Freezepop

I think it's safe to assume that you know that Mitchy's game was not a hit, and no one wanted to play. Of course she was disheartened, but who cares? It was a stupid thing to suggest when four of us ten have significant others, herself included.

We think we want to watch another movie, but nobody has any idea what. Spencer, Ryan, Ella, and Andrew are browsing over the selection while Kat and Winifred play thumb war, Mitchy teases Dylan with kisses in between squishing his face in her hands, and Brendon and I are just kind of sitting on the couch.

"Hey," Brendon says suddenly, "you have a piano?"

"Wow. You've a great eye for detail, huh?" I laugh as he shoves my knee.

"Can I play it?"

"Why even ask? No one else does."

"Because it's polite."

I shake my head. "You and your chivalry. Sure, go ahead."

He sits down at the keys and does that stupid move where you stretch your arms in front of you, as if he's about to play a masterpiece. He hits a couple of keys before he starts playing a song quietly. When he starts to sing along my eyes grow wide, and I realize why he looked more familiar than just the guy-getting-out-of-the-huge-SUV. I look at him then at Kat and Winnie quickly.

"They're Panic! at the Disco!" I whisper harshly.

"You just now realized that?" Kat asked.

"Yeah," I say hopelessly. "Shit." I scramble off the couch and jump to Brendon's side. "You can't play that."

"What? Why not?" He looks at me confused.

"Because Ella hates it, and Mitchy'll find out who you are which will be adisaster."

"So you know?"

"Yeah, I know. I don't know why it took me so long to figure it out, I love you guys." I sit on the bench next to him and quietly play the top half of the Heart and Soul duet.

"Should we get out of here then?"

Quickly shaking my head I say, "No! As long as you guys don't sing or play, they won't know. Once they're gone you can do whatever you want. Well, not whatever, but you know what I mean."

"How long until they leave?"

"Tomorrow morning. Everyone's spending the night, right?"

"I knew we were, but I didn't know they were." He says it a bit disdainfully, and I can't blame him, at all. Brendon leans away from the keys a little and says, "Play me something."

"I don't know anything."

"Nonsense. You've got this big ole piano, and you can't play it?"

"Pretty much," I laugh.

"I refuse to believe that. Now go, play something."

"Fine." I play Mary Had a Little Lamb and look back up at him. "Happy?"

"No. What were you playing just a second ago?"

"Part of Heart and Soul. But it's a duet so it doesn't sound right by itself."

He shrugs. "Play it anyways."

"Only if you teach me how to play some of your songs later." I give him a cheeky smile because I know he'll agree. And of course he does so I play my pathetic little Heart and Soul out. After we've dawdled around on the piano for about ten minutes, I get fed up that everyone still has yet to pick a movie. "Come on you guys, how hard is it?"

"Apparently extremely hard. Ooh! Spinal Tap!" Kat shouts.

"Why is it that you're the one picking out all the movies?"

"Probably because she's the only one with good suggestions," Brendon states. Mitchy's jaw tightens, and that moment, you can tell she's decided that Brendon is an ass.

"I'm all for Spinal Tap." I shrug. "I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem may have been that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf. Alright? That tended to understate the hugeness of the object."

"I really think you're just making much too big a thing out of it," Kat quotes with me.

"Making a bit thing out of it would have been a good idea."

I squeal and giggle as I hug Brendon. "Yay! Another droid to endlessly quote with us!"

"Can I raise a practical question at this point?" Spencer asks. "Are we gonna do 'Stonehenge' tomorrow?"

"NO, we're not gonna fucking do 'Stonehenge!'" Kat, Brendon, and I shout back. All of us in the know break out into raucous laughter. Well, not all of us because Ella knows the movie too. I guess she just doesn't find it as funny.

"That's it, that's it! We're watching Spinal Tap!" I say between giggles. Brendon gives me a high five, and we quickly run back to the couch, jumping on it, and getting comfortable as Spencer pops the movie in. We speed through the credits, and as soon as the opening lines start, Kat, Spencer, Ryan, Brendon, and I all talk along.

It's only been about five minutes into the movie, but there's obvious tension in the room. By the looks on both Ella and Mitchy's faces, they're about ready to scream at us to shut up. Just as Ella's face turns to us and she opens her mouth, I break in and say, "All right guys, let's just watch the movie."

"Oh, come on!" Spencer whines. "We haven't even gotten to the good stuff!"

"I know, but I don't think everyone's seen it, and it's annoying when other people quote lines you don't know." They moan and gripe, and I don't mind it from them because at least theirs is understandable, but eventually grow quiet.

So wrapped up in the movie, I almost miss the whispering beside me, and when I turn to look, I see Brendon still quoting every line of the movie. I watch him with an amused smile, and I guess he senses someone looking at him because he faces me, but he never pauses in his whispered quoting. It gets to the point where I can't help it, and I start whisper-quoting along with him. Kat catches on and joins us, and it quickly escalates back to the point we were at during the beginning of the movie, only this time we're all laughing so hard we can't get the words out right.

When the movie ends, it's about 10:00 and the phone rings.

"That's probably my mom so boys hush 'cause you're not supposed to be here. Hello?" I ask into the receiver in the kitchen.

"Hey, Tracy. How's it going?"

"Hullo, mom. We just got done watching Spinal Tap, and we watched Edward Scissorhands earlier. Did you want us to save you any pizza?"

"No, I won't get home in time to eat any."

"So you're still going to be working the night shift?"

"Yeah. You guys be good, okay? And don't stay up all night."

"Mmkay, we will. What time are you going to be home tomorrow?"

"I'll get off about 7:30, so I should be home around 8:00."

"Kay. I'll try to get everyone out of here before you get home so you can just go to sleep, and we won't wake you up."

"Alright. Have fun."

"We will. Bye, mom."

"Bye."

When I walk back into the living room, I'm greeted by Spencer and Brendon having a pillow fight; Kat and Ryan whispering in the corner; Ella sitting on Andrew's lap as she talks to Mitchy who's on Dylan's lap; and Winnie refereeing for Brendon and Spencer.

"Hey, guys, come on! Those are expensive pillows!" I reach to pull the pillows out of their hands, but I lean too far forward and fall on the couch between them. I look up into Brendon's face who's leaning over me, smiling. I glare and shake my head. "You're in trouble once I get enough energy to whoop your ass."

"Oh, I'm so scared," he mocks. I flick his nose and roll off the couch quickly to run and hide behind Kat's chair.

"Rock stars generally hold up the 'rock on' sign to show they're hardcore. I mean, I don't think we're that hardcore," Ryan says as he scratches the back of his neck.

"I called my grandmother hardcore once," Kat says.

Ryan laughs. "We call Spencer's grandma hardcore all the time. Once she told us that we couldn't even touch the tip of hardcore because we'd only ever be little boys. I think she was just getting tired of us saying it."

"She looked at me so oddly," she continues, as if she didn't even hear Ryan.

"What'd she do? Beat you with a broom and call you a 'heathenous teen'?"

"No," Kat shakes her head. "She said, 'Katherine Nicole, did you just call me a porn star?!' Crazy old woman." At this, Ryan laughs hysterically, and he tries to tell Kat something, but he can't get the words out. I'm about to comment, but I'm quickly swept off the floor by two arms securely around my waist.

"You can't hide from me," Brendon says in my ear. "I have an all-seeing eye."

"Yeah, okay, Sauron," I scoff.

"You bet your ass I am."

"Meh," I say, turning my head to see him, "you're too ugly to be Sauron. At least he had a hot body for only ever being clad in armor." Brendon makes this horribly offended girl screech, that really makes me think he had to have been a woman in another life, before he sets me down and immediately starts to tickle me. "Stop it! Stop!" I squeal between giggles.

"Say 'Brendon would make an awesome Sauron.'"

"Fine! Brendon would make an awesome Sauron!" I try to get away, but he's backed me up against the wall and I have no escape.

"Say 'Brendon has a mighty fine body and is hotter than Sauron.'" Out of pure reflexes, my knee shoots up to try to block Brendon's hands from my tummy except that it does just a little bit more than that, and all of a sudden Brendon's doubled over on the floor.

"Shit! Sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-- Sorry!"

Everyone's looking over at us, and Spencer, who's sitting backwards on the couch, asks, "What'd you do?"

"I kneed him in the stomach. I didn't mean to! He was tickling me!"

"She didn't hit my stomach," Brendon groans out.

"Oooh," Ryan, Spencer, Andrew, and Dylan say at the same time, all of them crossing one leg over the other and putting a hand on their lap.

My eyes start to tear up, and I lean over Brendon. "I'm so sorry, Brendon," I whisper. "I didn't mean to kick you."

"Don't worry, I'm fine." His voice is strained, and it sounds like I've cut off his arm.

"Do you-- Can I get you anything?"

"Ice."

"Ice. Right. Yeah, ice." I stand up quickly and run to the kitchen. Ripping open the freezer door I spot a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. Shrugging, I grab it and run back to the living room. Everybody's watching and laughing, and I feel like my face is on fire. I just want to crawl in a hole and die. I'm still trying not to cry as I help Brendon sit up and lean against the wall.

"Just leave me here for a couple of minutes, and I'll be fine." I bite my lip and nod. I sit down next to him and hug my legs to my chest, burying my face in my knees. I squeeze my eyes tight and a couple of tears slip out. I feel a hand start to rub circles on my back. "Don't worry about it, Tracy, sometimes stuff happens," Brendon chuckles. His voice doesn't sound so strained anymore.

"I'm really, really sorry," I whisper into my knees. Everyone else had picked their conversations back up and were no longer paying attention to us.

"I told you, I'm fine. Don't worry about it." He wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me into him. I don't say anything, just sit there rested against him and wonder: Why can't this be under other circumstances?