the girls come and go through the common room. Some of them were really cute, a couple were really sexy, and there was one girl that was drop-dead gorgeous. She was talking on a cell phone as she walked through the commons. "Who was that?" Tommy asked Chris after she had passed.
"Lauren McCain," he said. "She's nice enough. She's got a boyfriend on the other side of campus. She's a freshman."
"Interesting," Tommy said. He played a little riff, and Chris played it back at him. Tommy hit a couple E chords and Chris played that riff again, over it. They jammed it out for a few minutes, before Lauren walked back through the commons, still on the cell phone. She was visibly upset. A few moments later, they heard her yell.
"Fine! Do whatever the fuck you want!"
Tommy and Chris looked at each other, shrugged. Lauren came back to the common room and sat down on a sofa near Tommy and Chris. "What's going on, Lauren?" Chris said.
"My boyfriend is an idiot," she said.
"What did he do?" Tommy asked her. She looked at him. He looked right back at her.
"I'd rather not talk about it right now," she said, crossing her arms across her chest, just below her perky, full tits. She was wearing a tank top, black and tight, and tiny denim shorts, cut off with ragged, torn hems. "You guys keep playing. I was enjoying hearing you. I'm Lauren, by the way," she said, looking at Tommy.
"Tommy Orion," he replied. Chris played a riff, and Tommy recognized it from a Grateful Dead song they knew. Tommy played the next riff, and Chris played the one that followed, and then Tommy hit the E chord, followed with an A, and they started singing "St. Stephen." Lauren didn't seem to know the song, but she enjoyed watching them play it. Suddenly, without stopping playing, they flowed from St. Stephen into a Buddy Holly song she did recognize, called "Not Fade Away," which was all about being in love and thinking it will last forever, and she sang along with them. They changed it up in the middle, breaking into a song, singing about "going down the road, feeling bad... don't wanna be treated this old way," before rolling back into "Not Fade Away" to finish it all off.
"That was really cool," she said.
Chris shrugged. Tommy said: "The Dead do it better."
"Who?"
"The Grateful Dead. We're just ripping off them."
"Well you did a good job. That was really cool, how you went from one song to another," she said. Tommy smiled, shrugged, played another little riff. "So what are you guys doing tonight?" she asked them.
"I'm going to a show at the Blue Note. Split Lip Rayfield is playing," Chris said.
"Who are they?"
"Kind of a honky-tonk garage-rock punk string band. They rock."
"Cool. What about you, Tommy?"
"I don't know yet. I was thinking of driving to St. Louis to meet some friends of mine for a jam session."
"Oh yeah?" she said. She was suddenly excited. "I was supposed to go see U2 tonight in St. Louis at the Savvis Center. My boyfriend was going to drive me, even though he didn't have a ticket to the show. Anyway, he's an idiot, like I said, and he forgot and he's getting drunk with his buddies right now, so I don't have a ride anymore. I'm supposed to meet some friends at the show. Tommy, I'll pay for your gas if you would take me with you to St. Louis tonight."
Tommy didn't have to think twice. "That's a deal," he said. He checked the time on his cell phone. "We should probably leave in a couple hours."
"Oh shit, what time is it?" Chris asked.
"Almost three," Tommy said.
"Shit, I have to get to class. Thanks for the weed, Tommy, we should kick it this weekend."
"Sure," Tommy said. Chris ran off, taking his guitar back to his room.
"So," Lauren said, moving to sit next to Tommy on the sofa, "do you have a girlfriend?"
"Nah," Tommy said, shaking his head.
"Groupies?"
He laughed. "No, I don't have any groupies, either. Why, do you want to start a fan club?"
Now she was laughing. "Maybe. Play another song."
"Okay. Umm, this one is called 'Sugar Magnolia.'" He played it for her, an upbeat, fun song about spring and love and youth. She loved it. After he finished, they realized they were hungry and should get some food before they left for St. Louis. They got some dorm food and enjoyed each other's company. After dinner, it was nearing time for them to leave. Tommy walked back to his apartment to get his car while Lauren got ready to go to her concert. Tommy stuffed his guitar in the trunk, next to his electric guitar and his amp. He never went anywhere without a musical instrument or two. He drove back to the dorm and parked right in front. Lauren had given him her cell phone number, and he called it to tell her that he was there and she should come down when she was ready. She came down a few minutes later.
Tommy's car was a mid-80's Mercury Grand Marquis. It was a big car, totally made of steel, with a big engine to move it. The front and back seats were quite spacious, and the front seat was a bench seat, and three people could sit across the front if they wanted. Lauren got in the front seat on the passenger side. She had changed clothes for the show. She was wearing a bright flowery skirt that had a lot of bounce to it, and a tight white tank top under a little white blouse that she left unbuttoned. She had put on a little make up but Tommy knew she didn't need any. He was wearing baggy jeans, sneakers, and a tie-dyed tee shirt. He wore aviator sunglasses. They stopped at a gas station before they got on the freeway, and Lauren paid for enough gas to fill the tank. "Thanks again for the ride," she said.
"My pleasure. Really," he said. She crossed her legs, causing the skirt to ride up her thigh just a bit. The sun was beginning to set behind them as they left Columbia, heading east. It was a little after five in the afternoon. Storm clouds could be seen rolling in from Kansas behind them, blocking the last remaining light of the sun.
Tommy and Lauren chatted as they drove eastward. Lauren shocked herself after awhile, realizing that she was really happy right now, for the first time in months. Then, Tommy asked her what she had been hoping to hear: "Do you smoke weed at all?"