As usual, I was early to the party. The house was quiet, the soft sounds of preparation coming from the next room over, as the party host - my guitar teacher - was still getting food together and the kitchen table set. She glanced through a window between rooms as I walked in, having heard the screen door sliding open and shut, and excitedly waved and called out my name. I smiled and waved back before setting my guitar down near the couch. Her parties had a flow to them - people would show up, usually late, we'd get together, and one after the other we would get up in front of everyone and preform a couple of songs that we had been working on. There were singers, other guitarists, and occasionally a violinist or two. She taught more than that, but most of the others generally didn't come to the parties.
As I walked into the kitchen where my teacher was, I was surprised to find that I had not been the first to arrive. At the counter, half helping prepare and half eating, stood a girl who looked vaguely familiar, though I couldn't quite think of why at that moment. I glanced her up and down, taking her in, and I thought at the time that she was pretty, but I didn't think much else of her. She was another student, of that much I was certain. Blonde with her hair held back by a dark blue bandana, and a nice figure. She didn't notice me for a moment, so at the time she was busy stuffing her face. The fact that she was so unguarded in that moment was really funny to me, especially when she noticed I was there and abruptly stopped, and it put a smile on my normally flat face.
As the night moved on, however, and people arrived and we all started setting up to preform, that quickly became little more than a funny memory. I wasn't much of a talker, so I stood off to the side and listened and observed as I did a lot of the bulk work for my teacher to set stuff up. Just before we began to preform, it was decided by another student that we should film everyone, but the camera that we had to do so was faulty, and so it ended up falling on me to record off of my phone.
The girl who had been the first to arrive was fittingly set to be the first to preform, much to her chagrin. She picked up her acoustic guitar, sat down, adjusted the mic, and I hit record.
When it comes to music, despite the fact that I played electric guitar, I was all about that acoustic. I loved the way it sounded. And as she started playing, maybe that started mixing into my head with the way she looked, and the single good memory I had of her. Something about her as she played made pull my eyes away from my phone as I made sure I was filming it right so that I was focused entirely on her. And then she started singing. Her voice... I couldn't pull my eyes away from her after that.
Somehow I managed to record her properly. She sat down after that, clearly embarrassed at her own skills and the fact that she had had to go first. As others played, I couldn't help but glance at her from time to time. Eventually it was my turn to preform, and while I knew I should have been looking toward my phone which I had handed off, I couldn't stop looking at her. It was a completely subconscious action, and I hardly even noticed I was doing it.
After everyone had done their part, we all headed into the kitchen to eat and chat. I ended up across the table from her, and it seemed like every conversation one of us had, the other got heavily dragged into. We spent a lot of the night talking.
She had to leave early, although she didn't really want to. We said our goodbyes, and although I had made other friends that night, I felt a little lonelier after she left. Eventually it ended up being me, another female student, and our teacher. We were all chatting, having a good time, when the other student decided that we should prank call the girl who had left so much earlier. She had the girl's number, but somehow it still ended up being me who called her.
Sometime after that, I agreed to drive the other student home, and we parted ways. As I drove home, very tired by that point, I still couldn't help but think back to that girl. The memories were few, but they were happy. At the time I thought I had made a good friend.
It didn't take long after that for me to realize that something a great deal larger had taken hold of my heart.
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