The Music
He switched the music over from the Radiohead CD spinning in the CD player to a Doris Day record under a needle.
“This is probably more your thing,” he said nonchalantly as he disappeared back into the other room.
I shrugged. I could have listened to either. Other than the fact that he really dislikes most modern country music and I’ll never (and I mean never) be able to play my bluegrass out loud around him, we really do have similar tastes in music.
Before I knew it, he’d reappeared and joined me on the couch, his head at the opposite end and his feet in my face.
“I’ll tickle them!”
“I’ll kick you!”
“Get your feet out of my face!”
“It’s my house!”
“I’ll tickle them!”
“I’ll kick you!”
We are, obviously, terribly calm and mature. The ultimate picture of two perfect adults.
Things settle down slightly, mostly because he’s much stronger than I am and makes any attempt at self defense, tickling or otherwise, futile. I start to relax back as “Que Sera Sera” wafts through the air to my ears. Immediately, I perk up.
“You’re not going to sing,” he tells me.
“When I was juuust a liiittle giiiiirl,” I croon.
“Shut up!” he yells.
“I asked my mother, what will I be?” I sing a little louder.
“Courtney.” He gives me his fake angry face. I get a little more obnoxious, on purpose.
“Will I be pretty, will I be rich?”
Now he won’t even look at me.
“Here’s what she said to meeeeeee!”
My arms are flailing and I am, for lack of a better term, couch-dancing.
“Que Seraaaaa Seraaaaaa, whatever will beeee will beeeee. The future’s not ouuuuurs to seeeeeeeee. Que Seraaaa Seraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.”
Gasp.
“aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.”
His eyelids are low on his eyes.
“I think you can leave now.”
“I could, but I won’t,” I smile. ”I’m done now.”
And he winks at me and we talk seriously just for a little while.
But we can’t ever talk when Doris Day is playing in the background. Or Frank Sinatra. Or anything I know the words too and haven’t heard in much too long, which, if we’re honest, is a good deal of his collection of music.
He’s in the middle of telling me some story or another (of course I’m not paying attention. Like I said: Doris Day) when this song catches my attention and refuses to give it up.
When I fall in love, it will be forever
Or I’ll never fall in love…
I sit straight up again and in typical girly fashion (maybe just in typical Courtney fashion) I say, “Awwwwwwwwwh!”
He looks at me half quizzically, preparing himself to roll his eyes. He can’t seem to tell if I’m simply reacting to a mushy song or if there’s a story to be heard.
“I sang this in high school,” I swoon. ”In a restless world like this is, love is ended before it’s begun….”
I’m not singing, but I’m lip synching, and it might be a little silly and dramatic.
Maybe.
I realize I don’t remember the words as well as I think I should, so rather than continuing on, I throw my feet down next to his, put my head on his shoulder, and let him wrap his arms around me.
…and the moment I feel that you feel that way too
Is when I fall in love with you….
We lay that way long after the needle has lifted itself off the vinyl, talking a little, saying nothing a little. It’s not until we realize what time it must be that we pull ourselves up off the couch, and he hits play on the CD player again before wrapping me up in a hug and dancing me around the living room while we make shameless fun of Thom Yorke’s garbled up 15 Step melody.
We step outside and I sit on his brick steps while he smokes a cigar. He kisses me on the cheek and sends me home.
I drive home wondering which of those songs is going to be “our song” to me.
They’re both ridiculously appropriate.
On the clinical, quality-of-blog-post kind of analytical way, I enjoy this because it’s a style I very rarely ever see you write, even if it does detail singing phonetically.
On the personal level, I think I like seeing this thinking side of you because it shows there are some profound things happening in your life – and that, my friend, is a good thing.
By the way, if you two like making fun of Thom’s singing style, you might be in some good company: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8fv6Sw5O64
Warning: musicians find this uncontrollably hilarious.
This post put a huge smile on my face. :) Beautiful moments!
you are awesome and TOTALLY dorky and i LLLOOOOVVVEEE it. gotta love when you’re so comfortable around someone that you can be an absolute dork and they love you for it anyway.
[...] this song, obviously, is [...]