had a sparkle in his eye and an edge to him that could very well turn him into the rock star he dreamed of becoming.
“Fuck it,” Nathanial said, unabashed, a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He turned and yelled into the Brooklyn street, letting out a huge amount of aggression.
“FUCK THIS AND FUCK YOU!!!!!!!” He shouted, causing Jeremiah to fall over himself in abrupt laughter. This was the crazy side of Nathanial, the side that took some getting used to but once you did, you missed it when it didn’t present itself.
Nathanial was jumping up and down, acting crazy.
“Fuck you!!!” He stomped his feet and threw his cigarette down on the sidewalk, stomping it out. “FUCK YOU MOM! FUCK YOU DAD!”
Jeremiah couldn’t stop laughing. Nathanial suddenly turned around and threw playful punches at Jeremiah, pelting him in his stomach before Jeremiah put his arm around Nathanial and they wrestled like this for a while, getting a bit rough with one another as Jeremiah kept Nathanial in a headlock and turned around in circles.
“FUCK YOUUUU!!!” Nathanial continued to yell, his yelling reaching a cute giggle before he started coughing. “Fuck you dude…” he lost zest and they fell down on the sidewalk, carelessly blocking the way of subdued hipsters who had to step around them.
“FUCK YOU!!!!” Nathanial shouted at them as they walked on.
“Yo,” Jeremiah was still laughing – laughing so hard his stomach hurt. “You okay?”
“I’M SO SICK OF THIS CITY!” Nathanial screamed up at the sky, lying on his back. “I’M SO SICK OF IT ALL!!!!!!!!”
“Yo…chill,” Jeremiah chuckled. “We about to get out.”
“You know how I got this fucking job? Do you know?” Nathanial said, all pent up. “I got this stupid fucking job at this fucking coffeehouse because the last guy who worked there’s father died and my boss didn’t want to wait for him to come back from the funeral. I HATE THIS COLD ASS CITY!”
“I know man,” Jeremiah said, his voice gruff. “Can’t wait to be out. Just out – you know?”
“Yeah.” Nathanial had exhausted himself. He did that a lot – got real excited and then just lost all energy. But it wouldn’t take him long to refuel. He was young and determined.
They lied there for a minute, that weird feeling of tiredness after a hard laugh taking over. Jeremiah practically fell asleep until Nathanial started screaming again.
“AHHHHHHHHHH!”
“Yo,” Jeremiah chuckled,
The always annoyed, overworked bartender of Five-Seven-Nine poked his head out of the door and glared down at Nathanial and Jeremiah.
“You guys need to either come in or find another place to be pointless,” he lectured.
“Um…” Nathanial lifted his head a few inches from the ground. “Sir, we’re looking for Six-Eight-Ten, is that close by?”
Jeremiah laughed at Nathanial’s foolishness. He couldn’t recall a single day he’d hung out with Nathanial and not laughed to near tears.
“Get the fuck out of here or I’m calling the cops, I’m serious,” the bartender scorned.
“Awwwwe man!” Nathanial jumped up and rushed over to him. “I’m normal, I swear, for a…human.” Nathanial spoke in a strange cartoonish voice all of the sudden. “Wee’z agonna get beers, can we still get beers?” Nathanial stuck out his fat bottom lip and batted his eyes.
“Yes, but you have to behave, you’re disrupting our patrons.”
“Okay.” Nathanial flashed a beaming smile at the bartender and turned to Jeremiah. In an instant, he went back to being that boyish character everyone loved.
“Hey man, you know what I did today?” He excitedly said to Jeremiah.
“Took some crazy drug?” Jeremiah joked.
“Yeah, but check this out…” Jeremiah chuckled and shook his head at Nathanial’s antics as Nathanial brought out a thick folded square of paper from his back pocket.
“I printed out a map…” Nathanial handed it to Jeremiah as he repositioned his Wilco baseball cap on his head. Nathanial was amazingly cute – with sparkling green eyes and freckles all over his nose and cheeks. He was pale and usually wore eyeliner. Jeremiah considered himself straight but he experienced a few moments around Nathanial that made him question his sexuality.
“Jesus Christ, this thing is like the bible,” Jeremiah said, unfolding the map.
“Look, look, look,” Nathanial traced the lines he’d drawn to mark their travel with his finger.
“I marked all the places we should stop and check out along the way,” Nathanial said. He never stopped smiling as he spoke of the trip. It was great to see Nathanial so happy and in love with life. It hadn’t always been this way.
“That’s cool, man,” Jeremiah spoke. “But remember we only have six days.”
“We’ll plan it good – maybe we shouldn’t take chicks with us,” Nathanial responded. Jeremiah was a bit concerned for Nathanial. He was acting a bit off tonight, even for him.
“Okay man, let’s get a drink because we have to be at Galapagos to set up soon.”
Nathanial pulled the door open and a few people waiting for a table stared up at him. His energy made some nervous, and then there was his smell because Nathanial bathed every other week at best. He waved at the bartender that just accosted him before they headed downstairs to the basement lounge.
“You totally like driving that bartender insane,” Jeremiah picked up on.
“I hate his fucking hair,” Nathanial said loud enough for everyone in the basement lounge to hear. They too stared. They stared at Nathanial’s tight pants, suspenders, Joan Jett shirt and filthy Wilco baseball cap.
“So did you look at the map?” he asked Jeremiah, sounding almost normal that time.
“Nah, not yet.”
Nathanial was disappointed. He wanted Jeremiah to be excited about the map. Nathanial had practically studied it until his eyes bled.
They went over to a bench against the wall and sat down. Nathanial tried to unwind from a hectic day at the coffee shop. He was well aware at all the stares he was gathering as he bit his nails and stared back. Jeremiah set his haggard guitar case down and sat down next to Nathanial. People noticed them and that was all they cared about.
“We’re playing tonight at Galapagos,” Nathanial announced to the room before spitting out a fingernail he’d chewed off. “Ten sharp, motherfuckers.”
Jeremiah stared at Nathanial, amazed. “Yo, you okay?”
“Fuckin ready to get out of this bullshit city,” Nathanial rubbed his knees with his hands, anxious. “I got parts of the streets under my skin. I’m tired.”
“Calm down, we need to get you a drink.” Jeremiah rubbed Nathanial’s back. Life had never been easy for Nathanial, or Jeremiah. Nathanial had ADD and was picked on in school for it until he dropped out, and was abused by his dad until he ran away. Jeremiah’s story was not much happier. They met on the streets and both had hustled to get jobs and apartments since. Now they had a band, and things were going pretty good compared to how it used to be.
Jeremiah looked around for a bartender then looked back at Nathanial, who had a fresh cigarette between his lips.
“Yo, what are you doing? You know you can’t smoke in here.” Jeremiah took the cigarette from Nathanial’s lips, totally forlorn now.
“Yo, you’re bent,” Jeremiah said. “You gotta calm down before this show.” He watched as Nathanial rested his head against the back of the booth, his long legs spread a bit. He was as tense as Jeremiah had ever seen him. He stared at Nathanial’s prominent adams apple, at his milky white skin.
“I want my life to change, this trip has to change everything.”
“It will,” Jeremiah assured.
“I’m just ready, you know? Tired of going to the same job every day, the same bars, printing out flyers, trying to get a buzz going. You can only try so long to get a buzz going before you have to be like, hey, its just not working, you know? Maybe I suck.”
“H
ey,” Jeremiah alerted, upset Nathanial would ever say that. “You don’t suck – we…” Jeremiah slapped his own chest. “We do not suck. Tonight’s going to be amazing – we’ve been practicing our asses off.”
“Oh shit,” Nathanial leaned to the side and stared at his own ass. “Phew,” he sighed, relaxed.
“Thought you were serious, dude,” Nathanial said. Jeremiah covered his face with his hand and laughed a little.
“I’m so ready.” Nathanial confessed. “I listened to The Very Sky Is A Threat again today. I just want it, you know?” Nathanial’s fiery playfulness seemed to fizzle out as he stared at the table in front of them. Was it doubt feeling those great big green eyes of his? Jeremiah landed a supportive hand on Nathanial’s shoulder.
“Hey, that’s why we’re doing this, man, you know? We’re gonna go to L.A. and see the show and its gonna be amazing and then we’ll pass the demo off to Josh. You and Josh are gonna get on, I just know,” Jeremiah didn’t have a doubt in the world about that, honest and truly. “I know that shit’s for real,” he said, his voice trailing off a bit.
“You don’t think he’s gonna laugh at us do you?” Nathanial worried.
“What? No man.” Jeremiah said. “You’re just as crazy as that fucker, crazier maybe.”
The door next to them swung open and hot, steamy air escaped from the kitchen. The bartender looked down at them reluctantly.
“What can I get for you guys?” he asked, no love.
“Beer – two Heinekens,” Nathanial strictly ordered. “And you should come to our show tonight,” Nathanial went