Sue

Track 2

-3 years later-

"The same cigarettes as me

I can't no, oh no no no

Hey hey hey, that's what I say

I can't get no satisfaction

I can't get no girl reaction

Cause I try and I try and I try and I try"

A drunken Mr. Smith's voice rang through the bar as he tried and failed to hit high notes. "It's times like this I regret getting that damn karaoke machine." Ava's gruff voice broke me out of a trance caused by Mr. Smiths dance break. I turned to her on the bar stool I've been planted on for the past 30 minutes, in wait for Ava's husband Daniel to announce my performance. Ava's tall body was bent over the bar top to make her voice heard over the noise in the bar. "If I hear one more person belt out a drunk rendition of don't stop believing I will throw that machine out the window." I chuckled at the disgusted look on her face as she watches Daniel try to hold Mr. Smith back from crowd surfing. "So tweety whatcha going to serenade us with tonight?" Her face turned to focus completely on me as I smiled at her stupid nickname. She bestowed on me after my first appearance at the open mic night. "I thought I'd slow down tonight." Her mouth turned up into a bright smile. "oh I'm intrigued is it a cover?" "Yeah." Just as she was about to interrogate me more on my song choice Daniel's voice rang through the bar. Grabbing both Ava's and my attention. "So now it's time for what you all have been waiting for." I slide off of my stool and grabbed my guitar resting on the side of the bar. "The tiny woman with a big voice lets here it for Rachel Paige!" The crowd's cheers only grew with my appearance on stage. Daniel pulled me into a bear hug when I went to get the mic. "Good to see you kiddo." His low gravely smokers voice blew past my ear before he let me go and handed me the mic. I set up the stand then adjusted the stool before taking a seat to examine the crowd silently searching for a specific freckled face. There were a lot a regulars eagerly waiting for my new piece. After the first open mic night I began to grow a fairly large fan base.They made it an event to come out and see me perform every week which led Ava and Daniel to offer me a sort of residence at the bar. "Hey you guys how are you doing?" A varied number answers began to rang out. "So I see a few new faces and I want to say welcome and uh I hope you decide to come back, because if you don't it would really hurt my feelings. now I'm sure you don't want to be held responsible for hurting a young impressionable 17 year olds feelings." A few soft laughs floated through the room. "Ok now enough talk lets play some music" I call out as I begin to strum my guitar slightly searching for the face that I need. My muse. Just as I opened my mouth to begin the song she walked in. We made eye contact and her mouth moved to show her teeth in a smile that took up her whole face. 

"Oh, there she goes again,

Every morning it's the same

You walk on by my house

I wanna call out your name"

We broke our eye contact for a few seconds only so she could turn and plant a kiss on a big burly man. Covered from head to toe in a mixture of black leather and brightly colored tattoos. 

"I want to tell you how beautiful you are

From where I'm standing

You got me thinking what we could be"

He wrapped his meaty arm around Harlow. Then pulled her towards an empty table in the corner towards the front and proceeded to yank her by her arms on top of his lap before her eyes returned to mine.

"Cause I keep craving, craving, you don't know it

But it's true

Can't get my mouth to say the words they

Want to say to you 

This is typical of live 

Can't wait anymore, I won't wait I need to 

Tell you how I feel when"

His hands began to skim over her exposed thighs slowly hiking up her tight light blue dress. Before she slipped out of her black leather jacket that looked too big for her. It must be the brute's jacket, when one of his hands disappeared under her dress she quickly grabbed his hand. Forcing it to rest onto her knee as she flashed me a side smirk almost to say "sorry about that" 

"I see us together forever

In my dreams you're with me we'll be everything want us to be

And from here, who knows, maybe this will

Be the night that we kiss for the second time

Or is that just me and my imagination"

Her eyebrow quirked up at my snap decision to switch the lyrics from "first time" to "second time", She knew what I was implying and she found it funny. That was how the last three years have been. She dated a string of bad for her boyfriends and made sure I was fully aware of each. And. everyone. Of. Them while she simultaneously stringing me along by my heart strings that she played like a puppet. It's not that I didn't try to get over Harlow, it's that can't just get over Harlow, not until she says you can. Which led to a few failed relationship attempts on my record. Before settling for being single the way Harlow liked me.

"We walk, we laugh, we spend our time

Walking by the ocean side

Our hands are gently intertwined

A feeling I just can't' describe

All this time we spent alone, thinking we

Could not belong to something so damn

Beautiful

So damn beautiful

I keep craving, craving, you don't know it,

But it's true

Can't get my mouth to say the words they

Want to say to you

This is typical of love

Can't wait anymore, I won't wait I need to

Tell you how I feel when"

I slowed down the pace of the song slightly to make the next line more promenade 

As I stare intently into Harlow's eyes 

"I see us together forever"

After a slight pause I return to the regular pace of the song 

"In my dreams, you're with me

We'll be everything I want us to be

And from there, who knows, maybe this will

Be the night that we kiss for the second time

Or is that just me and my imagination 

I keep craving, craving, you don't know I,

But it's true

Can't get my mouth to say the words they 

Want to say to you "

I finished with a little impromptu solo before stumping all strings to finish. The crowd exploded into cheers and whistles. "Thank you, thank you!" I stood up to take a small bow. "Thank you so I'll see you all next week right?" A variety of yes's and head nods went through the crowd. As I walked off stage to the table in the corner Harlow jumped off the unknown man's lamp much to his disappointment. "Rach babe that was amazing!" Her slim arms wrapped around me and her perfume infected my senses. Just when I was about to wrap my arms around her waist to prolong the contact, she pulled away with a smile. "Thanks." She turned to grab the man's hand and yanked him up. "This is Crimson Red." It took all I had to not burst out laughing at his attempt at a "tough, intimidating" nickname. "And Crimson this is Rachel Paige my best friend." Harlow stepped back to let "Crimson Red" reach out his hand to me; I reached mine out to meet his halfway. "It's nice to meet you Rachel I've heard a lot about you....and I do mean a lot baby cakes over here wouldn't shut up about you, on the way over here and now I know why." His voice was rougher than Daniels and something told me he didn't get that voice from puberty. "Oh thank you and I'm sorry about the ride over here." "Oh it wasn't that bad." The way he said that with a side smirk towards Harlow made me sick. But the way she winked at him as if she knew exactly what he was referring to made me excuse myself before I threw up on the man. " Well I'm going to run to the bathroom I'll be back in a minute." I shook some hands and sent a few "thank you" to people as I made my way towards the bathroom. When I was safely in the bathroom with the door locked I splashed some cold water on my face. Before I stared into my dark brown almost black eyes why wasn't I good enough? Was it my brown skin? Did she not like the way it contrasted her pale skin? Was it her parents? Would they not approve? Surely they would like me better then the pieces of crap she dates now. I have decent grades enough for me to have a promising future outside of music if I can't get a deal. Was it my body? I wasn't in the best shape but thanks to my growth spurt last year I had thinned out significantly. I started using a special cream to clear up my skin so now I was acne free and I started running at least an hour every other day, so I was beginning to become more toned. What was it? Deciding to not to torture my self anymore I washed my hands and gave myself a quick pep talk. Before walking back out to the table where Crimson and Harlow were in a heated make out session. I turned on my heels and started for the bar instead of sitting there. Awkwardly waiting for them to stop slathering each other's faces with their saliva, "Sue?" Ava asked the second I leaned over the counter top. "Yeah" Was all I could respond with Ava turned to say something to Daniel before he nodded and began to make me a chocolate milkshake with a dash of flavored vodka. Once he finished she placed it in front of me. "She doesn't deserve you babe." Was all she said to me before going to answer the calls of an annoying customer. Leaving me to nurse my drink. "Hey you're Rachel aren't you?" I turned my head to meet dark blue eyes. "Uh yeah I am." She smiled showing her slight gap in her front teeth. Usually I find that unattractive but she pulled it off somehow. "I'm Mia I'm a huge fan." "Oh thank you it's always nice to meet a fan." She moved into the recently vacant stole next to me. "I just wanted to tell you that your cover of runaround sue is amazing" I smiled back at her. "Oh why thank you it was probably one of my favorite to work on." "I bet. You looked like you were having so much fun in the video for it on your YouTube channel." I laughed at the memory of me, Ava and a few of my other friends running around the mall doing pranks for the "music video" of my cover. "Yeah it's all fun and games until the security kicked us out." She chuckled at the fact that her laugh was the kind of laugh you heard and it made you want to laugh or laugh harder. But the way her whole face scrunched up during the laugh made it sound bearable. "So there is something I've been wondering for a while now, and I can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone about it." I raised one of my eyebrows up to show my confusion "Well please ask away I'm very curious now" she seemed hesitant. Like she was dealing with an internal battle before she finally spoke. "Are you...single?" I was taken back slightly by her question and the straight forwardness of it. But when I regained my composure and opened my mouth to answer. A familiar voice floated to my ears through the microphone on stage and sure enough when I turned to look at Harlow Sue. Standing up on stage a big grin on her face and eyes that were sparkling with an unknown plan. "I'm going to sing a little song to a special person in my life and they know exactly. Who. They. Are'' the way she looked directly at me and emphasized every word had my nerves on high alert. Waiting for her next move when the music began so did her hips swaying and rotating in such a fluid way I wondered when she learned to do that. 

"I love myself, I want you to love me When I feel down, I want you above meI search myself, I want you to find meI forgot myself, I want you to remind meI don't want anybody elseWhen I think about you, I touch myself"