Angus

In my first year of University, I traveled to and from the Mount with a friend, Angus, who I worked with at the local gas station. It started out as a convenience, partially because he doesn’t have a car and partially because I am such a nice person. It really makes no sense for two people to go into the same town at the same time in separate vehicles. So we car pooled.

In the first few weeks of our travels together, I tried bring up casual conversation, the weather, classes and work. It was fine and it worked, but as we got more comfortable with each other the rides got a little more revealing. Conversation that started at 8 in the morning was never too perky.

Until I brought Britney Spears in the car with me.

That morning he came out to the car slowly. It was snowing outside and he still had to audacity to wear his *NSYNC t-shirt with no jacket. He beard was unshaven and he fly was half zippered. He had clearly just gotten out of bed. When he slumped down into the passenger side he managed to mumble, “Morning - God I don’t want to go to school.” I nodded in agreement as I pulled out of the driveway and drove towards to highway.

I had kept the music down low for the first few minutes of the drive. Angus didn’t look like he was really in the mood to do anything except return to bed. His uncanny attitude made me unsure of what to expect, so I figured it would be best to play it safe. The music was barely loud enough to hear, and Angus starts to turn it up to hear what exactly is playing. You can make out the tune of Piece of Me, Ms. Spear’s latest hit. Once he realized what song was playing he turned up the music on full blast and started singing the song, word for word. He knew the entire song as if his mother used to sing it to him as a child, belting out his favourite parts of the songs louder than the rest and nailing each word as if they were his own.

As the song came to an end, he turned the music down and settled in his seat. He was no longer tense with excitement and joy, but his mood had definitely changed. He blushed a little through his beard and had a so-what look on his face. I giggled as I realized that our relationship had then completely changed. Singing Britney on our daily commutes became a routine and is something that we continue any time we hang out together.