Take It Like A Man

“We are going to be late if you don’t start walking faster Mary Anne Smith!”

Tossing my brown hair behind my back I turned to glare at my best friend, who was beaming brightly in anticipation. She was carrying a large black bag that must have weighed fifty pounds; it included her makeup, hair accessories, ipod, Twilight, and sidekick. Mary’s eyebrows rose as she caught my gaze she simply grumbled, “If looks could kill…” before picking up her pace like I had asked her to do.

With a huff I bounced Aoife in my arms to reposition her so she wouldn’t slip out of my grasp. My daughter wasn’t heavy, but I was not necessarily the biggest person in the world (cough, 4’11, cough) so it was typically hard to carry anything.

Mary caught up with my speedy walking, “I can’t believe you actually talked them into letting me go. I love you.”

“It didn’t take that much convincing. All I had to do was tell Joe that I had a hot blonde friend that wanted to come with me,” I chuckled. “Seems like he has a thing for blondes.”

“I think he just has a thing for you,” Mary stated with a smug smirk. If only I could slap her… then I would be satisfied.

“Dude, Joe is like the biggest flirt I’ve ever met. Are you kidding me?”

“Just because he’s a flirt doesn’t mean he doesn’t actually have feelings for you,” she crossed her arms, rolling her aquatic eyes. I bit my lip as I analyzed her quietly; for the first time ever I was actually feeling jealous of Mary, not that she wasn’t beautiful, but because she had blonde hair and blue eyes. From research done by flipping through J-14, Tiger Beat, and various other tween magazines it had become obvious what kind of girls he was interested in. Not that I liked him or anything!

Keeping quiet until we reached the plane I quickly prayed to myself. Planes… I was terrified. Only the Jonas Brothers could convince me to get on this technological form of transportation. Although, I was happy that the brothers were paying for my entire trip, they bought Mary, Aoife, and I first class seats on the plane. It was furnished and completely humble compared to the ‘ordinary’ passenger seating. There was even a huge flat screen television in the middle of the isle!

Strapping Aoife in a seat between Mary and myself I groaned inwardly. Thankfully, Mary had demanded the window seat because I would probably puke if I saw the white marshmallow clouds. Excitedly Aoife pointed out the window and squealed, not that we had even took off the ground. Giggling I patted down her hand to keep her from making any distractions.

“You want your Hannah Montana mp3 baby?” I questioned Aoife, who clapped her hands in exhilaration. Yes, I know what you’re thinking… a Hannah Montana mp3 player? Or maybe you are just thinking ‘why does your three-year-old daughter have a mp3 player?’ It was a tiny pink device with Hannah Montana’s picture printed across the front. I had picked it up at Wal-Mart for forty dollars a few weeks ago. And yes, Aoife absolutely loved music. Her mp3 player had songs including Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers, The Cheetah Girls, and the High School Music soundtrack.

Aoife nodded happily. Picking up my black tote bag I dug through it before I pulled out the tiny device. I placed Aoife’s pink Hello Kitty headphones over her ears and pressed play on the player. Softly the music could be heard as Aoife started dancing in her seat. It was obvious when she started singing “See ‘o’ neen” that Miley Cyrus was the chosen song playing.

“Wow,” my ears perked as a male voice sighed in… awe? Facing upward I came face to face with a very handsome blonde male. He had a silly grin on his lips and motioned to the open seat next to me, “I guess I’m sitting next to you.”

Smiling politely I nodded my head, “Hi, I’m Bethany.”

“I know who you are,” he informed me with a bright smile as he plopped down in the seat next to me. “I’ve seen you in magazines,” the man held out his hand and I shook it, “My names Jimmy.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you Jimmy… you’ve really seen me in magazines?” I bit my lip as he buckled himself in. His forest green eyes caught mine and he grinned, nodding his head happily. This Jimmy fellow must have been at least twenty-one, and he was definitely the charmer.

“Yeah, I have a younger sister and she is absolutely obsessed with you,” he rolled his eyes at the mention of his sibling. “She has you on myspace and she buys all your magazines and puts the pictures on the wall. She’s a huge fashion freak and you happen to be her hero of fashion.”

I blushed deeply, “You are kidding!”

“Nope. I’m actually surprised that I recognized you…”

“Why is that?” My voice probably portrayed that I was a little offended because he quickly shot his head up and shook his hands. “That’s not what I meant,” Jimmy explained with a small smile. “What I meant is that most models are really ugly in person, but you look exactly like you do in pictures. It surprised me that you really are this beautiful in real life.”

Before I could respond to his comment Mary’s head popped out and her eyes bugged out of her skull as she got a closer look at the handsome man I was conversing with, “Hi! I’m Mary!”

Jimmy bent over and extended his hand to shake hers, “Jimmy.” His eyes fell upon my daughter and he smiled at me as he asked the question, “Is this your daughter?”

“Yeah,” I chuckled as I lightly ruffled Aoife’s hair. “I think you’re the first person to actually not ask if she was my little sister.”

“My sister idolizes you because you’re a single mother and are still able to be an eighteen year old model. Which I have to agree with her again, that’s a remarkable thing to do. It must be tough,” he shrugged his shoulders nonchantilly. “Can I ask you a rather embarrassing question?”

I laughed, “Ask away Jimbo.”

“Can I take a picture with you? My sister is going to die when she sees it,” he gave me a cheesy smile that I couldn’t resist. Nodding my head he picked up a computer bag, opening the front zipper he slid out a thin silver digital camera. He turned it on and I leaned over against his arm, our faces extremely close together, smiling brightly he snapped the picture releasing a flash. Turning it around we both stared at the screen and chuckled, I had to admit the two of us made the screen extremely beautiful.

“You should look into modeling,” I stated with a grin as I punched his shoulder lightly.

“Hmm?” he muttered as he returned the camera to the pocket it had been in before. Zipping it up he leaned back in his seat and stared at my face.

“You have a very handsome model-type face. You should really look into modeling. I think you could probably get some good cash out of it,” chuckling I scrunched my face in amusement. “Maybe as a side job or something.”

“I’ll tell my sister that one.”

A four-hour flight later and we had finally arrived at Los Angelas. Jimmy turned out to be an extremely talkative gentleman with best friend potential. The two of us had discovered that we both lived in walking distance of one another in Chicago and had attended the same high school (he was a senior when I was a freshman). We both swapped phone numbers, which I had shocked myself by asking for his first. Not that it was anything relationship wise; Jimmy and I actually had a four hour long conversation that did not include flirting or an invite on a date afterwards.

As the plane landed I stretched my arms above my head. Glancing to my right I noticed Aoife was slumped in her seat asleep, drool coming out of the corner of her mouth. Pulling the sleeves of my navy blue shirt down I wiped away the saliva with a chuckle. Unbuckling my seatbelt and hers I heaved up Aoife into my arms with a loud grunt.

“It was so wonderful meeting you Beth,” Jimmy had his computer bag slung around his shoulder. He waited for people to pass him in the isles before he could step out, “Don’t forget to call me. We need to catch up some more. Maybe Mary, you and I could go out to Starbucks sometime or something when you get back to Chi-Town?”

Nodding my head enthusiastically I giggled, “Of course we can! I’ll make sure it happens.”

Hurriedly the four of us exited the plane happy to finally be able to move after four hours of sitting on our butts. I gave Jimmy a tight hug before the two of us parted on our separate ways. As I waved to him once more before he turned a corner down a hallway Mary nudged me hard in the side, “What?” I yelped in pain.

“You two hit it off quite well. See what happens when you let yourself talk to the male species.”

Blinking in irritation I just shook my head and ignored her comment, “The boys said something about a guy holding my picture…” Just as I was about to finish talking I noticed a man dressed in a very high-class dress suit holding up one of my modeling pictures. In embarrassment I took hold of Mary’s hand and dragged her over to the man.

“Put that down!” I urged, turning my head to watch as people stared as they walked by. The man put the poster down and motioned for me to follow him, “What about our bags?”

“They are already in the limo,” he informed us with a welcoming smile. I raised my eyebrows at Mary in astonishment.

“But we just got off the plane like two seconds ago…”

“Your bags were said to be retrieved immediately under strict orders,” the man chuckled at Mary and my confusion. The two of us continued to follow the man who brought us to a large black limousine. He held open the door and I squealed in excitement. The Jonas Brothers had to be the most amazing, spectacular, wonderful boys I had ever met in my entire life… I was living the dream.