Chapter 3 - Your Pranks, My Heartbeats

I saw the peanut get jammed in his throat. Well, not literally, but well enough that his face scrunched up and he gently beat his chest with his fist. I froze too because, goddamn was it good to see him up this close again. I mean, I know I only just saw him last night but after thinking about him that long, it was great to let my mind rest and let my eyes get to work.
"It's you," he said, soft but sweet, one corner of lips rising.
"Mr. Top Hat," I nodded, saying his nickname to him.
His eyes sparkled so bright even though the bar was the darkest part of the club. His hands instinctively moved his beanie into place, covering the tip of his ears. "How are you?" he managed. I didn't blame him for taking so long to reply, I couldn't even breathe.
"I'm good," I started. Good start, I told myself. "Better than last night at least," one, two, three… eight words. Perfect.
"Last night was pretty rough, ey?" he raised an eyebrow.
"But the Starbucks saved me," I sighed, the thought of my very own fairytale rescue ringing in my head. "Thanks. Talking about drinks, what can I get you boys?"
Ian said, "Your special. This kid here says you are the maker of the special. So yes, your special please."
I whipped up the drink in a jiff and placed the two short glasses in front of the guys. "How much?" Jason asked, taking out his wallet.
"Aw, don't worry about it, Mr. Top Hat. It's for the Starbucks you got me," I winked. Smooth, Sam, smooth. Keep it going, buddy.
"Alright!" he exclaimed excitingly. "But hey, what about him? He didn't get you anything." And Ian gave Jason the why'd-you-have-to-tell-her look.
"Oh yeah, I was getting to that. That would be five dollars please," I said, watching Ian's face drop. "Gosh, just joking. It's on the house. Go ahead, take a drink."
"So hey," Jason started again. "We haven't officially met. My name's Jason Mraz," he gave me his hand. I took his hand and slowly, both our fingers started wrapping gently. His hand was as soft as yesterday. One firm shake and we retrieved to cut all awkward strings.
"I'm Samara White. Sam would do fine," I smiled. As calmed as I looked like on the outside, there was an earthquake going on in my heart. I was so goddamn nervous.
Jason downed the drink and excused himself, "I have to get back on there. Few more songs then I'll be done. Save me a dance for the after party?"
"I'll be here," I said, my breath seizing to help me. Jason trotted towards the stage and Rhys managed to shoot me a thumbs up. For what, I have no idea. When I turned to face the mirror behind me, Jeremy stood there with a smug look on his face.
"What was that all about?" he asked, looking so goddamn cheeky.
"Rule one about working at the bar here with me," I said, trying to cover myself up a little. "No giving free drinks to people you don't know or are not regulars here."
"And you're telling me you know that guy?" Jeremy nodded towards Jason. "You guys JUST introduced yourselves!"
"THAT is a different case. AND a long story."
"I've got time," Jeremy said, glancing at his watch. "I get off at 1 and oh look! It's only 8.15. Lucky me!"
"Shut up, kid," I sat on the stool and watched Jason sing. In all that dorkiness, from the hat to the weird shirt and the scuffed shoes, there was so much passion in him, his music, his singing and everything. I couldn't tear my eyes away from it. It was so hard to even scratch an itch on my back because I was too afraid that if I moved, I'd wake up from this dream.
But then again, it wasn't a dream. It was all a reality I wasn't ready to face. He was so perfect. Polite, nice, friendly and gosh, talented as hell. Praises for him wouldn't stop running in my head.
He finished a couple of requests the audience had for him in his very own mysterious kind of style of songs and sat on the stage while watching the crew move the table to the sides. I watched him watch the people moving around, like he was taking notes and writing it down in a journal in his head.
And then all of a sudden he looked up at me, and I froze. I didn't stop breathing this time though. His eyes were locked onto mine and he didn't look awkward to be watched or anything. I wouldn't call it a smile, but it looked like one. It was the kind of smile where like if someone stared at a bright light for too long he'd start seeing stars? Yeah, it was like that. I was staring so long that a smile suddenly started to form.
Soft music started playing when the dance floor was cleared out and Jason stood up. NOW I stopped breathing. He was walking towards the bar and I quickly, like a doofus, looked around to see if there were any other women he might be walking up to. He slid his arms onto the counter and leaned close to my face.
"How about that dance?" he asked, calm and friendly. I glanced over at Jeremy and he said he'll take care of the bar. I followed Jason onto the dance floor where I let him place my hands where he wants them to be which turned out to be around the back of his neck. He carefully placed his hands on my waist, not too close to the @$$.
The soft music played in the background. It wasn't a slow love song or anything. It was Creep by Radiohead. But my kind of song to dance to with a guy.
"So why?" he suddenly spoke, his face not so close to mine. His body wasn't up against mine or anything. We were still in the comfort zone. And he was so good at taking things quick but slowly.
"Why what?" I asked, unsure.
"Why did you appear so quickly after we met? I mean, aren’t you supposed to let me eat out of my misery for at least a week before you appear again," he asked, as if I was the Prince Charming appearing before the witch and the apple scene.
"Timing isn’t exactly fond of me," I mentioned. "And besides, aren't you the one that's supposed to let me eat out of my misery? I am supposed to be the damsel in distress, after all." I rolled my eyes jokingly.
"Well, yeah. That WAS the plan. I had it all planned out, you know? Like place posters of my concert next week in all the Starbucks I can find near beach housing area, you know, since you seemed so fond of coffee. And then when concert night comes, I'd find you at my stage door, waiting for me with that you're-my-knight-in-shining-armor look on your face," he mentioned in one long deep breath. "And then YOU had to ruin the plan by working here and appearing BEFORE scheduled in my head… at my preview show!"
"Well, Jason, you didn't exactly tell me you were a performer! Because if you didn't know already, a LOT of new performers come here to unwind and play in their first week here in California!"
"WELL, Sam, I didn't exactly tell you my name either so why would I go into my whole life story about me being a performer?"
"Ah, shoot. You got me there, genius," I sighed and laughed with him. This wave of comfort washed over me when I heard his laugh. "I'm glad you found me," what the hell did I just say? Where is that coming from?
"I'm glad I'm such a genius to have did," he said, making me shake inside with laughter.
"You're so full of yourself," I felt my grip around his neck get tighter, bringing the two of us together. Oh my god, since when did I have this much confidence do this? He let go of my waist and pulled me closer to him by holding his wrists behind my back.
"Hey, look, I'm going down to the beach the day after tomorrow to do a free show for anyone who wants to watch, you wanna come with?" he asked, lowering his voice even though the music was already soft.
"Well, it'll be Sunday, I'll be off work," I had my schedule run through my mind, "I think it should be okay."
"Okay it is!" he smiled. "Be here at ten-thirty in the morning and I'll take you with the band okay?" he said.
"Okay it is," I mimicked and just then I heard Stu call out for Jason from the corner of the club. Jason didn't take his eyes off me but yelled out a 'Hold on,' to Stu.
He leaned in closer to my face, making my heart beat pace up like the roadrunner. Beep, beep! I thought I was going to faint in his arms, but I thought if I had to faint, sure as hell it should be in his arms. From his eyes, I stared down at his lips that were getting closer to mine. Just when I thought the fireworks were going to explode inside me, he just brushed… brushed… his nose on mine, turned around and walked over to Stu.
Without even saying goodbye, he swept me off my feet.

Without even saying goodbye, he left. Oh my god. He freaking left! He went to Stu, Stu took him to his office and then he left. Stu came out alone, Jason was nowhere to be found, and the band had gone through the front door in a split second.
"STU!" I yelled out, even though the music was off, the atmosphere was still and the club was ready to be closed.
"Yes, Sam?" he walked over to me.
"Where did he go?" I asked, my face flushed.
"Who, love?"
"Don't act stupid with me, 'love'. Not in the mood!" I said, looking around just in case he was still in the building.
"Relax! He had to go. Some shoot came up," Stu said, his smug suddenly wiped clean off his face. My heart fell so hard. My head started ranting, why didn't he say goodbye? Did I say something wrong? All these worries hit me in an instant and I felt like shoot. Emma sat next to me behind the bar and just watched me think.
"Babe, don’t fret. He found you once, he'll find you again."
I didn't look at her. The night was going so well and it all came down in a crash. I mean, honestly, what went wrong? I felt the muscles around my heart squeeze fresh heart juice tight. He had me already and now he just disappears. Not a good night.
Emma drove me home with a bottle of mixed shoot that we were both drinking from. Got through the front door of my house and Koki was there reading a magazine, not asleep yet, waiting for her 2 am drink. I tossed over the bottle and she asked me, "Whoa, babe. What's wrong?"
"Come on, Sam. Tell her the good news! Be happy about it."
"What? What good news?" Koki jumped, alert.
I just sat down and kept quiet. Thinking and thinking and thinking.
"Oh, come on, Sam! Tell me!"
"Forget it, she won't spill," Emma gave up, "Mr. Top Hat was there at Mist tonight! Can you believe it? His name is Jason and…"
Their voices and squeals started fading. Half conscious, I slowly crept away from them, crawled up the stairs and crawled into bed without changing. I probably smelt like shoot but I couldn't give a damn. Being shoot was worse anyway.

Saturday passed by like nothing. I was a zombie the whole day. Hardly spoke, served drinks, never smiled, didn't dance, didn't teach poor Jeremy anything. I dressed like rubbish in a sweater and sweatpants and bad runners. I didn't do my hair right, I couldn't be bothered to.
And then Sunday morning, I felt my body awaking but my eyes weren't open. The birds were singing again but this time, it felt mellow. The sun was shining again of course but this time, it felt hot and annoying. I didn't want to get out bed, I didn't want to do anything. This was supposed to be the Sunday I spend at the beach with Jason, but after leaving so suddenly that Friday night, I wasn't sure whether he was going to show at the mist this morning or not.
BANG! BANG! BANG! Someone knocked on my door. "ARE YOU AWAKE?" Koki yelled from outside my room door. "Are you alive?"
"No. Dead as a rotting rat," I groaned, placing the pillow over my head, hoping to drown Koki out.
"Well, revive yourself, woman! Stu's here with a note from Jason!"
I sat up in my bed too quickly, my head started spinning. I stumbled off my bed and ran to the door, flinging it open with a bang. "You gotta be shootting me right?" I asked, so dead serious.
"Go see for yourself, he's downstairs."
I leaped down the stairs in my pajamas and saw Stu sitting on the couch with a letter in his hands. He got up and offered me a hug but I attacked the letter instead. He jumped aside, refusing to give it to me until I gave him a hug. A pat on the back and the letter was mine. MWAHAHA.
"How are you doing today?"
"Same like yesterday, same like Friday night," I said, eager to open the letter. I tore open the envelope and threw aside, pulling out the white paper that sat inside.
"Wait… before you read that…" Stu was warning me but I started reading it anyway.

Samara,
Hey. I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye that night and you have no idea how much I regret not doing so. Because I've got news for you (I don't know whether it would be good or bad) and I only found out early this morning. I have to leave for Indiana for an urgent record meeting and performance. It was very sudden and I'm so beat inside out that I won't able to take you out today for the beach performance like I said I would. It was really nice meeting you though and I hope I get to see you again soon.
Jason.
Or as you like to call me, Mr. Top Hat.

Remember that Friday night when I said my heart fell? Well, this time it got unattached from the veins and fell right down to my bowls. I let the letter slip from my fingers, disappointed. I never knew I'd get so beat up over a guy like this. Well, maybe it was the fact that he was one of the greatest guys I've met in ages and that I took hell of a lot of interest in him.
He cut off all connections just like that. With a letter. Ouch, nothing could hurt more than this. The letter didn't even cover the whole page. "Babe, I'm so sorry. I know how excited you were for today," Stu said, slowly making his way to the door. "Come, walk me to the door."
I did like he told me to. He was my boss after all. I opened the door for him and let him out, finally able to speak, "Thanks, Stu. Would rather have this then have been stood up," I said, meaning it. Cos honestly, it's true. The warning is way better than me waiting like a retard in front of the Mist alone.
"Take care, babe. Why don't we go for tea later?"
"We'll see about that, Stu. But thanks for the offer," I didn't feel like letting my misery out on anyone.
"Okay, love. Goodbye," he left and I closed the door behind him. Two steps away from the door, the doorbell rang. I scanned the room to see if Stu left anything and then turned back to the door.
Opening it I said, "I don't think you left anything this time, Stu," I said. But when I looked up, not only was it NOT Stu. It was my life coming back to life. Jason stood in front of me with a cardboard saying 'Just joking!' in very bad handwriting. "Son of your dog!" I yelled but laughed my @$$ off. I picked up my newspaper and threw it at him.
"Haha! 'Rather this than have been stood up'?" he repeated after what I said earlier.
"NOT FUNNY, Jason," I said, sighing and pushing my hair out of my face.
"Yeah, it was not funny," he said, facial expression changing in an instant, "It was HILARIOUS!" he laughed even harder.
I huffed and leaned on the doorframe, waiting for him to stop laughing his lungs out. He finally heaved a sigh and got himself together.
"Do you hate me that much or do you still wanna go to the beach concert with me?" he asked, turning over the cardboard where it showed, 'Please?'
I stared at his pleading look, which, I have to say, made me give in, in an instant. But I wasn't about to show that, was I? "Wait here, I'll go get changed," I said, smiling like a 'tard. So much for not showing it.

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