This Moment was Held for Me

After I did my homework and ate dinner, I decided to watch a bit of the developed tape. It was just like I imagined; Amanda and I looked happy and energetic. My room looked really cool as we were getting ready. Kind of like a dark French boudoir. I continued watching it and then laughed out loud when I saw the bit where Amanda burst in on me getting changed in the bathroom.
I patted Moo and said, “Hm, maybe there is a bit of porn material on here.”
Moo meowed at me in response.
I scratched behind her ears and said, “Well lucky no random has watched it.”
After watching a bit of the band play and some more footage of Amanda and I dancing, I started getting sleepy. I texted Amanda to let her know the video was ready and invited her over to watch it tomorrow. I’d call Gerard tomorrow after school and see if he’d like to come and watch it; minus the bathroom bit. As close as I was with Gerard, I didn’t want him seeing me laughing and screaming in my underwear.
The next afternoon, I was waiting for Amanda by my locker.
“Hey!” she said as she ran up to me smiling.
“Ready?”
“Yup,” she said, ensuring to pop the ‘p’ sound.
As I was packing my bag, a trio of cheerleaders walked past us. Amanda and I ignored them, even though one of them used to be our best friend at the beginning of high school. Her name was Rachelle, although now she was called Elle. She was one of the head cheerleaders and what Amanda and I called ‘a class A bitch.’
“Hey freak,” one of them called out to Amanda and I. I thought it was strange that they always said something to annoy us. We weren’t even the most eccentric or wacky at this school. There were some guys that wore full on Mohawks, or girls that had pink hair and wore only gothic clothes. I think they targeted us because they knew we had an old connection with ‘Elle.’
“Find yourself a vampire boyfriend yet?” Elle said whilst sneering at us.
“Ignore them,” muttered Amanda to me. She knew that I had a big temper. I hated the way Elle pretended like she didn’t know us.
“Or maybe a werewolf, hey?” said one of the other cheerleaders.
“Go to your happy place,” Amanda whispered to me, half jokingly-half serious. It was a running joke Amanda and I had. We used to pretend that our ‘happy place’ consisted of only her and I.
“They’re probably just videotaping the jocks and wishing they were in love,” laughed Elle. She knew that Amanda and I had always been interested in filming and photography. We used to film stuff together when we were all friends. But now, she used that against us and made out like it was a freaky thing to do.
“Just fuck off back to slut practice,” I said to them.
The blonde one gasped, “Um, it’s actually called cheerleading practice.”
I fake gasped back at her, “Oh my god. Really? I had no idea.”
The blonde one gave me a quizzical look, “Oh my god. You didn’t know?”
“Oh god..I’m done here,” I said to Amanda as I pulled her along by the wrist.
“You idiot!” I heard Elle say to her blonde friend as we walked away.
“Talk about dumb blonde,” said Amanda laughing.
I laughed, “I reckon. Anyway, I gotta call Gerard and invite him over too.”
Amanda clapped her hands, “Yes! Call away!”
I dialed Gerard’s number and waited.
“Wazzup!” screamed Gerard into the phone when he picked up.
“Ouch!” I said, “Not so loud!”
“What’s up,” he said quieter.
“I was wondering whether you wanna come over and watch the tape with Amanda and I?”
“Hmmm,” Gerard said, “I kinda can’t leave my house at the moment. I’ve got some people over.”
“Oh,” I said, “Well maybe another –“
He cut me off, “How about you two just come here instead?”
I bit my lip, “Ummm,”
Amanda looked at me, “What’s he saying,” she whispered.
I covered the phone with my hand, “He can’t come. Should we go there?”
Her eyes lit up, “Are you kidding? Definitely! I can see his bedroom!”
I shook my head, “You are a freak.”
She grinned as I turned my attention back to the phone.
“Yeah, we’ll come over. What’s your address?”

After walking for 20 minutes, we arrived at Gerard’s house. Amanda reached the door first and eagerly knocked on the door.
“Hey,” grinned Gerard as he opened the door.
“Nice to see you again,” smiled Amanda.
“You too,” he said back holding her gaze.
“Um,” I coughed, “Who’s here?”
Gerard tore his eyes away from Amanda with a smile, “My band is over. We just finished up practice.”
“That’s a shame, we could have heard you play,” I said.
He shrugged, “You will one day. For the meantime,” he said stepping aside so we could walk in, “Welcome to my humble abode.”
Amanda giggled as Gerard bowed.
We all walked together into the lounge room. A tall and lanky boy with glasses was spread out on the couch with his eyes shut.
“Mikey!” yelled Gerard, “Wake up!”
The boy’s eyes blinked open, “Huh? I was just resting my eyes.”
Gerard rolled his eyes before saying, “Girls, this is my little brother, Mikey. He plays bass in the band.”
We waved at him as he sat up sleepily. He readjusted his glasses and looked up at us, “Hey,” he smiled.
He looked at me thoughtfully, and then his eyes widened.
“Hey,” he said pointing at me, “You’re the chick in that tape!”
I frowned, “Uh? Excuse me?”
Gerard looked meaningfully at Mikey and grabbed him around the shoulders, “Hah, come now everybody. Mikey must be really tired.”
Mikey looked back and forth between me and Gerard.
I raised my eyebrows, “What tape?” I waited for an answer.
Gerard sighed and rubbed his neck, “I’m sorry Mia. We’ve kind of already looked at the tape.”
I shrugged, “That’s cool. How did you get a copy?”
“Uh, Frank kind of showed it to us before we gave it to you.”
I remembered the fact that I was featured in my underwear and suddenly felt uncomfortable that a bunch of boys I didn’t know had been looking at the tape. If it was just Gerard, I wouldn’t really mind. But, I didn’t know Frank or Mikey at all.
I coughed awkwardly, “Did you watch it all?” Although, they wouldn’t have had to watch very far into the footage until they saw the bathroom incident.
Gerard was vague, “Uh, we may..I don’t know.”
I knew he was avoiding the topic because they had all seen, and probably reacted to, the underwear thing.
I sighed, “Man, I bet you saw me in my underwear then, hey?” There was no point being awkward about it.
Gerard smirked and Mikey blushed. Amanda looked at me biting her lip. She was scared I was going to blame her. I didn’t really care, I guess. At least I wasn’t naked.
“No, not all,” Mikey said trying to be polite.
Suddenly a voice spoke from behind.
“Don’t lie. Of course we did,” smirked a boy standing on the stairs behind us. His hair was dark and messy. He was short but still taller than me, and he had big hazel-green eyes. He was definitely gorgeous.
I blushed which was unusual for me. Great, so the gorgeous boy had also seen me in my underwear. How many freaking boys had seen this tape? I mentally cursed as I remembered my Mom’s warning.
“Shut up, Frankie!” said Gerard, “We are trying to be nice here,” he said.
“Ah, so you are the film developer,” I said looking at the boy on the stairs.
He smirked, “Yeah. I’m Frankie.”
Amanda frowned, “Hold up. You developed the video?”
Frank nodded.
“And then you proceeded to show it to your friends?” she confirmed.
Frank shrugged coolly, “It was a good video. The band was cool.”
Another boy bounded down the stairs at this point. He grabbed onto Frank’s neck and tousled his hair, “Don’t lie now, Frankie,” he said in a patronizing voice, “You showed us because you said she was hot.”
“Oh for fuck sake!” said Gerard dramatically, “We are trying to be nice and polite here, Bob.”
Bob, who Frank was struggling to push off, grinned, “I’m just being truthful, Gee.”
To everyone’s surprised, I just laughed and shrugged. Although I was a little embarrassed (and flattered if Frank thought I was hot), I just said, “Really, it’s okay Gerard. The band was cool anyway. You guys should have been at the actual concert.”
Gerard rolled his eyes and muttered, “Lucky she’s good at avoiding topics like these.”
I fake glared at him, “I heard you.”
“Huh? What? Heard what?” he said looking around the room innocently.
I shook my head and laughed.
Gerard cleared his throat, “C’mon Amanda and Mikey, let’s get everybody some drinks.”
Amanda smiled happily. “Sure!” she said as she bounded after him and into the kitchen.
Frank had finally freed himself from Bob’s grip and walked over to introduce himself.
“Sorry,” he said, “I hope you really don’t mind. I’m Frank by the way,” he finished.
“Yeah you mentioned,” I continued, “I’m Mia.”
His eyes held my gaze for a moment.
“Cool, well nice to meet you,” he said.
I smiled at him and continued to hold his gaze as I shook his hand, “You too.”