The Sound of Wind

by Raegan Millhollin

  **

  The conversation with the police was short and awkward; the only person who had ‘seen’ the shooter had lost track of them by the time the first cop car showed up. A few members of the audience had caught glimpses of the gun and a hooded man, but it had been dark and they’d all been a tad too busy trying to avoid getting shot. Hugo honestly had no idea as to the real motive of the shooter, so he didn’t even need to make a pathetic attempt at lying there.

  Soon they were on their way to the bar with a contingent of their fans and the entourage of I Like Chocolate, everyone animatedly recounting the night’s excitement. Hugo glanced at Crysta; she was almost staring blankly at the sea of people around them, careful to stay close to him. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a thin, gray zip-up sweater. It was almost hard to recognize her; he’d never seen her in casual clothes before.

  “Hey! You sure you’re ok, man?” Steve came out of nowhere, slapping Hugo on the back.

  He blinked a few times, and then turned towards his band mate…ex-band mate. Hugo grinned. “Yep, not a scratch on me thanks to,” his eyes slid towards Crysta for a moment and she shyly returned the smile; Hugo returned his attention to Steve, “our mystery friend.”

  Steve’s grin widened, eliciting a nervous shiver from Hugo; that expression was never a good sign, “Speaking of mystery friends, who is this lovely lady who is clearly too smart to be your girlfriend?”

  The conversations around them actually quieted down at that, and Hugo found that his face was suddenly very hot. He looked to Crysta for help, but her face was red and she was focused on the ground. “Steve!” Hugo exclaimed, trying to sound annoyed to cover the embarrassment; the laughter that erupted around him informed him that he had failed horribly, “Uh…Crysta…she’s…she’s a coworker. I-I work with her at Gideon Enterprises.”

  Steve was downright leering at that point; Hugo started chewing on his lip. “Oh?” he drawled,

  “Is that it? Just a coworker? Oh my, how do you feel about that, Doctor?”

  Crysta jerkily looked up at the meddling musician, “I-I don’t know what you mean. We, we’re just…”

  Miraculously Ahmed came to their rescue, “Steve, just leave them alone. At least Hugo has standards, unlike you.” That got a laugh from everyone, and thankfully, before Steve could respond, they were at the blessed gates to the place where they would ring in the New Year.

  The cloud of musicians and groupies pushed their way inside, a few quickly breaking away to scout-out a patch of tables they could call their own, while the rest headed to the already crowded bar for their first round of drinks.

  Hugo leaned in towards Crysta, and still needed to raise his voice to be heard, “You want something to drink?” Before the doctor could let out the automatic 'no' that was forming on her face, he smiled at her, “My treat. It’s the least I could do.”

  She was instantly defeated, it was clear in the slight sigh Hugo saw but couldn’t hear over the band that was playing in a corner of the bar. His smile widened and he grabbed the doctor’s hand to aggressively lead her through the crowd of people to make it to a bartender. Making sure Crysta was visible got them service fairly quickly. She looked at him, floundering when the bartender leaned over to take her drink order, so Hugo just ordered them two vodka and tonics; it was a pretty neutral-tasting drink, so he hoped it would be ok.

  When they both had their drinks, Hugo carefully picked up Crysta's hand again, leading her away from the bar before they were crushed by people trying to get the bartender's attention. He ushered her to a table on the edge of the Skyshank congregation and pulled off his sweater, dropping it onto the sticky table. He'd wash it later. Probably.

  Dr. McFadden sat down with more care than was probably necessary and took a small sip from her drink. She looked terribly awkward, but it was off-set by a slight smile. Admittedly he felt a little awkward himself. He hadn't seen these guys in so long, and the times they'd practiced in the weeks before the show hadn't allowed a lot of room for catching up on things.

  Steve was being a misogynistic jackass, to the delight of several of the girls Hugo recognized from various shows, and Ahmed and Chen were having some crazily animated discussion with the lead singer of I Like Chocolate (her hair was pink now), probably about some TV show Hugo'd never seen.

  There were a bunch of other people gathered around them, some Hugo recognized, some he didn't, and as usual, Peggy was the center of her own little cloud of adoring guys.

  He missed them so much. He'd had no idea. And he was still alive to realize that. When he turned his attention back to Crysta, she was people-watching, her drink perched carefully in her hands. She'd barely made a dent in it, while he'd mysteriously finished his without even tasting it. Hugo laughed, which got her attention, although she brought with her some embarrassment. He opened his mouth to explain why he was laughing, but it snapped shut when Steve leaned on him heavily from behind.

  "Time for shots!" Steve declared authoritatively. Everyone gathered around the table as the waitress that had been trailing behind Steve, started setting the shots down on the table. Steve leaned towards Crysta, grinning, "You gonna have a shot with us, Miss Doctor Lady?" Crysta smiled awkwardly, shaking her head a bit. Her eyes slid toward Hugo. "Aw, come on-"

  Hugo reached over and grabbed Steve's arm, jerking him away from Crysta's personal space. The waitress had finally stopped setting up, which immediately diverted everyone's attention. Steve raised his shot glass and everyone pressing around them followed suit. Hugo hesitated with a quick glance at Crysta, but then joined them.

  "Here's to the jackass that brought us together, ditched us, and finally decided to grace us with his presence again in a most spectacular, almost-dying fashion!" Steve announced. Hugo flipped him off as they downed their shots and then everyone devolved into laughter.

  Four shots later, Hugo realized two things. One: he hadn't intended on getting nearly as drunk as he was, and two: he'd almost died a few hours ago. A third quickly followed suit: he didn't know where Crysta was. Hugo stood up in the middle of his bizarre conversation with Abby ,where she was trying to force him to talk about work so that she could pretend to be interested, in what he could now tell was a flimsy attempt to get in his pants; but for all his supposed intelligence, he still couldn’t fathom why, since she’d always been interested in Steve. Before she could stand and try to grab his attention again, he scanned the bar, spotting the doctor several tables away and weaving her way towards the door. He managed to catch up with her just as she stepped outside, although she still moved forward a few feet so that they weren't blocking the entrance.

  "Where are you going?" He blurted out, belatedly hoping that he wasn't slurring his words too much.

  Crysta looked a little embarrassed that she'd gotten caught making her getaway, "Just home, it's late-"

  "Why?"

  "Because...it's late?"

  "Don't..." He waved his hand, frowning, "…say that, because you're not really telling the truth. Your uncomfortable because for some stupid reason you think you're intruding and don't belong and because you don't like loud things and you don't think you fit in but you would if you tried and stopped thinking you didn't belong places even though you got invited to those places by me. And it’s like a minute to midnight on New Year’s Eve and you saved my life.”

  Crysta was gaping at him. She shifted uncomfortably, examining the street beyond him for something neutral to focus on, “Hugo, I-”

  He could hear the muffled countdown coming from inside. He grabbed Crysta's hand and dragged her back to the door, opening it just in time to watch the fireworks start on the big screen TV. Everyone was cheering, or being considerably more full-contact in their celebration. Crysta’s hand still in his, Hugo pulled her inside and into a hug.

  “Happy New Year,” he said quietly into her ear, and then pulled away, “Stay.”

  Crysta’s cheeks were bright red. Oh my he was going to feel really awkward about tha
t later but right now it was just fine. “A-alright. For just a little while longer.” He smiled triumphantly and led her back towards the tables his friends were occupying.

  He was going to be so hung over tomorrow.