Carmen:

"Hey love, it's me. Just calling to let you know we got here safely. I'm gone for a few hours and you're already ignoring me? Kidding. Anyways, just give me a ring back when you can alright?"

I hung up the phone, slightly irritated at myself for missing Van's call. I redialed his number but got his voicemail.

"Hey, it's me. Just calling you back. I feel like this is going to turn into an endless cycle. Just call me back when you're not busy. Bye." I set the phone down on the couch, looking at the blank television screen.

I wondered what the time difference was between here and London, so I grabbed my phone again and looked it up. 8 hours. So if it was eight pm here, it was four am over there. I hoped I'd be able to talk to Van soon.

Hey, are you busy

I typed an answer quickly to Katherine, standing up to grab my laptop from my room and do that paper I'd been holding out on doing.

Let's go out. I'm sad cause of Benji, and I know you're sad cause of Van

I have homework

Come on, just one night

Where would we go? It's a Wednesday

I don't know, I'm hungry. Let's go stuff our faces

For once, Katherine was on to something. I guess I should've started working on the paper, but going for food wasn't a bad idea. Besides, it's not like we were going out to some shady club.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"Sushi?" I made a face outside the door. Katherine knew I wasn't a fan of raw fish. Even cooked fish made me gag a little.

"They have teriyaki you big baby." She held the door open for me.

It was one of those karaoke places where you sat on the floor and there was a little lounge area secluded from everyone else. That's where the karaoke magic happened.

"We're singing a song." Katherine said.

"No way."

"Yes. You have to do the karaoke whenever you come to one of these places."

After we got food and were sitting at a little table, Katherine cleared her throat and looked over her glass at me. "Heard from Van?"

"He called and I was asleep. I rarely take naps and when I do this happens." I shook my head, spearing a piece of chicken.

"Benji didn't call or text me at all." Katherine looked down at her plate. "You know I thought this wouldn't happen. Maybe he just sees me as the first groupie of many."

"Don't say that. I'm sure he'll call you anytime soon."

"I hope so." Katherine sighed. I'd never seen her this worried about a guy.

"I told Van I loved him." In an eager attempt to change the subject, those words were the first to come out. Maybe not the best choice though, because Katherine narrowed her eyes and pursed her mouth.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I do." I said defensively.

"You've been going out for like two or three months though."

"It's not like we're engaged to marry." I said defensively.

"Lemme guess, you said it first?"

"He did actually." I stiffly took a sip of water, swallowing a dry piece of chicken. "Not like that matters though."

"Wow, you two sure are moving very quickly. Best of luck to you." Katherine's voice oozed with sarcasm. Was I missing something? Since when had she gotten so..so jealous? It's not like she wasn't in a relationship either. She had Benji right?

My phone vibrated in my bag next to me.

"Hello? Hi baby."

Katherine resumed eating while I talked to Van.

"What are you up to?"

"I was just going out to eat with Katherine. What about you? Isn't it like six in the morning over there?"

"How did you know? I couldn't sleep. I've been up all night." I heard cars on his end.

"Jetlag?"

"Badly. But also, I don't know, I've been writing loads."

"Oh really? That's great."

"I know. I'm meeting with the label today, hopefully I don't look like an addict or something."

"I'm sure you'll be fine."

"I want to see your face later."

I laughed lightly, gripping the phone. "Ok. So I'll skype you?"

"Please do. I've gotta go, but I'll talk to you later. Love you."

"Love you too." I hung up, sliding the phone back in my bag.

"So how about that karaoke?" Katherine spoke up, letting her chopsticks fall onto her plate.

"Katherine I don't know."

"Come on! I'll let you pick the song."

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

We were still laughing about the karaoke session all the way to Katherine's car.

"I don't know which one of us two sounded more out of tune." I gasped, sliding into the car.

"We should've asked the guys in front of the stage. They honestly looked like they wanted to jump off a cliff."

"I don't know, the one on the right looked like he was feeling that little butt shake you did at the end."

"Stop!" Katherine turned the ignition on, leaning over the steering wheel and snorting. "Where to now?"

"I've gotta get home to work on this paper for tomorrow. I haven't started any of it."

"Oh shit, yeah I just remembered I have about twenty pages of work due for statistics tomorrow." Katherine tapped her finger against her mouth as she steered. "Can I tell you something?"

"As long as it's not a murder confession or anything."

"You're so dumb. I've been thinking of taking a year off of college."

"What, why?" The idea seemed inexplicable to me. I mean, Katherine was even more desperate than I was to graduate, and she was pretty much burying herself in loans as well.

"I don't know if my major is really what I want to do."

"Business is a broad major." I reasoned. "Besides, no one really cares about your major that much when you're looking for a job. Just get a degree and see what goes on from there."

"That's the thing. I have no clue."

"I don't either. I'm pretty much just winging it."

"I thought you wanted to work on the radio?"

"I've been thinking about it. I don't know if I'd want loads of people to just be listening to me ramble for a while. Besides I could work for high end companies and advertising. Something like that."

"You do realize we should be getting an internship right now right? We're both about to be seniors."

"Don't remind me." I moaned as Katherine turned into my street. "I don't know how I'll fit that in with my job at office. I'm pretty much just going to sacrifice my social life."

"You don't have one." Katherine teased. Although I couldn't really tell.

"Shut up. Anyways, I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, I'll text you." Katherine parked and waited for me to exit before speeding off, making a sharp turn to the right.

I climbed up the stairs and to the apartment, sliding the key into the knob. I stepped in and barely had a moment to register the two bodies moving around on the couch. "Oh-Ohmygod. Sorry."

Jesse and her boyfriend rarely spent anytime here, why tonight of all nights? Jesse sat up on the couch, fixing her shirt while her boyfriend muttered a quick greeting to me and looked at his feet. This was so awkward. "I didn't think you'd be back so quickly."

"I..yeah. Um, I'll be in my room. Night." I practically ran to my room, shutting the door tightly behind me and collapsing on the bed. I grabbed my phone from my bag, opening a text to the only person I could think to talk to right now.

You won't believe the awkwardness I just faced

What happened?

I walked in on my roommate and her boyfriend

Didn't that happen with us too? :)

Noooo. Not that badly.

I'm sorry you had to see that. I've got to go, skype later? As promised??

Yes! Ok, talk to you later

I closed the conversation with Van and reached for my computer, figuring I had a bit till he'd be available to talk. And it wasn't like this paper was going to do itself either.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Van:

"I'm talking five songs. Max six. The ones you sent us were great, but we need something new for this EP. Forget EP, you've released one of those already haven't you? No, we need an album boys! By this summer. Yes, it'll be loud, it'll be massive!"

I pushed my hands together, nodding at what Rich was saying. He was the boss anyways. Bob caught my eye from across the table and smirked. He and the other two already knew that we'd had plenty of songs written up, possibly for up to six albums. Now the only thing was if any of them were worth something.

"Rich, when can we get in the studio?" I put my hands on the table, looking at him. He had a bit of a crazed look to him, but he was a nice fella.

"Van boy you could get in the studio right now if ya wanted to. Mind you, there's probably some time you'd need to prep and whatnot, but I"-

"Oh well, not right now I think. Maybe next month or"-

"Next month? How about next week?"

"Next week?" I looked at the guys. Bondy shrugged, Bob and Benji nodded. "Well alright, but"-

"Alright great. Ok, I think that's all I wanted to cover. We just need a group photo for the website. Want the whole world to meet our new artists!"

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"Van, ya looked as white as a sheet."

"That is his natural coloring though."

I rolled my eyes, looking down at my tea. "I need to go over our songs. I don't know if any are good enough yet."

"We'll just slap some together and call it an album mate."

"Bob are you insane? You realize how long we've waited for this? This album can't be shit alright? I need this to be massive. And you know you need it to be to."

Bob shrugged. "You know what you're doing Van."

"Shit! Hold on, what time is it?"

"About ten why?"

"I promised Carmen I'd skype with her. Damn it."

"I'm sure she'll get it mate. Just tell her the meeting went over."

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Carmen:

I rubbed my eyes, fighting another yawn back. My paper was complete bull, but it was printed and ready to go. I knew I should've been asleep by now, but I was waiting for that skype session with Van.

I looked at my phone, but there we no messages yet. It was three in the morning though, which meant if I fell asleep now I could sleep five hours before I had to get up.

My phone vibrated and I opened the text, eagerly turning to turn on my computer too.

Hey love. Sorry the meeting went over. Are you awake?

Yes, that's alright. Do you still want to talk?

Of course, but are you up for it

Yes :)

"Hello! Carmen! Babe!"

I laughed, plugging in my earphones. "Shh, I don't want Jesse to come and attack me for you waking her up with your yells."

He laughed, setting his arms on the table and leaning in. He looked amazing. Even more so than usual I think. Maybe it was something about being close to home that did it for him. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, how was the meeting?"

"You'd love our boss guy. He's mad, but he's funny. I don't think he even intends it. He also wants us to start recording in the next week."

"That's great!" I noticed his thin smile. "Isn't it?"

"Well, I don't know. I was looking over all my old notebooks. Half of the songs are not album material. Luckily I've got time to write more."

"Well you've been writing tons right?"

"Yup, been feeling very inspired." He laughed, and stopped, someone whispering something to him from the side. "I gotta go babe."

"Oh, ok." I tried to fight disappointment. We'd talked for about five minutes, and I hadn't even told Van much about the day, I know he would've loved to hear about the embarrassment of karaoke.

"I'll talk to you later alright? Love you."

"Love you." The call ended, and I stared at the desktop of my laptop, sighing.

Things were not starting off well for us long-distance.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

I fell asleep after twenty minutes of over-analyzing my conversation with Van. I didn't do that when he was here, but now that he was so far away, I was overthinking.

He wanted this band to go so far, as did I too, but what would he give up in exchange? And now that he was getting into the studio, and doing touring and promoting, when would that give him time to be with me? I was thinking so so selfishly.

I finally fell asleep though and as expected, overslept.

"No, no, no." My car's engine was stalling. I had ten minutes to get to campus, find a spot, and get to class. And my damn car engine was stalling.

If I didn't turn in this paper I would get a zero, the professor did not accept late assignments. The engine kept sputtering, and I was starting to freak out.

Ok, so the nearest bus stop was about ten minutes from here, if I ran I could make it. But I had no clue when the buses stopped. It was too far to walk to campus. Jesse could let me borrow her car, but she had classes later on, and who knew if she had plans or something.

Ok, so the bus it was.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Luckily I had enough change for the bus, and even though I burst into class a good half hour in, the professor merely kept lecturing as I plopped the paper on the other pile of papers on his desk.

After class, I had half an hour to kill before my second class. Also my last class, thank god. I went to the coffee shop on campus and ran into a friend from class, passing the time talking to her.

"So you know that internship at the news channel on Wilshire? I got it."

"That's great Katie."

"Thank you, have you gotten any yet?"

"I haven't applied to any yet." I admitted sheepishly.

"Carmen! You need to find some soon! Everyone's gonna snatch up all the good ones."

"I don't know where I want to work yet."

"Hmmm, have you heard of Threds?"

"Threds? Nope."

"It's this startup I read about on the campus paper. I guess some of the alumni from here are starting it. It's like this fashion startup."

"Fashion huh?" I wasn't that in the know on fashion. I didn't dress terrible, but I'm pretty sure my looks wouldn't be on Vogue or anything.

"Yeah, well if you don't really want to work on the fashion part, you could always work on the PR side. I heard they're having some great opportunities for public affairs majors. You should check it out."

I played with my straw. "I'll look into it. Thanks."

"No problem. Shit, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later." She grabbed her stuff and practically ran out, leaving me to think over what she'd told me.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

I went to class and barely made it to the bus that dropped me off close to home.

Work was another situation though. Jesse wasn't back so I couldn't ask to bother her car. But then again the office wasn't that far, I figured I could walk.

So I did. I'd checked my phone multiple times throughout the day, but there was no word from Van. That's cool.

"Hi Lucy." I sat down at the registration desk, waving bye to the girl who'd been working before me.

"You ok Carmen? You look sad."

"I'm fine."

"Ok." She looked doubtful. "We've got a new patient coming in today so just remember to give them the yellow and blue forms to fill out alright?"

"Got it."

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Work passed in a dull blur. The only excitement was when Lucy told me I could take a fifteen minute break instead of ten.

When I closed up, I stepped out into the surprisingly chilly night and got momentarily scared. I'd worked here for over a year but I'd never thought how dangerous it could be to walk home. Probably cause I'd never had to do it, but still.

As if on cue, my phone rang as I walked over to the crosswalk.

"Van?"

"Hi love, how are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?" A car horn sounded loudly behind me as I made my way across.

"What the hell was that?"

"A car horn."

"Where are you?"

"I'm just leaving work."

"Oh, did you park far?"

"No, I walked."

"You what? You walked to work? And now you're walking home? What time is it?" His tone changed.

"My car isn't working. And it's like eight Van, don't worry."

"Don't worry? Do ya know what could happen if you just walk out like that?"

"I am aware of the dangers thanks." I responded dryly.

"Carmen, you should've asked for a ride from someone."

"Van, it's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal? Don't be dumb Carmen."

"Oh so I'm being dumb?"

"I didn't mean it like that baby. I"-

"There's not a lot of meanings to dumb Van."

"I'm just looking out for you. I want you to be safe. If I'd been there I would've"-

"Yeah ok, well you're not Van." My heart was thudding wildly against my chest in a sudden burst of adrenaline. "So please don't start throwing out all these scenarios of what you would've done."

He spoke again, this time sounding defeated. "Carmen, I just want you to be safe alright? I'm sorry."

I was nearing my building. My chest felt heavy and my lungs felt raw from speed-walking there. "Yeah ok Van sure. Listen I have to go."

"Don't be like that then. I miss you. Don't be mad."

"How was your day today?" I finally asked, pushing the key against the knob to the apartment. It was empty, thank god.

"It was long." I heard him breathe deeply, and then I realized he was smoking. "It's been massive really, all this sudden attention we've been getting. Can't complain though, it's what we wanted all along. How was work?"

"It was work."

"I figured." I could hear his smile and that made my heart ache, wishing I could see it in person.

"I have to find an internship for school though."

"What is that?"

"It's basically working for free."

"Working for free huh? That's insane."

"I know, but it gets you experience."

"So now you're going to have two jobs huh?"

"Maybe." I stretched out on the couch, letting my arm dangle over the armrest while I pressed the phone against my ear.

"What are you doing right now? Please, tell me you're home."

"I'm home. And I didn't get mugged."

"Ok good."

"I know. I have to get my car fixed."

"Do it soon. I don't want to hear about you having to walk to work again."

"Yeah yeah ok. Are you tired?"

"No."

"When do you sleep?"

"In the afternoon." Another intake of breath. "Bob got some of our old friends together. We're meeting them in a couple of hours. Hopefully I don't pass out on the spot."

"Maybe you won't."

"Thanks for the bout of confidence."

"Anytime."

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Van:

Hanging up the phone from Carmen, I felt the same wave of desperation wash over me that had come when she told me about walking home.

If I'd been there, I'd never let her do that.

But calling her dumb hadn't been smart either. It was weird, this feeling. It's like I was desperate with Carmen. I missed her of course, but this was something else. It was like I was homesick, but just for her.

I rubbed my face with my hand, bringing the cigarette close to my mouth and then lowering it. The guys were sleeping and I was the only one awake.