Homecoming
I'm not the jaded kind
It’s just another day in my life. Today I get to be the lead videographer for whoever (they don’t tell me ahead of time) is playing here tonight. I have got to say; however, I love my job regardless because I can look grungy and get away with it 99.9% of the time. This is a great step for me because it means I can make more money and get an apartment soon since I have been in this ghetto motel since I got here. I have been here a little over a week and have earned almost enough for about 2 months of rent for a studio apartment in downtown.
“Kennadee, can you come to my office when you get a chance?” my boss yelled to me.
“What’s up Joe?”
“I need you to interview one of the bands playing tonight. James will be your videographer for the shoot.”
“Oh okay, I’ve never done that before but I can try,” I answered with a smile. I will do almost anything to make a buck.
“Okay, perfect! Let’s go talk to their tour manager Matt to see the time frames we’re working with,” he replied to excitedly for my liking. In fact the name Matt sent chills down my spine for some reason which made me more nervous for the interview. We walk down the long hallway to an empty room to talk to the elusive tour manager for the “special” band.
“Matt?”
“Oh, hey Joe.”
“This is our newest staff member Kennadee. Kennadee this is Matt Flyzik, the tour manager for All Time Low.” That’s when it clicked, Matt was the tour manager and a really good friend for my dad’s band. I just stood there with my jaw slack trying to not look stupid which did not work out so well. Luckily he didn’t recognize me.
“Oh hey nice to meet you, Kennadee, is it?” he questioned as he stuck out his hand to shake mine.
“Yes, but you can call me Kenna. Nice to meet you too,” my reply was shaky.
If Matt was here that meant my dad was going to be one of the people I have to interview today. This going to get very interesting fairly quickly. I am not at all ready to face him yet but in order to keep my job I need to act like it’s just another day at work and that I am not interviewing the person who ABANDONED me 13 years ago.
Finally Joe left us alone to talk; the silence was kind of awkward at first so I finally blurt out, “Let’s talk logistics.”
“Um…okay,” he replies with a fake smile. God he annoys me already!
“How long do we have to conduct this thing?”
“You will have about three hours to get to know the guys and interview them.”
“Okay I can do that. When will they be ready to start?” I say as I start to panic.
“They will be here in 20 minutes. Are you okay? You look like you’re about to cry,” he looked me worried.
I look around to make sure it was just us around here and then I speak, “if I tell you, you cannot freak out because you’re the only one who knows.”
“I won’t tell a soul; scouts honor,” he replies with a smile.
“One of the guys in All Time Low is my dad.”
He looked at me shocked, “Oh my God! How could I not see it before? You are HIS Kennadee!”
“Yes, now quiet down,” I say sternly looking around, “I cannot lose this job Matt, I need the money!”
“Why?”
“Because I used all of my child support and babysitting money to make it here. I cannot go back to Nashville and really want to reconnect with my dad,” I say with tears in my eyes.
“Does your mother know you’re here?”
“Yes, she didn’t even try to stop me. That’s how much she cares,” I roll my eyes.
“I will keep my mouth shut for now Kenna but you have got to tell him soon.”
“Deal,” I say with a handshake.
We continue to discuss the interview for another 10 minutes, talking about what to ask and what not to ask; then the guys called Matt telling him they are at the venue and ready so he led me to the dressing room for this thing to begin. I being right away with questions fans submitted and Matt told me to ask. I decided I would “get to know” them after the interview and the cameras stopped rolling.
“So how have you boys been since the last time you were back here in Baltimore?” I decided I wouldn’t deviate from the script one bit so that I don’t give anything away.
“It’s been going awesome for us. We definitely couldn’t do it without our friends, families, and fans,” Alex answers.
“Do the rest of you ever answer questions?”
“Haha, rarely. We’ve kinda designated Alex to answer questions for us all,” Jack answers this time.
The interview continues like this for about 45 minutes until I got up the guts to ask one last question. “One last question for you all, if you could change or fix a relationship with anyone you’ve ever known, who would you choose and why?”
“I had a feeling you’d end with a hard question!” Jack exclaimed.
The boys all said their replies until it came to him. When he decided to answer he said, “I would be there for my daughter Kenna. The biggest regret of my life was letting her mom take her away from her. Please don’t put that in the actual video though, our fans don’t need to know about her right now.” I was shocked, he actually missed me. We finish our interview and James left the room to begin editing.
It was now or never for me to tell him. Then she walks in with her kids, her name is Daniella apparently, she just married him a few days ago. “Babe, who is this?”
“This is just the interviewer we had today Ella.”
“Oh well, she’s too pretty to talk to you, let’s go. I need to get the boys to practice.”
They both turn to walk out. That’s when Matt nudged me to tell him. “Wait…” I exclaim.
He turns around, “What sweetheart?”
“I need to tell you something sir…”
“Can it wait? I’m going to lunch with my wife…”
I felt defeated “Um… su----“
“No, it can’t dude,” Matt blurted out to save me.
“Okay then talk,” he sounded annoyed.
It took me a moment to get the courage to talked. When I did I replied as sweetly as possible, “hi daddy…” and bit my lip because of my nerves.
“Kennadee?!”
“Who is this Alex? And why did she just call you daddy?” his bimbo asked. She was really starting to piss me off.
He ignored her, “what… what are you doing here?”
“I felt like I needed to start over and Nashville wasn’t doing it for me, so I packed up and bought a one way ticket here. Don’t worry mom knows and doesn’t care, and I don’t have school anymore,” I looked at him nervously.
He looked like a deer in headlights. All he could reply with was “wow, just wow!” for a good half hour.
We just sat there awkwardly for awhile. Everyone, including Daniella, eventually left us to talk but we didn’t know what to say to each other. He finally spoke up and said, “I see the ring finally fits.”
“Yeah, I wear it every day to remind me of my childhood.”
“I’m glad you’re here and I am sorry I left you all those years ago.”
“It’s okay. I’m not the jaded kind,” I said with a shrug.
So this was it, I was finally about to say that I am Kennadee Jade Gaskarth again. now to see what the future has in store for the both of us.
“Kennadee, can you come to my office when you get a chance?” my boss yelled to me.
“What’s up Joe?”
“I need you to interview one of the bands playing tonight. James will be your videographer for the shoot.”
“Oh okay, I’ve never done that before but I can try,” I answered with a smile. I will do almost anything to make a buck.
“Okay, perfect! Let’s go talk to their tour manager Matt to see the time frames we’re working with,” he replied to excitedly for my liking. In fact the name Matt sent chills down my spine for some reason which made me more nervous for the interview. We walk down the long hallway to an empty room to talk to the elusive tour manager for the “special” band.
“Matt?”
“Oh, hey Joe.”
“This is our newest staff member Kennadee. Kennadee this is Matt Flyzik, the tour manager for All Time Low.” That’s when it clicked, Matt was the tour manager and a really good friend for my dad’s band. I just stood there with my jaw slack trying to not look stupid which did not work out so well. Luckily he didn’t recognize me.
“Oh hey nice to meet you, Kennadee, is it?” he questioned as he stuck out his hand to shake mine.
“Yes, but you can call me Kenna. Nice to meet you too,” my reply was shaky.
If Matt was here that meant my dad was going to be one of the people I have to interview today. This going to get very interesting fairly quickly. I am not at all ready to face him yet but in order to keep my job I need to act like it’s just another day at work and that I am not interviewing the person who ABANDONED me 13 years ago.
Finally Joe left us alone to talk; the silence was kind of awkward at first so I finally blurt out, “Let’s talk logistics.”
“Um…okay,” he replies with a fake smile. God he annoys me already!
“How long do we have to conduct this thing?”
“You will have about three hours to get to know the guys and interview them.”
“Okay I can do that. When will they be ready to start?” I say as I start to panic.
“They will be here in 20 minutes. Are you okay? You look like you’re about to cry,” he looked me worried.
I look around to make sure it was just us around here and then I speak, “if I tell you, you cannot freak out because you’re the only one who knows.”
“I won’t tell a soul; scouts honor,” he replies with a smile.
“One of the guys in All Time Low is my dad.”
He looked at me shocked, “Oh my God! How could I not see it before? You are HIS Kennadee!”
“Yes, now quiet down,” I say sternly looking around, “I cannot lose this job Matt, I need the money!”
“Why?”
“Because I used all of my child support and babysitting money to make it here. I cannot go back to Nashville and really want to reconnect with my dad,” I say with tears in my eyes.
“Does your mother know you’re here?”
“Yes, she didn’t even try to stop me. That’s how much she cares,” I roll my eyes.
“I will keep my mouth shut for now Kenna but you have got to tell him soon.”
“Deal,” I say with a handshake.
We continue to discuss the interview for another 10 minutes, talking about what to ask and what not to ask; then the guys called Matt telling him they are at the venue and ready so he led me to the dressing room for this thing to begin. I being right away with questions fans submitted and Matt told me to ask. I decided I would “get to know” them after the interview and the cameras stopped rolling.
“So how have you boys been since the last time you were back here in Baltimore?” I decided I wouldn’t deviate from the script one bit so that I don’t give anything away.
“It’s been going awesome for us. We definitely couldn’t do it without our friends, families, and fans,” Alex answers.
“Do the rest of you ever answer questions?”
“Haha, rarely. We’ve kinda designated Alex to answer questions for us all,” Jack answers this time.
The interview continues like this for about 45 minutes until I got up the guts to ask one last question. “One last question for you all, if you could change or fix a relationship with anyone you’ve ever known, who would you choose and why?”
“I had a feeling you’d end with a hard question!” Jack exclaimed.
The boys all said their replies until it came to him. When he decided to answer he said, “I would be there for my daughter Kenna. The biggest regret of my life was letting her mom take her away from her. Please don’t put that in the actual video though, our fans don’t need to know about her right now.” I was shocked, he actually missed me. We finish our interview and James left the room to begin editing.
It was now or never for me to tell him. Then she walks in with her kids, her name is Daniella apparently, she just married him a few days ago. “Babe, who is this?”
“This is just the interviewer we had today Ella.”
“Oh well, she’s too pretty to talk to you, let’s go. I need to get the boys to practice.”
They both turn to walk out. That’s when Matt nudged me to tell him. “Wait…” I exclaim.
He turns around, “What sweetheart?”
“I need to tell you something sir…”
“Can it wait? I’m going to lunch with my wife…”
I felt defeated “Um… su----“
“No, it can’t dude,” Matt blurted out to save me.
“Okay then talk,” he sounded annoyed.
It took me a moment to get the courage to talked. When I did I replied as sweetly as possible, “hi daddy…” and bit my lip because of my nerves.
“Kennadee?!”
“Who is this Alex? And why did she just call you daddy?” his bimbo asked. She was really starting to piss me off.
He ignored her, “what… what are you doing here?”
“I felt like I needed to start over and Nashville wasn’t doing it for me, so I packed up and bought a one way ticket here. Don’t worry mom knows and doesn’t care, and I don’t have school anymore,” I looked at him nervously.
He looked like a deer in headlights. All he could reply with was “wow, just wow!” for a good half hour.
We just sat there awkwardly for awhile. Everyone, including Daniella, eventually left us to talk but we didn’t know what to say to each other. He finally spoke up and said, “I see the ring finally fits.”
“Yeah, I wear it every day to remind me of my childhood.”
“I’m glad you’re here and I am sorry I left you all those years ago.”
“It’s okay. I’m not the jaded kind,” I said with a shrug.
So this was it, I was finally about to say that I am Kennadee Jade Gaskarth again. now to see what the future has in store for the both of us.
5/14/13