A Flair For The Dramatic

Music, music was what I needed. I turned up the volume of my speakers, blasting Of Mice & Men as I drove along the highway. I was following the hastily printed instructions to get to my brother's house. Turning onto the exit for San Diego, I could feel my stomach tensing with worry.

I had been laid off from my job as a tattoo artist, which had been the only thing in my life I could really pour my heart into. I could barely make rent and was forced to move out of my house, and Jaime was one of the first people to give me a place to stay. I'd accepted his offer without hesitation, but now, well now I was hesitating.

I'd known that Jaime had a band, it was one in the genre of music I liked and they'd become pretty popular, but I didn't know I'd have to meet them. I'm really fucking awkward, and meeting new people is just not my strong suit.

As I got closer to his house, I began to physically shake. I checked my directions to make sure I was in the right place, and turned into his driveway. I sat in the car for a few minutes, checking my makeup and mentally prepping myself for whatever small talk awaited me.

I saw the door to the house open, and Jaime walked out with a grin. I climbed out of my beat up red Toyota truck and braced myself for his classic sprint-and-tackle greeting. He came running and practically jumped on me, almost knocking me down. I giggled and hugged him back. I really had missed him.

"How was your drive here?" he asked after letting me go.

"It was alright, I had my ipod to keep me company," I laughed. He helped grab my stuff out of the back and we made our way towards the door.

"Ready to meet Los Pierce the Veils?" he asked, adding an accent to the band name. I felt myself tense up again.

"Yeah, definitely," I said, trying to sound calm. My shaky voice gave me away.

"No need to be nervous, Ana, they'll love you," he said, smiling.

"Yeah right, watch me embarrass myself as soon as I get through the door," I practically whispered as I rolled my eyes.

"You won't embarrass yourself, that's my job," he said, reaching over with his free hand to mess up my hair. I smacked his arm in return, pausing to put my hair back in order.

We made our way inside, and I heard voices coming from the next room. I assumed that was the band, and bit my lip, something I do when I'm nervous. I glanced at Jaime, who was motioning me down a hallway. "I figure before you meet them, I at least need to show you your room," he explained. I nodded and followed him.

My room was at the end of the hallway, and it had blue walls and pictures of our family scattered on the dresser. There wasn't much decoration other than a painting of some flowers hanging on the wall. At least there was a TV. We set my bags down, and headed back down the hallway.

I heard the band's laughter coming from the next room, and I tensed up again. Jaime smirked at me, before belting out a "Dun dun dun dun dun dun duuuun!" tune, and opened the door with his free arm outstretched, as if I were being shown some glorious presentation.

I felt myself blush, and stepped through the door to see three guys relaxing on the couch. "Guys, this is my little sis, Mariana," said Jaime as I put on a smile.

One of them got up, he was short and had long brown hair and a nose ring. He outstretched his hand and I grabbed it before he pulled me into a hug like we'd known each other forever. "Nice to meet you, I'm Vic," he said, smiling. He was nice, and I could definitely get along with him.

The next guy to stand up was much taller than Vic, and he had a lip ring, long dark hair, and extenxive tattoos. He came over for a fist bump. "Yo, I'm Mike," he said, giving me a sup nod. He was alright, too.

Lastly, a really adorable guy, yes adorable, stood up. He had long brown hair swept to one side, a dermal piercing diagonal to his left eye, and he was also tattooed. I also noticed a small braid resting on his shoulder. "Hey, I'm Tony," he said, not making eye contact. I shook his hand and smiled. He was shy, but I didn't mind.

I wasn't sure whether to sit down and awkwardly nod at their conversation or to go and unpack. I guessed unpacking sounded like the better option, but as I turned to go Jaime stopped me. "Ana, you wanna chill with us? I swear, they're cool guys," he said, giving me a pleading smile. I giggled at his silliness.

"Whatever you want, Jaime," I said, sticking my tongue out. I walked over to the couch and sat down, grabbing a beer from the table.

"We were thinking about watching a movie," said Vic. "You wanna help us pick one out?"

"Sure," I answered, putting on my polite smile again.

"We should watch Star Wars!" Tony exclaimed, grinning widely. Mike rolled his eyes.

"Harry Potter, all the way," Mike said, giving a thumbs up.

Vic shrugged. "I've seen all the Star Wars and Harry Potter movies so many times, anything better?"

They all looked at me. I was really bad at deciding, but I chose one of my favorites. "Do you have The Green Mile, Hime?" I asked, looking at Jaime hopefully. Hime was his nickname we all used.

"Yeah, I think so. What do you guys think?" he asked, looking around the room.

They all shrugged, which made me guess they'd never seen it before, and I was surprised. It was a classic, in my book. Jaime found it, and popped it in the DVD player while Vic went to make popcorn. He came back just as it started, giving us bowls to share. I shared mine with Jaime, which was annoying because I just knew he'd try to hog it from me.

When the movie started, almost half of the popcorn was already gone. I conspicuously moved the bowl onto my lap and elbowed Jaime whenever he reached over. I heard him make a noise that sounded like a teenage girl on her period, which was something like "NNnnnnnyyyehhhh". I ignored him, and he started to fidget so I smacked him on the arm.

About thirty minutes in, he stood up, grabbed the popcorn bowl, set it on the table, and picked me up. He carried me over his shoulder to the other couch, where he set me down in between Tony and Vic. "She's your problem now," he said, seeming satisfied as he went back to the couch he now had all to himself. I stuck out my tongue at him and gave him the middle finger, but he just ignored me.

I hugged my knees to my chest to try to make myself as small as possible, not wanting to annoy Vic or Tony. It was different sitting with people you had just met the same day. Vic looked over and patted my head. "Don't worry, you're no problem," he said, smiling. I playfully swatted his hand away and went back to watching the movie.

When it was over, I had to be careful about wiping the tears away so Jaime didn't know I was crying. He'd never let me hear the end of that. This movie just always got me so emotional, even though it wasn't a chick flick.

Jaime got up to take the bowls into the kitchen, purposely stepping on my foot as he made his way past. I sighed, too tired to make a return attack. Vic looked over at me. "Mariana, are you okay?" he asked. I nodded. "Are you sure? You look like you're crying," he said, analyzing my face. Everyone looked over to see if I was, and I tried to shield my face with my hair but it was no use.

"You are crying!" Jaime said, raising his eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

I scoffed. "I don't know," I said, rolling my eyes and wiping the rest of my tears away.

"Uh oh, someone's on her period," said Mike, smirking.

"I am not!!" I said loudly, causing him to laugh. "It was just the movie."

"Awwww, Ana's emotional because of the movie!" Jaime teased, pinching my cheek. I smacked his hand away. "Haha, you're such a girl."

"I hope so, otherwise I've been categorizing genitalia wrong for the past 22 years," I said, rolling my eyes.

"I don't know, that might explain a lot...." said Jaime, trailing off. I stood up, and walked out of the room, pretending to be upset. "Awww, c'mon Ana I was teasing!"

He walked into the kitchen, and I jumped on him from my hiding spot behind the counter. He dropped the bowls of popcorn and fell, honestly scared. Jaime always had been easy to scare, it was hilarious every time. "Awwww, Ana, whyyy!" he complained as he looked at the leftover popcorn seeds scattered on the floor. Vic, Mike, and Tony walked in, laughing at the site and tossing their empty beer bottles in the trash. I reached out and messed up Jaime's hair, because I knew that would annoy him. "Okay, that's it, it's time for a swim!" he said, and I squealed.

I ran down the hallway, but he caught up and threw me over his shoulder again. I was laughing and screaming at the same time, trying to make him let me go. He walked outside and over to the pool. "No, Jaime, my clothes!" I complained, hitting his back. He got to the edge of the pool and I felt myself in the air for a moment before hitting water.

I swam to the surface and climbed out, laughing so hard I was tearing up. I wasn't the sort of person to get butthurt over that kind of thing, instead I just found it hilarious. Jaime had already ran back inside, so I grabbed a towel and headed for my room.

I passed Vic on the couch, who glanced at me and mouthed something about Jaime, pointing to the side of the couch. I backed up and raised my eyebrow, peering over to see the tip of Jaime's spiked hair poking over his hiding spot. I grinned, walked over to where he was, and wrung out my hair over his head. He whined and I laughed, he was so picky about his hair. "I'm gonna go get changed into pajamas and then unpack," I announced before going to my room.

As I got dry and put my clothes into my dresser, I began to feel actually hopeful about this place. These guys didn't seem so bad, and the worst I had to deal with was Jaime's pranks.

I finished unpacking and walked back into the living room, where Vic, Mike and Tony were getting ready to head back to their own places. "See you tomorrow, Ana," Vic said before giving me a hug. I liked Vic's hugs, his arms were strong and his chest was warm, a perfect combination. Mike and Tony even gave me hugs, which I appreciated. Tony's hug lasted the longest, but I liked it. I liked being held by him, plus he smelled nice, like cologne.

After they left, I decided to go to bed. Curling up into the sheets, I felt my heart lift at the thought of seeing them all again tomorrow. I easily fell into a nice sleep, with the happiest dreams I'd had in a long time.