Jaime Preciado and the Mighty Ding

When Mike Fuentes showed up at my door with a stuffed Rottweiler under his arm and a grin on his face, I knew it was going to be a rough day.

I mean, how did he get my address…?

“Ding? I started out. I was in a PTV shirt (surprise, surprise) and leggings. There was a breeze and I felt like leggings were very appropriate. My blind pug rumbled from the hallway, wheezing all the way. Don’t worry, it was my dumb pug, it was my slightly smarter one named Jake. He tumbled out of the doorway and smacked into Mike’s legs.

“Who’s at the door, Willow?” My mother called from the kitchen. She was cooking up a pan of nachos with pepper jack cheese. Mm….the smells!

“It’s Mike!” Mike called out.

“Wait, is that Jaime?” My mom yelled angrily.

“Ding!” I yelled back at her. Mike gave me a confused look as my mom loudly steamed. I could hear her slam down her pots and pans of nachos. I’m sure that JJ was having a hay day trying to find the cheese that had spilled on the floor from her anger filled rampage.

“I WILL KICK THAT ASSCHIP TO HIGH HEAVEN!” She yelled and stormed over. My eyes widened as she gripped a steaming pan in her hands. It was if she was holding the holy grain above her head, ready to smite Mike.

“Eek!” Mike yelped as she rounded the corner to see him. He jumped back until my mom lowered her weapon.

“Truce!” My mom yelped, blushing as she nearly smacked the man upside the head with a pan. It felt very Tangled-ish in the sense of my blonde haired mom with her pan and her companion pugs. Mike lowered his hands held the dog tightly.

“This isn’t Jaime…” My mom whispered to me. I shook my head and gently pushed her away, letting Mike step in.

“Ding.” I sighed. The drummer gave me a quick hug before going to sit on the couch. I jumped into the seat next to him and pointed at the dog.

“Oh, I met a little girl and she won me the stuffed dog at the arcade.” He laughed and stroked the dog’s head. That little girl must’ve melted his heart because he didn’t often keep stuffed animals, especially ones that were in the likeness of vicious dogs. Mike was more of a lazy dog person, like my pugs. I laughed silently as he patted the dog’s head.

“I’m thinking of naming him….Shut Up.” Mike stated. I shook my head. There had to be some story behind this…

“Why?” I scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it to him. Twirling the pencil between my fingers, I watched him glance at the scrap.

“Because every time someone asks me what his name is, I’ll tell them Shut Up.” Mike giggled like it was the most hilarious thing in the world as he held the dog to his chest. I just shook my head. His phone buzzed.

“Hey, Himes. Yeah, I got here.” Mike said into it. I perked up at the mention of the name.

“Jaime?” I asked. Mike nodded.

“No, no, I got here all right. And yeah, thanks a lot for nearly sending me to the Chinese restaurant.” Mike grumbled. I laughed silently. That did sound to me like a very Jaime-ish thing to do.

“He, sure. I’ll bring her there.” Mike snapped the phone shut and put it into his pocket. My mom was “secretly” watching us from the kitchen. She had half a burrito in her mouth. She must’ve moved from Nachos to Mexican food.

“Gmoshing shmomsher?” She asked with her mouthful. I blushed in embarrassment as Mike searched for the keys stowed in his pockets. When he looked up, my mom was eyeing him like she eyed any traveling salesmen-with slightly disgust and wary.

“I’m kidnapping your daughter to go to a park.” Mike waved. I smiled and gave her the thumbs up. She adjusted her posture, nodding in acceptance as she struggled to swallow the mouthful.

“Don’t let her on the swings. That’s how she broke her arm when she was four!” My mom called to us as we walked out.

“Will do, Ms. Caston!” Mike called and closed the door behind me. I jumped into the passenger seat.

“Jaime?” I asked hopefully. Would he be with Olivia? Would he be alone? Would he be wearing orange? I mean, if he was, I would have to slap him and then lecture the boy that we can’t wear a fruit on ourselves. Then again, it was a color…

“Yep. I elected to not tell your mom because otherwise she would’ve beat him senseless with a pan. I mean, it would’ve been very funny, but I we kind of need him in the band.” Mike clicked on the ignition and backed out of my driveway. The ride to a nearby park was fairly uneventful, but when we got there, a car was parked in the lot by the field. The park was on the edge of the suburbs. There was a soccer field that was nicely groomed and pained with stripes along the bare goal posts. A few benches were scattered on the edges of the public park near a couple red slides and four lonely swings. Only the wind was there to push them.

“Come on, MD.” Mike pulled me along. On the northern half of the field, an unkempt field stretched out. It reached a green finger out towards the town and other buildings. Hills moved the landscape. Overall, I loved this park.

Mike led me to a bench where I saw a figure sitting. The familiar tussled hair shivered in the wind as the drummer shoved me down. The man turned his head.

“Hey, MD.” Jaime laughed as I regained my composure. Mike skipped away before I could smack his arm.

“Jaime.” I smiled a little. He fingered something in his hand. I saw that he was fiddling with a little guitar pick. A tiny ring was looped through it. A silver chain was coiled in his other hand. It jangled as he played with it.

“So I’m guessing you’re wondering why I kidnapped you.” He chuckled…almost nervously. Shrugging, I stared out to a pond a few feet away. Some type of ducks were swimming in it. The pond wasn’t so deep. I should know. Autumn pushed me in once after I insulted her favorite season.

“I had Mike go kidnap you and he’s waiting in the car to return you in a little bit.” Jaime bumped my leg. I kicked his ankle. He just laughed. I rolled my eyes. It kind of felt like old times, but a little more tense. Right now, I would’ve rather been eating an orange than being with this “asschip”.

Maybe I should’ve brought my mom’s pan…

“Look, so I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about tour earlier.” Jaime started. I looked down to the ground. Jaime followed my lead and took sudden interest in a blade of grass that poked beneath his feet.

“Um, so I was wondering, because I forgot to ask you earlier…uh, um…” He stuttered. I crossed my arms and bore a smirk at the sudden loss of words. He was blushing redder than Tony’s dream Ferrari that would never be reality.

“Jaime.” I stated. He was snapped back into reality and wove the chain between his fingers, like a snake.

“What, do I have something in my teeth?” He asked.

“Jaime.” I sighed.

“Well do I?”

“Ding, Jaime, Ding.” I sighed and stood up. This was pointless. And if Mike thought he could keep me here until Jaime weenied up and told me what was on his mind, I would rather take my chances with Uncle Al while walking home.

“Sorry.” He mumbled. “Well, I just had to ask you…” He started. I felt a little knot tie in my throat. There was a distinct feeling that he was going to ask something important.

“Do you want to go on tour with me? Tony asked Autumn and texted me that she would be going along with us.” He asked me. My eyes widened. Tour? With them!? Was I dreaming!? Did someone slip me drugs and I was hallucinating!?!?

“Well, so we’re only going to be gone for about three weeks and we’ll be traveling through different states, but then we’ll be back.” Jaime smiled at me. I was going into full random dance party mode, but I held back. A single thought popped in my head.

Jaime must be telepathic, because he answered it immediately.

“So, Autumn will be coming along, and so will Olivia. She wanted to come along for the first two weeks.” Jaime kept his smile on my face. My brain was screaming nasty words, but I bit my tongue to keep from mouthing them. It took all my will to not frown.

“I hope you won’t mind. She kept asking and I had to say yes.” He laughed softly, kind of sadly. I shrugged and grabbed the piece of paper I always kept with a little nubby pencil.

I don’t think I could take two torturous weeks with that demon around me. I don’t think I could do it. Honestly, I would rather be stuck in a room full of oranges and forced to eat my way out than be with her for that long, even though she would leave early.

“Oh, that’s wonderful Jaime, but I can’t.” I wrote sadly. He scanned the paper, his face falling halfway to Belize.

“Oh.” Was all he said. Oh.

“I would love to, but I’ve just got stuff over the summer.” I scribbly with shaky hands. Lying was easy to write down. I could lie pretty well. I take naps easily to. Lying on the floor or on paper was a piece of cake.

“Is it because of Olivia?” He asked softly. I bit my lip, not knowing what to say. Well, hell yeah it was because of Olivia! But I can’t say that to Jaime. I don’t want him to worry about that. Olivia was his girlfriend. He should be with happy being with her and not worry about me.

He should be happy.

Happy.

“Oh no! She’s fine. I just have a crazy schedule. School applications and stuff…” I shrugged easily, but inside I felt like I was tearing apart from the seams. My arms were shaking as I handed back the paper. In all truthfulness, I had sent in my applications and was attending a nice college just north of here. Jaime looked really sad. I gave him a quick hug, trying to make him smile. The more I was around him, the sadder I was.

“I wish you could come on tour with us.” Jaime whispered. I shook my head.

“Jaime.” I struggled to hold back the tears. He let go of the hug and held out the chain for me.

“I was afraid you were going to say no, so I brought you this.” He whispered to me. I smiled a little and shook my head. I was bad with presents. The last present I had ended up punching me in the face and giving me a black eye. It was a jack in the box.

And Autumn teased me for having an irrational fear of jack in the boxes….

“Jaime.” I shook my head and pushing it away. It was too kind of him. I couldn’t live with this guilt. Jaime grabbed my wrists gently and dangled the guitar pick on the chain. The little rounded triangle was purple tie-dye and said Jaime on it. I bit my lip to keep from spilling tears.

Shut up and just run. My brain yelled at me. Before he could say anything or before I could do anything, he let go of my wrists that flopped uselessly at my side. I felt like that awkward pickle again. I just stood there awkwardly as Himes walked behind me and brushed my hair aside, clipping the latch around the necklace and letting the bass guitar pick dangle on my chest. I picked it up and looked at it.

“Have it. I’ve just lots more. It’s just something to remind you of me and vice versa. You gotta keep it safe for me, okay?” He asked. I nodded. The purple seemed to capture my sadness and reflect it perfectly. I saw the silver letters of his name glow on the pick.

Okay. I mouthed back.

“Good. Now I guess you gotta go-“ He started before I cut him off. I jumped up, wrapping my arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. He wrapped his arms around my waist and squeezed me back, as if I was going to disappear.

“I’m leaving in a couple of days.” He whispered to my ear. I felt a single tear trickle down my cheek before masking it with a fake smile.

“Jaime.” I whispered. Good for him. He’ll be on tour. He’ll see the fans.

He might forget about me.

“I really wish you could come along, but I understand that you’re busy.” He patted my back before releasing me. This was going to be the last time I was going to see him for a while.

“Ding.” I whispered sadly. I wiped away the tear and I could see he was starting to get emotional. Mike was probably in the car, watching us and thinking all was peaches and unicorns and oranges.

No, no it wasn’t.

“I have to go pack. I’ll see you in a few weeks, Ding. You better text me.” He chuckled through the growing sorrow. I nodded silently, knowing full well I would text him every day. We started to walk to our cars. When we got to the lot, he gave me a last hug before I went to Mike’s car.

“Bye, MD.” He whispered. I waved.

“Jaime.” I waved him off. Jumping into the passenger car, Mike was bouncing on his seat.

“I’m so excited that you’ll come with us and I can’t wait for all the fun times and you can meet our stage crew and and and….” He started before I cut him off and passed a piece of paper.

“I can’t go.” It read. His face fell.

“WHAT!?” He cried out. I shrugged, trying to blow it off like it was no big deal. It really was.

“B-but y-you can’t be serious! For cereal! I mean, is it Olivia? I make her disappear! I can hire a plane to the Sandwich Islands! I can clear your schedule-“ He started before I cut him off and passed a piece of paper explaining what I had told Jaime. His face fell even further as we pulled up into my driveway.

“Well, at least you have his pick. You know, it’s his lucky pick.” He shrugged. I bit my lip as Mike gave me a one armed hug.

“I’m serious. He never leaves tour without it. Look, I’m not supposed to tell you this, but…” He started, pounding his hand on the steering wheel. It made me jump. I cocked my head in curiosity.

“Jaime really likes you, in his awkward, homeless-haired ways, but he’s too weenie to tell you. So if he acts like a butt-queef, he really is one, but he likes you. And I know, I know, he’s with Olivia, but he’s an idiot and is just too awkward to say anything to you.” Mike pleaded to me. I blushed and looked at my slightly tied shoes. The laces struggled to hold on my old converse.

“Jaime.” I shrugged it off. No, is with Olivia. As much as I want to punch a bitch, I wouldn’t hurt my friend like that.

“Well, I’m going to slap someone, so I’ll see you later, MD.” Mike responded in the silence. I hopped out of his warm car and walked to the door, waving as I got in. As soon as I closed the threshold of my home, I broke down into choked tears. My mom watched sadly.

“Is it that asschip again?” She asked quietly. I nodded and shook my head, just confused by this situation. My mom spotted the purple and silver bass guitar pick on the necklace.

“Jaime.” I whispered sadly. She sighed and shook her head.

“I’ll get the pan.”

Notes

Hey guys! So it has come to my attention that in chapter three, there is a WHOLE CHUNK of the chapter missing! And since the site is being an asschip (as usual) and won't let me edit that chapter, I have an entire SCENE just gone from the story! So if it makes no sense how Willow suddenly gets Jaime's number and he's texting her in the fourth chapter, that's what happened.

Here's the rundown:

Jaime gives Willow a ride home. It's kind of awkward since she doesn't speak. He steals her phone, enters in his number, and BOOM! A Mexican is now in Ding's phone. There you go!

Sorry about that! For the contest since this is an entry, I'll actually message Writeislife (the contest host) the part that is missing.

Woops!