Chasing Fireflies

My hands were red ten minutes later when a girl sat next to me. “Your hands,” she said. “They’re all red. Are you nervous?” Her tone seemed heartfelt, and I could see the honesty in her eyes when I looked up at her.

“Yeah. My friends… they’re meeting with a record exec upstairs.” I took a look at my hands and noted that they were quite red. I laid them flat on my thighs and forced myself to stop playing with them. I didn’t want the guys to see how nervous I was when they returned.

“My cousin just went up there, so I know how you feel,” the girl told me. She smiled at me and I weakly smiled back. “You want to play a game? Maybe it’ll take your mind off of it for awhile.”

“Sure,” I replied. I sat up in my chair and asked, “What game should we play?”

The girl thought for awhile. Then she laughed. “First, how about we get to know each other.” She paused, then continued. “I’m Rebecca. I am the number one fan of my cousin Stacey. She really wants to be a singer and I think she has a great voice. Um, my favorite color is green, I can’t stand broccoli, and… I love having thumb wars.”

I smiled. “My name is Laurel. It’s nice to meet you, Rebecca. Let’s see… I am the number one fan of my best friends’ band. They’re called The Maine and they’re amazing. My favorite color is brown, I love broccoli,” Rebecca smirked at me, “and I also love having thumb wars.”

“So, tell me more about The Maine. I’m curious. Are they all guys? Is it a girl-fronted band?”

I laughed. “There’s five guys. John sings lead vocals. Kennedy plays guitar and sings backup vocals. Jared plays guitar. Garrett plays bass. And Pat plays the drums.”

“And they’re all your best friends?!” Rebecca asked, incredulous.

I nodded. “I’ve known all of them but John since middle school.”

“Did you meet them all in middle school, or?” Rebecca blushed. “Sorry, I’m just really curious. And, well, I’m nervous for Stacey. She’s only sixteen.”

“Aw, don’t be nervous, Rebecca! I bet she’s doing fine.” I smiled at Rebecca, who smiled back. “And no. I met Pat in preschool, Jared and Kennedy in elementary school, Garrett in middle school, and John in high school.”

Rebecca nodded. “So, is it just the six of you, you know, best friends?”

“Yep. I’m the only girl in the group.”

“Okay, seriously. Two things. One, girls were totally jealous of you, right? Like, in high school? And two, were you ever part of the band?”

“Yes, girls were jealous of me, majorly actually.” Rebecca smirked and I laughed. “And two, I was never part of the band. The Maine was created in our Sophomore year, and for about six or seven months they were looking for a lead singer, but they wanted a guy. And then John transferred into our school for Junior year and I guess the rest is history.”

“So, if they get the record deal, how is that going to work out for you? I mean, are you going to be involved, maybe with merch or managing or… anything?”

I grimaced. “Actually, no. Well, maybe merch but I’m going to college in the fall, so I probably won’t see them that often.”

Rebecca sent me a small smile. “I know how you feel. If Stacey gets this record deal, I definitely won’t see her as often as I usually do. I usually see her a few times a month, but if she gets this, I’ll hardly ever see her.”

“She’ll get it,” I told Rebecca. “Really.”

Rebecca sighed. “I really hope so. She really deserves it, after everything she’s been through. And hey, The Maine will get a record deal as well.”

I laughed. “Now we’re thinking positive.”

Someone coughed. I looked up. “Has it already been half an hour?” I gaped at the guys, who were all smiling. “So how’d it go?!”

“It was amazing,” Pat said. “They had all this high-priced equipment up there. You should have seen the drum set I played on!” I laughed. “Seriously, Laurel. I need that drum set.”

“It went great,” Garrett said. “Clive told us that he’s really considering us and that he’s going to get back to us in a few days.”

“That’s great you guys!” I shouted. “GROUP HUG!” We all laughed and did a group hug. When we all pulled apart, I turned to Rebecca. “Guys, this is Rebecca.”

The guys were silent. “Hi,” John said after a moment. “I’m John.” He held out his hand and Rebecca gladly took it.

“Lead singer, correct?” John nodded. “And Garrett?” she asked, looking around at the other guys.

“That would be me,” Garrett replied and held out his hand. “I play--”

“Bass guitar. Laurel told me.” She turned to Pat. “You play the drums. Pat, right?” Pat nodded. “And you two,” she said to Jared and Kennedy. “Jared and Kennedy. You both play the guitar, and Kennedy sings backup vocals. But which one is which. I’m going to say… the one with red hair, you’re Jared.”

“Yes!” Jared said. “How did you know?”

Rebecca laughed. “I just guessed.”

“Well, you’re a good guesser then,” Jared replied.

Rebecca smiled. “Well it’s really great to meet you guys. Laurel is such a good supporter of you guys. She was so nervous while you guys were up there.” I blushed. “It was really cute, let me tell you.”

“Shut up,” I told her. Rebecca laughed. I looked at my watch. “We need to get going if we want to get back home by six,” I told the guys.

“So you guys don’t live that far away from here?” Rebecca asked.

I shook my head. “We live in Tempe.”

“You guys live in Tempe?” Rebecca was surprised. “I live about twenty minutes away. That’s so cool!”

“That is cool,” I said. I looked at my watch again. “I’m really sorry to have to leave like this, but we really need to get going,” I told Rebecca.

“It’s fine. Hey, can I have your number?” Rebecca asked. She took out her phone and handed it to me.

“Sure. Here, you can give me yours as well.” We traded phones and then handed them back.

“Well it was great meeting all of you guys,” Rebecca said.

“You too,” we all replied.

Rebecca waved goodbye as we left the building.

The sun was beating down on us outside. “God, it’s so damn hot out,” John said.

I yawned from the sunlight, causing Jared and Kennedy to yawn as well. “I bet it’s over 90,” I said. “We can check when we get into the van,” I told the guys.

When we reached the van, we all piled in. “Hey,” Garrett said. “Who’s driving?”

“I will,” Jared offered. “Pat? Kennedy? Who’s driving after Phoenix?”

Kennedy offered to drive after Phoenix, and Pat agreed. He said he didn’t really feel like driving anyway. Just as we were about to put the van into reverse, Rebecca showed up next to the passenger-side window. I rolled it down. “What’s up?”

“Oh thank God you guys are still here. This is Stacey.” She pointed to a young girl next to her. “She’s my cousin. Anyway, long story short, my cousin Andrew, Stacey’s brother, ran into an emergency and needs to take our car to Oregon and so we don’t have any transportation. And since we live, like, twenty minutes away from you guys I was wondering if, by some chance you don’t think we’re murderers or anything, you could take us home.”

I looked at the guys. “We have room if we put the backseat up and move the suitcases,” I said. “How much luggage do you guys have?” I asked Rebecca and Stacey.

“One small suitcase each,” Rebecca replied.

I looked at the guys. “I don’t mind.”

Jared looked at the rest of the guys and then back at me. “We don’t either. Hop on in.”

Rebecca beamed at us. “Thank you guys so so so much. You have no idea how grateful we are for you guys right now.”

“It’s no problem,” Kennedy replied. He, Pat, and Garrett got out and helped put the backseat up and move the suitcases so they would all fit better.

“Whose Care Bear is this?” Rebecca asked, picking up Suckers from beneath a suitcase.

Kennedy blushed. “Uh, that’s mine. Here, let me put him back.” Kennedy grabbed Suckers from Rebecca and shoved him into his suitcase.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” Rebecca told him. “I have Care Bears, too.”

Kennedy’s eyes widened. “You do?”

Rebecca laughed. “Yeah. My favorite is the one with the stars and the moon.”

“You like Moony?!”

“YES!” Rebecca and Kennedy laughed loudly as the rest of us looked at each other in wonderment.

Suddenly, John’s cell phone went off. John answered it, hung up, and then said, “Uh, guys? We have a problem.”

Everyone’s attention was suddenly on John. “What is it?” I asked.

“Well,” John said, “my aunt is having a baby, and my mom just found out that my uncle got into a car crash, so he’s not able to help her around the house because he’s in the hospital.”

“I’m so sorry!” Stacey said. “What does your mom want you to do?”

“Well my mom has to work extra this month and my dad is over in Australia for a business deal. And my aunt has no other family in New York, so…”

“So what?” I asked.

“My aunt is having a nurse come every day until next Wednesday, but after that she has no one. And the baby’s due on Saturday.”

“Holy--” Rebecca said. “How is she going to get to the hospital?”

John was silent. “We’re taking her.”

“WHAT?!” The whole car erupted in shouts.

“Apparently, my mom called all of our parents and they’re shipping us clothes to a hotel in Denver. We’re supposed to get there by tomorrow night.”

“So… we’re going to New York to help your aunt deliver a baby?” Pat asked. John nodded. “And then we’re coming home?”

“Not exactly,” John replied.

“Well then how long are we staying?” Jared asked.

“As long as my aunt needs us. My uncle’s in a pretty serious condition, so even when he gets out of the hospital, he’s not going to be able to do much. And this is their first kid, so there’s no one to help take care of the baby.”

“So let me get this straight,” Garrett said. “We, a group of five guys and a girl are going to take care of a newborn baby.”

John nodded. “Our parents are sending us a month’s worth of clothes. I‘m not sure how long we‘re going to be there.”

“So this is how we’re going to spend our summer?” Kennedy said. “Taking care of a baby?”

John nodded. “Yep.”

“This should be fun,” Garrett said, obviously sarcastic.

Jared snickered. “Yep. Loads of fun.”

“Um, what about us?” Rebecca asked, motioning to Stacey and herself.

“Fuuuuuck,” John said. “I have no fucking clue. Why don’t you call your mom and see if she can come and get you or something?”

Rebecca shook her head. “She wouldn’t be able to. She’s super busy with work.”

“What about Andrew?” Pat suggested. “Can you go with him to Oregon?”

Stacey shook her head. “He’s pretty secretive about why he’s going there. I don’t want to get on his bad side by prying into his private life.”

Rebecca sighed and took out her cell phone. “I’ll call my mom and see what she thinks we should do.” Rebecca walked away (probably to get some privacy) and we all looked at each other.

“I’m sorry,” I told Stacey. “I really hope you guys can find a way to get home.”

Stacey nodded, staying silent. “Yeah, me too.”

Rebecca came back, holding the phone to her shoulder. “Hey, what’s the hotel your parents are shipping your clothes to? The one in Denver?”

“Comfort Inn Suites,” John replied.

Rebecca spoke into her cell phone and then asked John, “Is there only one in Denver?” John nodded. “Yeah, mom,” Rebecca spoke into her phone again. “Mhmm. Okay, thank you SO much! I love you!” She flipped her phone shut. “My mom said that she’s going to send me and Stacey some clothes to the Comfort Inn in Denver.”

“So this means…?” Kennedy asked.

“This means you have two extra girls to help you with the baby.” Rebecca laughed as the guys pumped their fists in triumph.

“This is going to be interesting,” John said.

“It’s going to be an adventure, that’s for sure,” I replied. We all piled back into the car and headed, not South back to Tempe, but East towards Denver.