It was always weird switching between the two, sometimes I’d wear my colored contacts for so long, I would almost forget what my actual eye color looked like. I carefully removed the lenses that made my eyes look icy blue, to reveal the soft hazel color underneath. All the smoke in the club dried them out, and like an idiot, I’d forgotten to bring drops with me. Before I could start removing the layers of eyeliner and glittery silver eye shadow, or wipe away the black lipstick I had on, I had to get my contacts out. The other was where I kept all my makeup. One for jewelry and accessories in which I placed the spiked leather choker and the leather cuff bracelets I’d been wearing. In my bathroom, I had two different small plastic drawer organizers on the counter. It took a lot of work to become Crow and almost as much to un-Crow. It would have been so nice to crash on the couch or fall into bed at that point. I untied my favorite Doc Martens with roses that climbed the sides, loosening the laces until I could pull my feet out, freeing them at last. If I kept it with me, I would get sucked into the black hole and I needed to shut down, not get revved up again. There was a red glass bowl on the small table by the door where I unloaded everything from my pockets, including my phone. Plus with my odd hours doing concerts, practicing, recording, it was better all around. But no twenty-two-year-old man wanted to worry about sneaking a boy into his bedroom with his parents down the hall. They weren’t bad, they had come a long way, and they tried. I was happy to not be living with my parents anymore. It maybe wasn’t the best neighborhood, but it was my own place.

Luckily I was on the end, only had one shared wall, and the middle unit was currently unoccupied. It wasn’t anything special, part of a triplex. With fist bumps and hugs, the five of us parted ways. Luckily, Jonah, the bass guitar player, had a safe place to keep the van so we wouldn’t have to unload everything again tonight.

We weren’t quite big enough yet to have a full tear-down crew, though a couple of hands from the club helped us load all our instruments into our van. After one final appearance in front of the crowd, and a wink at my bj blondie, that was a wrap for the night. I might even be able to sleep tonight after all. After blondie finished the job he’d started with that cute mouth of his, I was floating back down to earth. Having a way to release some of that excess energy was a step in the right direction. No matter the physical exhaustion after doing a full set, my body and mind would be humming and buzzing and it always took a while to come down from that.

Bo Next Door by Duckie Mack