remember the time

"Why would, you, ever give up something like the drums?" Shan said.

Henry's lashes fluttered slightly. He remembered. It was memory? Wasn't it?  Henry practically smiled when he awoke from the dream. He rose up on his elbows in bed and sighed. It felt like something Shan would have said. Maybe.

But he squinted hard. No. No..somebody else said that. It wasn't Shan. It was rather random. He pulled the extra pillow out from under the other pillow and hugged it tight as if he needed to remember, correctly.

He closed his eyes, again. Thinking. Remembering. Those words.

Somebody else, said that to him. It was the week before school started, last year. He didn't even mean to be there for band. Well, he'd showed up to quit. He didn't have time for band.

 Slowly sleep seeped in as if maybe it was more of a daydream than a real dream. Was it even real?

Who said that to him?

Suddenly, the simplest things could be mind boggling.

So much he wished to forget. He'd forgotten on purpose. Actually. But this. This was obviously silly. Why worry about it?

Yesterday, he'd passed the band table right away when it was he and his mother, strolling through the halls at school to get enrolled.

Leo was sitting at the band table. Not really doing anything. Was he really ever doing anything?

They used to stand next to each other on the field in drum corp. Leo had the biggest feet. Why did Henry remembered that? It almost made him laugh in his sleep.

Leo was the worst player in drum corp. Yet, he was the one who unloaded and loaded up the bus without question nor lip about how awful it was to be in band. No, he just stared with those big eyes of his. A little freaky. But he loved music. He didn't say much. Except that day Henry quit band.

Henry forgot he'd said anything to him, because Leo didn't really talk. He'd get in the groove of something. He most definitely went with his own beat. Sometimes, he was called out for it.

Henry's eyes sprang open. He remembered. He did remember something.

Henry sighed. He'd seen Leo at a party. It was a party Henry went to with Al. He knew Leo saw him, but he didn't say anything. Of course, Leo looked like he was dancing with himself. Just Leo and the music. Leo was weird that way. Big hands. Big feet. Those big eyes of his. Always with a glare.

Henry couldn't sleep now.  He got out of bed, pulled on his jeans and found his old Morrissey tee-shirt. He didn't know Leo's phone number, but he remembered where he lived.