We'll Dream This Night Away.

“No! I don’t want to play the piano! I don’t want to sing! I don’t want to dance! I just want to chill this summer!” My six year old self screamed at my parents.

“Alyson, don’t raise your voice like that. You have no right to speak to us in that tone,” My dad said keeping his calm. My mom on the other hand was about to blow up like a giant volcano. She never really gave a damn about me and what I wanted. It was all about what she wanted and I was getting sick of it.

“Dad, tell Mom I don’t want to do anything this summer,” I said running to my dad for some support but all he did was sigh as he picked me up from the kitchen floor and set me on the marble countertop of the island in the middle of the room.

“I’m sorry, honey but I think your mother has a point in all this.” He told me and I scowled at him. It was hard to go through a life where no one understood you at all.

I looked at my mom who was leaning on the door frame that led to the grand living room. Her steel grey eyes were piercing right through my skin. I swear, I thought she was going to blow my head up. She sighed heavily before leaving me alone with my dad.

“Dad, why does Mom hate me?” I asked innocently looking at my bare feet before looking up at him.

“Aly-bear, she doesn’t hate you. She just wants you to experience things so that when you grow up, you’ll be the most talented girl in the whole world,” he said tapping my nose.

“Daddy, if I do take the lessons, will you be the one to teach me?” My dad was never around for me. He was usually too busy recording for some other artist or something. He was a very busy man and he hardly had any time for me.

“I’m not going to make any promises but I’ll try, okay sweetie?” he said kissing the top of my head. I smiled lightly as a surge hope coursed through my veins. I hugged him and he hugged me back. I was happy then – very happy indeed.

Sometimes life can be a total pain in the ass. As it turns out, my Dad didn’t have time for me. He didn’t spend a single second to see how I was progressing or how I strived hard just to learn a few really boring pieces for my mother. My mother got me a really strict piano teacher. She always had a pencil so she could strike at my fingers if I played the wrong note. I hated my teacher and I hated my mother who actually asked the teacher to do that to me so that I wouldn’t make any more mistakes.

I studied different types of instruments through the course of time. My mother told me that I should study in Julliard someday when I reach college but there was no way in hell that I was going to do anything she asked me anymore. She was such an egotistic bitch who was too full of herself. She was materialistic and bought everything that had a brand on it.

She didn’t even earn a single penny her whole life. She used the money that Dad earned in his record label. I hated how she just used him for his wealth. She was just another gold digger who would probably be nothing if she’d never met Dad.

We lived somewhere in Scottsdale where most of the rich kids live – or so I heard. I didn’t like it one bit here. I thought people – like my mother – were too full of themselves. But at least I had friends who were just like me.

“Alyson!” Agnes – my best friend who was also the maid that’s been with me through all these years – called. “Someone’s here to see you!”

I ran down the spiralling stairs to the door to see who came to see me. “Who is it?” I asked in a sing-song voice as I arrived at the front door. “Oh hey, John!” I greeted as soon as I saw my best friend come into view.

“Hey, it’s been quite a long time,” he said and I pulled him into a hug.

So much has changed about him on the outside. He was taller now and he let his brown hair grow out. It rested right below his shoulders and he had bangs now. His smile was wider but maybe that’s just because he was happy to see me, or something like that. He was still pretty lanky though but that’s not a bad thing, it never was.He definitely was a lot hotter.

John and I knew each other because our parents know each other and are pretty close. We met when I was around ten and he was about the same age as me but he was older by at least a couple of months. We used to spend a lot of time together playing video games and stuff like that. Back then, he was like the older brother I never had but as time continued to tick away, we saw each other less and less since he never really visited anymore. Sure, we kept in touch but it wasn’t really the same.

I never really saw him after we went to prom together as friends. We never really wanted to take it to the next level since we both never really looked at each other that way.

When my Dad first heard that he was in a band called The Maine, he wanted to sign them under his label but they were already taken by Fearless Records so there really wasn’t much he could do about it.

I’ve heard some of their songs before since John always made sure to keep me updated but we never really hung out anymore since he was always either on tour or really busy with stuff.

“Talk about 3 years,” I said pulling away from the hug and leading him into the living room where we used to hang out and talk for hours. “So what brings you here?” I asked. It wasn’t as if I didn’t like the fact that he took the time to come down here; it’s just really surprising.

“Well, your Dad called me today and told me that you had a gig tonight. I didn’t want to miss that,” he said and my eyes grew wide and he grinned evilly. Now I was scared shitless about tonight.

“D-dad called you?” I asked in so much surprise.

“Yeah, why do you seem so surprised?” he countered my question.

“I don’t know, I thought he didn’t even know,” I said sighing as I looked at the coffee table in front of me.

“Aly, you’re his daughter. He’s bound to know one way or another.” He comforted me pulling me into a side hug. I leaned on his chest and his chest remembering all the countless times we’ve spent in a position like this knowing that we’d still end up friends no matter what.

“I know but I thought he was always too busy with work,” I said making myself comfortable as he played with my brown hair.

“Of course not,”

“But you don’t know that,” I said trying to get up but ended up placing my head on his lap since he forced me down.

“Whatever,” he said not wanting to get into an argument. That was always what he did and that’s what I loved most about him. We never had a big fight since he always stopped it before it started. “By the way, I invited some friends to come and see you and your band,” he said and I got up from my comfortable position.

“John!” I whined as he laughed.

“What?” he said before stopping. “It’s better to have more people at a gig you know. Raises your popularity,” he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“Whatever,” I said rolling my eyes as I got up.

My phone started buzzing and someone was calling me. I held up a finger to John, telling him that I needed to take the call. He nodded and turned on the TV but tuned the volume down so that he wouldn’t interrupt anything.

“Hey chica,” Byanca greeted as soon as I picked up, “you ready for tonight?” she asked me.

“I guess,” I sighed thinking about the people that might come to watch us. I was always the outgoing one, true, but I get really nervous sometimes when I get in front of people. That’s why whenever my mother asked me to sing during events, I would always throw tantrums making her regret ever asking me in the first place.

“Is there anything wrong?” she asked me, concern filling her soft-spoken tone.

“Yeah,” I said scratching my head as I headed towards the kitchen so that John couldn’t hear what I was saying. “Some people are coming tonight,”

“And that’s a problem because…?” Byanca asked not really getting the point.

“I guess it’s not really a big problem but I just get nervous, you know?” I said biting my lip as Agnes walked by with laundry in hand with a smile on her face. I smiled back before she disappeared into the room where the washing machine and other appliances were found.

“I see,” she said chuckling. “But if we want to make it big, we have to get past all the nervous stuff somehow,” she said and for a minute, a worlds kinda switched. I used to be the one giving her pep talks, not the other way around.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said lightening up as I checked the fridge to see if there was anything to snack on.

“Okay, so I’ll see you later?” she asked sorta excited.

“Adios, Amiga,” I said trying to sound Spanish like her. She laughed before she hung up.

I smiled to myself as I took an apple from the fridge. I washed it before taking a bite.

“Who was that you were talking to?” John asked startling me.

“Holy fuck, don’t ever scare me like that!” I complained as John chuckled walking over to me.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to,” he said as stopping right in front of me. He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear.

I thought he was going to something. I really thought he was going to lean in for a kiss but once his hands slipped down, he grabbed the apple from my hand and started running.

“John! Give me back my apple!” I exclaimed as I started to chase him down. We were kids once again.

I didn’t know why I actually thought that he’d like me in that way. It’s stupid really to actually think about it that way.

As I chased after him, I reminisced on the times where we had moments like this. Moments where I was chasing him down for something he took away from me. We were ten back then and now we were both twenty. Nothing much has changed. Except the way I felt about him now.