Pitch Perfect - 4. Chapter 4: Introductions

‘Why am I always my own worst enemy?’ Sam slammed his hand down on his alarm clock; if the blinking green numbers were any indication, it was now 6:15 a.m. He had originally set the alarm planning to get an early start on shopping and exploring the town before work, but he hadn’t expected to stay awake so late.

‘Since I’m already awake, I might as well go eat breakfast.’

He stumbled out of bed to head for the kitchen. The cold wood floor surprised him though and he jumped back into bed yelping. ‘Holy Hell, the floor is freezing.’

Ten minutes later, Sam stood in socks as he looked through his cabinets. That was when he realized that the only food items in his cabinet were caffeinated beverages. He decided to go over to the main house to see what kind of food he could procure.

“Hello?” Sam called into the house as he entered through the backdoor with his key.

The house was quiet, so Sam assumed no one was home, but when he got to the kitchen, he saw Jeremy and Kellie eating cereal. Kellie scribbled like a madwoman into a notebook and Jeremy leaned on his hand staring off into space.

“Mornin’ guys,” Sam said wondering why both of his cousins seemed so out of it.

Kellie stopped her frantic writing and looked up. “Hey, how was everything last night? You like the apartment?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Sam grinned and grabbed a bowl. While he was filling the bowl with cereal, Sam became curious why Jeremy still hadn’t noticed his presence, though he could guess why.

Sam pulled up a chair next to him at the table and across from Kellie. “Jeremy…hey, hey Germ.” Sam tapped him lightly on the arm.

“Whoa.” Finally, Jeremy snapped out of his trance; out of shock, he knocked into the table spilling his breakfast all over the floor.

“Good one.” Kellie giggled at her brother with an amused look.

‘This must be a bigger deal than I thought, he’s obviously thinking about it pretty seriously.’

Excusing herself, Kellie left to get ready for school leaving Sam and Jeremy alone.

“I’m going to be so late for school.” Jeremy frantically ran around trying to clean, but making more of a mess than doing any real good.

“Why don’t you let me clean while you go get ready? Then I can drive you to school.” Sam grabbed the towel from a grateful looking Jeremy.

“I owe you.”

‘Yeah, you do, but I want an explanation- not thanks.’

On the way to school, Jeremy was despondent again, looking out the passenger window.

“Jeremy! I don’t know how to get to your school, you realize that right?” Sam had reached the end of the large cul-de-sac they lived on.

“Yeah, um… take a right.”

Sam tried to think of a way to bring up the subject of last night without forcing Jeremy to say anything. The last thing he wanted was to push him into something he wasn’t ready to talk about.

“Take a left here.”

“So Jeremy,” Sam opened, “who was that guy last night?”

“What!?” Jeremy practically screamed into Sam’s ear as he turned to give him a look of horror.

“The guy from the party! You never introduced us.” Inwardly, Sam smirked; he had known Jeremy would misunderstand and he couldn’t help teasing his cousin who had been ignoring him all morning.

“Oh,” Jeremy said sheepishly letting out a puff of air.

“So?”

“He’s a friend, I guess. We aren’t even really that close, I’m not sure why he was there last night. I didn’t invite him.”

‘Hmmm, that was not the answer I expected. I thought they were at least friends.’

“How long did you two hang out?”

“Why do you care so much?” Jeremy shot back suspiciously.

“Gee, I don’t know. Maybe because I’m your cousin and I was wondering why you left the party so suddenly? It seems like something’s bothering you, if you need to talk I’m willing to listen, okay?”

A couple of heartbeats went by and Jeremy turned to look at him. “Take a right.”

They had reached school and as soon as the car stopped, Jeremy jumped out of it like it was on fire. He slammed the door and started to walk away.

‘Well, that went great.’ Sam was about to throw the car in gear when he heard a tap at the window- it was his cousin.

“Yeah?” Sam rolled the window down letting out all the warm air escape.

“I, umm, thanks for the ride. I just feel like… I can’t talk about it yet.”

“That’s fine, Germ.”

“No, I want to. I will later sometime, I promise. Give me a few days.” Then he turned and walked quickly toward the large brown school.

As Sam drove away from the looming school, he realized he had no clue how to get from there to the mall. He grabbed his GPS from the glove compartment to look up directions. The device led him to the mall where he found a more appropriate winter attire, the grocery store for some food, and then home again.

After arriving home and unpacking all his groceries, Sam checked the time. It was nearly two o’clock, and he had to be in work at four. With his extra time, he decided to make grilled cheese then take a shower to look presentable. Once he was clean and tidy, Sam pondered over what to wear. Mr. Ramone had indicated that the café dress code was lax, but Sam didn’t want to overstep that generosity. He opted for a pair of clean khaki pants and a white button up shirt that would cover the tattoos on his arms.

By the time he was dressed and ready it was only three fifteen, but Sam hated being late. Through all of his rebellious teen years, being late was something he did not do. Even though he drank, smoked, and got tattoos at sixteen, he was never out past his curfew. Sam often thought that made his mother angrier than anything. She knew intuitively that he was up to no good, but he received passing grades and was always home on time. There was never any burning reason for parental punishment. Surely it was deserved, even Sam knew that, but he also knew most of the time his mother had no clue what he had actually done wrong.

Due to his abnormal penchant for arriving early, Sam was at the coffee shop thirty minutes ahead of schedule. While driving to the café, he had thought that some of the streets looked familiar, though he honestly couldn’t be positive. So during his extra half hour, Sam decided to walk around a bit to get a feel for the immediate surrounding area. It appeared to be mostly filled with other small shops, predominantly clothing stores, but there was a bar nearby too.

‘I wonder how Jeremy’s day at school went…’ Sam’s mind quickly went to his first real boyfriend, Jared. They had been friends for a while before they got together; even so, the nerves of that first relationship were wonderful and overpoweringly intimidating. The first time their lips met, Sam felt nauseous with joy. He had always known he preferred boys to girls and at the time he was more than infatuated with Jared.

So, though he could understand kissing a guy or first relationship jitters, Sam really had no clue what Jeremy was so upset over. ‘Maybe he doesn’t even like that guy? From what I saw, the kiss looked mutual, but who knows? Or maybe he’s not even gay? Or didn’t know he was gay? Maybe he’s dating someone else?’ He wanted to help his cousin through whatever problems he was dealing with, but when there was not one obvious issue that became much harder to do. Sam reflected on Jeremy for another second then proceeded into the café; five minutes early.

It was warm inside The Perfect Cup. Not just literally, but figuratively as well. Immediately, Sam picked up on the homey feel of the place. Everything about it was welcoming. There were large leather couches and chairs; they weren’t new, but looked as though the patrons had loved them well. The walls was a happy shade of orange. The air smelled sweet and tangy, with dark rich undertones as well.

The last two things Sam noticed were the stage, which was a slightly raised area at the back of the shop, and Mr. Ramone, who stood behind the counter smiling at Sam.
“Hello, how are you doing this afternoon Sam?” Mr. Ramone greeted, offering Sam a knowing look.

“This place, it’s, well…it’s amazing. Somehow…it um, it feels like… home?” Sam looked around open-mouthed, practically speechless. He had never felt such an instant connection to both a person and place. He knew some force in the universe was trying to tell him he was on the right track.

Mr. Ramone let out a hearty laugh,, obviously amused by Sam’s reaction. “My wife would be very pleased to hear these things. She designed and put everything you see here together.” He gestured towards the shop as he spoke. “Even to have music here, all of it came from her beautiful mind.”

“Well, tell her I appreciate the work she’s put in.”

“I will, I will. You’ll probably meet her soon, she’s always around.” Mr. Ramone held a mug and he procedded to make himself a cup of coffee; Sam watched as he added milk and sugar to the mixture.

“So what do you need my help with today? It seems like you have everything under control.” Sam peered around, there were only a few customers milling about and they all seemed well taken care of.

“Here.” The cup of coffee he had been preparing was handed to Sam. “The first thing you can do for me is taste. You’re going to have to try everything I make in the shop, so that you yourself can make it eventually. I hired you because as much as I love it here, I do want some time off, and I need someone I can trust to run the place smoothly.” Again, Sam could pick up on a beautiful foreign accent when Mr. Ramone spoke certain words.

“But, we’ve just met.”

“Yes we have.” Mr. Ramone just grinned.

During the course of his first day, he tasted several drinks, and ate a couple types of baked goods. Everything was delicious, especially the first cup of coffee he was handed. Later, he learned that was their special blend of coffee and spices.

After trying each thing, Mr. Ramone would guide Sam, showing him how to properly make it. During the course of hours, Sam had only learned a small portion of the menu, but he was confident in his ability to be able to do it again on his own. At the end of the night, Mr. Ramone asked if Sam would be able to come in all day Tuesday and Wednesday so that he could work the Thursday afternoon shift alone.

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” he replied earnestly. Working had actually been a pleasure. There had been a fair amount of customers, and the day went by quickly. Honestly, Sam never expected to like the work as much as he did. When the job was offered to him, he took it because of Mr. Ramone and the opportunity to combine a paying job with his musical pursuits. Now he felt as though all aspects of the job would suit him nicely.

At the end of the night, Sam went home exhausted. The next two days were similar, but more intensive.

In the next two days Sam managed to memorize almost the entire menu- except for the specialty drinks- those weren’t too popular anyways. And, as promised, he met a few musicians from the area. Two of them were other guitarists, but he had also met an upright bass player named Clara who he had made plans with to get together and play the next week.

When Sam finally got home during the nights that week, it was already too late to run into Jeremy. So the days passed by without any major occurrence until Thursday night when an interesting customer walked in for his first shift without his boss.

The night had been quiet, as predicted. Mr. Ramone had mentioned that Thursday was almost always the slowest night of the week, so it was the easiest to take over alone for Sam. There had only been a handful of customers that night so Sam occupied himself by mopping the floor. He had just moved on to organizing the tea selection when a high school aged girl walked in.

“Well, you’re new.” The girl walked up to the counter and tilted her head slightly to the side while looking him over closely. For some reason, Sam got a distinct feeling that she was looking him over carefully and he felt awkward all of a sudden.

“Yeah, I am. Uh... What can I get for you?” She still stared at him, so Sam looked her over as well. The girl was really quite pretty, he supposed. She had a sharp look about her; she had long black hair with gray eyes and long lashes, it gave her a feline-esque feel.

“I’ll have a cup of the house blend, just milk.”

Sam got started making her order, but felt like he was being evaluated. When he went to pour the milk into her coffee, he asked, “Is there something else I can help you with?”

“I’m not sure yet.” Her eyes were filled with mirth. She grinned, asking, “Are you single?”

Sam couldn’t help laughing at the straightforward nature of the question. It was kind of a shame that he had to turn her down; she was interesting. “No, I mean yes, I am single. But, I’m gay.”

“Well, I’m Addie.” She stuck out her hand to shake not looking disappointed in the least.

‘Is this girl okay? I just turned her down and she looks…happy? Strange.’

After introducing himself properly, Sam decided to pour himself a cup of coffee and sit with Addie for a while since the café was dead. They ended up talking about all sorts of things long past closing hour. She talked animatedly about her school life, friends, and the colleges she waited to hear back from; all of which were impressive, Sam noted. They also talked about Sam’s recent move and Addie seemed taken aback that this was his first week.

“You just moved here and you have a job already?”

“Yeah, it was coincidence really, but everything seems to be working out great.”

“So you have no friends here or anything?” Addie looked at him, her large eyes overly sympathetic. Sam hadn’t known her long so it was hard to tell, but he had the feeling she was scheming something.

“No friends, but I’m pretty close to my cousins. Maybe you know them? They go to Lakeview High too, Kellie and Jeremy Singer. Jeremy’s a junior and Kellie’s a sophomore.”

“So you’re Samuel Singer?” Addie giggled, but Sam wasn’t surprised. That was a typical reaction, people were always amused to find out his last name mimicked his career aspirations.

It wasn’t definite yet, but Sam told her he had Friday’s off so he could perform at the open mic events. This week, he was just going to come by to watch, though he hoped to perform the following week. Addie promised to stop by and see him play the following Friday with her friend. Sam thanked her sincerely for the support, and then as mysteriously as she had come, she was gone.

It had been refreshing for Sam to talk to someone his own age. Even with loving his boss and cousins dearly, Sam wished he had friends to talk to. Back home, he was always the center of attention with his group of friends, so moving to Pennsylvania left him slightly lonely.

Though they weren’t really friends yet, Sam certainly thought it could end up that way. All the way home, he thought about their conversation and he wondered about her friend. ‘Addie seems neat. She’s a little eccentric, but its better to be weird than boring, I guess. I’ll bet her friends are amusing too.’

When he got home, Sam was in a great mood thinking about the weekend. As he entered the apartment, he didn’t notice that all the lights he had shut off before leaving were now on. He did notice Jeremy though, curled into himself asleep on the couch. ‘Oh boy.’