When the Day Met the Night

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. ~Albert Einstein

“Elizabeth!” I heard my group of friends scream. All of a sudden they all ran towards me in a heap of shorts and flip flops. Yep I was definitely back in Florida.

“Hi guys!” I tightly hugged each one of them. “You don’t know how much I missed all of you! Oh and Brendon wants to thank you for making him deaf.” I laughed; it was so nice to be home. How I was going to be able to move about 2,000 miles away from my friends eluded me.

“So were they hot?”

“Um yea I guess.” We got my luggage and started heading towards Colton’s van. “But they both have girlfriends. I hung out with Haley for a bit, Spencer’s girlfriend, and she’s pretty nice. I didn’t get to talk to Sarah though.” On the car ride home I explained everything that had happened on the trip, the second we got to my house everyone went in and made a beeline to the T.V., apparently they had wanted to watch my interview but had waited for me to get home. Lily connected her lap top and started the video.

“I hate you guys about as much as I did when Brendon asked the first question.” I hid my face under a blanket on my couch, everyone else was laughing so hard that I couldn’t help but laugh along. Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself, and I was doing just that. “I am such a dork!”

“I can’t believe you actually answered that!”

“I took an oath! Also, I didn’t want to disappoint people before they even get the chance to like me.” I shrugged.

“Even though he has a girlfriend, he was doing some major flirting with you! I’m sure there wasn’t really even a Luke. He just wanted to know for himself!” Emma said, her smile so wide it seemed like it took up half of her face.

“Who?”

“The one with the glasses who kept tickling you.”

“Oh Brendon. Yeah no, he loves Sarah way too much, you should’ve seen his face. It was the face of someone in love! Besides, he does that with everyone, did you not-. Never mind you guys are boring and aren’t fans.” I was thinking of all the times he ‘flirted’ with Ryan on stage, even though most likely there never really was a ‘Rydon’. “Brendon just flirts with everyone, it doesn’t actually mean anything.”

“Listen E, I’ve known you since middle school. You like him.” Lily commented.

“Do not! I’m just star struck that’s all.” I said undoubtedly.

“Fine, ok you don’t like him.” Lily said as she backed away with a smirk on her face. I threw a pillow at her face and laughed.

“Tell me why I missed you guys?” Everyone dog-piled on me, and I had to dig myself out of the human mountain.

“Because you love how insane we are!” Colton yelled and hugged me tightly.

“You have to move to L.A. don’t you?” Emma said; her tone was incredibly sad, it made me want to cry. I couldn’t stand the fact of hurting my friends by moving.

I nodded sadly. “I’m looking for a place near the other band member’s places. I have to be there so we can record. I’m so sorry.” It was already going to be hard enough with my parents moving back to Spain, but now I was going to leave as well. I had never lived more than a couple of hours away from my parents, and I definitely hadn’t gone weeks without seeing them, because I’ll admit it, I’m a daddy’s girl. I enjoy being near my family, they made me who I am, so it would suck to have to be so far apart, but I knew it just had to be.

“Hey, don’t be sorry, you’re gonna go live out the dream, that’s fine with us, of course as long as you don’t forget us.” Solara said as she tried to hold back tears. Ever since kindergarten we had never lived farther than a couple of blocks, and we’ve never not seen each other for more than a week. I know it sounds clingy, but it always just kind of felt like it was us against the world. Not until 7th grade did we meet people who didn’t hate us, so we just learned to stick with each other.

“I think that forgetting you guys would be an impossibility. I’ll visit whenever I can, and maybe you’ll get to meet Spence, and Bren.” I looked around at every ones teary faces and I felt a terrible feeling in my guilt. How was I supposed to leave my entire life behind for a new one? I knew I was just trying to talk myself out of a great opportunity. It would happen year after year, there would be some sort of change that would be the best, but I’m a hesitant person and I tend not to want the change. At least I’m getting better, I want the change, but I just don’t want all of it.

Colton noticed the time and wiped away his tears. “Okay, we should let E rest, she’s probably jet lagged and insanely tired.” Everyone sniffled and nodded as they hugged me and left. Solara hugged me tightly with such tearful eyes.

“What am I going to do without you?” Solara murmured.

“Everything’s going to be fine Sol. I’m moving, not dying. If you’re worried about rent, maybe you can get Emma or Lily to move in with you?”

Solara nodded and wiped away her tears. Solemnly we both walked to our own rooms.

I took out my mac and logged on to skype. I needed to look at houses, but since I wouldn’t be able to be in L.A. to do so, I needed someone to do it for me.

“Hey Bren.” I could tell me nose was red and stuffy, but at that point I didn’t care. I just wanted to get the house thing over with.

“Hey E, what’s wrong?” Brendon stopped strumming on his guitar and looked at me through the computer screen.

“I’m fine. Just a bit scared, but don’t worry; I’m not having second thoughts, I’ll be moving to L.A. once graduation is over. Which is where you come in; I need you to look at some houses. Can you do that for me, please?”

“Yea sure; just tell me the houses and I’ll send you videos of them.”

I nodded and wiped my nose with a tissue. “Thanks, I’ll um, send you some links in a couple of days.” Brendon nodded and I waved goodbye.

________________________________

Over the next week I sent Brendon links to open houses and he sent me videos. I save the ones I liked in a separate file and decided to look at them soon. Meanwhile I packed up my room. When my parents came over they told me they were moving to Spain as soon as they saw my new home in L.A.

For the entire time before graduation I felt like a robot. I had to do this then that. It was nice at times though; I didn’t have to think of the future even if it was getting closer and closer. I found my robot attitude fine until my dad pointed it out.

“Nena[baby] , are you okay?”

“Yea, I’m fine.” I said and continued looking at the houses in L.A.

“I’ve known you for 22 years, 6 months. I know you’re not okay.” Why are dads always so damn knowing?

“Wait, I’m only 21.” I said trying to bring attention away from my feelings. That was one thing I really wasn’t good with aloud.

“I saw you grow into a baby in your mother’s womb for 9 months, and now I’ve watched you grow into a young lady; pero tu siempre es mi muchachita pequeña. [but you will always be my little girl.] So por favor[please] tell me what is wrong with you.”

“I’m just stressed about moving, papi. Ustedes van a España, y yo me voy a L.A., estoy dejando todo que yo seba aquí. Para algo que yo no se que va servir; y lo estoy pensando todo el tiempo. La misma cosa una y otra vez. Estoy dejando mi vida aquí, para otra. Todo está pasando muy rápido.[You guys are going to Spain, and I’m going to L.A., I’m leaving everything I know here. For something I don’t even know will work out; and I keep thinking about it all the time. The same thing over and over. I’m leaving my life here, for another. Everything is just happening too fast.]”

“Todo va salir bien; alguna veces cambio es bueno. Tú todavía vas a tener mi y mama, también vas a tener todo tus amigos aquí, pero ahora vas hacer mas amigos, solo no teja que la fama te va a la cabeza. [Everything will turn out okay; sometimes change is good. You’ll still have mom and I, also you’ll have all of your friends here, but now you get to make new friends, just don’t let fame get to your head.]” My dad hugged me before he left.

Thinking about my dad reminded me of the life changing move he took. We were living in Columbia at the time. I was around 4 and my brother was 6. At the time money wasn’t all that great and we were living with my grandmother. My dad’s brother had managed to get a job in America; a place that seemed so fantastical and somewhat unreal. My uncle somehow got my dad a job at the company he was working for. At first my dad went while Santiago, my brother, my mother, and I stayed back in Columbia. My dad managed to get his citizenship after working on a green card for so long. I can’t remember much from back then, and what I do remember is muddled with the stories I’d been told.

I remember packing my tiny suitcase of things. Back then we didn’t have much so all I really had was a Barbie and a couple of books. That was one thing my mom was really big on. She wanted us to know how to read before we got into school. She taught herself how to read in English and then she taught us. Everything she did when we were kids was for our benefit. I always found my mom to be so strong. She also really loved my dad, because when her family went back to Spain, she stayed with my dad even if they were only in college. She always tells me that staying was the best decision of her life. Her love for my dad always makes me feel so happy.

For my brother’s future, and mine, my parents sacrificed the life they knew in Columbia. At first things were really tight budgeted, but eventually my dad got a promotion, and from then on out our family has lived a pretty amazing life. Sure, we didn’t have everything, but both my brother and I look back at our childhood and teenage years fondly. We both got an education, and we will always have the best support in the world.

I couldn’t stop smiling while I looked at the videotapes of houses. Then I saw one I fell in love with. It was only two blocks away from Spencer, and one away from Brendon. It came with a hot tub, and had a pool. Two bedroom, two baths. It had a big enough kitchen and living space. Ample enough space considering the time I would spend there. Also the price did help a lot with the decision. I figured it would be around 2 in the afternoon in California, so I called the realtor. I offered what they wanted and the realtor told me she would call once she had an answer from the owners.

I did my own little happy dance. “Todo va salir bien.” I whispered to myself.