This Is Primetime

"What? When? Why?" Mom spluttered, standing up from the sofa and taking a step toward me. As she asked the last question, she stared past me. Her eyes narrowed as they settled on Josh.

"Mom, stop," I stepped to the side to move in front of Josh. He had been nervous enough about coming here, and now I felt some insane need to protect him. I hadn't truly believed that she would react so badly. "Don't get mad at Josh. He had nothing to do with it."

Mom's face contorted with disbelief. "What makes you think this will be any different than the last time that-"

"The last time that we moved?" I cut her off. "That was different."

"Do you know what you did to her?" She shot her accusation over my head to Josh.

"I don't, actually. We haven't really had the chance to talk yet." His voice was quiet and, in my opinion, sort of sad.

"You haven't even talked this through?!" Now Mom was yelling directly at me.

"I'm not moving for Josh!" I let the volume of my voice raise uncontrollably. "I'm moving because I want to. And in case you missed that part, I said I'm moving in with Matt. Not Josh. You always said that I was happiest there. Why don't you understand that now?"

"You've been happy here," she argued.

"Since when, Mom? I've been surviving here. But that's it. I'm sick of it, and I want to go back. Now I have the opportunity to, and I'm going to take it."

"We'll miss you, kiddo," Dad spoke for the first time, giving me a longing gaze.

"You're just going to let her go?" Mom rounded on him, shocked.

"She's all grown up now, I can't stop her. She's got her own money, and she's going to live her own life no matter what we say," he informed her. He looked at me again. "All I can say is that I hope you're making this choice for yourself, and not anyone else."

"You know I am. I don't make choices for anyone else. This is what I think will be best for me," I felt myself calming down immensely by my father's acceptance. This was why he and I had always gotten along so well. He was so logical and he knew what I needed.

Mom looked like she was about to explode. "Why do I even bother trying to get a point across? Nobody listens to me anyway!" She stormed out of the room, and I soon heard dishes clanging together in the sink.

I sighed. "I'll be right back, guys. I'm sorry you had to see that."

I left the room and stood in the kitchen doorway as Mom continued on her rampage. I waited patiently as she threw anything that she could find into the sink, then turned on the water and squeezed the detergent bottle until bubbles were flowing into the adjoining sink that held the dish drain.

"Are you ready to talk now?" I asked as she plunged her hands into the water and began scrubbing a plate.

"What is there to talk about?" Her voice shook. "My baby girl is leaving me, and nobody will help me talk any sense into her."

I jumped up onto the counter beside nearby. "I'm being sensible. Believe it or not, I've thought this through."

"You can't possibly have thought it through very well," she set the plate in the dish drain, though a thick layer of soap bubbles still filled the bottom. "You just met up with him yesterday."

"That doesn't mean that anything between Matt and I has changed. It's like no time has passed when I'm with him. He's still my best friend."

"And what about Josh? Are things the same with you two as well?"

I hesitated. "Things aren't so simple with him."

"No? You seem to be okay. I assumed that he was the reason you wanted to go."

"He has a girlfriend. We're trying to be friends." I explained, trying to avoid going into details.

A plate slipped from her grasp and clattered to the bottom of the sink. "I just don't understand it. I thought that you were doing alright here. You have Markie now, so you haven't been sulking by yourself anymore. I thought things were getting better."

"But you knew that I always wanted to go back. I just never got the chance."

"But why do you have to go? You're only twenty, you've got your whole life to go back to Vancouver! I don't want you to be that far away from me. Call me selfish, but I don't want the telephone to be my only form of communication with you." She patted her hands dry on a towel, ignoring the sink full of dishes.

"We can always visit. Don't you think it's time that I left the nest and tried to do my own thing for awhile? The worst case scenario is that I hate it and move back here."

"Fine. I'll let you go, Rebecca. But as soon as you want, no matter what the circumstances, you can come home. You can always come home."

"Thank you," I pulled her into a tight hug. "I promise I'll call you all the time."

We walked back into the living room, where everything was still incredibly tense. Matt and Josh were both standing by the doorway that led to the front door, and Dad was trying to ignore everything and had turned up the volume on the TV to drown us out.

"I'll come see you soon," I told my father, giving him an awkward one-armed hug, since he was still sitting in his recliner. "Let's go, guys. I'm worried about Mike and Ian. Nobody should have to be alone with Markie for this long."

"Is everything okay?" Matt asked as soon as we were out the door. He wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulders and squeezed me tight. "That got a little crazy in there."

"It doesn't really matter. I'm still coming, either way. I think she'll get used to the idea before I actually leave, so it should be alright soon enough," I leaned against Matt's strong frame, letting him support me as we walked back to the van. His chin rested gently on the top of my head, and I knew that he was exchanging a look with Josh.

"Are you sure?" Josh's voice was quiet. "I mean, if your mom didn't hate me before, she sure as hell does now."

I laughed a bit, though there wasn't really any humor in me. "Don't worry Josh, I explained that it's not your fault."

"That's right. It's Matt's fault," Josh chuckled at his own joke.

Matt tightened his grip on me again. "Need a drink?"

I nodded. "That sounds delightful, actually."

Josh took the keys to the van from my hand and unlocked the doors. "I'll drive. But you should probably sit shotgun and give me directions. I wasn't really paying attention on the way here."

I tried to remember the drive to my parents house. He'd definitely seemed a bit distracted. "Yeah, okay."

Markie let us in as soon as we got to my building; she must have known that I would be in no mood to stand outside and argue through the intercom. Thanks to Josh and Matt, I was feeling a lot better by the time I reached my apartment. They had kept up a constant conversation the entire way home, and it had taken my mind off of everything else. It seemed to make me feel better about my final decision. They could lift my spirits no matter what, and that was really the kind of people that I needed around me.

When we got inside my apartment, we discovered that everyone had already raided my liquor cupboard, and then went down the street to a nearby store when they found that my collection wasn't up to par. There were shot glasses littering the countertop, though they all still looked clean. Mike, Ian, and Markie all had a full drink in front of them, but they didn't look as though they had been touched.

"We're not total assholes," Markie grinned. "We were waiting for you guys to get back. We just got all stocked up so that we could get down to some serious drinking once you got home."

I walked directly to the kitchen and lined up the empty shot glasses. "Alright, what am I pouring?"

After a few drinks, we all settled in the living room and began telling stories. Mike and Ian were both incredibly interested in my tales about Matt and Josh from high school. But I was more concerned with the way that they were now.

"I wonder if Matt's techniques for picking up girls has changed," I mused.

Ian smirked. "Why don't you demonstrate for us, and we'll tell you everything that's new and exciting?"

"Alright, you're on," I got to my feet and walked across the room to where Matt was standing against the wall. I placed my palm flat on the wall by his head and leaned in seductively. "Hey," I addressed him in my best impression of himself. I heard a few laughs behind me, but I pressed on. "I couldn't help but notice you over here. I'm Matt, what's your name?"

Matt replied in a falsetto voice that almost made me cringe. "Becky."

I had to stop for a second to fight back giggles. "Nice to meet you, Becky. This party's getting kind of boring, wouldn't you say? Do you want to go get some air or something? I know a great place where we can go and talk. Nobody will interrupt us while we get to know each other."

"Okay! You're so suave and charming, how could I ever resist?" Matt, still speaking with the ridiculously high voice, gave me a big smile.

I faced everyone else again. "And that's just how it's done."

Ian, Mike, and Josh put their heads together for a moment and deliberated my performance. I leaned my back against the wall next to Matt while I waited. Markie was laughing quietly by herself on the couch that I had recently vacated. After a long moment, the boys looked up at me.

"Eight point five out of ten," Mike announced my score.

"What?" I pretended to be incredibly offended. "That's a bullshit ruling, judge! I should have had a perfect score!"

Ian held up a hand to silence my outburst. "Just wait, we're going to tell you what you did wrong and what to improve on for next time."

"First," Mike took on a very businesslike tone as he finished his drink. "You lost half a point because you didn't say something along the lines of I could tell how beautiful your eyes are from all the way across the room."

"Rookie mistake," Josh shook his head as though I'd let him down.

"And you lost a full point," Ian continued, "because you didn't mention the fact that he's in a band."

"That one's not fair," I argued. "He wasn't in a band when I got to witness this stuff. Except for the school band, but he didn't really brag about that."

"But I use it to its full potential now," Matt grinned. "And it goes a little something like this." He took on the stance that I'd been using in my immitation of him earlier. "So what do you do for a living, Becky?"

"I work in a clothing store." I used the fake voice that he'd taken on for him impression of me, causing him to grin at me and momentarily break character.

"That's cool," he composed himself. "I'm in a band."

"What kind of band?"

"It's not really a big deal or anything. We just got signed to a record label, that's all. Keep your eyes out for an album within the next year or so."

"Now that was dead on," Josh applauded him.

I folded my arms. "Again, that's not fair. Of course his version is perfect. It's actually his pick up lines, in case you forgot."

"Don't pretend it didn't turn you on," Matt teased.

"You're right," I spoke in a completely monotone voice. "I'm totally swept off my feet. In fact, let's go to my bedroom and get it on."

Matt frowned at my sarcasm. "You only wish."

We spent the rest of the night joking around and laughing; everyone was trying to ignore the fact that this was our last night together for awhile. Markie didn't live very far away from me, so we all walked her home around two in the morning. I would have just let her stay over, but I was currently at full capacity in my tiny little apartment.

"We should get some sleep," Ian said once we got back to my place. "We've got to get going by noon at the latest tomorrow. And I swear to God, if all of you guys sleep the whole way while I drive, I'll crash that van just because I can."

"Okay, bedtime it is," I clapped my hands together once. "I don't want all of you guys dying before I get to move to Vancouver."

"Night, guys," Matt waved to them before heading off to my bedroom.

"See you in the morning, Becky," Josh smiled at me as he arranged a couple of blankets on the air mattress.

"Goodnight," I called as I followed in Matt's wake. "So we'll have to make all of our plans before you leave tomorrow," I said as I jumped onto the bed next to him.

"We've got tons of time for that. I'll call you all the time and we'll get it all figured out."

"How long are you guys on tour?"

"This particular tour is over in about three more weeks. But I have no idea if we'll get onto another one before we record or not."

"I'm going to give my notice at work, then. And with my landlords, too. I can be waiting on your doorstep when you get home next," I told him, formulating a plan in my mind.

"I look forward to it."

"Yeah, me too."