Our Time Has Come, and We've Got These Big City Dreams

I shivered violently as the cold wind picked up. It was really beginning to feel like winter for the first time during my holiday break. I put the coins into the slot and dialed Ellyn’s number. It rang a couple of times, until she finally picked up.

“Hello?” she answered.

I felt instant relief when I heard her voice. “Ellyn!”

“Tara? Where the hell have you been? It’s… three in the morning!” She sounded a tad distressed.

“I’ll tell you. You probably won’t believe me, but…” An idea popped into my head. “You know what? I’ll just show you instead. I’m at a hotel right now—”

“A hotel?” she echoed. “God, Tara, I know you need money, but prostitution is not revolution, no matter what Cobra Starship says!”

I laughed. “Jesus, Ellyn, no! What, you think I’m a prostitute?” I laughed once more. I gave her the address of the hotel.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she promised, and hung up.

Knowing Ellyn, she would arrive quickly, so I decided to stand out in the cold, hoping she would prove me right. I knew I was, when car headlights suddenly blinded me, and a very familiar car parked in front of me. Ellyn turned off the engine, grabbed her purse, and got out of the car. She ran up to me and hugged me.

“Oh, my!” She looked up at the hotel. “Wow, Tara… this place is… nice.”

I nodded. “I know.”

She put her hands on her hips. “So, what? You made me come out here at…” she checked her watch, “Three-twenty in the morning to show me a huge, grand hotel?”

I laughed. “No, silly!” I grabbed her arm and pulled her into the hotel, sighing in relief when the warmth hit me. I dragged her up to the room. We finally got to the door, and I took a deep breath. “Don’t kill me, okay?”

She raised her eyebrows, but nodded all the same.

I opened the door and stepped inside. The guys were all sitting on a bed, watching TV. Alex and Jack stood up. Jack flew at me and hugged me, yelling, “Tara Kate! Tara Kate!”

I hugged him back, before whispering, “Jack… can’t… breathe.”

He pushed himself off, saying, “Sorry!” He looked at Ellyn and smiled. “Heya! I’m—”

“Jack Barakat,” Ellyn said in shock. “And you're Alex, Rian, and Zack,” she said, pointing at each of them. Rian and Zack raised their hands in greeting, never taking their eyes off of the TV. “And you!” She turned to me and slapped my arm. “You know these guys? And you never told me? Tara—”

I laughed. “Ellyn, Ellyn, Ellyn!”

She stopped her rant and looked at me blankly.

“Ellyn. You remember how I met this guy named Alex at work, and he asked me out?”

She nodded.

I pointed at Alex.

“Ohh!” she said, laughing. “Still… wow. This is… wow.”

“Oh, and one more thing…” I said slowly.

“What?”

“They want us to come on tour.”

The look on her face was simply priceless. “Tour. With them. Go on tour?” she echoed in shock.

I nodded, letting her sink it in.

She smiled widely at me, and I smiled back. “That’s great! But we need to go home and get our stuff.”

“Oh.” My smile faded. I knew she was right.

“Okay,” Ellyn walked over to the TV and turned it off, raising protests from Zack and Rian, which she ignored. “We need a plan. Mostly for Tara. I can probably convince my parents, but Tara’s going to have to have more of an escape.”

Alex and Jack nodded grimly. We all came up with a plan. Zack and Rian would ring the doorbell, causing a distraction, while Alex would boost me up to my window so I could climb in, grab some stuff, and get out. While all this was going on, Jack and Ellyn would go to Ellyn’s house so Ellyn could convince them to let her go.

It all looked oh, so easy.

Rian, Zack, Alex, and I all piled into my car while Jack joined Ellyn in her car. We agreed to meet back at the hotel afterward.

The drive to my house seemed longer than usual. Zack and Rian headed to the front door while Alex and I walked over to the side of my house. He boosted me up and I held onto the wall, clambering up Alex’s body until he was holding me well over his head.

“Can you reach it?” Alex hissed.

“Jump!” I told him, and he did, pushing me up to the window. I clung to the wall and inched the glass up, until I had enough space to haul myself in. I fell onto my carpet.

Just then, I head laughter from downstairs. I froze, and realized that it was Tuesday, and my dad’s poker games were on Tuesday. Which meant that if my dad heard a noise…

He could send anyone of his big, scary, drunk friends to come up and check it out.

“Shit,” I hissed. I heard the doorbell ring, and I gathered some of my clothes from the closet and drawers, stuffing them into my back pack. My books that I placed on my bed, to my horror, began to slide off. I watched as they fell to the floor, making a lot of noise.

“What was that?” I heard my father boom. “I’m gonna go check it out.”

I froze.

Our plan wasn’t turning out to be so perfect.