Seize the Day

Monday afternoon was spent hanging out at Matt’s place with Sara and the guys, taking turns shooting zombies, trying to shred like Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance on Guitar Hero (which is a game Brian and Zack are actually not very good at, believe it or not), and Wii bowling. We also spent a little time in Matt’s studio, where the four of them played little chunks of some new songs they’d been working on. It was weird, having them ask our opinion on everything. Every now and then, they’d look at each other, like they were sharing some kind of inside joke.

At the end of the afternoon, it had been decided that Matt was going to pick me up in the morning and take me to the airport. Of course, this hadn’t been my decision, but I surely hadn’t fought it. Sara was scheduled for a lunch shift, so she was going to have to be at work about the time I was boarding anyway.

We were all scattered through Matt’s living room, Sara and me watching the boys shooting each other in some team-play war re-enactment game when my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, so I almost didn’t answer it. I decided to pick it up at the last minute, stepping away from the group toward the kitchen.

“Yes, this is Vivienne,” I said.

“Hi, Vivienne. This is Maryanne with The Collective. I’m giving you a call about the Executive Assistant position that will be coming open soon.”

“Oh! Yes,” I replied anxiously. I saw that Matt was watching me closely.

“We’ve looked over your resume, and have decided that you are more than qualified for the job. Taking into account the good faith opinion of Mr. Sanders, it’s been decided to offer the position to you on a probationary basis.”

“That’s fantastic!” I was trying with everything I could not to shout in the poor woman’s ear.

“I’m going to take that as an acceptance,” she said. I could hear her smile.

“I’m sorry, yes, that’s an acceptance,” I said, eyeing the crew who had ceased all conversation and gameplay, and was now listening to me.

“That’s great. The current assistant will be working through next Friday, nearly two weeks. We’ll need you to report in the following Monday. Is that possible?”

I quickly ran through my calendar in my head. It’s almost the end of September, there goes Halloween season, easily. I could probably swing getting back to Kentucky for ScareFest weekend... Matt was looking at me anxiously. Before I’d finished running the dates, I blurted, “Yes, of course. I can do that.”

“That’s great! We’ll expect you then. The probationary status of this employment contract goes both ways. If you decide for any reason that the job isn’t for you, you are free to terminate at any time, as is The Collective.”

“Perfect. I’ll call back the end of next week to get any other information I may need. Thank you so much!” I was shaking I was so excited.

“You’re very welcome. Thank you, and we look forward to meeting you!”

With that, I ended the call. “Well, I guess I’ll need to find someplace in LA to live, huh?” I gushed.

Sara was jumping up and down screaming, and the guys were all high-fiving me and cheering as well. Finally, I got close enough to Matt that he grabbed me in a bear-hug and spun me around.

“Whoa!” I yelled, caught off guard. “Are you trying to make me puke?”

“Sorry,” he said, putting me back on the ground, but not letting me go. “Got carried away, I guess.” He grinned at me.

“So, what’s the deal?” Sara asked, in her too-high-pitched voice.

“I start two weeks from today,” I said. “Anyone want to go apartment hunting today?” Of course, everyone agreed to help me. Each person was chattering about someone they knew who lived here, or a place for rent they’d seen there. “All right, all right!” I interrupted, finally. “We can’t all fit in one car, anyway.” Everyone hushed. “Any ideas on how to go about this? I leave tomorrow, so I need to at least get a couple of phone numbers I can check on through the week.”

“Ok, me, Johnny, & Sara will go gathering numbers,” Brian said. “You, Matt, & Zack can go together. We can all meet up and talk about what we found.”

“You’s a smart one!” I teased, mussing his hair. “Good idea. I need something cheap, though, kids. I’m not a rockstar, remember!”

After both groups had basically just driven around in circles in LA, gathering newspaper ads, flyers, and “for rent” circulars, as well as collecting property phone numbers from friends, co-workers, and the girls, we all met back up at Matt’s house. The girls had all loaded up and come over as well. As I was going through the possible new apartments, the boys were on the patio grilling, drinking, and laughing, while the girls stayed in the living room and chatted.

“So, you’re really staying here, huh?” Michelle asked me.

“Looks like it,” I answered. I was sprawled on the carpet, with sheets of paper spread around me. Sara and Gena were on the sofa looking through newspapers, while Lacey was in the armchair on her laptop. Michelle was perched on the ottoman in front of Lacey, awaiting my response. “Well, technically, I’m not staying.” I clarified. “I am going back to Kentucky, to give my two weeks notice, and pack all my stuff up and whatever. But I’ll be back in two weeks.”

“That’s great,” she beamed. “I’m sure you’ve heard all about this from the guys, but I, for one, am really happy that Matt found someone that makes him happy again.”

Oh, fuck. A realization hit me like a ton of bricks just then. Michelle is Val’s sister. Matt’s ex-wife Val. Not just her sister, her twin. It’s hard to tell what they’ve talked about. I’m sure Valary hates me, and I’ve never even met her. I was suddenly very uncomfortable with the conversation, and wasn’t secretive about it. I sat up quickly, and tried to look interested in the flyers in my hands, as I felt the color drain from my face.

“Hey. Don’t worry about it,” she assured me. “Yeah, I’m Valary’s sister. But I’m also Brian’s wife, and Matt’s friend. I was upset along with Val when her and Matt split, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be happy for him that he’s moved on.” She came over to hug me. “Besides, you’re a damn cool chick, and I’m just glad that I get a new friend out of the deal!”

I hugged her back. “Thanks. I really appreciate that. I’m glad I got a couple new friends out of it!” I said, motioning at the other girls. She giggled. “I don’t know why I hadn’t put that two and two together until just now. It’s just been a lot to deal with the last week,” I said.

“Sort of a whirlwind, huh?” Lacey chimed in. “It doesn’t help that this crew is a handful to begin with!” All of us laughed. We could certainly all agree there.

“So, what are we looking for, exactly?” Gena asked. She was still rifling through pages of “Apartments for Rent Digest,” or some such shit.

“Ugh,” I groaned. Sara patted my head. “I have no idea. What do we have?”

We’d spent a good hour crossing out absolutely overly expensive places or places that were in bad neighborhoods. We’d managed to narrow things down to about ten real possibilities, between the work of the five of us. Four were very close to The Collective’s offices, which is actually in Sara’s neck of the woods, and another four were much closer to Huntington Beach. I had just crawled up off the floor, and was stretching when Matt came in the patio door.

“Food’s ready!” he called, grinning from the kitchen.

“Thank god,” I said. “I’m starving. It seems like every time I hang out with you guys, I never eat!” I stuck my tongue out at him like a 4 year old, while everyone just laughed.

“Seriously, we thought we were gonna have to go foraging for nuts and berries!” Sara added.

We all got up and filed through the kitchen out onto the patio, which had turned into party central, while we were “working.” The guys had not only grilled burgers and brats, but had prepared what looked to be an entire feast. Not to mention the full wet-bar off to the side, and the fairly impressive tiki torch display around the pool deck. I always thought it was odd how many people who had houses on the beach, literally on the beach, had a pool. This thought was not lost on me at this point, still.

“Freakin’ pyromaniacs, I swear!” I bellowed, as I walked outside. “You guys planned all of this, didn’t you?”

“I know, I know!” Matt was the first to speak, hands raised in surrender. “You hate surprises. We were going to have just a little goodbye get-together since it’s your last night here, but then we figured it should be an official celebration, with your new job and all.”

I went over to him and hugged him tightly. “Thank you,” I said, looking directly into his eyes. “Not gonna question this one,” I added with a grin.

“Good,” he said.

“Let’s party!” yelled Johnny, from his post behind the bar.

Sara rolled her eyes. “Time to get schwasted, I suppose,” she sighed, giggling.

“Yeah!” Zack, Brian and a couple of the girls said at the same time.

As everyone took advantage of the amazing-looking food and Johnny’s decent bartending skills, Matt and I stood off to the side, arms still around each other.

“You know, you could just stay here,” he said softly.

“Don’t think that thought hadn’t crossed my mind, too,” I answered. “But I’m already nervous enough about packing up and moving 3000 miles from home. I’m not about to throw in moving in with someone on top of all of that to worry about too.”

“I know,” he said. “Just wanted to let you know it was an option.”

“Thanks,” I said again. “No, really, thank you. For everything.” I rested my head on his chest.

“Seriously, either you two come hang out with the rest of us,” Brian called, holding up a plate of food and a beer, “or just go on upstairs and find a room, mkay?” I looked up to see Sara was mock gagging, Zack was pushing his food away as if it were making him nauseous, and Lacey was making some of Sara’s obscene hand gestures.

“Oh, fuck off, all of you!” I yelled, through a laugh. “Come on, let’s eat,” I said to Matt. He took my hand before I had a chance to reach for his. Brian joined Sara in her retching noises for a split second, before Michelle back-handed him in the gut. She threw me a wink. “Thanks,” I mouthed to her silently.

We all ate, drank, and talked through the night. After enough alcohol was consumed, the pool was looking more and more like a good idea. The A7X family spent enough time at each others’ houses, that I’m pretty sure each of them kept a small wardrobe of clothing at each place. Everyone else had suits stashed away but Sara and I.

“I’m pretty sure there are a couple of extras in there too, just see what you can find that fits,” Michelle told us. “We party out and around so much, it’s hard to tell who’s left what where anymore!” She was right. There was an extra suit of hers that fit me fine, and Lacey had managed to forget one somewhere along the line that fit Sara perfectly.

After a couple of hours lounging in the pool, everyone decided it was time to go home. Sara had driven her own car this time, so we didn’t have to make Matt or anyone else drag us back to her place. Once everyone was back into dry clothes, we all hugged and said our goodbyes.

“I’ll be back in two weeks, guys, calm down,” I said when Brian’s hug lasted a little longer than I’d expected. “I just have to take care of some stuff back home, and I’ll be right back here.” I addressed everyone, after Brian finally let me go. “I might need to enlist a little help in the next week or so, too,” I said. “If I get any leads on a place to live, I might call and have someone go over and check it out for me. Don’t want to blindly move into a sketch-pad, you know?” Everyone seemed more than willing to oblige.

As everyone piled into their cars and headed out, Sara and I were the last ones left. Matt grabbed me in another one of his bear hugs. “Um, I’m gonna see you in the morning, remember?” I mumbled into his chest, barely able to breathe. “You’re still taking me to the airport, right?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to do that one more time tonight,” he said.

Sara rolled her eyes. “I’m gonna go start the car. Matt, it looks like I’ll be seeing you around!”

He waved with one hand, keeping the other around me. “She means ‘I’ll never get rid of you now,’ doesn’t she?” he laughed, as I nodded. After she went out to the driveway, he kissed me. “I can’t believe you actually decided to stay,” he whispered.

“Yeah, me either,” I said. He pulled back quickly to look at me. “I mean, like I said before, it’s completely crazy. Why would anyone leave everything they had safe and secure and just move to the other side of the country?” I explained, and then kissed him in return. “But the question that was harder for me to answer was why wouldn’t I?”

On the way back to Sara’s, we had a nice, deep conversation, as deep as the two of us can get anyway.

“So, you’re moving to LA?” she asked.

“Looks like it, doesn’t it?” I replied.

“Fuck, I can’t do anything on my own, can I?” she teased. “Along comes precious Miss V, and has to out-do everything I’ve ever done.” She switched to a different cartoony voice, mocking an inner dialogue. “Sara’s moving to LA? Fine. I’ll move to LA and start dating a fucking rockstar. Eat that!”

“Ha ha. Bitch and moan all you want, fucker,” I said. “But you better be nice to me, or I won’t take you to anymore parties when I get back!”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed. “Besides, they like me anyway.” She glanced over at me for just a second. “You’re sure about this, though?”

“Yeah, I am,” I said. “Kentucky blows anyway. I just never really realized that I could get out, you know? You moved out here because you wanted to do something specifically here. I just don’t want to be there, but it never crossed my mind that I didn’t have to be.” I looked down at my hands. “And now, all of a sudden, there’s something else. A chance to be somewhere else, someoneelse, and I’m taking it.”

“Well, good for you.” She patted my leg.

“Matt sorta asked me to move in with him back there,” I muttered.

“He what?” she exclaimed.

“Yeah.” I tried to hide the blush rising in my cheeks again. “Well, he said that I ‘could just stay there,’ were his exact words. I, of course, said no.”

“Whoa,” she breathed. For once, it seemed like Sara might actually be at a loss for words.

“I mean, it’s one thing for me to actually move out here, mostly on his suggestion,” I continued. “But I’ve got you out here, I’ve got a job now, so on and so forth. If,” I started, not really knowing where I was going with this conversation. “If things don’t, uh, work out, I guess,” trying not to trip over my words too much, “I need something to fall back on, you know?”

“Yes, I know,” she said. “You don’t want to assume that anything is going on, but you can’t help but feeling like there is. And whatever it might be, you don’t want to mess it up.” Sara was always fantastic at not only reading the thoughts in my head, but saying them out loud so that she and I both understood them.

“Exactly,” I finally said. “Thanks.”

Back at her house, we did nothing. We watched crappy horror movies in our sweat pants, and drank beer. Very little mention was made of Matt or of the week behind us. We did talk about what kind of trouble we could get into once we were within a sixty mile radius of each other again. She helped me gather up all of my stuff and pack for my flight back to Kentucky for one last two-week stint before I became a California girl myself.