Show Me What I'm Looking For

Monday morning.
Finally the big day was here. Today was the day that the boys would finally come out of their garage band phase and enter a label company. I was so extremely proud of them. Last night, we all slept over at John’s house. All of us being Anny, Garrett, John, Jared, Pat, Tim, Pat’s brother, and me of course. Tim was going to be their manager. We were all set up in the basement. An incredible amount of pillows and blankets littered the floor. I was sharing an inflatable mattress with Anny and the rest of the boys were either on the sofas or passed out on the floor.

“Ali, are you awake?” Anny whispered so closely to my ear that it sounded like was she yelling.

“No. Go bother someone else.” I wasn’t much of a morning person. Let’s leave it at that. She pushed me right before she got up and went to bother Garrett and Kenny who were playing Halo, a game that I’ve personally never understood. I was the only one still collapsed on the mattress, sleeping. Besides those three, John and Pat were no where to be found and Jared and Tim were on the phone.

“Good morning,” John said as he stood over me. I removed my arm from my eyes and smiled.

“Hello, how did you sleep?”

“Pretty miserably; Pat was using me as a human pillow and Kenny was moving around like a crazy person. Plus he drools like 7 times a night. It’s gross,” he responded as he laid down by me.

“I would kill myself if I was his pillow. I didn’t sleep well either actually. That mattress is killing my back and Anny talks in her sleep.”

“Maybe it’s time you go home then baby,” he suggested. I hadn’t been home since New Year’s Eve which was 4 days ago. I was living, along with Anny, on this mattress. I had been wearing the same t-shirt and jeans for 4 days now, John’s mom washing them every night.

“Why? You don’t want me here anymore—“

“Ali, you know that’s not true, but your parents miss you. I think you should go home tonight with Anny. She’s leaving tomorrow morning and has to get all her stuff anyways,” he explained and of course, he was right. As usual.

“Alright, alright; you’re right. Let me go get ready so we won’t be late at Fearless,” I said as I pushed away the blankets and got up.

“Wait, don’t I get a kiss?” He asked pulling my arm towards him.

“No…”

“Why not?”

“Because we both have gross morning breath.” He smiled and shook his head leaving me time to escape to the bathroom. I showered, brushed my teeth, got dressed and dried my hair which I put into a loose bun. Bad hair day. Once I was done, I unlocked the door only to find that the basement was deserted.

“I love how you guys leave me all alone down here!” I yelled as I put the blankets back on the mattress.

“We love you Ali,” they all yelled from the kitchen.

“Yea, but I love you the most,” John corrected.

“No, I do. She’s my best friend!” Anny recalled. They made me laugh. I ran upstairs and they were all sitting around the table. Garrett was by Anny as they shared a quick kiss before digging into the stack of pancakes Mrs. O’Callaghan prepared. Pat had his hair tucked behind his ears and everyone else was too busy eating to notice that I came up. I snuck behind John and he tilted his head back. I pressed my lips to his and then took my seat next to him to start eating.

“John, what time do you guys have to be there?” His mom asked as she removed a fresh batch of muffins from the oven.

“12:30, why?”

“Sweetie, it’s 12:15 right now, you should get going…”

“WHAT!?” we all yelled in unison.

“Hurry the hell up! Everyone in the van right now,” Tim announced as he grabbed his keys.

“But I didn’t eat my pancake yet,” I announced.

“So, fold it up and bring it,” John suggested as he slipped on his shoes.

“Ew, that’s gross—“

“Here sweetie, don’t listen to him. Take a muffin with you,” his mom said as she put a fresh muffin in a bag for me. I thanked her and we all ran to the van. Tim was the driver today.

“Dude, take a right here,” John said trying to help out.

“No, we skip four lights if we go this way!” Tim explained.

“Are we there yet?” Pat whined as he wiggled in his seat.

“Patrick, shut it right now or I’m telling mom,” Tim added once again. He was so stressed to get them there on time, but as of two seconds ago, they were officially late.

“Gary, I’m bored,” Pat complained as he laid his head on Garrett’s shoulder.

“Pat, get away. Stop touching me. Go bother Ali,” he said as he smiled to Anny. They were adorable together.

“Great, now I have to watch him?” I rolled my eyes.

“Hello Ali, I’m bored,” he said as he played with my hair.

“I know Pattycakes, I know. Stop touching my hair, you’re making a huge mess of it.” He was well into a retarded side-braid.

“Garrett doesn’t love me anymore!”

“Oh God, Garrett look what you did now. You know… Pat is going to be horrible when you guys tour eventually,” I replied as I tried to comfort Patrick.

“I’m sorry Pat, I love you a lot. Stop being a baby now,” Garrett finally said in a monotonous voice.

“Good, now hug it out guys,” Anny replied as she pushed Garrett towards Pat.

“Okay, ladies. We are here,” John announced. “You, stop being a baby,” he pointed to Pat. “You, be nice,” he pointed to Garrett. We all got out of the van and walked to the front door of a very fancy building. Thanks to Tim’s driving, we were only 10 minutes late. We ran to the doors where the secretary greeted us and only the band and manager were allowed to go in.

“Wish me luck,” John said as they all waited for someone to come get them and he grasped onto my hands.

“You don’t need it, babe. This is going to be great for you guys. You all deserve this more than anyone,” I responded just as some guy in a business suit came out to get them.

“I love you,” he said as he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before he went through the brown doors with the rest of the band.

“I love you too. Now, get in there and blow off their pants with all of your skills.” He smiled and waved goodbye.

After a good 2 hours, let’s just say Anny and I were fed up of waiting. We were not only thirsty, but bored out of our minds. The only TV in the waiting room was set to the weather channel, and after 5 minutes of watching, we all knew it was sunny and 85 in Arizona.

“Excuse me, can I get a glass of water please?” I asked the secretary for the third time.

“Look, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, but water is for costumers only,” she responded, looking over her ugly glasses.

“But I am dying of thirst lady!”

“You should have thought of that before you left,” she said. I was about to ram a pen into her neck just as Anny stopped my arm.

“Ali, enough. Go sit down,” she said, severely.

“Yes… mother.” I rolled my eyes. We both sat back down and waited for time to pass. After another 20 minutes, steps and voices came from the other side of the door. It then swung open revealing our boys with extremely dull faces.

“So… How did it go?” I dared to ask. They were all so bummed.

“Well—“Pat started.

“We didn’t get signed…” John said as he looked to his feet.

“What? How dare they? I’m going to walk right in there and ask for an explanation,” Anny responded.

“Anny, wait. What John meant was… NOT ONLY did we get signed, we are going to start recording this week and we are getting this whole team of people to help us!” Garrett said as he pulled her closer to him.

“Oh my God! You guys, this is incredible!” I yelled as I jumped on John. He crashed his lips to mine. I then walked to the front desk.

“There, I’m a client now. Can you get me a fucking bottle of water now,” I demanded. She rolled her eyes as she chewed her gum like a horse and handed me a bottle. I thanked her and we all walked out of there, too happy for words.

“We have to celebrate tonight,” I said as I got into the van.

“Party at Kennedy’s,” Garrett suggested.

“Fine, my mom is out of town anyways. Call everyone,” Kenny responded. Tim dropped everyone off at their houses, except for Pat, Anny, me and John. Once we got to John’s house, Pat and Tim went home. John ran in to tell his family, he grabbed a change of clothes and his keys. The three of us then drove to my house.

“Mom, dad?” I called out as we walked into the vast empty house. I guess they weren’t home since the car wasn’t in the driveway. We all ran upstairs and Anny was the first to shower and I slipped on my bathrobe, I was next in line.

“What should I wear tonight?” I asked John as he laid on my bed and I raided my closet.

“Jeans and a shirt, don’t over dress again baby,” he joked.

“Fine…heels or no heels?” I demanded again.

“Heels, wear the ones that I like there… with the straps?” he said as he snuck behind me and kissed my neck, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“You know I can’t concentrate when you do that,” I reminded him as I turned around to face him and wrapped my arms around his neck.

“I know, I get a kick out of it,” he smiled. I quickly pressed my lips to his before ordering him to go sit on the bed. I decided to wear a pair of high-waisted skinny jeans with a tucked-in ivory shirt and black strappy heels.

I then jumped on the bed next to John; he immediately turned off the TV and we concentrated on nothing but each other.

“Okay John, your turn,” Anny said as she walked out of the bathroom with a towel around her head and her bathrobe. “Well, hello love birds. John, can you please get off my friend?” He pulled away and we both laughed. He gave me a quick peck on the cheek, got his clothes and went to take his shower.

“I love how you have a hickie on your neck, Ali,” Anny yelled out at me as she picked out her outfit.

“Damn it! Is it bad?” I asked, looking in the mirror.

“Even the blind can see it, hun.”

“I’ll just cover it up with some concealer later,” I shrugged my shoulders and sat back on my bed, reading a magazine.

“Have you two…” She asked.

“Oh God Anny, of course not,” I yelled.

“Good, I’m relieved.”

“Well… not yet anyways,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t hear.

“Does he want?” She asked.

“I would think so…” I responded.

“Do you want?”

I nodded shyly. “I’ve never felt like this for anyone, Anny. When I’m with him it’s like… He just makes me feel like I’m the only one in the room. You know? He just makes me so happy all the time. The world could be crashing and it wouldn’t matter because he’s mine and we are together,” I finally said. She smiled and I could tell that she understood me.

“Alright, your turn Ali. If there’s any hot water left,” John said as he got out of the bathroom fully dressed, his hair still wet.

“Look what you left,” I said, pointing to the reddish spot on my neck.

“Look what you left!” He pointed to a red spot on his neck.

“I love you?” I said to apologize. He squeezed me against him. I guess he was sorry too. I took a quick shower, fixed my hair and makeup and got dressed. By the time I got out, it was nearly 7 o’clock and we decided to grab a bite to eat before heading over to Kenny’s house. We stopped by McDonalds to get some food, ate it in the car and drove to Kennedy’s house. Everyone was there: the whole band, some school friends, Peter, Trevor, Tim and some friends from other bands. There was a beer keg in the corner, a bunch of bottles on the table and enough cups and glasses for everyone. This was going to be a fun night.

At one in the morning, people were beyond wasted. John had a beer in his hands the whole night. I’m not sure how many he had, but I stopped counting after 6. I was snuggled into a sofa, nearly passed out with Anny, holding a glass of Cranberry juice and vodka that seemed to fill itself right up!

“Garrett, why don’t you drink something?” I slurred my words.

“Because I don’t drink Ali. Plus, you all need a ride home, so I will be your driver later,” he said as he sipped on his glass of water.

“Oh come on, just a sip. It’s so yummy. They should put this stuff in IV monitors,” I said as I walked to Garrett and held the glass to his mouth.

“Ali, sit down before you fall down,” Anny called at me from behind.

“No, I have to find John. Pat, did you see John?” I said, tripping over my feet. “I’m fine, these shoes are just hard to walk in, that’s all.”

“I think he’s in the kitchen,” he responded. I then walked to the kitchen, holding on to the wall so I wouldn’t fall and eventually got there. Sure enough, John was just as drunk as I was with Tim and Peter.

“John! Look Pat, I found him. Look! Look!” I yelled out as I walked to John.

“Hey Ali, nice hickie,” Tim asked as I snuggled with John, his arm over my shoulder as we both tried not to fall.

“It’s not a hickie, Tim. It’s a burn, nothing but a burn. Burn is a funny word. Burn. Burn, Burn,” I slurred as I took another sip. “Look at the one on John’s neck! Did you see? Look! Look!”

“Okay, Ali. Enough with the sippy cup,” John said as he took my glass away from me.

“Fine, enough with your bottle too then!” I took away his beer bottle. There was nothing left to do, it was getting late and my mom was going to start calling soon.

“You know what we should do?” John giggled more because he was drunk and not because it was funny.

“What?” I asked.

“We should get tattoos,” he suggested, his eyes nearly closing.

“You know what… that is one great idea! Let’s go,” I said as I tried grabbing his hand, but missed it.

“Who’s going to drive us?”

“Garrett and Anny. Come on before I sober up and realize what a mistake this is,” I said as Garrett got his keys and all four of us got in the car.

“Why are you guys doing this?” Garrett asked, one hand on the wheel and the other holding Anny’s.

“Because there was nothing left to do at the party, duhh!” I yelled. John and I were like the children in the back seat tonight.

“These sidewalks are huge. We should make baseball fields with them and then all the children can play,” John suggested.

“Oh my God, you are such a genius! That is the best idea I’ve heard in my life,” I responded.

“Have you ever noticed that whatever drunk people say sounds like something a 3 year old might say?” Anny stated. We eventually arrived at the tattoo parlor. I stepped out of the car nearly falling on my face as everyone stared at me.

“Hi, what can we do for you tonight?” the guy at the desk asked.

“We, my man, will be getting tattoos tonight to celebrate… life,” John said, slamming his fist against the table.

“Alright, do you have anything in mind?”

“You know what would be funny? If we got lip tattoos,” I giggled.

“My girlfriend is a genius! Alright so, I’ll write Live and she’ll write Love,” John said to the man.

“Lip tattoo? Impressive. Go on and sit on the chairs. I’ll be with you in a moment.”

The pain was excruciating. I nearly fainted, twice. Once we were done though, it looked pretty cool. We paid and left and Garrett drove Anny and I home first, followed by John. When we reached my driveway, John was sleeping, so I kissed him on the cheek, thanked Garrett and Anny helped me into the house. I was going to have the worst hangover tomorrow.