A Story to Tell Your Friends

The California sun beat down on the back of my neck as I shifted my belongings from the back of my car to my new apartment in LA. My wavy, blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail to keep me cool, but all the heavy lifting was staring to wear me down and I could hardly breathe I was feeling so stuffy. I longed for a cool breeze to sweep down the street and give me the energy to carry on with what few boxes remained in the back of my car.
“I need a break,” I finally admitted to my roommate and best friend from back home. “I can’t stay out there any longer, it’s killing me.” Tammy laughed at the way I dropped onto our sofa, grabbing a drink out of our still sparsely stocked fridge and throwing another bottle at me, which I caught gratefully and rolled along the back of my neck to cool me down.
“You’re such a baby, Clara,” Tammy laughed, sitting next to me, green eyes shining beneath the brown hair that had fallen in her face. “You’re going to have to get used to this heat if we’re going to stay here forever.” I groaned, longing for the reasonable temperatures of Washington State and beginning to question why we had ever come here in the first place.
“Can we at least go shopping or something?” I muttered, finally taking a gulp of my water. “I just need a break from lugging boxes and we need to stock up at least.” Tammy opened her mouth to protest, though I quickly cut her off. “Come on, it needs doing and we’ve only got today and tomorrow before I start work. I’m not going to be the most efficient person in the world if you don’t give me a break.” She rolled her eyes at me, knowing I was right. We’d been friends since Middle School and inseparable since Junior year of High School. We’d gone to college together, taken the same major and had almost the same plans in life, so it only made sense that we took this step together too. Our parents had argued with the both of us until they were blue in the face, but they’d finally conceded when they’d realised that we would do this with or without their consent. They’d helped us pack, crying as we left but not being able to face coming with us. Not that we would have allowed them, we’d had too much fun stopping in random cities along the way and drinking until we knew we’d hate ourselves in the morning. It had taken us three days to get here after all the time we’d wasted and now we were rushing to get sorted before we started our new jobs.
“Okay, fine, but we’re be best off taking my car, since yours in nowhere near being empty.” I grinned, jumping up from the sofa and pulling her up with me. I was excited to explore a little, even if we were only going to be picking up groceries and basic home supplies we hadn’t brought with us. “And find out where the nearest Walmart is, would ya? I’m not driving for hours after the last few days,” she shouted over her shoulder as she moved toward the bathroom and I went to check my car was locked up tight. What? New city, horror stories galore: no way am I risking my shit.
“Ooh! We need this!” I shrieked again, picking up yet another candle holder, though this one was multi-coloured glass and I was already picturing the way the front room would look at night with a candle burning in it. I’d been attempting to throw everything that wasn’t on our list into the trolley since we’d arrived, though Tammy was on hand to remind me that we didn’t need most of what I was picking up, even if she sometimes got caught up in it too.
“Clara, we need towels and lamps, not pretty things,” she sighed, reminding me once again I needed to curb my spending. I pouted at her nonetheless, attempting to guilt her into allowing me this as well as the other items she had relented on. “No.” I huffed, putting it back down and trudging behind her on the way to the bathroom department in the search of towels.
“Can I at least get a Rapunzel towel?” I begged, picking up what was clearly a child’s beach towel, and showing her the picture of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider plastered to the front of the towel I had most recently picked up. She laughed at me, nodding, telling me that it was on the list so she couldn’t argue. “Does that mean I can get a Disney lamp, too?” Tammy continued to laugh at me, though this time shaking her head in refusal. I laughed back, dropping my new towel in the trolley.
“But she’s allowed one!” A male voice behind me protested. “You can’t tell me I’m not allowed it because of my age when she’s allowed one!” I glanced at the pair behind me, taking in the tall, dark-haired man who was clutching a Pokémon towel and the slightly shorter and slightly lighter haired man with an exasperated look on his face.
“Jack, man, come on,” the shorter of the two said. “You’ve already picked up candy bars for dinner, tried to ride a Spiderman skateboard and bought the entire boxset of the animated Batman.”
“Can you tell him he’s being unfair?” The taller guy, who I was now starting to recognise as the bassist of a band I’d once been beyond obsessed with, asked me. I chuckled.
“Man, I’d love to, but my mom told me not to get involved in strangers’ arguments,” I told him, holding my hand up in defence. “Besides, you look like a poser with Pokémon, you need to find one with Jared Leto’s face plastered on it. Much cooler.” His eyes widened at the suggestion, turning back to the shelves of beach towels.
“Thanks for that, we’re going to be here for another hour before he realises there isn’t one,” the other guy, who I now recognised as Alex Gaskarth, said to me. I laughed and waved him off, turning my back on the pair and following after Tammy, who’d left me alone in the aisle in her pursuit of household goods.
“Now, don’t freak out,” I started, when I finally caught up with her in the lighting aisle. “But I’m pretty sure at least half of All Time Low is walking about this store.” Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped, clearly regurgitating our college emotions over the band. I’d lost track of them, for the most part, around 2012, though I still caught the occasional song on the radio, that’s not to say I didn’t feel the same rush of emotion when I heard their old albums play. Tammy, on the other hand, was still very much into them, and owned every one of their albums. I told her about my encounter in the towel aisle as we carried on with our shopping, her scolding me for not asking for a picture or their autographs or something before I’d left them. For the remainder of our trip around the store, she filled me in on everything she’d learned about them since 2012, spelling out Alex’s wedding to Lisa in all the detail she could muster and gushing about the shows she’d been to since college. I nodded along, paying very little attention and occasionally interrupting her to plead for junk food while we piled the week’s shopping into the trolley. I was getting away with a lot more junk food than I would normally, taking full advantage of her distraction.
She was pushing our shopping out of the store, me again paying very little attention as I sent a text to my parents, filling them in on what I’d been up to and assuring them Tammy and I were both perfectly okay after our drive, when I walked straight into the back of her. I cursed her, dropping my phone in the process and asking why she’d stopped. I picked up my phone from the ground, dusting it off and checking for damage.
“It’s them,” she hissed, pointing out the two guys I’d run into earlier coming out of the store opposite us. I rolled my eyes at her.
“And?” I asked, making my way over to her car. “They’re just normal dudes.”
“Yeah, because you’d be totally chill if Mark Hoppus walked out behind them.” I snorted, knowing she was right but shrugging my shoulders anyway.
“Just go talk to them,” I told her, finally noticing she wasn’t following me. She protested, stammering about how she couldn’t possible interrupt them while they were out and about. I sighed. “If you don’t do anything, I will.”
“Clara, no. It’s not important,” Tammy stated, finally starting to move toward her car in the lot.
“Hey, guys! I thought you were going to be in there an hour looking for Jared Leto,” I shouted at the pair. The two of the turned, looking at me confused for a second before laughing.
“Jack twigged a lot quicker than I gave him credit for,” Alex shouted back, making his way toward me and Jack following behind with a sloppy grin on his face.
“I’m Clara,” I told them. “And this is Tammy.”
“I’m Alex, and this is Jack,” Alex told me.
“I kind of already knew that,” I admitted. “Tammy is crazy obsessed with you guys, and she wanted to know if she could maybe take a picture with you?” Alex and Jack looked slightly taken aback, though laughed and agreed.
“I am so sorry about her,” Tammy mumbled, though handing me her phone to allow me to take the picture and fitting herself in between the pair. The pair told her not to worry, that they were used to it. Anything for a fan.
“Say cheese,” I said, aiming the phone at them. The boys pulled faces as I clicked the button and Tammy grinned widely. Though she pretended to hate me right now, I knew she was hella grateful. I handed her phone back to her, and she inspected the picture closely.
“What about you?” Alex asked. “Aren’t you ‘crazy obsessed’ too?” I laughed at him as he smirked at me.
“Sorry, married guys just aren’t my deal.”
“Then Jack still stands a chance,” he stated, eyebrows wiggling. I laughed again and Jack punched Alex in the arm, apologising to me for him.
“It was nice meeting you guys, anyway,” I told them. “Thanks for not freaking out when I acted like a creeper for the sake of her.” I jabbed my thumb in Tammy’s direction.
“It’s no problem,” Jack told me. “I’d be happy if any creeper knew her way around rad beach towels like you do.” I waved goodbye, and Tammy and I made our way home.

Notes