Status: Updated regularly (every other day or so)
The Fueled By Ramen Analysis
Sacrifice
After his “business proposition”, every one at our table congratulated me once again on my first real career. It wasn’t a job, but an actual profession and I would be doing something I had always aspired to do, work in the music business.
When I had told my parents that, fresh out of high school, they demanded that I study in a health related field. Pete just gave me the perfect excuse to please both my parents and myself, and they were absolutely fine with it- well according to Pete that is.
“Hey you guys, I’m just going to tell my parents what just went down and I’ll be right back, kay?” I told the gang and left to the opposite side where all the food and my family were located.
Upon looking at my beaming face, my mom already had an idea of what our conversation would be about.
“Did you say yes?” she asked, cutting to the chase.
“Of course I did, mom. I mean it’s a fantastic opportunity and not that many jobs are open for people that major in psychology. But are you okay with it? It’s all the way in Chicago which means I won’t see you as often and-“
“Enough!” she said cutting me off. “Me and your dad talked about it, as much as we hate seeing you leave, this is your life. And we still remembered that conversation we had with you before when you told us you wanted to be a music producer. This is partly your dream and ours. We can’t let you put that to waste. Pete seems like a lovely young man that will look out for you at this Fueled By Ramen place and I know that Chad will be there for you whenever you need someone. Chels, Chicago is just a plane ride away and I’m always just a phone call away.”
“I love you, mom!” I said, enveloping her in a hug as tears started streaking down my face.
She was finally thinking about what I wanted, and not what she thought was best. She was willing to sacrifice not seeing me for long periods of time, just so I could be happy.
“Aww baby, don’t cry. Just go back to your friends; they came all the way from Chicago just to see you! Oh and I love you too, Chelsea May,” she said, lightly shoving me towards the direction of Pete and the others.
I made sure to wipe my tears away using a napkin on one of the tables, before sitting down and joining the rest of them.
“How’d it go?” Ashlee whispered as the boys continued on with their conversation, oblivious to ours.
“Kind of emotional. But all in all it was pretty good. She helped any doubts that I had go away,” I answered.
“That’s good to hear.”
“Hey look you guys! Chelsea’s back,” grinned Patrick.
“I’ve been back, Patty,” I laughed.
“Why must you call me that?” he asked dramatically.
“Patrick sounds too formal. Duhh,” I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the room.
“Well anyways,” Pete said, changing the subject. “Chelsea May, we’re all going out for lunch tomorrow. We need to discuss some things and yeah.”
“Oh okay, cool any specific place?” I asked.
“Well to suit Andy’s needs, I was thinking this one place I read about called… ahh fuck! What was it called? They have like grilled tofu there and vegetables too.”
“No fucking way?!” Andy exclaimed, looking ecstatic. “I heard about that place! It’s called The Veggie Grill. Thanks man, no one ever tries to accommodate my special eating habits.”
“Eww, vegetables,” I shuddered. “But if it’s for Andy, I guess I’ll just avoid the vegetables and get the tofu.”
“You never know,” Andy said. “This just might be the place to turn you into a vegan like me.”
“Like that will ever happen. First of all I dislike almost all vegetables. And most importantly, I love the taste of meat too much to go cold turkey on it. I might become a pescatarian but I don’t know yet…”
“Are you serious?” he asked, his eyes brightening. “That’s one step closer to being a vegetarian. Trust me you won’t regret it.” And he went on and on like that. Telling me how beneficial it would be to become one and all that jazz.
By the time he was done, Pete and the others were bored out of their minds for hearing Andy talk like that to potential vegetarians. He never shoved information like that down people’s throats, he just merely told them the pros of it, if they genuinely seemed interested.
As the night became older, we exchanged what had happened over the past few months that we hadn’t kept in touch. As we talked, I couldn’t help but notice that Pete and Ashlee looked absolutely adorable together, no matter what all those opinionated boardies had to say about them. I also noticed how Patrick would adjust his hat whenever he felt uncomfortable and how Andy would stroke his mustache with his index finger when he wasn’t exactly part of the conversation. Then I realized how Joe could look so spaced out; yet know exactly what everyone was talking about. Majoring in Psychology has definitely gotten to me.
“Hey kids,” my mom said, interrupting our conversation. “We’re all going to go back to the house now since it’s getting late and some of the younger ones are getting fussy. Feel free to stay as long as you want, everything is taken care of. I’d invite you guys to come stay at our comfortable home for the night but we’re filled to the capacity at our house.”
“It’s cool, Mrs. Cabado,” Ashlee said sweetly. “Do you think it’d be okay if Chelsea May stayed with us, at Pete’s house, for the night?”
“Of course, it would be okay,” my mom smiled warmly at us. “You guys be safe now alright?”
“Bye mom,” I said, pecking her on the cheek.
“Bye sweetheart.”
After she left a realization hit me.
“You guys, I have nothing to sleep in,” I announced to the table.
“Don’t worry,” Pete smirked. “I’ve got you covered.”
“I wouldn’t trust him,” whispered Ashlee. “Don’t worry about it though. My clothes are your clothes.”
I simply nodded as Pete continued where he left off on the story of how he sprained his ankle.
“Pete as much as I love hearing that story,” Patrick said sarcastically. “Do you think we could start heading back to your place? I’m tired.”
“Yeah, of course man. Let’s go,” Pete said, getting up.
“Ooh Chelsea Maaaaaay! Can I ride in your brand new, ultra sexy, delicious car?” squealed Joe.
“Of course you can,” I giggled, getting up and stretching in place.
“Me too! Me too!” chimed in Andy.
“Alright, anyone else?” I asked the group.
“Shotgun!” exclaimed Patrick.
“No fair,” pouted Joe.
“I swear, Joe. You and Andy don’t come off to me as guys who squeal and pout,” I pointed out.
“People change,” he replied, coolly.
“Not according to Pete,” Ashlee said.
“Hey! There’s an exception to every rule,” Pete defended.
“Well I drove Pete’s car over here so I guess I’ll just drive it back,” Ashlee said, totally changing the subject.
“I’ll keep you company, babe,” Pete said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
We all walked to the parking lot, splitting up into our respective rides.
“You lucky whore,” gasped Andy as he got into my SUV, or as BMW liked to call it, my SAV.
“Are straight guys allowed to call girls whores?” I asked no one in particular.
“Nope,” Joe answered, smacking Andy in the back of his head. “But don’t worry I’ve taken care of it.”
I started the car and turned up the volume, bopping my head to William Beckett’s voice as I waited for the engine to warm. I was surprised to hear Patrick’s warm voice sing along to the lyrics.
“How do you-“ I began.
“Pete’s been listening to this nonstop since he’s received it,” Andy replied for Patrick. “Which in turn has gotten Patrick obsessed with it.”
“Oh, I see. Who wouldn’t stop listening to this? I mean, come on, it’s amazing. I can’t believe I’m going to be working alongside them within the next year,” I sighed, pulling out of the parking space and following Pete and Ashlee to their LA pad.
“Or the next week,” Joe said nonchalantly.
“What was that?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. “Did you say something?”
“Oh nothing, I was just trying to sing along,” he replied coolly.
I let the subject go and began to drum to the beat of the current song on my steering wheel. The car became silent except for The Academy Is… flowing through the speakers and my lousy attempt at drumming.
“Hey Chelsea, when you start living in Chicago do you want to learn how to play the drums?” Andy asked, breaking the silence.
“Are you serious?” I said, looking at him through the rear view mirror.
“Yeah, I mean you’d make the hottest drummer chick out there,” he answered.
“Not even,” I replied. “But that idea doesn’t sound half bad.
“Well, you know what Andy? Guitar beats drums any day! May May would you like me to teach you how to play the guitar?” Joe asked me with his eyes full of hope.
“Sure,” I laughed. “Next thing you know Patty’s going to teach me how to work with a sound board and become a producer.”
“It was supposed to be a surprise,” Patrick grumbled, crossing his arms.
“You’ve got to be shitting me!” I exclaimed, taking my eyes off the road. “That’s been my dream ever since I was 14…”
“I know,” Patrick smiled. “So what do you say?”
“Yes, yes, and more yes! To all of your offers! You guys are amazing. If I could kiss you now, I would!”
“Stop the car!” yelled Joe.
“Why?” I asked, startled from his request.
“So you can kiss me,” he said sheepishly.
“Joe, you dumbass! She was just kidding!” Andy said, slapping the back of Joe’s Jew fro.
“I knew that,” Joe said, trying to play it off. “I was just kidding too.”
After a few moments of awkward silence, I exited the freeway just like Pete had and followed his car up and down some of Malibu’s many hills. On a particular hill he slowed down and pulled into what I presume was his driveway. He stuck his hand out of the window and motioned for me to park right next to him. I did as told and pulled my keys out of the ignition.
“We’re here you guys,” I said melodically.
“Thank you, captain obvious,” Joe said sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes and got out of the car, not wanting to deal with Joe’s man period. As I made my way to the front door, Pete grabbed my shoulders and swiveled me around so I was facing my car.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Pete asked.
“Uhh, your house?” I said confused.
“I think you should check your trunk first,” he said as everyone else filed into his house.
“Right now, Pete? It’s cold and I’m only wearing a dress and-“
“Just stop your whining and look in the goddamn trunk!” he said, getting impatient.
“Okay, okay,” I grumbled, pressing the unlock button on the car key twice as I walked towards my trunk. I hesitantly opened it and looked inside.
“I fucking love you, Peter Wentz!” I screamed, running away from the contents of my trunk and into the arms of my best friend. “You fucking rock!”
When I had told my parents that, fresh out of high school, they demanded that I study in a health related field. Pete just gave me the perfect excuse to please both my parents and myself, and they were absolutely fine with it- well according to Pete that is.
“Hey you guys, I’m just going to tell my parents what just went down and I’ll be right back, kay?” I told the gang and left to the opposite side where all the food and my family were located.
Upon looking at my beaming face, my mom already had an idea of what our conversation would be about.
“Did you say yes?” she asked, cutting to the chase.
“Of course I did, mom. I mean it’s a fantastic opportunity and not that many jobs are open for people that major in psychology. But are you okay with it? It’s all the way in Chicago which means I won’t see you as often and-“
“Enough!” she said cutting me off. “Me and your dad talked about it, as much as we hate seeing you leave, this is your life. And we still remembered that conversation we had with you before when you told us you wanted to be a music producer. This is partly your dream and ours. We can’t let you put that to waste. Pete seems like a lovely young man that will look out for you at this Fueled By Ramen place and I know that Chad will be there for you whenever you need someone. Chels, Chicago is just a plane ride away and I’m always just a phone call away.”
“I love you, mom!” I said, enveloping her in a hug as tears started streaking down my face.
She was finally thinking about what I wanted, and not what she thought was best. She was willing to sacrifice not seeing me for long periods of time, just so I could be happy.
“Aww baby, don’t cry. Just go back to your friends; they came all the way from Chicago just to see you! Oh and I love you too, Chelsea May,” she said, lightly shoving me towards the direction of Pete and the others.
I made sure to wipe my tears away using a napkin on one of the tables, before sitting down and joining the rest of them.
“How’d it go?” Ashlee whispered as the boys continued on with their conversation, oblivious to ours.
“Kind of emotional. But all in all it was pretty good. She helped any doubts that I had go away,” I answered.
“That’s good to hear.”
“Hey look you guys! Chelsea’s back,” grinned Patrick.
“I’ve been back, Patty,” I laughed.
“Why must you call me that?” he asked dramatically.
“Patrick sounds too formal. Duhh,” I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the room.
“Well anyways,” Pete said, changing the subject. “Chelsea May, we’re all going out for lunch tomorrow. We need to discuss some things and yeah.”
“Oh okay, cool any specific place?” I asked.
“Well to suit Andy’s needs, I was thinking this one place I read about called… ahh fuck! What was it called? They have like grilled tofu there and vegetables too.”
“No fucking way?!” Andy exclaimed, looking ecstatic. “I heard about that place! It’s called The Veggie Grill. Thanks man, no one ever tries to accommodate my special eating habits.”
“Eww, vegetables,” I shuddered. “But if it’s for Andy, I guess I’ll just avoid the vegetables and get the tofu.”
“You never know,” Andy said. “This just might be the place to turn you into a vegan like me.”
“Like that will ever happen. First of all I dislike almost all vegetables. And most importantly, I love the taste of meat too much to go cold turkey on it. I might become a pescatarian but I don’t know yet…”
“Are you serious?” he asked, his eyes brightening. “That’s one step closer to being a vegetarian. Trust me you won’t regret it.” And he went on and on like that. Telling me how beneficial it would be to become one and all that jazz.
By the time he was done, Pete and the others were bored out of their minds for hearing Andy talk like that to potential vegetarians. He never shoved information like that down people’s throats, he just merely told them the pros of it, if they genuinely seemed interested.
As the night became older, we exchanged what had happened over the past few months that we hadn’t kept in touch. As we talked, I couldn’t help but notice that Pete and Ashlee looked absolutely adorable together, no matter what all those opinionated boardies had to say about them. I also noticed how Patrick would adjust his hat whenever he felt uncomfortable and how Andy would stroke his mustache with his index finger when he wasn’t exactly part of the conversation. Then I realized how Joe could look so spaced out; yet know exactly what everyone was talking about. Majoring in Psychology has definitely gotten to me.
“Hey kids,” my mom said, interrupting our conversation. “We’re all going to go back to the house now since it’s getting late and some of the younger ones are getting fussy. Feel free to stay as long as you want, everything is taken care of. I’d invite you guys to come stay at our comfortable home for the night but we’re filled to the capacity at our house.”
“It’s cool, Mrs. Cabado,” Ashlee said sweetly. “Do you think it’d be okay if Chelsea May stayed with us, at Pete’s house, for the night?”
“Of course, it would be okay,” my mom smiled warmly at us. “You guys be safe now alright?”
“Bye mom,” I said, pecking her on the cheek.
“Bye sweetheart.”
After she left a realization hit me.
“You guys, I have nothing to sleep in,” I announced to the table.
“Don’t worry,” Pete smirked. “I’ve got you covered.”
“I wouldn’t trust him,” whispered Ashlee. “Don’t worry about it though. My clothes are your clothes.”
I simply nodded as Pete continued where he left off on the story of how he sprained his ankle.
“Pete as much as I love hearing that story,” Patrick said sarcastically. “Do you think we could start heading back to your place? I’m tired.”
“Yeah, of course man. Let’s go,” Pete said, getting up.
“Ooh Chelsea Maaaaaay! Can I ride in your brand new, ultra sexy, delicious car?” squealed Joe.
“Of course you can,” I giggled, getting up and stretching in place.
“Me too! Me too!” chimed in Andy.
“Alright, anyone else?” I asked the group.
“Shotgun!” exclaimed Patrick.
“No fair,” pouted Joe.
“I swear, Joe. You and Andy don’t come off to me as guys who squeal and pout,” I pointed out.
“People change,” he replied, coolly.
“Not according to Pete,” Ashlee said.
“Hey! There’s an exception to every rule,” Pete defended.
“Well I drove Pete’s car over here so I guess I’ll just drive it back,” Ashlee said, totally changing the subject.
“I’ll keep you company, babe,” Pete said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
We all walked to the parking lot, splitting up into our respective rides.
“You lucky whore,” gasped Andy as he got into my SUV, or as BMW liked to call it, my SAV.
“Are straight guys allowed to call girls whores?” I asked no one in particular.
“Nope,” Joe answered, smacking Andy in the back of his head. “But don’t worry I’ve taken care of it.”
I started the car and turned up the volume, bopping my head to William Beckett’s voice as I waited for the engine to warm. I was surprised to hear Patrick’s warm voice sing along to the lyrics.
“How do you-“ I began.
“Pete’s been listening to this nonstop since he’s received it,” Andy replied for Patrick. “Which in turn has gotten Patrick obsessed with it.”
“Oh, I see. Who wouldn’t stop listening to this? I mean, come on, it’s amazing. I can’t believe I’m going to be working alongside them within the next year,” I sighed, pulling out of the parking space and following Pete and Ashlee to their LA pad.
“Or the next week,” Joe said nonchalantly.
“What was that?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. “Did you say something?”
“Oh nothing, I was just trying to sing along,” he replied coolly.
I let the subject go and began to drum to the beat of the current song on my steering wheel. The car became silent except for The Academy Is… flowing through the speakers and my lousy attempt at drumming.
“Hey Chelsea, when you start living in Chicago do you want to learn how to play the drums?” Andy asked, breaking the silence.
“Are you serious?” I said, looking at him through the rear view mirror.
“Yeah, I mean you’d make the hottest drummer chick out there,” he answered.
“Not even,” I replied. “But that idea doesn’t sound half bad.
“Well, you know what Andy? Guitar beats drums any day! May May would you like me to teach you how to play the guitar?” Joe asked me with his eyes full of hope.
“Sure,” I laughed. “Next thing you know Patty’s going to teach me how to work with a sound board and become a producer.”
“It was supposed to be a surprise,” Patrick grumbled, crossing his arms.
“You’ve got to be shitting me!” I exclaimed, taking my eyes off the road. “That’s been my dream ever since I was 14…”
“I know,” Patrick smiled. “So what do you say?”
“Yes, yes, and more yes! To all of your offers! You guys are amazing. If I could kiss you now, I would!”
“Stop the car!” yelled Joe.
“Why?” I asked, startled from his request.
“So you can kiss me,” he said sheepishly.
“Joe, you dumbass! She was just kidding!” Andy said, slapping the back of Joe’s Jew fro.
“I knew that,” Joe said, trying to play it off. “I was just kidding too.”
After a few moments of awkward silence, I exited the freeway just like Pete had and followed his car up and down some of Malibu’s many hills. On a particular hill he slowed down and pulled into what I presume was his driveway. He stuck his hand out of the window and motioned for me to park right next to him. I did as told and pulled my keys out of the ignition.
“We’re here you guys,” I said melodically.
“Thank you, captain obvious,” Joe said sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes and got out of the car, not wanting to deal with Joe’s man period. As I made my way to the front door, Pete grabbed my shoulders and swiveled me around so I was facing my car.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Pete asked.
“Uhh, your house?” I said confused.
“I think you should check your trunk first,” he said as everyone else filed into his house.
“Right now, Pete? It’s cold and I’m only wearing a dress and-“
“Just stop your whining and look in the goddamn trunk!” he said, getting impatient.
“Okay, okay,” I grumbled, pressing the unlock button on the car key twice as I walked towards my trunk. I hesitantly opened it and looked inside.
“I fucking love you, Peter Wentz!” I screamed, running away from the contents of my trunk and into the arms of my best friend. “You fucking rock!”