In the morning I take a long shower and rinse off every trace of product. I don’t even use body wash. I scrub my skin with a sponge because I don’t want anything interfering with my scent.
Then we say goodbye to The Days. They thank me for joining the tour, but I know they also have plenty of complaints about the band, and I don’t blame them. The goodbye is short.
A car picks us up around nine, and I know that by one I’ll be home.
Where Alex is waiting for me.
Every hour feels endless. I have my journal with me, the pink one, and when no one is looking I write an abstract poem.
‘Scent of you’
Your red lips in a shade of sin
Strawberries in the forest grass
You call to me through your silky skin
Whispers of wind in a mountain pass
Your hair glowing, purple brass
Your neck sun kissed and pristine
Fingers playing on the bass
Pale and golden, sweet like gin
Swirling slowly down the glass
Nothing can come between
Us.
I keep the tone abstract and fleeting, like a musical impression drifting through my head the way my longing for Alex keeps rising.
Then I stare out the window, not listening to the guys, who are already thinking about the colleges they got into. Most of them chose music programs.
Malik is the only one who isn’t planning on going. His brother runs a club and Malik wants to play there.
He knows he has a future waiting for him.
At one point Decan leans in and says, "I think your glands really matured. I can smell your Allure. It’s kind of like grapefruit."
I freeze and stare at him. "Grapefruit?"
How could Alex have guessed that?
"Yeah, something like that."
"I think we’re somewhere between low and half, you and me." He winks.
But I ignore that. Compatibility between low and half is common, the so called neutral baseline.
I bite my lip and fall into thought. I can’t wait for Alex to discover he wasn’t wrong, that he really sensed it. It’s one more sign that we might be TM. I let myself think it again, a little braver this time.
We finally reach the city and drive along the street beside the campus, the one that leads to the neighborhood where my and Alex’s house stands.
We stop and I grab my instruments. I say goodbye to Malik, and to the other guys I just lift a hand. I doubt we’ll ever see each other again.
