Jamie

I arrive at English Literature class ten minutes early. I don't want another embarrassing episode with Professor Griffin, so I take a seat towards the back of the lecture hall. I don't bother looking around to see if Noah is here yet, we don't need to sit together. Professor Griffin made it clear that the Pride and Prejudice assignment was an independent thing to be done in our own time, so really there's no need for Noah and I to talk shop during office hours.

And right enough, when he enters the class he walks down the steps, right past me, and takes a seat in the middle of the rows. I watch as he takes his laptop out of his bag, along with a copy of Pride and Prejudice. Well, he has the book now, so that's a good start at least. I just need to wait for him to notify me that he has read it, and then we can actually get to work. I can hardly wait...

He's leaning back in his chair and running his hands through his hair and over his face. Looks like he didn't get much sleep last night. I would assume he hooked up with someone last night, but if that were the case, wouldn't he look a little happier? He still seems so moody. Maybe his roommate he went looking for brought a girl home and kept him up last night. Ha! I hope this is the case. That asshole would deserve it. That Hot Asshole.

I get through Literature class without having to talk to Noah at all (he never turned around, and I ran out of the class as quickly as I could when it ended. I don't even think he saw me) and I'm done for the day. My classes were uneventful, and I'm eager to get home and start rehearsing. The first Open Mic Night of the semester is tomorrow night, and I wanna be fully ready.

I check my phone as I walk across the parking lot, and there's a few new messages in my group chat with Jay, Patrick and Joel (our group chat is called The Middle, very original, I know).

13:42 - Jay @ The Middle: My place or Jamie's after classes?

13:51 - Joel @ The Middle: I don't mind, I'm done at 3.

14:27 - Patrick @ The Middle: I'm at Jamie's right now. Tossing a ball for Benji. Do you ever walk this dog, Jame?

14:45 - Jay @ The Middle: On my way.

15:02 - Joel @ The Middle: Me too.

15:05 - Me @ The Middle: Patrick, you're an ass. I'm on my way.

I have a new message from Aubrey too.

14:12 - Aubrey: Hey girl, last night was fun! Hope your head doesn't hurt as bad as mine does today, I am never drinking beer again. Cocktails always. Anyway, you wanna hang out tonight? I'm a little nervous about the Grill tomorrow night! Would love to pick your brain about it some more. Let me know xox

I get into my car, and make a mental note to reply to Aubrey as soon as I get home. If I don't reply before we start rehearsing, I know I'll forget. I plan to invite her over to my place, maybe seeing me and the guys play will put her nerves at ease a little. Or maybe it will make them worse. We really are very good at what we do...

I walk into my garage and find the guys setting up their instruments. I dump my bag down on the couch and pull my phone out.

"You guys mind if I invite Aubrey over here? She's a little nervous about the Open Mic tomorrow."

"Not at all, tell her to bring her friends too." Patrick says as he casually taps his symbols with his drumsticks.

"Yeah, about that." I say absentmindedly as I type out my reply to Aubrey. "I know you were just being flirty with the girls last night to get a rise out of me, but please don't. In case you guys didn't notice, Aubrey is totally crushing on that guy John."

"She is?" Jay asks. "It didn't seem like it to me."

"I did pick up a bit of a vibe between those two" Joel says, as he tunes his bass. "I thought Kim seemed keen on that guy Zach too."

"Exactly." I say, tossing my phone on to the couch. I texted Aubrey my address and told her to come over whenever she wants.

"So they're already crushing on other dudes, none of them are available for any of you guys" I look at Patrick. "End of discussion. Now what song are we gonna play tomorrow?"

"Uh, excuse me." Patrick says, "You didn't say anything about Nikki just now?"

I pick up my guitar and throw the strap over my head. "Patrick, please."

He laughs and throws a headband around his hair. "I'm kidding, Jame. Lighten up. I'm not going near any of your friends."

"I think we should play Sensitivity tomorrow night" Jay says.

"Good choice." Joel says. "This is our first Open Mic, and that was one of the first songs we ever wrote. It's still one of my favourites. Awesome song to let everyone know what we're about."

"I completely agree" I say.

"Let's do it." Patrick says, before tapping his drumsticks together a few times.

We begin playing, and it's as natural as ever. We really don't need to rehearse this song, we all know it so well. It means a lot to us, because like Joel said, it's one of the first songs we properly wrote together. It's upbeat, with a catchy hook, and while Jay sings the majority of the song, I get the bridge and back him in the chorus. It's probably my favourite of all the songs we've written (currently, there are 16) and I am super proud of it.

A little background on The Middle: Jay, Patrick and Joel used to jam together for fun when we were younger. They're the same age, so they all knew each other in school. I'm a year younger, and I've known Jay my entire life. He introduced me to Joel and Patrick in Middle School.

Jay's mom and my mom had been best friends since before we were born. My mom had always liked the name Jamie, so you can imagine how pissed she was when Jay's mom named her son Jamie. She totally stole my moms baby name. But 10 months later, my mom had me, and she named me Jamie anyway, and Jay's nickname was born. We grew up together, so Jay has literally been my best friend since I was born, whether he liked it or not. I know our moms really hoped we would end up getting married and having a few little Jamie's of our own some day, but that's just not gonna happen. We aren't related at all, but it feels like we are. When my mom died, it was a really shit time, and I was only 12 years old. Jay and his parents were totally there for me and my dad. I know his mom misses my mom every day, just like me and my dad do. If my mom were here today, I know she'd be thrilled that Jay and I are still so close. Would she be thrilled about us being in a band and wanting to be musicians professionally? Probably not. I know Jay's parents aren't. But they brought us up in North Bridge, so really, what did they expect?

After my mom died, I withdrew a little. Things just weren't the same without her. I didn't really wanna talk to anyone at school, all I wanted to do was get home and play guitar with my dad. Jay spent a lot of time with me then, but I didn't wanna talk much, I just wanted to listen to music and play music. And he was genuinely interested in that, so my dad taught Jay how to play guitar too, and I helped out a little. I like to remind Jay about this, when he acts like he's better than me.

So with his new guitar playing skills, Jay and Joel got closer. Joel played guitar too, so they had that in common. They would play together in the music class at Middle School, and one day Patrick asked if he could play with them. Joel offered Patrick his guitar, but he shook his head, pulled a couple of drum sticks out of his school bag and sat down behind the drum kit.

Jay always asked me to come to the music room during break times in Middle School, but I didn't wanna play with those other two boys, music felt too personal to me. I only wanted to play with my dad and Jay. I played with Jay and my dad at my house after school on an almost daily basis, until one day, everything changed.

I was sitting on the couch in my garage, playing one of my moms favourite songs on my acoustic guitar (The Chain, by Fleetwood Mac) and singing along. I didn't notice when Benji jumped off of the couch and ran over towards the garage door. I didn't notice that Jay had let himself in, closely followed by Joel and Patrick. I had absolutely no idea that the three of them had been standing there watching me until I finished the song and Jay spoke.

***

"What did I tell you, she's good, right?" Jay said.

Thirteen year old me jumped up from the couch, startled, and set her acoustic guitar down on the couch. I looked at the three boys standing in front of my open garage door. My best friend, Jay, and his friends Joel and Patrick. I knew who they were, but I'd never talked to them before. Patrick looked impressed, and Joel looked really happy. I wasn't sure what Jay was doing, but I didn't like it.

"So good!" Joel said excitedly. "I always mess up the solo in the middle of The Chain."

"You mess up the solo's in the middle of every song we ever play" Patrick said to him. "You should definitely play the bass guitar."

"Shut up, Patrick." Joel said. "As if you never mess up in the middle of anything. Have you ever even tried to play Mick Fleetwood's solo in Tusk?"

"Of course I have you ass!" Patrick said.

The two boys carried on bickering, and I looked over at Jay, at a loss for words. Why did he bring them to my house? He walked over to me and sat down on the sofa. I turned to face him, but remained standing.

"They insisted, Jame! They really wanted to meet you, it was getting hard to keep telling them no. So, I said they could come over with me today. Are you mad?"

I was a little mad, but I didn't wanna act like a bitch in front of Joel and Patrick.

"I'm not mad, but you should have told me." I said to him, sitting down on the couch next to him and picking up my guitar again. "Do they want me to jam with you guys?"

"Yeah," Jay said, "I go on about how good you are so they wanted to hear for themselves. They want you to play with us, Jamie. I do too. They're good guys, I swear. You're gonna like them."

I looked over at Patrick and Joel, still arguing about who messes up the most, as my dad walked into the garage from the stairs leading up to the kitchen. My dad looked kinda surprised to see these new boys.

"Hi Mike." Jay said to my dad. "This is Joel and Patrick, my friends from school."

The boys waved at my dad, and my dad asked if they wanted to stay for dinner. To my surprise, they both said yes. My dad told us to come up in an hour, then he headed back up to the kitchen.

"Do you think your drum kit from home would fit in the corner there?" Joel said to Patrick.

He analysed the back corner of the garage. "Yeah, probably. I'd need to bring it over and set it up to know for sure, but we can do that later."

"What are you talking about?" I asked them.

"Well there's not much point in him being here if he can't play an instrument" Joel explained.

"Hey! I can play guitar..." Patrick said. "A little."

"No you can't." Jay and Joel said in unison.

"Whatever, I could if I wanted to. Drummers are much cooler though." Patrick said.

"Yeah, some of them are, but you aren't." Joel said. "And you know why? Because you mess up so much in the middle of all the songs we play."

"Joel, fuck off. You mess up in the middle of all the songs we play too. So does Jay." Patrick said. I found myself laughing at their constant bickering.

"So we all mess up the middle of songs sometimes," Jay said, before turning his attention back to me. "But Jamie here doesn't. She's always awesome."

Patrick and Joel both smiled at me, before smiling at Jay. I knew what was going on here.

"So, how about The Middle then?" I said to the boys.

"What?" Joel asked.

"The Middle". I clarified. "I think it would be a good name for our band."

The boys all grinned at me, and that was that.

***

"Wow, you guys are super talented!" Aubrey says, looking at the four of us in awe as we finish playing one of our original songs, Life on the Rocks (an ode to my love for the beach, and Jay's love for Bacardi and ice).

"Thanks, Aubrey." Patrick says, standing up from his drum kit and walking around to sit on the couch, "we do try."

I sling my guitar off and put it down on the counter, before sitting down on the couch next to Patrick. I told Aubrey to let herself in, she arrived a couple of minutes ago while we were still playing.

"So, what do you wanna know about the Open Mic night?" I ask her as I pull Patrick's headband off and put it over my own hair. He doesn't flinch, I always steal his headbands.

"Well, I just wanna know what im letting myself in for!" Aubrey says. "I know it's a really popular event, will the place be packed?"

"It's not always packed," Joel tells her, taking a seat next to her on the couch opposite me. "But it will be tomorrow for sure."

"Yeah, first Open Mic night of the semester, it's bound to be busy." Jay says, as he slouches down onto the arm of the couch next to me.

"I gotta say, I am pretty nervous." Aubrey admits, the nerves are evident in her voice.

I've never heard Aubrey sing, so I don't really wanna lie to her and tell her it'll be fine. I have an idea though.

"You wanna sing a little for us now?" I ask.

"Now?" She looks at the three boys, clearly she's too shy to sing for them. I know she has nothing to worry about though.

"You guys wanna go make some shitty instant coffee?" Joel asks the boys. Joel is so great, he knows Aubrey doesn't wanna sing in front of them right now.

"Sure." Jay stands up. Thank you Jay.

"Ugh, I guess so." Patrick rolls his eyes. "If I die, I'm suing Jamie." He pulls his headband off of my head before getting to his feet. He always complains about my instant coffee. Asshole.

"We'll leave you girls to it." Joel says as the boys head for the stairs.

"Okay, that was super nice of them." Aubrey says, her voice sounding much more relaxed. "They could totally tell I didn't wanna sing for them, huh?"

I smile at her. "Yeah, I think so. They're great guys though, they wouldn't wanna make you feel uncomfortable."

"Awesome." She looks much happier now. "Can you play something acoustic for me?"

"For sure." I grab my acoustic guitar from the counter behind the couch. "What do wanna sing?"

"Do you know how to play anything by Taylor Swift?" She asks me tentatively. It's like she already knows I'm not a Swifty fan.

However, I do actually know the chords to a lot of her songs. You wouldn't think it, but Patrick is practically in love with Taylor Swift. He even took his younger sister, Steph, to one of her concerts. I don't know who enjoyed it more, Patrick or Steph.

"As luck would have it, I can play a few Taylor Swift songs." I inform Aubrey. "anything in mind?"

"Do you know her song 'Crazier'? It's kinda old." I can tell from Aubrey's dubious expression that she thinks I don't know Crazier. But I do.

I start playing the song, and Aubrey smiles at me in delight. I consider starting off singing myself to help her feel a little more at ease, but there's no need.

"I've never gone with the wind, I just let it flow, let it take me where it wants to go."

Aubrey starts singing. She's got this. And she does have a beautiful voice.

I continuing playing the chords and listening to Aubrey sing, eagerly anticipating the chorus (it's pretty high) and when the chorus comes, I know Aubrey has absolutely nothing to worry about for her performance tomorrow. She is unbelievably talented.

I watch her sing and can't stop smiling at how awesome she is. She's a total natural. She has her eyes closed and she looks totally caught up in the song. I can't fight the urge to join in after the first chorus. Because the truth is, I kinda like this song too.

"I watched from a distance as you, made life your own."

Aubrey smiles at me as we both sing. This is what I love. Messing around like this is what it's all about.

As we approach the second chorus, I seriously considering shutting up and letting her sing (she is so much fucking better than me), but she's beaming over at me and this is really fun, so I continue.

"You lift my feet off the ground, you spin me around. You make me crazier, crazier."

Aubrey's stopped singing, so now I'm just singing the chorus on my own. I raise my eyebrows at her as I continue to sing and play, but her eyes are looking past me and she's chuckling. I know what's going on.

I swivel my body around as I play and sing, and see Patrick, Joel and Jay standing at the bottom of the stairs. Joel looks impressed (they obviously heard Aubrey just now), Jay looks unimpressed (at me, because I'm jamming to a Taylor Swift song) and Patrick looks delighted (because Aubrey and I are jamming to a Taylor Swift song.)

But they don't phase me, I swivel back around to face Aubrey, and she joins in again on the last bridge.

"Baby you showed me what living is for, I don't wanna hide anymore."

As we sing the last chorus together, the guys resume their positions on the sofas, coffee cups in hand. Benji is still laying down on the carpet by the garage door, this song would have definitely put him to sleep.

I play the final chord, and Joel and Patrick burst into applause. Jay tells Aubrey she has an amazing voice. And from there, we spend the rest of the night hanging out, jamming with our acoustic guitars, and Aubrey blows us all away with her incredible voice. Her shyness from before has totally gone, and I could not be more excited for the Grill Open Mic night now.