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The flares of fuschia and lilac hues contrasted the entire pub. The speakers blasted the music loudly from the band.
Man. I feel like fucking shit. Xyx thinks to himself as he plays the drums.
What was the rhythm again? Now he was aware he was off beat to the song.
All of a sudden, his vision begins to blur but he couldn't help it. The drummer had grown exhausted. Mostly from life.. and himself.
Then the crowd cheers and claps. He was starting to get irritated by the sound. A "Thank you all!" was followed. It was their band's lead singer, Marza.
Xyx faintly discerned her and the band's lead guitarist, Silas, leaving together, with only Toaster remaining on the cluttered stage of instruments with him.
"Dude? You alright?" They lend out a fresh, cold water bottle. "You're sweating all over."
He sighs heavily and takes the bottle of water from them. "All good man. Aren't we always sweaty playing our gigs?" He chugs it all in, his vision becoming clear again.
"Well.. you're not wrong." They drink their bottle of water. "But you were also off-beat. That doesn't usually happen." They wipe their mouth.
He slicks his hair back from the sweat on his forehead. "Ha. I noticed. Perhaps I'm losing my touch?" He scoffs and turns his head towards an open door. From a far, he notices Marza leaning against a wall along with Silas.. laughing and touching each other intimately.
"Be right back." Xyx stoods up from the stool and Toaster replied, "Alright sure."
As he walks into the door, Marza notices him coming in and taps Silas' shoulder to leave and he does so.
"Hey there handsome-" She tries to playfully touch him but he backs off. "Cut that crap. What's with you and Silas?"
A disgusted expression splattered across her face. "Are you seriously mad about that? We were just talking."
"Really now? I saw the way you were around him." He crossed his arms. "Don't fuck with me right now, Marza."
She furrowed her eyebrows. "Oh so I'm not allowed to touch friends now? God, you are so damn sensitive."
There was a long pause after he heard her response. "Just tell me the truth. I'm not in the mood to have a fight with you."
Marza clicks her tongue. "Fine then. Since you're so fucking desperate, I'll tell you."
With a deep breath, he lets her explain.
"I have been cheating on you with Silas." Xyx rolls his eyes to the side. "Hey now. You can't blame me." She points at his chest. "Do you know how annoying you can be? It's like whenever you talk to me, I feel like a therapist."
His eyes were filled with regret. "I am a fucking singer, Xyx! Goddammit!" She pushes him against the other wall. "Do you want me to feel pity for you!? Huh!? Is that your job in life? To make me feel miserable?"
He couldn't even look directly at her. He felt.. ashamed. Afraid. Guilty. "And now you feel like shit, don't you? Now you get what I always feel when I'm with you!"
He swallows as he lowers his head down.
Marza rolls her eyes in frustration. "Got nothing to say? No apology? You really are pathetic-"
"Then we're done." Xyx finally says the words. He doesn't utter a word after. He was aware she kept badmouthing him as he walked away. But it doesn't matter anymore. Now he knows he was the problem. So instead of staying, leaving was the better option. At least, it would end conflicts.
Walking towards the exit of the pub, he breathed in the outside air. There was a torrent of rain at dawn. A calmness surfaced in his soul by the sound of droplets. The hindrance in his chest was still present, but to him it was a reminder.
A reminder in which he was a fuck up. One that was too much for anyone to handle. And he hates his entire self for that. Why do I feel too much? Xyx would constantly remind himself.
He lifts his head up, closing his eyes. Walking a few steps forward from the exit, he gets dampned from the rain. But he says in his head; fuck it. I'll do whatever. Just to feel.. something else.
Xyx was feeling it all. The cold water that touches his skin and the rush of adrenaline that runs through his body.
"Let me feel something.. great for once." Xyx speaks out loud. Suddenly, he opens his eyes to see a black keyboard above covering his head. He cocked his eyebrow at the sight of it.
"Feel something great, huh?" There was a voice heard on his side. His gaze turns to a person holding the black keyboard. "A weird choice of umbrella, I know. But it does the job anyway." Xyx chuckles at the silly idea.
"Why thank you, stranger. But a keyboard? Of all things?" He points at it with mockery.
"It was already broken so it's practically useless." They shrugged.
He gestures to carry it instead of them. "So you're just casually bringing a broken keyboard with you."
"I was going to throw it." They leaned to their side against the brick wall and took out a cigarette lighting it up with their customized lighter. "Then I heard music coming from here. I got curious."
Xyx gets closer to them, shielding them from the rain with the broken keyboard umbrella. "You didn't go inside?"
"Nah. Too crowded. Music's great though." They let out a smoke but moved their head away from him. "Sorry, I forgot to ask. Do you mind if I smoke?"
"I actually do." They were startled at his reply that their cigarette fell from their hand. "Dammit." They murmured and Xyx snickers.
"Shit my bad. I was just kidding." They roll their eyes in annoyance. "Alas, rest in peace, cig. You lived a good yet short life."
Xyx laughs hysterically to the point where his cheeks hurt a bit. "I wouldn't worry too much. Who knows? It could revive itself as a zombie cigarette."
They blew a raspberry. "That is the dumbest thing I have heard today."
"Nah. The broken keyboard as an umbrella wins the award for the dumbest thing ever." There was a long pause between them. After a while, the two of them laughed at the same time. "Undebatable indeed." A curve formed on their lips.
Removing his other hand from holding the broken keyboard, he lends out his hand in the midair towards them. "The name's Xyx, by the way." They glanced at his hand and took it, shaking hands. "And the name's Eve."
Eve. He said their name in his head. "Eve." He said their name next out loud. It sounded lovely. That rainy dawn was the first time he had encountered such a person. And strangely enough, he did not feel the painful hindrance in his chest. Was it simply because of the jokes? They were hilarious to him no doubt. But it was surely something else. He felt something else. Something.. great he could say.