"...So listeners, that brings us to our next...."
It's past noon. Meaning that it's the afternoon. It's weird how these roads only become traffic-choked at night. That's what I love about New Haven.
It is a Friday morning, and as a soon-to-be journalist for the Time Magazine in Connecticut (I hope), here I am feeling rather stupid breathing in and breathing out slowly, dreamily and blissfully, drinking coffee from Starbucks in my car which, is parked outside Yale while the radio is going on. There is only three hours left till my final class and I cannot wait to leave till the next semester.
Alex Gaskarth singing "Careless Whispers" with some other lame singers is faded out as the DJ strikes out.
"Hi, this is DJ Stark live on-air in 104.3 FM. I have Gabe Saporta--"
Did he just say Gabe Saporta? The Gabe who had been mine since the ninth grade--which in fact, made me lose my best friend after she found out that he liked me when I didn't have any idea that she had a huge crush on him--and he who dumped me on prom night after having sex with me by telling me some crap about long distance relationships and pursuing his music career?
I had always thought that it was the end at that very moment when he broke up with me.
"Hey Ror, have you thought about us? About how I'm going to music school for sometime in Los Angeles? I mean, it's more then a fifteen-hour drive, wouldn't it feel like it's a burden to have to go all the way there to visit me sometimes?"
"What do you mean?" I replied. "Don't we both have to play our parts in the visiting thing? And it's not like we're not gonna call each other or anything."
He stood up and said softly, "I'm sorry Ror, what I really don't know how to explain this, maybe i will in the future, if we actually see each other again in the future--"
"Huh?" At that moment, I was beginning to feel insecure.
"I want to break up with you. I need time. And concentration to think about music. And I think you do too with writing." He dared not look me in the eye. Something was troubling him, but he didn't know how to explain it.
I was a strong girl. I didn't cry. I took my clothes and went into my bathroom. That was the last time i ever saw or heard from him.
I didn't wallow at all. I just didn't attend the graduation ceremony or party. I wanted everyone to think I was depressed so that they'd know what a jerk Gabriel was. I stopped using the internet to prevent myself from viewing my or his Facebook pictures with both of us in them. But who knows, maybe he deleted them after he reached home that night?
Who would've thought that Pia, my ex-best-friend-when-I-was-with-Gabe, would come rushing to my house after she had heard about the break up and ask if I was alright? Things were looking good after that, Pia became my best friend again and we still are now.
"--the lead singer and primary creative force behind the band Cobra Starship here beside me and he's doing an interview about his latest hit "Good Girls Go Bad featuring Leighton Meester."
He must have come back earlier than I had thought.
And then I did the stupidest thing I vowed I'd never do.
{Gabe}
"Well, we thought that it would be perfect for Leighton Meester 'cause it's kind of already like her character in Gossip Girl--the perky girl with the bad streak. At first you know, it's like really awkward for me to tell her what to do on the video because I love Gossip Girl and her in it. And that's scary," I replied DJ stark.
Being on air for the first time is so weird. Not the kind of nervous-weird. I never thought that Good Girls Go Bad would be a hit. I checked the clock on the wall behind me while the DJ continued to talk because I really want to get out of here so badly. You do not know how hot it is in here.
"So how did you feel during the making process of the music video?"
"We basically, wrote a verse together and also wrote the bridge together so there's just a lot of back and forth between me and her in the song. I think we worked out okay. How 'bout that?"
"So do you think Leighton prefers singing or acting?" he asks again.
"I don't know if she can choose between them, you know, the favorite of what she's talented in and which she would want to do more, or what she loves more. She's just very good at those two things."
"Okay I guess we're done here, it's me and Gabe Saporta signing out. I'll be coming back later at two so here it DJ Himmel taking over."
***********
I walk out of the radio station or whatever you call it with a fake smile plastered on my face, wondering how I'm supposed to get away from this place and to Alex's house when everyone is so busy? Even Rob, our bouncer is busy, too.
And then I heard it from behind: "Gabriel."
No one calls me Gabriel anymore. Then it hit me.
I turned around and looked at her unsurprisingly, and said cooly, "Hey Rory,care to give me a ride?" like the real cool Gabe Saporta would do when he finally meets his ex-girlfriend aka first love.
And like the real diplomatic Rory, she smiled the smile i loved and said, "Alright, I have two more hours left. Why don't we catch up?"
I nodded and smiled warmly.
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