Page 1 of Got to be You

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JAX

Istrum my guitar happily, knowing that I’m slowly coming to the end of a chapter in my life and about to start the next one soon. And I know exactly where my next chapter is going to take me. I’m not one of those people finishing college with no clue as to what I want to do with my life. I feel sorry for those people. It’s almost as if their whole time in college has been a waste because they have no purpose.

Adam, the roommate I’ve lived with the three years that I’ve been in college, is like that. He’s studied business the entire time but doesn’t know what he wants to do with it. I find that worrying, but not him. He’s so chilled out that he just thinks he can float through life until something lands in his lap.

If I confront him on it, he just says that I’ve a talent, a musical ability that can only lead me in one direction, but also, that I’ve had my fun in life. I was smart enough to take my gap year after high school, before college, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on life. I know what I want to do.

I’m going to Hollywood, or maybe New York, to get my musical career off the ground. Wherever the music takes me, that’swhere I’ll go. The next time I travel the world, I’ll be touring, sharing my music with the world. Everyone says I’ve the talent to do it, and I certainly have the determination.

I’ll achieve all of my dreams, I just know it. I just need to get through my last year of college first.

“Hey, Jax, you coming to the mixer party tonight?” Adam calls from the shower room. “Should be fun, right? All the guys who live down the hall are going, so I said that we would as well.”

“I don’t know,” I yell back over the sound of my music. “I don’t think I’ll be out as much this year.”

“Are you joking?” He pokes his head around the door and stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. “This is our last year to party like crazy. Don’t forget that. Real life comes for us next year. We might not have the chance to have the sort of fun we’ve been having. We need to make the most of it.”

Hmm, he might actually be right about that one. I don’t want to go into the music industry for the parties and the drinking or drugs lifestyle, so I won’t be out all the time. This really could be my last chance.

“Yeah, maybe I will,” I muse. “I don’t know. I’ll see how I feel later on.”

“Lexi might be out, you know,” he teases, as if this is going to entice me. “You know she likes you.”

I roll my eyes and laugh. “I do know. She isn’t exactly discrete about it. But, as I’ve tried to tell her over and over again, it isn’t going to happen with me and her. I don’t like her in that way.”

“I don’t know how you can’t.” Adam shakes his head at me like I disappoint him. “She’s like a model. She’s got to be the hottest girl in college, and she likes you. I don’t get you at all.”

Sure, Lexi’s a good-looking girl, but she doesn’t do anything for me. I need something more. Fire, personality, that spark. I’m not too worried that I haven’t found it in college, though. I don’t need to find love young. I’m happy to have my career first and think about all that stuff later. College romances don’t last forever anyway, do they? And if Lexi wants a hookup… well, I’m not that guy either.

“You ask her out, then.” I laugh. “She isn’t for me. Now, will you get your ass back in that shower so I can finish writing this song? I just had some inspiration before you started harping on about Lexi.”

“It’s not my fault if that girl isn’t your muse!” he calls behind him as he does what I ask. “She’d be mine.”

I pause for a second before I continue writing, though, because this moment has hit me hard. Much as I’ve been looking forward to leaving college and starting on with the next chapter of my life, I’m going to miss this. This has been much more fun than I thought it was going to be. I had my doubts when I came to college, but now, I’m really grateful for the experience. I didn’t think as a musician there would be a lot that I could get out of it, but I have. I really have, and it’s going to be hard to leave it all behind.

I’ll miss Adam and this room. I’ll miss the simplicity of this life. Sure, college is hard, but I always know where I stand here. When it comes to the rest of the world, that’s where I might struggle to find my place. I don’t know who Jax Thom is going to be out there. I know who I want to be, and I’m determined toget there, but there’s no guarantee that I’ll make it. Nothing is guaranteed.

I don’t suppose this is the time I should be so pensive about, it though. We still have a whole year until it’s over. It’s only just begun. I need to make sure that I make the most of every moment, though, and I’ll really embrace the experience. Starting with this party tonight, I suppose. It’s a mixer with new students. Not all the older ones are going, but it seems like a lot of my friends are and I suppose it could be fun, a good way to reminisce over when we first started as well.

Oh, my God, why the hell did I let Adam talk me into this? What the fuck am I doing here? This has to be the lamest party of all time. In my first year of college, the mixer was an awesome night, but that’s because I didn’t really know any better then. Now, all of my friends and I should know a lot better. We have been on some of the best nights out ever, and this does not count as one of them.

“Adam, should we get the hell out of here?” I yell over the thumping music. “This is awful.”

“What are you talking about?” he cries back, staggering and showing me just how wasted he already is. Oh, God, if he’s drunk, then I don’t stand a chance in hell of getting him out of here anytime soon. “This is one of the best nights out I’ve had in ages. You just need some more shots. Let me get you one.”

I shake my head no. “I think I’m going to go back to the room. Write some more music.”

“No, don’t be such a bore.” He gives me a thumbs down. “It’s always better when you’re here.”

That’s an excuse and he knows it. He just wants to have more people around him for some reason. There’s no reason that he particularly needs me here with him. Especially since I’m only being boring tonight, anyway. I haven’t joined in with any of the dancing or idiocy.

“Maybe I’ll just stay for one more drink, but I really am leaving soon,” I warn him. “I guess one shot will be okay.” I roll my eyes as Adam celebrates like this is a win. “One drink. I mean it.”

He grabs me hard by the arm and virtually drags me to the bar with him, like I’m going to make my escape through the crowd while he’s buying drinks… which actually wouldn’t have been the worst idea in the world. What a shame that I didn’t think of it until now.

“You know, I saw Anna earlier,” he tells me as we mingle in with the bar crowd. “She’s looking pretty hot this year. I might ask her if she wants to have one final fling with me before we head out into the real world. Do you think she might want to? I mean, I’m not the worst looking guy ever, am I?”

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