Jaime Preciado and the Mighty Ding

When I got back home, I just sat in my room. Autumn occasionally buzzed up on my phone, asking how I was. To quote that MCR song… I’m not okay.

I promise!

Autumn texted me about the meeting with Tony after I had left. She said that he smelled kind of weird and looked like he would chase girls with a rake.

I could agree to that last part.

I stopped talking to Autumn as soon as she started to mention the tour. I honestly didn’t want to think about it right now. Until he got back from the weeks long trip, I would continue to put a fake smile on my face and keep it there. Even if I had to hot glue it to my face, I would keep smiling.

My phone lit up from the corner and I sighed silently. I’ll tell her my phone had died or something. Maybe she’ll believe that it was eaten by one of my blind pugs. She would believe it if I told her JJ, my stupid dog, ate it.

He actually was kind of stupid. He consumed paper like it was Monster. If I had accidentally left piano music on the ground, I would find little bits of it scattered in the yard.

RIP sheet music.

The phone’s lights finally stopped being so obnoxiously bright and I threw my arm over my face. With a little sob, I let out the stress of today. Olivia was a jerk, or as Tony would call her, a butt-queef. Jaime hadn’t told me about tour. Tony spilled coffee on himself. I think Uncle Al almost got hit by a car after chasing a squirrel with his butter knife weapon.

Today was just one of those sucky days.

“Willow?” My mom knocked on the door. I rang her in. She looked at my sad state. Even the fan whirled solemnly.

“Everything okay?” She asked me. I shook my head.

“Was it that boy?”

“Jaime.” I agreed softly. She patted my hand. I looked at her as she sat down next to the bed.

“Oh darling, it’ll all be okay. What’d he do? I’ll kick that asschip’s ass for you.” She told me quietly. I smiled at that. Mom always called everyone she didn’t like at that moment an asschip.

Don’t ask me where that came from.

I scribbled down a little bit of what happened on the piece of paper. Handing it to my mom, I flounced back down on the bed, shaking a little bit from the sadness. Her blue eyes stared back at mine with liquid sadness in them.

“I’m sorry about that, Willow. Olivia sounds like a real bitch.” She chuckled. I nodded and sniffed. My mom had nailed what Olivia really was.

“Jaime.” I whispered. She rubbed my hand with her own. I felt a little better as she tried to comfort me. A cold breeze creaked through my open window. I looked outside. In a few days, Jaime and PTV would be leaving for tour. I had no clue what tour they were even going on. What a good friend I was…

“Willow, as nice as he is, we have to remember that he’s really famous. It’s so incredible that you got to know this boy, but we had to remember that he has a career he’s got to focus on.” She told me. I nodded, knowing full well that as soon as he got back from tour, I would just be another fan that he had met.

I was just another nobody once more.

Jaime made me feel really special, not just because he was a rock star and the fact he talked to me made me feel like I had walked on air. No, he made me feel like he actually cared and didn’t mind that I had a limited vocabulary.

And now I would be another nobody.

Zzzt! My phone screamed in the corner. Without even looking, my mom raised her eyebrow.

“Autumn?” I nodded. She walked over and tossed me my phone. I saw I had four missed messages. I know Autumn would be angry, but I didn’t really care right now. My mom started to walk out the door.

“Hey, Autumn probably misses you since you’ve been spending all your time with Himes.” She winked. I weakly grinned. I had been spending a ton of time with the boy.

“Go, have fun. Drink at bars and get fake ID’s. Go and run around stark naked in the park. Do whatever you guys do in your spare time.” She waved her hand and tromped down the stairs. I laughed.

“Just wear a condom!” She yelled back. It always seemed to be her catch phrase. I opened up my messages to see what Autumn was so anxious about.

Autumn: Just go punch him in the face and slash the bus tires.

Autumn: Kidding! Kind of….If you do, I won’t call the cops or tell….

Autumn: Where are you????

Autumn: GET BACK HERE WILLOW! I’LL SIC JAIME ON YOU EVEN THOUGH I DON’T KNOW HIS NUMBER OR WHERE HE LIVES!

I chuckled a little and typed another message.

Me: Calm yo’ self!

Autumn: Good! You’re back! I have something important to tell you!!!!!!

I grimaced a little bit at that last message. Her level of importance ranged from opening oranges to having an existence crisis. She’s had more mid-life crises than most eighteen year olds I know.

Me: What is it????????????

My stomach twisted in knots as I anxiously waited for her reply. Tapping my foot against the edge of the bed, I shook with the anticipation.

Autumn: TONY WANTS TO HANG!

I could almost hear her from where she lived. She seemed to be that excited. I chuckled softly but sorrowfully. At least her life wasn’t so confusing and ding-dong disappointing.

Yeah, I just said ding-dong disappointing.

Me: That’s aweeeesome! I can’t believe you’re going to hang out with Tony-freaking-Turtle-Perry!

Autumn: I don’t even know what I was thinking when I said yes. He was a total dork and had coffee dumped on him four hours ago…

Me: Autumn's got a date! Autumn's got a date! Autumn's got a date with a dork!

Autumn: I don't know what I was thinking when I texted you about this.... XD

Me: Well, I don’t know what you were thinking either, but I hope it was a good idea! XD

Autumn: Well, he is the one and only da Turtle and he’s a babe, so….I’m thinking this is going to work out. The only question I have is…how’d he get my number?

Me: ;)………

Autumn: YOU DID NOT GIVE HIM MY NUMBER!!!!!!

Me: I personally didn’t, but I might have had other sources do it….

Autumn: IT COULD’VE BEEN THE WRONG NUMBER AND I COULD BE GETTING RAPED RIGHT NOW!

Me: By a turtle? Highly unlikely….

Autumn continued her various rants intermixed with pixel squeals of delight. I smiled for her, but every text sent my heart breaking. Jaime had Olivia. Tony would have Autumn soon enough. I was that lonely pickle at the bottom of the jar that no one wanted to eat because it was floating in icky pickle juice.

And no one liked pickle juice.

Autumn eventually said goodbye to me and I knew she would just go to texting the tattooed man miles away. With a sad understanding, I set my phone back in the charger.

I, the lonely only pickle, curled up beneath a blanket and tried to focus on the Brightside of life. At least it was summer….

Notes