This Is Primetime

"You'd better be there," my tone was dangerous and threatening. "Seriously, Matt, my flight gets in at noon. If you're not there, all hell is going to break loose when I find you."

He laughed on the other end of the phone. "I'll be there, Beck. Relax."

"I've got to go and say bye to everyone now, I guess. I'll see you in a few hours, okay?"

"See you soon."

I hung up and looked around at the small group of people that were gathered at the airport to see me off. Markie looked the most sad of anyone, and as soon as my phone was safely in my pocket she threw herself at me.

"I'm going to miss you so much!"

I hugged her back, fighting the growing lump in my throat. "I'll miss you too. But we'll talk all the time, don't worry. And you've got almost all of my stuff to remember me by," I reminded her. Matt had already furnished his entire apartment; the only things that I'd had to bring was stuff for my bedroom. Markie had gladly taken most of my things, and the rest had been put into storage. There was a moving truck that was bringing my bed and the rest of the furniture that I was keeping, as well as a few boxes. Mom and Dad had insisted that I fly to Vancouver, if only to speed up my arrival.

"You can have it all back if you ever move back here," Markie told me, sniffing loudly.

"I'll call you when I land, okay?"

"Come visit me next time the boys have to play a show here."

"I will," I promised. When she released me, I turned to my parents. I hugged my dad first. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you, too. Stay safe. Call as soon as you meet up with Matt. And remember to call me if you ever need anything." He sounded a bit choked up, but I knew that he would never let me see him cry.

By the time I turned to my mom, the tears were starting. "I'm sorry for everything I put you through," I told her.

"I'm your mother," she smiled tearfully. "It's what I'm here for. I love you, hun."

"Love you too, Mom."

"You'd better get going. Matt would be pretty upset if you missed your flight. And don't forget to call!" She lifted my carry-on bag and handed it to me.

"I won't. Bye, guys."

I waved sadly as I got into the line in front of the metal detectors. I now faced over an hour alone in an airport terminal. I wandered the stores and got a coffee, then sat by myself until a voice came over the intercom and announced that my flight was boarding. I soon found myself seated on a plane between a rather large man and a prim, bespectacled woman. The woman immediately pulled out a laptop, although I was certain that it was still unsafe to use anything electronic.

I plugged a set of headphones into the armrest and began surfing the in-flight radio. I settled on a rock station and pulled out a thick novel from my bag. I managed to get lost in my own little world before the plane had even taken off.

When the plane finally began its descent, I was incredibly anxious. I knew that Matt would be waiting, and I was antsy to see him again. My furniture should have arrived earlier that morning, but there was a chance that it was running late. Either way, I hoped that someone had been around to let the movers inside.

I was one of the last people off of the plane. The woman with the laptop seemed incredibly imaptient with me, but I ignored her. I really wasn't in the mood to get swept up and pushed around by a crowd. I was tired and cranky; I'd been up since five in the morning trying to get everything together.

I pulled my bags from the luggage carousel soon after and began dragging them toward the door. I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face as I saw the crowd of people waiting for the other passengers from the flight. Matt was standing in the front with a large chunk of neon green poster board with my name sprawled across it in his own handwriting.

"Do I get a limo, too?" I asked as I approached him.

"Uh," he tried to think of a good comeback. "Yes. You're going to think that it's the same truck that I had in high school, but that's just an illusion so that we don't get robbed. Really, it's a limo in disguise." He took the larger of my bags from me and led me from the airport, still carrying the blindingly bright sign.

"At least some things will never change," I grinned as he started the engine a few minutes later. The stereo had been turned down, but I could still hear Def Leppard through the speakers.

"Of course not. I could never get sick of this band. Are you still into the Foo Fighters?"

"Absolutely. God, this is so weird to be back here," I watched the familiar streets pass by in a blur. "I feel so nostalgic."

"Want me to drive by your old house?"

I hesitated. "One thing at a time. Let's save that for another day."

"You're the boss," Matt turned down a side street. "Your furniture showed up right after I got off the phone with you. I just got the movers to leave it in the middle of your room. I figured that I could help you arrange everything however you want it."

"Awesome. I was really hoping that it would get here before I did."

We continued to discuss our living arrangements until Matt pulled into a parking lot and cut the engine.

"Welcome home, Beck."

I pulled open the door and the hinges creaked loudly. "Yay!" I threw one bag over my shoulder and took another in my hand. "I'm so excited!"

Matt laughed at my childish nature and grabbed the last remaining bag from the box of the truck. "Well I'd be pretty upset if you weren't excited by this point. Let's go upstairs so you can get settled in."

He led the way into the building and up a narrow flight of stairs. I was suddenly very happy that my parents had offered to hire movers for my furniture. I could only imagine the frustration that would have come from hauling a mattress up these steps. Matt's apartment was on the third floor. He walked in without unlocking the door, and I gave him a quizzical look.

"Okay here's a new rule. Now that I'm living here, that door has to be locked when nobody's home."

He laughed at me. "You don't think I honestly leave it unlocked, do you?"

As soon as I set foot inside, I was distracted by a delicious smell. I rounded a corner right behind Matt and saw a girl in the kitchen, facing the stove. I stopped walking, curiosity overtaking me. I felt like I knew her, yet at the same time I had no idea why Matt would leave some girl in his apartment. Maybe he really did have a girlfriend that he just hadn't told me about yet.

"Perfect timing, guys," she said, still facing the pot she was adamantly stirring. "Lunch is almost ready."

When I heard her voice, I knew. And I immediately felt stupid for not recognising her. The only difference that I could clearly see in Amanda was some highlights in her hair, as well as a new cut and style. As if to confirm my acknowledgement, she spun around and smiled widely at me.

"Becky! It's so good to see you! I was so excited when Matt told me that you were his new roommate." She rushed across the room and hugged me in greeting. I attempted to awkwardly hug her back, but it proved to be an impossible feat due to the luggage that I was still carrying.

"Let her go and drop her stuff off first," Matt was grinning at my lame attempt at an embrace.

"Oh, right. Sorry," Amanda released me instantly. "Go check the rest of the place out."

Matt gave me a quick tour of the apartment. There wasn't much for decoration, but that would be easy enough to fix. His own bedroom was a mess, but he blamed that on the fact that he'd just gotten home from the tour. I had to assume that after being away from home for weeks at a time, I wouldn't be too concerned with cleanliness either. He saved my room for last on the tour. Just as he'd warned me before, all of my furniture was piled together in the center of the room. I tossed my bags into the closet so they would be out of the way.

"I'm impressed," I told him as I slid the closet door shut. "This place is pretty nice."

"Now you understand why I can't afford it by myself," he smirked. "Now lets go eat. I'm pretty hungry, so I can only imagine how you must feel."

"I'm not that bad, actually. I had some coffee at the airport and some juice on the plane."

Matt frowned at me. "So you haven't actually had any solid food, then? Your mom would kill you if she knew that."

I shrugged. "Isn't that they beauty of living this far away? Oh, shit!" I reached into my pocket and dug out my cell phone, fumbling to take it out of airplane mode. "I forgot to call when I landed!"

Matt snatched the phone from my fingers and began to scan my list of contacts. "I'll do it. Your mom will want to hear it right from me."

I rolled my eyes, but didn't take the phone away from him. "Yeah, go ahead."

With a smirk, he pressed a button and held the phone to his ear. After a long moment, he spoke. "Hi, Mrs. Jordan. It's Matt. I just wanted to let you know that Becky made it here alright. She's now home and setting up her bedroom." He paused to listen to my mom's response. "Yeah, she just forgot to call earlier. And then she got even more distracted by a tour of the place and the fact that my sister made us lunch." He smiled and looked as though he was trying not to laugh. "I'll be sure to do that. Don't worry, she won't get into any trouble. I'll keep a close eye on her for you. She'll call you herself once she's all settled in. Talk to you later, Mrs. Jordan." He snapped the phone shut and handed it back to me. "That's all taken care of. She's very happy that your plane didn't crash, by the way."

"Thanks, I think. Now I've just got to call Markie."

The phone was gone from my hand again. This time, Matt didn't wait for permission before dialing.

"Hey Markie, it's me. Who? No, it's Matt." He didn't bother suppressing his laughter this time, and the sound somehow made my room feel like home, even though nothing was unpacked. "Becky's busy arranging her stuff and getting settled, but she said that she needed to call you and let you know that she's alive and well. So I did it for her." He let out a heavy, exaggerrated sigh. "Fine, here she is," he held out the phone to me with an amused expression on his face. "Your mom believes me without hesitation, but Markie needs to talk to you for confirmation."

"Hey, Markie. I made it to Vancouver," I said as soon as I took the phone from Matt.

"I guessed it was Josh when I picked up the phone. I just thought I'd better warn you that I might have blown your cover. I was really hoping that it was him, too. I want you two to find a way back to each other," she explained herself rapidly.

"That would be nice, but it's highly unlikely. I'll keep you updated, though."

"Ooh, but what about Matt? You two are living together, maybe it's time that you started focusing on him. Come on, Becky, even you can't deny that there could be something great there. He's just so-"

"I'll call you tomorrow, Markie. I'm going to go eat and then get my room fixed up."

"Okay, I'll talk to you soon," she sounded resigned, like there was no hope for ever getting throught to me.

I hung up the phone and shoved it deep into my pocket so that Matt couldn't steal it again. He didn't say anything, he just grinned impishly before leaving the room and heading back out to the kitchen.

"So," Amanda began as I sat down at the small kitchen table. "You're excited to be back here?"

I nodded. "Of course. I really missed it."

"She means that she missed me," Matt told her, stretching his arms until his shoulders cracked.

Amanda and I exchanged a look.

"Sure, I'll bet that's it," she patronized him.

"Why do girls always have to stick together?" He whined as he dished up some soup and grabbed a sandwich from a plate. "I thought you were supposed to be my best friend, Beck."

"I think it's something in our DNA," Amanda smirked. "We just automatically band together. Especially when it involves someone's brother. We love you, kid, but we also love to pick on you."

I nodded. "What she said." I bit into a sandwich, noticing for the first time that I was actually kind of hungry. Until now, I'd just been too preoccupied to care.

"I need to get the guys over here for backup," Matt grumbled. "In fact, I might just do that. We could have a housewarming party for you, Beck."

"That sounds like a lot of fun," I agreed. "Call everyone up."