The keys start. The strings come in.

“This interlude is by Elton John himself!”

“How beautiful is this? I know I’m talking, but just listen.”

I worked with one of your best friends. She helped you get a job at some random burger joint in the middle of our hometown, which was conveniently located across from my mom’s hair salon. We went to different high schools. I was a cook. You were a waitress. We were both seniors in high school. I remember when you were first hired and you didn’t know how to stack the baskets in the back. It was so bad! I even remember one time after closing when we were all walking out and you slipped right in front of me because of the mopped floors. The random things we remember, it’s incredible isn’t it? Do you remember that one time that we went to Raleigh to see some band who had a drummer that your best friend was interested in? We all met up at your house. It was your friend, you, and I. It was winter of 2010, right before the holidays. You invited me up while you got ready. It was cool talking to your friend while you were getting dressed. Psych. Nah, just kidding, but you eventually got ready and we left right after you showed us a few presents you had gotten your family for Christmas. Your friend had a new Camry at the time, so she drove. I was hungry, so we stopped at the Taco Bell by your house. Afterwards, we were on our way to Raleigh. It was cold, and you fell asleep on my shoulder at the show after trying on my Gatorade beanie. That’s all I really remember after Taco Bell. Oh yea, and I got a free t-shirt, that may be somewhere at my parent’s house now that I think about it.

A few days later at work, we had got to talking when things were slow. There weren’t many tables, so I didn’t have much to cook and you didn’t have much to do. I was explaining to you how important fragrances are. I kept reminding you in the middle of my rant about how much smell impacts our perception of people, places, and things. Smells are of the utmost importance-- I still stand by this, by the way. Tom closed that night, so I left a little after 8 p.m. Before I left, I invited you outside to my whip. A decade-old version of your best friend’s car, a 99’ Camry. I introduced it to you as the Camborghini, and as you can probably predict, I still refer to it as that to this day. The reason was that I had just bought new air fresheners. They were all strawberry-- six Little Trees hanging from the rearview mirror and four vent-clips inserted into the vents. Upon getting in the Camborghini, you were blown away by the aroma, just as I had expected. We rode around the block for a little as I played you a song off of Kanye’s new album at the time, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. To be more specific, it was All of The Lights, which I then went on another tangent about how beautiful the instruments were. I drove around as you laughed at all my strange views, and eventually we made our way back to the restaurant. I believe you had to close, so one of us had to go back to work. As you left, you told me that you looked forward to seeing me next weekend, which of course, was when we worked together again.

The next weekend we had more in depth conversations and even exchanged numbers. The rest is history, something that both you and I can’t change, but it’s something that I’m thankful happened, which I may get into in other writings. But I always found it ironic how your best friend led you to a burger joint across from my mother’s shop that I just so happened to work at and that led to you falling asleep on my shoulder at a rock show with my Gatorade beanie on, which led to a conversation about fragrances that ended with me playing you songs in the Camborghini. Which of course, led to things that led to us, which led me to think about all of those things that led to us after hearing All of The Lights on the radio. Ah, I can still smell the strawberry air fresheners from that night. Ironic.