It’s nice to just lay here and listen to music with someone

Lower East Side
Lower East Side
It’s my last day in New York and I’m much sadder than I thought I’d be. I survived the G train, heat wave, castings, jobs, and a quick trip to Michigan. Although I think I’m coming back for fashion week, it feels like my summer fun has ended. It’s still 70 degrees and sunny in LA so summer never really ends, but it’s different here. People take advantage of the sunshine because it won’t last year round. Everyone drinks a shit ton of alcohol because it’s so easy to “grab a drink.” I’m far more social here than I ever was in LA. Wait, why don’t I just move back here? Yeah, I could do that. I love this city so much. I do not, however, love living right off the G train.

I met some pretty amazing people here and met up with old friends. Why don’t I do this in LA? Is it just me? Or does everyone get annoyed that they have to find parking and not drink? I need to make a better effort. Am I crazy or is the food better here? Is everything better here? I talked to strangers. Lots of them. I don’t do that in LA because nobody does. People are always too “busy” and hate being bothered. I had a great time walking down the tree-lined streets of Fort Greene listening to music and drinking iced coffees. By the way, the market across the street was out of Almond Breeze Iced Coffee today. I stood there for two minutes staring blankly at the shelf. It was a pretty bad moment.

I put on music and started to pack my clothes. This song came on:


I couldn’t remember where I had heard it but I knew something significant happened around it. Halfway through the song I remembered exactly where I had heard it.

I was laying in bed with a guy I just started seeing. It was probably around 2am and we just finished having really fucking great sex. I had recently gotten out of a relationship where the sex felt very disconnected and contrived, so this was extra awesome. We were laying around (well he was laying around, I was making sure I still looked hot) and he got up to put music on. I wanted to express so badly how attracted I was to him and how the past hour felt like a dream but I’m horrified of showing emotions too early on. I think he knew, we had one of those unspoken moments where you look at each other and know exactly what each other was thinking. I’m definitely over thinking this because I’m a girl. Just go with it.

The Future Islands song came on and I loved it instantly. I had heard of them but never listened to any albums. I asked him who it was:

“Future Islands, they’re like the perfect band. This whole album is amazing.”

“Why the fuck haven’t I heard this album?”

“No idea.”

The song continued and I kept enjoying it more and more. I was definitely going to iTunes the shit out of it when I got home. I remember feeling incredibly relaxed and happy. It was one of those times where all you can think about is how great the music is making you feel. It also helped that I was half-naked next to a cute guy I had a crush on. The song continued and then he said something I realized I was missing so much in my life:

“It’s just nice to lay here and listen to music with someone.”

It had been a while since I dated a guy who had, in my opinion, amazing taste in music. We could talk about our favorite Radiohead B-sides (mine is True Love Waits- which is actually just a live song, but I’m calling it a B-side anyway). I decided at that moment I would never date another guy born before 1975. I need someone to understand my Third Eye Blind jokes, and I’m being completely serious.

I knew while I was laying there that it would be a small but memorable moment of happiness.

7 thoughts on “It’s nice to just lay here and listen to music with someone”

  1. Lovely sentiment in this post. Knowing you’re with someone you can just sit and listen to music with is a great feeling. I enjoy reading your stuff.

  2. That was a nice post to read during my morning coffee. Sorry to hear about the almond breeze. If you like NYC the end of August/September is probably the best time of year here, why leave?

  3. Music makes intimate moments something more. You wish you could freeze that.
    Oh and btw,you SHOULD only date guys closer to your age. Music is only one of the reasons.

  4. Yeah I was just back home in New York, too, and I miss it so much. Everything makes sense there. In LA things are just … different. Like in New York on a Friday evening in August I’d be out having a blast with my friends. In LA I’m at home because … ugh Friday traffic. And ugh DUI checkpoints. And ugh parking in WeHo. And ugh parking anywhere really. And ugh outrageous cover charges. Oh and it’s not my week in the shared parking spot so ugh street parking when I get home. Everyone is so super isolated in LA and it’s the complete opposite in NY. You’re not crazy, everything really is better in NY.

Leave a Reply to paul Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *