text: The sound of a bottle breaking brings the party back into focus. I must have been daydreaming again. But is it even daydreaming if it's at night? God, I’m hopeless. "Sarah, go talk to a boy," my friend says. "What's the point." "So you can fall in loooove!" Cynthia means well, but she’s a romance addict. "I don't want to fall in love, Cynthia," I sigh. "C’mon. You can't fuck a bass, Sarah!" "Sure I can." Cynthia gives me a scary look. "Ughhh, you're hopeless!" she says and storms off into the mess of people crowded in the tight apartment. I giggle and sip my beer. It’s too easy to tick her off. But this party is kinda boring. Ughh, I’m getting tired of hearing 100 gecs. I wanna go home and listen to some Paul Chambers or something. I’ll smoke a spliff first though. I put my beer down on the small table I’m leaning on and make my way through the sea of sweaty animals to smoke out on the fire escape. I crawl through the window and breath in the crisp fall city air. I take out the spliff I rolled at home and light that bitch. It warms me up. I sit down and look at the cars below. “Sup.” A bit startled, I turn to my right. A boy is sitting at the end of the fire escape with his legs dangling off the side, smoking a cig. He’s tapping his left hand rhythmically. “Oh, hey.” Ughhh, curse you, Cynthia! I’m not gonna meet any boy tonight. “What are you smoking?” he asks. “A spliff.” “What’s in it?” “Blue American Spirit tobacco and Gorilla Glue.” “I always seem to end up with Gorilla Glue,” he sighs, “I can’t tell if it’s any good.” “It ain’t bad.” “Hmmm.” He takes a drag from his cig and plays with his long, black hair. His eyes have a bored look to them. “What are you smoking?” I ask. “Camel blues.” “Can I cop one?” “If you let me hit your spliff then sure,” he says. What am I doing right now! I should just go home and practice bass. My upright needs me. But instead, he hands me a camel blue and I trade my spliff. I smoke the camel blue and he starts humming the bass hook at the start of So What. “You like Kind of Blue?” I say. “Yeah,” his smiles, “I know it’s cliche but it’s what got me into jazz. I listened to that album a lot in my cringy middle school days. It’s forever stuck in my brain, ya know.” “Me too. Paul Chambers is so fucking great. That album is what led me to start playing upright.” “Jimmy Cobb is like that for me,” He says. His eyes brighten a little. I can’t help but smile. He’s so fucking cute. *Errrr!* I won’t fall in love. I won’t fall in love... “So, you play drums then I guess?” I ask. “Yeah.” Stop it, Sarah! STOP! “Hey, we should jam sometime!” he says. “Oh, yeah. That... that would be great!” I’m blushing. It’s all over. I’m in love with this boy.