Television off, Party On

“Hey there, I’m Rae. You guys have asked and I’m here to answer,” I spoke directly to my computer, where a small, built in camera was recording my every move.

“First question: how old am I? I am 17 years old, as of this exact moment in time. Next…is this my real hair color? Yes, yes it is. Ummm, where do I live? Well, xoheartbreakr72xo, I live in the beautiful City of Angels, otherwise known as Los Angeles, California.”

I continued answering random questions, from my favorite song to my favorite store in the mall. After I finished, I edited it and at the end I set up a special effects so that the screen went white, my name was typed one letter at a time in a typewriter font and when my entire name was typed, the video would be covered in a fire effect before turning to black and ending.

I uploaded the video to youtube and waited for the clichéd ‘first!’ comments, regardless of actually being first or not.

My phone rang, or rather, started playing Tiffany Blews, by Fall Out Boy, probably the only song ever created with the word Tiffany in the lyrics slash title. “Hey Tiff,” I said, picking the phone up.

“Rae! You need to come over ay-sap! I do not understand Shakespeare!”

I laughed. English was Tiffany’s worst subject and my best. “Fine, I’ll be there in ten,” I promised.

I put my cell phone in my pocket and grabbed my keys. I bounded down my stairs and peeked into the kitchen. Aimee was sitting at the table, painting her toenails. I hurried back upstairs and checked the master bedroom for my dad. Not immediately spotting him, I went into the music room. He was playing the electric drums and wearing headphones so the drums were silent.

“Dad?” I said hesitantly. No response. “Daddy?” I said, louder. Still, no response. I snatched the headphones off of his head. “Dad?”

He turned to face me, a smile on his face. “Hey baby girl, wassup?”

“Can I go over to Tiff’s house?”

He consulted the clock. “You staying over for dinner?”

“Probably. She’s confused about Shakespeare and you know how that is,”

He laughed, “Okay, you know the deal. Be home by eleven. Tell Jcook I said hi.”

“Will do,” I promised, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

I got into my Audi that I had gotten for my birthday and drove the few miles to Tiffany’s house.

I got past all the security, and walked straight in her front door. I took the stairs two at a time to Tiffany’s room. Her dad was on the second floor as well, coming downstairs.

“Holla Uncle Jcook,” I said, saluting him. “Papa Burns says hello.” Jonathan wasn’t really my uncle. He was the lead singer in my dad’s band that was really big in the ‘00s/’10s.

He laughed, “Hey little Burns. I thought I heard someone come inside.”

“Guilty as charged, Mr. Uncle Cook, sir. And I’d love to chat, but I’ve got to tutor little Cook. Shakespeare, y’know.”

He nodded and I continued on my way to Tiffany’s room. When I got there, I saw that she was with her laptop, on her bed.

“That is definitely not Shakespeare,” I said, making my presence known.

“Nah, it’s better,” she said smirking. “It’s Q and A with Miss Rae.”

I squealed and launched myself at her bed. She laughed and held the laptop out of harm’s way. “It’s not like I don’t already know everything in this video,”

“C’mon, you have to study Shakespeare,” I told her sternly, adjusting myself so I was comfortable on her bed.

“Actually, no I don’t. I used that to lure you over here.”

“You don’t need to lure me over here,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m your best friend.”

“Oh. Well, I didn’t know if Aimee would let you come over just to hang out. I figured she’d be more likely to let you if I needed you!” she said dramatically.

“First of all, Aimee hates everyone under the age of 21, regardless if ‘they need me’ or not. Second, I never ask her for permission to do anything. Remember the time when I asked her to go to Bamboozle West when Shark Attack! was playing and she made me stay home to fucking give her a mani/pedi and do housework? My dad always says yes, therefore I ask him to do everything.”

We spent a few minutes discussing how awesome dads were and how much of a bitch Aimee was.

“Ugh, I’m bored,” Tiffany said, flopping back against her bed. “Let’s do something.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know!”

We sat there for a minute before she bolted upright. “I have an idea!” She grabbed her laptop. “Let’s talk to Mollie.”

Mollie Turman was Caleb Turman’s daughter. Caleb was in the same band as Jonathan and my dad. Mollie was a year younger than Tiffany and I and she lived in Dallas.

Tiff turned her webcam on and logged in. Soon, we were connected and Mollie’s face appeared.

“Hi guys, hold on one second,” she said quickly before she disappeared. “Y’all be quiet now, I’m talkin’ to Tiff and Rae on my webcam!” The din in the background quieted for a few seconds before picking up again.

There was movement and then Mollie reappeared. “Siblings, I swear. You two are lucky you’re only children.”

I scoffed. “Do you want to trade? I’ll take your brothers and sisters and you can have Aimee.”

Mollie’s eyes widened for a moment before she got a hold of herself and became sarcastic. “You’re right, I would hate livin’ next door to my best friend, and in L.A.! Plus, all the peace and quiet! I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.”

“So, Mollie,” Tiffany, always the peace keeper, interjected. “What’s new?”

Mollie bit her lip, thinking for a moment. Suddenly, her face lit up. “Ohmigod, you guys, my dad finally is letting me go to South by Southwest!”

We cheered. South by Southwest (or SXSW) is a two day music festival in Texas. Mollie had been trying to get her dad to let her go for the past 3 or 4 years, but Caleb was pretty strict.

“So, any news of an Event in the near future?” Mollie asked. An Event was an event (go figure) where everyone’s dads got together for some important event or a show or something, which usually meant the kids would hang out either in L.A. or Dallas.

I looked at Tiff. Her dad was the one who usually coordinated Events, so she would know first.

“I don’t think so… but I can ask my dad tonight at dinner if you want,”

“Of course I want you to ask, silly!” Mollie said, smiling.

“Ugh, I hope Izzie and Isaac are going to be with their mom if there is an Event.” Tiff groaned.

Izzie and Isaac were Austin Bello’s kids, fraternal twins. They were both petty, cruel and standoffish. Of course, none of the adults knew about it, they thought that Izzie and Isaac were perfect.

We chatted for about ten more minutes, about random things. In the middle of one of my stories about my latest standoff with Aimee, Mollie’s head turned quickly. “Shit, that’s my dad callin’ me. I’ll talk to y’all later.”

We said goodbye and disconnected. Tiffany and I continued talking for a few more minutes, until Uncle Jonathan called us down for dinner.

“Tonight, we are having Chicken Cordon Bleu, a la Mrs. Cook,” he said as we took our seats.

“Thanks for having me over Aunt Monica and Uncle Jonathan,” I said before starting to eat.

“Any time Rae,” Aunt Monica said, smiling.

“So, um, dad,” Tiffany said, cutting her chicken, “Is there any special, I don’t know, award shows or something coming up?”

Uncle Jonathan smirked. I knew he knew that we were just asking to see when we would be able to hang out with Mollie again.

“Well, I’m not absolutely sure, but I think there’s a benefit concert of some sort in six weeks.”

Tiffany caught my eye and we smiled.