Music In Common

This a continuation of yesterday's entry.

“Hey.”

Logan heard a muffled voice through the melodic sound of Scorpions' “Always Somewhere” flowing through his headphones. It startled him for a moment, since he rarely ever interacted with anyone on his zen-trips to the park.

“Um, hi,” he said, sliding his headphones off his head, leaving it around his neck.

“Scorpions?” she said. She looked to be in her late twenties, dressed in jeans and a green tank top. She had on lots of necklaces looped around her neck, some pearls―all fake, though―some chains with pendants. She decorated her arms and fingers with bracelets and rings, most of them sparkled in the sun. She also sported black and silver high heels.


He nodded, “Yeah, you like the Scorpions?”

“Oh, hell yeah,” she answered with enthusiasm, swinging her bag off her shoulder. The black canvas tote was decked out in buttons with insignia's of well-known rock bands, two of which hailed the Scorpions' logo. “I've always thought that European bands do better justice to rock than Americans.”

Logan laughed briefly. “You have a point. But there's still some good quality rock that's come out of America,” he said.

“The girl, who was now sitting next to Logan, a cigarette wedged between her fingers, grinned. I have a feeling that you could go on about this. You know a lot about music, don't you?”

Flattered, Logan smiled. It was true, that he did pride himself in the knowledge of music he had acquired since childhood. It wasn't so much his expertise, but it was his passion. “Um, yeah, I know some stuff,” he answered modestly.

“I'm sure you do.”

When Logan looked over at the girl, she had this Cheshire-grin smeared across her face. From previous experience, her comment had a certain connotation that Logan thought to be a little inappropriate, considering that they just met. The two kept looking at each other until she eventually burst out in laughter.

“I meant that in a completely non-sexual way, just so you know,” she reassured him. “I could tell that's what you were thinking about,” she teased.

“Yeah, sorry,” Logan said, embarrassed. “I just didn't...but I mean...”

“Don't worry,” she said, “it's cool.” They exchanged smiles. “I'm Carly.” She stuck out her hand.

“Logan.” He shook her hand was surprised―no, impressed―at how strong her grip was. He looked down at their hands and widened his eyes.

Carly nodded, letting go of his hand. “I know, I've got a dude's grip,” she said. “I kinda need it in my business, so that people take me seriously.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

She took a long drag from her cigarette, as if was the last thing she would ever enjoy in her life. “Well,” she blew the smoke out of her mouth, “I write for the Hamilton Weekly, and I started out a young age. So that was one thing I needed to overcome: my age. Secondly, I don't exactly have the style of a journalist, you know?” She gestured to her casual, yet retro ensemble. “Nor do I have healthy habits.”

“I would just call you an individual,” Logan offered.

Carly smiled, nodding. “I know, right?” She laughed. “Well, anyways, I usually take this route back to work during my breaks, and I've seen you sitting here a couple of times before.”

“Really?”

A big moving truck stormed down the street, causing a raucous and preventing Carly to respond to Logan. Both watched the bright yellow and orange truck maneuver its way down the street, chugging along with the slow mid-day traffic. This gave Carly some time to smoke her cigarette, but once it passed she picked up the conversation.

“Yep. You're always listening to music,” she said, gesturing to the headphones wrapped around his neck. “So I figured I might as well find out what you're listening to.”

He taped his black iPod he was still holding in his hand a few times. “Yeah, I've pretty much always got music playing. It's what keeps me sane.”

“I hear you,” Carly agreed. “It's like, there's so many things in this world that are totally shitty, but having music helps you make it through the day.” She paused, then grinned. “That sounded deep, didn't it?” she laughed.

Logan nodded. He could tell that this girl had a certain spirit about her. She liked to get out there and enjoy life. That, he respected, almost envied. “Yeah, actually it did.”

“I know, but I can't take credit for that. A friend of mine actually told me that a long time ago,” she admitted. “You kind of remind me of her, with the whole zen-meditation-music-listening thing,” she smiled.

“Cool,” he nodded.

Carly took a minute and looked him over. It looked as if she was examining him, his features, the way he sat, every little detail and categorizing it in her brain. She had this look on her face that seemed as if she was conjuring up some scheme in her mind.

“Interesting...” she said softly to herself, not loud enough for Logan to understand.

He looked at her, “What?”

Carly shook her head. “Oh, it's nothing. Just...thinking about that friend of mine.” She smiled all of a sudden. “You know, you should come hang out with us.”

A little taken a back, Logan didn't respond to her suggestion. He didn't usually get invited to join people he just met, hell, who did? He waited for her to elaborate, assuming that she would.

“We,” she began, “get together ever week, usually on Friday nights, and just hang out. Have some drinks, catch up, you know. I think you'd really like it,” she told him. “It's totally casual.”

Logan pressed his lips together before he answered her. To his knowledge he didn't have any plans for Friday night, and Carly seemed nice―and safe―that he agreed to her offer. “Sure, that sound good.”

Carly did a little dance while sitting. “Great, here's my number,” she said. She took out a piece of paper from her purse and wrote down a few numbers then handed it over to Logan. “Just call or text me and I'll give you directions. And if you decide you don't want to, that's totally fine too, no pressure.” She stood up and dusted off her jeans. “Of course, I do know where you sit in the park,” she said.

Logan laughed, folding the piece of paper and slipping it into his pocket. “Good point.”

“Well, I gotta get back to work. Those articles aren't gonna write themselves, unfortunately,” she said. Carly put out her cigarette with the bottom of her heel and put the small bud back into her pocket. “See ya, Logan.”

“Bye,” he said, nodding to her as she turned around.

Before she could take a few steps away, she turned back to face Logan. “Hey,” she called to him, making him look up at her. “Just wondering, how old are you?” she asked.

Logan paused for a moment, then said, “Twenty-three.”

Carly bit her lip. After a second or two she smiled. “Perfect,” she said, then turned to walk back down the street.

As he watched her disappear around the corner, Logan wasn't quite to sure of what to make of that encounter with Carly. It was somewhat random, how she just walked up to him and started talking to him about music. He also wondered why she asked for his age right before she left. To be honest, Logan was really curious about the entire situation, and was considering calling Carly about hanging out with her friends. It was only Tuesday, so he still had a few days to make his final decision. In the meantime, he pressed play on iPod, positioned his headphones back on his head, and let the music fill him.