Maybe I'll Get It Right Someday

When I got home from work, Justin was sitting at the kitchen table with a pile of mail. He was scanning over one letter with a huge grin on his face. "What's that about, Justin?" I asked, sitting next to him.

"Woodie," he replied, smiling at me.

"What?"

"The 2008 MTVU Woodie Awards. My band is nominated."

"Wow, that's great! What's a Woodie award?"

"It's an award made outta wood."

"... Kay. I'm going to look in on Matilda." Justin nodded. I kissed him, lingering for a few seconds. Okay, I kind of did mind the beard. It itched.

I found Matilda in her bedroom dressed in dark grey jeans, black socks, and a black sweater. She was listening to something I didn't remember ever hearing before. "Til, what are you listening to?" I asked, sitting down on her bed.

"Limbeck," she replied. "Justin burned a copy of one of their albums for me."

"Oh, cool. So you had a good day here with him?"

"Yeah. Did you have a good day at work?"

"For the most part. I just stocked CDs today since I don't know the system yet."

"Justin tried to teach me some stuff on guitar today." Matilda looked back at the magazine she was reading. "His guitars are too big for me."

"What are you reading?" I asked her. I looked over at the pages of the magazine.

"Alternative Press. Justin let me borrow it. I'm reading an article about his band. Actually it's mostly about him and his problems with alcohol." She lifted the magazine so I could see the cover. "See?" There was a picture of the band Chiodos, all of them wearing underwear and, yes, nothing else.

"I definitely see."

Tilly and I went out to the kitchen. "Are you guys coming with me to the Woodies?" Justin asked. "Oh, and what do you want on a pizza?"

"Pepperoni," I said, completely ignoring the first question.

"You're nominated?" Tilly asked, her blue eyes expanding to the size of dinner plates.

"Yeah," Justin replied. "Isn't it great?"

"It's awesome! I want to come along. And I'd prefer Canadian bacon. Mom. You and pepperoni."

Justin looked at me. "I'm not ordering the pizza until you tell me if you want to come along to the Woodies."

"I'll come. I want to be there. Just order Canadian bacon, it'll make Til happy."

"Sweet," Justin said. "Pizza and an award nomination."

As we all sat and ate pizza while watching Spaceballs, I asked Justin a question. "Do you think your band will win?"

"Huh?" he said, turning away from the TV briefly. "Oh. I dunno, there's a lot of hip-hop nominated this year and it tends to be more popular than rock. I wish I was a mog."

"I'm glad you're not a mog," I said. "It would be weird to date a man with a tail and big furry ears."

"But it would be so cool to have a tail and big furry ears."