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Walking into a local divebar for a punk show my coworker invited me to. Feeling self conscious even though nobody even notices me, despite the fact that I look jarringly out of place in an outfit that could have been a youth-pastor's if not for the baseball cap with I LOVE FAUNA printed on it (the only "nice" piece of clothing I own not purchased from a secondhand store). I scan the crowd for my coworker, the people I awkwardly make eye contact with glare back at me. I smile and wave at a short fat bald man wearing a spiked leather vest and red kilt covered in chains before quickly ducking my head and heading to the bar trying my best to become invisible in my bright pastel red L.L Bean pullover, "washed" light blue jeans, and clean white sneakers. A punk wearing combat boots intentionally steps on my shoes as I approach the bar, he sneers at me and pulls a cig from a pocket. "Problem?". I try to get the bartender's attention. He probably thinks I'm underage or something, half an hour later the show hasn't started and I'm still beerless. A hottie with green hair wearing a black miniskirt walks up to the bar and stands near me, I awkwardly fumble a plastic cup from its stack and pour myself cup of water from the Igloo at the end of the bar. Hottie grins at me. "Hey, would you pour me one too?". "Uh, sure." I don't put my cup down first, I spill half of both cups on my (now half-dirty) white sneakers. She giggles and takes the cup from my hand. "Uh... cool band huh?" I say. The show hasn't started yet. "Yeah, the lead singer gave me a free ticket. I hope they start soon, oh there's my friend bye nice meeting you" her smile steals my heart as she disappears into the crowd. The show starts, I stand in the back, sometimes I rock on my knees a little in a motion that isn't in time with the beat. Good show, in the end. I meet up with my coworker outside while he's smoking a cig and spend the rest of the show outside on a balcony sitting and watching two squirrels fight in a tree nearby, listening to the raucous punk music blasting from inside where the crowd is packing tight and dancing. "It's nicer out here isn't it?" her gentle voice makes me jump as she lightly touches my arm.
