A Story to Tell Your Friends

“So, how were the waffles?” Jack asked, answering my call. I chuckled at his greeting. I’d hardly expected him to answer at all since ‘the band needed him’, never mind launch straight into the middle of a conversation.
“They were incredible. Oh, my God, thank you. I need you to tell me where you got them from,” I gushed. Lisa had hung up to go and meet up with some friends, so I’d figured I’d call Jack and see how his day was getting on. It seemed like a good plan considering Tammy had left me and I had nothing better to do for the day, except maybe stalk social media for more fan reactions about me and ruin my own ego one way or the other.
“I’ll take you tomorrow,” he laughed. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. I was talking to Lisa, but she had to go, so now I’m literally sat at home alone with nothing to do.” I shrugged, ignoring the fact he couldn’t see me. I pulled at the hem of my shorts, not wholly sure what I thought Jack could do considering he was busy.
“No Tammy?”
“She’s out with Chris.”
“Honestly, babe, I’d love to come over. But we’ve got shit to do,” he sighed. My stomach flipped at his calling me ‘babe’. I knew it was off the cuff and he probably didn’t even realise he’d said it, but aside from calling each other ‘cutie pie’ every once in a while, Jack and I had never really used pet names. It was kind of cute. Honestly, if anyone else ever called me it without joking, I’d probably hate it. But, it was Jack, so of course I was smitten with the way it sounded.
“I don’t need you to come over. I need an idea of something I can do that isn’t binging on Geralt of Rivia.”
“You don’t change a bit,” Jack snorted.
“Anything to do with Mark, Geralt, pizza or you, and my opinion stays the same.”
“Jesus. I thought meeting the man might calm you down, clearly I was wrong.”
“If it helps, I can binge on Nathan Drake and have your fans call me a poser again.”
“What is it with you video game characters?”
“They get the muscles all right,” I laughed. There was a short pause as I waited for Jack, unsure on what to say next.
“So… you’re okay with everything then? I mean, I know a lot of shit got said last night, and I was a little worried about how you’d take it. I mean, you’re not exactly used to the attention, never mind with everything that’s happened. And I know not everyone was nice about us, so I get it if you’re upset.” I listened to Jack babble a little, biting my lip. He was probably thinking back on the remarkably anxious girl he’d met who couldn’t take the stares of his best friends, and I still loved the way he thought he needed to look after me.
“I’m very nearly perfect. Most of them are just teenagers with a huge crush on a beautiful man. Trust me, I get that.” I heard a short chuckle from the other end of the line and smiled brightly. “Besides, I told you: I don’t care what strangers have to say about me. You will, however, answer for the stupid amounts of text messages I woke up to this morning. People are crazy.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Outta my mind.”
“Don’t I know it.” I heard muffled conversation through the phone and Jack sighing. “Okay, I’ve gotta go. Are you coming early tonight? I figure I can squeeze in five minutes with you before I go on.”
“If you can convince Mark and the guys to let the crazy person into the same building as them again, go for it.”
“I’ll meet you out back at half 5.”
“Okay, see you then, cutie.”
I pouted as I hung up the phone, still unsure just what to do with the rest of my day. It was only 12:30, and I’d already showered when I woke up, so I had very little to actually do before Tammy and I left for the show. I slowly dragged myself up from my seat, moving toward the kitchen to dispose of the box my waffles had come in and make yet another cup of coffee. I was hoping that the slower I moved in the pointless tasks I had to hand, the quicker 5:30 would come around. I shot off a text to Tammy, telling her we needed to be there for half past 5 instead, praying Chris hadn’t had real plans with reservations and things, so that she could blow him off early.
I threw myself back onto the couch, glaring at the TV and wishing I had something more interesting to hold my attention for the remainder of the day. I hadn’t anticipated the absolute boredom I would feel today. When I’d booked my tickets, I’d expected a day of bouncing around the apartment with Tammy, singing badly to Blink songs, with Tammy occasionally forcing an All Time Low song out of me too so she could psyche herself up for seeing them for the millionth time. Now, here I was, madly in love with the guitarist of a band I’d all but forgotten had existed, while Tammy was out with a guy and pouting because I was bored, rather than shrieking with excitement at what I would experience later in the day. I mean, I was excited, sure, but last night had topped tonight tenfold so far.
I sighed to myself, standing up and throwing a game in my console and waiting for the system to load, curling up on my sofa. I quickly took a picture of my current set up as Nathan Drake appeared on my screen, prepared to upload the picture to make Jack feel guilty. Honestly, it would probably make all my friends feel guilty.
When everyone you love abandons you and you’re forced to trade in a Geralt for Nathan. Boo, you whores.
I held back from tagging Jack and Tammy, knowing they would understand that the dig was to them when they saw it without me saying anything. I loved them both, but I was bored out of my mind and I had nothing better to do with my day but waste away on the sofa. I didn’t feel like attempting to go anywhere on a Saturday in LA. I couldn’t face the crowds of people I would meet without a clear goal in mind. I half thought about going shopping for a new outfit for tonight, but quickly realised I’d already planned my outfit last week and had no need to go out.
@claraparapie honestly, I think I’m more of a Nate than a Geralt.
I snorted at my phone, checking Jack’s tweet. I’d managed to turn off notifications from people I didn’t know (thankfully) and hadn’t noticed all the replies I’d already gotten until I looked at my tweet and Jack’s response to it. In the twenty minutes since I’d posted, I’d had stupid amounts of replies and likes to it, which I was choosing to ignore so I could ignore the inevitable backlash I would gain from anything I posted right now. My phone buzzed again as I was chuckling to myself, notifying me that Jack had responded again.
@claraparapie see! You even look more like Elena than Yennefer!
Jack had attached a badly edited picture of Nathan and Elena, to which he had covered their faces with our own. I laughed loudly, realising that maybe I wasn’t the biggest loser in this relationship.
@JackAllTimeLow yeah, and I’m the nerd here.