"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Lisa asked from her post in front of the mirror in our dorm room. "It'll be a lot of fun. Promise." She began to apply bright blue eyeshadow to her lids.
"Roll your jeans. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm just not up for being squeezed into a small, smokey room with a bunch of drunk people. No offense or anything, it's just not my scene. Besides, I've already lived through the eighties. Once was enough," I said, referring to the frat party's eighties theme.
Lisa shrugged her shoulders. "Suit yourself." She got quiet for a moment. Slowly, she turned around to face me. "Becca, you're not mad at me 'cause I'm pledging, are you?" she asked cautiously.
"No," I replied a little too quickly. "I... I have no problem with the fact that you want to pledge and I don't. But I don't appreciate the phone calls and knocks on the door at 3:30 in the morning."
"I'll talk to the sisters about that."
I smiled. "Thanks. Now put on your pledge pin and get the hell out of here."
"How do I look?"
"Like you belong on 'The Facts of Life.'"
Lisa laughed. "Good. Bye, Bec." "Bye. Be careful."
"Yes, Mommy." She giggled.
"Get out of here, you dork!"
With Lisa's exit, I got up off the bed and sat down at my desk. I began to sort through the mess. I had been hoping that living in tight quarters would make me a neater person. No such luck. Finally, I found what I was looking for: my psych book and a yellow highlighter.
I glanced at the clock. It read 9 pm. How pathetic. Here it is, Friday night, and I've got a big date with a text book. But the Hansons are flying in later tonight so Ike, Tay, and Zac can record their new album. I had plans to spend the weekend with them. This futile attempt to study would hopefully ease my conscience when I did jackshit over the next two days.
I was not two sentences into the chapter on adolescence when the phone rang. I picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hi. Is Becca there?"
"Speaking."
"Becca, it's Zac."
"Zac? Where are you?" I asked, thoroughly confused.
"Here in LA, at the house. We took an earlier flight. So, are you coming over or what?"
I glanced down at my book and the forty unread pages. Screw it. "Yeah, I'll be right over."
Quickly, I replaced the sweatpants I was wearing with worn jeans. I threw on a pair of sneakers, grabbed my keys, and shot out of my dorm like a bat out of hell, to quote Meatloaf.
In record time, I was standing on the Hansons' front steps. Well actually, they're Mercury Records' front steps since it's the label's house. But whenever the Hansons are in LA, this is where they stay. I rang the doorbell and waited. The door was opened by a girl, almost as tall as me, with blonde hair down the middle of her back.
"Jess?"
"Oh, hey Becca. Tay and Zac are in the living room. Everyone else is unpacking."
"Okay. Thanks. It's good to see you."
"You too."
I entered the living room. Zac was sprawled out on the floor. Tay was lounging on the couch, remote in hand. The two were utterly glued to the boob tube. "Hey! Shouldn't you two be unpacking or something?"
Zac looked up at me. "We already did. Considering what slobs we are, all unpacking entails is dumping the suitcases' contents onto the floor."
I rolled my eyes and walked over to the couch. I nudged Taylor's legs with my knee, and he moved them so I could sit. As soon as I did though, his legs were on my lap.
"Make yourself comfortable."
"I did," he said, smiling.
"So, where's Ike?"
"Out on the deck with Alison," Zac answered.
"He brought her? You mean I FINALLY get to meet the girl that forced him to call me at all odd hours searching for advice?"
"Yup," Zac and Tay said simultaneously.
Ike really had it bad for this girl. I advised this boy on just about everything, from asking her out to choosing gifts. I asked him why he didn't get Zac or Tay to help him, but he said he wanted a girl's opinion. Made sense. And at eleven-years-old, I don't think Jess would be much help. Not that I minded helping Ike though. He had been there for me many times over, listening to me rag about the evil that is men. I must say, my success in the relationship department equals Susan Lucci's when it comes to winning a daytime Emmy. How may times has she been nominated? Thirty-five?
"She's not gonna be with you the whole time, is she?" I asked, not that it's any of my business, really. They met at registration day at ORU, even though Ike's doing an independent study. The thought of Alison giving up her education for a man, ANY MAN, made me cringe.
"Nope. She's just here for two weeks," was Tay's response.
"Is she nice?" I had to ask. I care too much about Ike to see him get hurt by some girl.
"Well, if we saw more of her, we'd be able to answer your question," said Zac, his voice tense.
"Zac, when a couple goes out, they GO OUT."
"Duh, Rebecca. But Alison, up until today, has said a total of about ten words to the family. I don't know why she even bothered to come," Tay defended Zac's response about Ike's girlfriend.
"Sorry. Can't answer that one for ya," I said, patting his leg. "Okay, this is ridiculous. I came here to see three of you and I only get two. If I knew this was gonna happen, I would've stayed at the dorm and read that psych chapter."
"Oh, what's the matter? We're not good enough for you to spend time with?" Zac teased me.
I playfully kicked him. "Nope. I don't know why I even wasted my time coming here." I got up from the couch and made my way towards the door.
"Going so soon?"
I stopped dead in my tracks. I turned around with a huge smile spread across my face. "Hey, Isaac."