Separation

I stared into the glass display case with dismay. Even the cheapest of smartphones would completely bankrupt me.

“Need help finding anything?” the employee said, walking over to assist me.

“Do you have anything… cheaper than these?” I asked.

“Right this way sir,” she led me to another display case. It was full of ancient-looking flip phones.

I winced. “Don’t you have anything a little… nicer?”

“Don’t you have more money?” she asked with a snarky tone.

I grimaced and grabbed the cheapest one that looked like it actually functioned. After she rang me up, I left the store and headed home.

When I got home I noticed an envelope taped to my door. I plucked it off and went inside. Before opening it, I dug my old phone out of the drawer and opened it up with a screwdriver. I slipped out the SIM card, which had luckily been spared my wrath. I opened up my new phone and slid the card inside, glad to save a few bucks. I decided to shoot Sunny a text, so she’d know my new number, just in case she needed to reach me.

Hey, it’s Jimmy. This is my new phone’s number.

It set my phone down on the table and picked up the envelope. Before I had the chance to open it, my phone buzzed. That can’t Sunny already, can it? I flipped the phone open and read the text message.

heyyy jimmy! i had a gr8 time last night! 🙂 we should totes do it again sometime! lemme know when the next band practice is! cya soon!!! 😁

Is this really the same girl? She seems so meek in person, but over text she’s so expressive. I set the phone back down and dug into the envelope. It was a letter from my neighbor complaining about the noise last night. Apparently our jam session had ‘disturbed their beauty sleep.’ Come on, it wasn’t even dark yet! Regardless, I couldn’t just ignore this note. If it happens again, they might file a noise complaint with the landlord, and, knowing him, that’s a chance I don’t need to take.

As much as I hated it, Sunny and I would have to find somewhere else to practice.

Hey Sunny, I just got a noise complaint from my neighbor. I don’t think we’ll be able to practice here anymore. Know anywhere else we can practice?

Almost immediately, she responded.

🤔 i live in an apartment 2, so we probs cant practice here either… ill make some calls and see what i can do

She was surprisingly reliable. I guess that makes sense; she was in a band before, so she’s bound to have some connections.

My phone buzzed again.

sry, i got nothin 😭

Damn. I mulled it over in my head. We can’t practice here, and we can’t practice at her place, and everywhere else probably costs money.

Wait, why was I just getting this notice now? Why didn’t my neighbors care before, when it was just me practicing by myself? I guess I usually play at a lower volume when I play alone, and if it’s too late I use headphones. Both of those are out of the picture if we practice together. If we practice together… I got it! I shot Sunny another text.

For the time being I think we should practice alone. I’ll send you my playlist of songs I like to busk. Do you think you can learn them in the next few days? Once you’ve got them down alone, we can go busking together and practice our synchronization live.

It’s a little scuffed, but it should work. Last night was our first time playing together, and it went pretty well if I do say so myself. Individually, we’re both great musicians, so there really shouldn’t be any trouble if we practice alone. And I’ll never turn down an opportunity to avoid paying a fee.

I set my phone down and began cleaning up my apartment. We had made quite a mess of things last night. I picked up all my bedsheets off the floor and debated putting them right back on my bed, but ultimately decided to put them in the washing machine first.

I can’t take a nap until that’s done, so I guess that gives me some time to run through the setlist. I’ve probably run through it hundreds of times by this point, but you can never have too much practice. Plus, I don’t want to fall behind Sunny. I can tell she’s incredibly talented, and I’ll fall behind if I’m not careful.

I grabbed my guitar off the wall and plugged it into my amp. Remembering the noise complaint, I reluctantly plugged in my headphones.

Yep, I still got it. I wiped the sweat off my forehead. I ran through the whole setlist, without a single mistake. I got up and moved the laundry into the dryer. On my way back to the living room, I saw my phone lying on the table, blinking. I had a notification. It must have buzzed at some point during my practice, and I didn’t hear it through my headphones.

Sunny had texted me back. aight. i got em all down. wanna busk 2mrw?

She got all of them down? That quickly? Guess she already knew the songs I busk to. Not surprising, since they’re pretty popular. They have to be if you want to bring in a good stream of revenue.

Already knew them, huh?

some of em. the others werent so tricky 🤷 i got perfect pitch after all

No way! She has perfect pitch? Isn’t that, like, ridiculously rare? I guess it’s not out of the realm of possibility. She did say she’s been playing music since she was five. They say the younger you start learning music, the more likely you are to develop perfect pitch. If that’s true, I’m certainly glad to have her in the band.

I shot her another text. Great, wanna shoot for around noon at the same spot we first met?

She responded almost immediately. sounds gr8! cya then 😉

When the laundry was done, I spread the sheets out on my bed and laid down. Nothing beats the feel of freshly-washed sheets. I closed my eyes. This was the first chance I’d had to relax over the past two days. What a rollercoaster. Usually, I look forward to lying down in my bed at the end of a hard day, but something was different today. Physically, I was exhausted. Sleeping should have been no problem, but I couldn’t drift off.

What is this feeling? Emptiness? No, loneliness. Why was I feeling lonely? I usually spend my free time alone, and I never end up feeling like this. What changed? I met Sunny. That must be it. I’m feeling this way because I miss her. I couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come. I wanted to see Sunny again... No, that surely isn’t the case, I’m just excited about our first performance as a band. Yeah, that’s it. I’m excited about the performance… nothing more.