#flatland cavalry

let's call this guy aaron. aaron is a senior (i'm a freshman), and i really like him. i've been friends with his sister since seventh grade, but i didn't meet him until the end of eighth grade. i had to practice singing a solo for a chorus concert, and my chorus teacher asked me to go sing for her high school chorus first period. so i was terrified, as any eighth grader would be in this situation. i was sitting there talking to one of the only people i knew in the class, let's call her allie. remember her, because she'll be important later on. so i sang my solo, and i did pretty well. i was walking out, and aaron went out into the hallway to throw away his gum as i was leaving. he told me that i did really good, which meant a lot to 13-year-old me.

skip ahead to the weekend after, when we had our chorus show where i was singing my solo. i was rehearsing, and he came through the auditorium with one of his friends. they stopped and sat in the front row until i finished singing, then stood up and clapped and yelled and all the things. he was the one who started the standing ovation after i performed during the concert. he was also singing in it, and middle and high school had a song together. everyone was getting on stage, and he came up next to me and smiled, pointed at me, and just said "it's you." and i pointed back and did the same thing, and then we went on with the show.

that summer, i got snapchat. one day i was sitting there on my phone and i got a notification that aaron had added me. i added him back, and waited for him to snap first. he snapped me almost immediately, and we were sending full-face snaps back and forth and all this stuff. i ended up deleting my snap because it was taking up too much of my time, but he was in my chorus class at the beginning of this year.

we got closer through chorus, and ended up exchanging numbers because i challenged him to a game of cup pong. we never really texted much, but we did play games a few times.

later on, we went to a chorus audition together. it was me, him, four other girls, and two other guys. we were all hanging out together, and one of the girls happened to be allie. remember her? she admitted to all the girls that she's had a crush on aaron since third grade. we all encouraged her and told her she should shoot her shot, but she hasn't so far. so now, i can't tell any of these girls about the crush on aaron. me and aaron played imessage games together all day that day, plus we talked a lot on the bus.

nothing majorly important happened until about a week ago. we were in chorus together preparing for our big show, and he has a solo in it. he was singing his solo, and we locked eyes. we held eye contact through the entire song and the next two songs, until my friend started talking to me. later on, during baby it's cold outside, we started looking at each other again. we were singing, and the boys had the line "gosh your lips look delicious." when he sang that, he looked down at my lips and winked at me. we kinda flirted through the rest of the class until we had to leave.

nothing happened through the next couple of days, until thursday. chorus was optional unless you had to make up time, but we both just came because we wanted to. so it was the two of us in there, plus about four other people. we sat together and talked through the whole class. he told me how it's his last chorus class ever, and we talked about how much it sucks that his other solo for the concert got cut from the set. we walked up the steps together to go to third period, and he was singing this song. i asked him what the song was, and he told me. the song is "a life where we work out" by flatland cavalry, and he told me i should learn to play it on the violin. we kept talking until we got to third period.

last night, we had our chorus show. we flirted and talked before the show and during the intermission, and i got up the nerve to text him after. and now, it's been 17 hours and i haven't gotten a response.

Honeywine, you're a sight to see

Auburn hair, runnin' 'round in bare feet

Cheap sunglasses and your turquoise ring

Wonderin' what you'd see in a guy like me

Sleeping Alone by Flatland Cavalry, with “I'll be with you soon my dear, If only in my dreams”

In Dreams by Sierra Ferrel, “I hope I'm in your dreams, The way you are in all of my mine”

and Goodbye Old Friend by The Devil Makes Three, “Goodbye old friend, farewell it seems, We'll dance again in my dreams”

Songs To Keep You Warm (2022) … on a roll …