Bab's Uvula Who?, chapter 6
The flight home was peaceful for me. It went fast, mostly because I sucked up into my mind, thinking about everything. Vivian was on the opposite end of the plane, since I traded someone seats even if you aren't supposed to. Who really gives a crap anyway, right? The flight attendant must have been a little drawn back at the looks I gave her when she asked me what I wanted and everything. I was on the verge of tears, looked pale, and like a complete mess. My face was so pail, it looked as if I could be closley related to Gerard Way.
'Can I get you anything?' She looked at me. I just gave her a simple nod. 'Uhh. What would you like?'
'Pepsi' That was all I said. She looked afraid of me, and quickly gave me what I had asked for.
When we landed, I waited for the front of the plane to file out so I didn't have to run into her. I was avoiding her as much as possible. As much as I hate to admit it, I was afraid of her since then. I was afraid of her and her boyfriend.
Avoiding her didn't go as planned.
'Kristy, I want to talk to you' She said, waiting at the glass doors where we had entered the terminal.
'About?' I said, looking at the ground.
'I left Andrew for you' I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at her, my eyes itchy and red. 'I didn't want you to avoid me the rest of your life. You are scared. Right now you are. I can see it in your eyes. But... look.. you know how Jenny and I have been wanting to get our music "more out there?" '
I nodded.
'I know of someone that can get us a huge deal. And Jenny knows them really well. They heard some of our material and want to sign us right away. This label is huge too' She said. Jenny was the person in our band that played the guitar and sang for us. I shook my head no.
'Vivian. I don't want a huge deal. I don't want to be big. I have my own company' I said, starting to walk towards the exit, that was quite a bit away, as we walked around people of all kinds.
'But who said we will get super big. I just want to put our stuff out there. Have fun with it. Play for more people than we are now, have our growing fan base get bigger, make videos-'
'Vivian you are looking at the mainstream end-'
'No. I think this is a great idea' We kept cutting each other off. I didn't want to argue.
'What did Jenny tell you?'
'She wants to try it'
'You sure?'
'Positive. I just want to do this' She hounded on. I hesitated to answer.
'Fine'
* * *
The minute I got home, I threw my bags down, and called Jenny, while laying on my couch. I still didn't believe that she wanted to do this, but I still trusted Vivian.
'Hello?' She mumbled.
'Hey. How's it going?'
'I hate my life and I want to die'
'Seriously?' I asked, worriedly.
'Not currently. Have fun at the Grammies?'
'Well...' I told her about everything. How many people where there, Green Day, Andrew, Green Day, the fight with Vivian, Green Day, and Carrie. I was rambling about Green Day. I was growing attached to the people I never really liked within a few days. Then I brought the record deal up to her.
'I think we should do it' She answered.
'What if we suddenly become mainstream?'
'So? I don't want to be there but a lot of people don't and are anyways'
'I guess we are making a record then' I smiled.
'I'll call him right now'
For the rest of that day, I ended up just sitting around, catching up with people on the phone and spreading the word about us going to sign with this company. I didn't know much but I knew that isn't how record companies worked. But what do I know? I'm the little guy.
But I had to tell Tre.
* * *
The next day, I went to the airport to wait for him. I had called him early that morning, asking him what time he would be flying in. There was a strange variety of people there. Some made me uneasy about being near them and some made me wonder what the hell they were thinking since their body language was so unreadable. There was one girl there, that seemed to recognize me though.
'Hey. You know Green Day. Don't you?' She said, walking up to me. She looked and sounded almost exactly like Molly Shannon's old character on Saturday Night Live, Mary Catherine Gallagher. It caused me to laugh but I tried to hide it. Her skirt was even extra short and you could see her white and pink floral underwear sticking out of the back of it. I shook my head, trying to hide my laughter.
'Oh my God! You know them! How did you meet them?'
'And how the fuck do you know I know them?' I retorted, not meaning to be rude.
'I was at the Grammys. I saw you leave with him. Look I even got these pictures of you at a nightclub with him. You have to see them!' She said, starting to open her bag.
'No no. I'm good not seeing them. Thanks' I bit my lip and looked down. This girl just being there was cheering me up.
'OH MY GOSH! IS HE COMING HERE?' She suddenly burst out, causing a few people to look at us.
'No.. Sorry'
'What if he did come here...' She stuck her hands in her armpits and then smelled her hands. 'That would be amazing. I.. I don't know what I would do!'
I couldn't hold it any longer. I burst out laughing, making even more people look at us.
'What? When I get nervous I stick my hands under my arms and I smell them. It's gross because they smell so bad. It's dirty and bad'
'Okay is this some kind of joke? Honestly.. Or do you idolize Molly Shannon?'
'YOU JUST HATE ME BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE TRE!'
The girl confused me. I felt like I was on some TV show where they have cameras set up everywhere then laugh at you later on national TV. It was odd. But the girl was hilarious. I couldn't help but look at her floral panties just for kicks as she walked away. I'm not a pervert, but that was hilarious. I was looking around for cameras that could be for a TV show, but failed to find any.
About five minutes later, I was still cracking up at her even though she had left that long ago. Their plane had landed and I awaited them at the door, like Vivian had done the day before, for me.
'Hey Tre' I said, giving him a quick kiss and a hug.
'Hey! How you doing?' He said, putting an arm around me while he carried his carry on and we headed over to the baggage pick up.
'Great'
'Good'
'DADDY!' A little boy hollered, running over to us followed by a very familiar woman trailing behind him with a smile on her face.
'Frankito! Hey!' He said, as Frankito ran into Tre. You would never know it's his kid, that was for sure. But I could tell that, that had to be Claudia trailing behind him. The one I heard about. The one he lives with.
'Kristy?' She said. Holy shit. I know her. Claudia. School. Graduation. Bad times. Crap.
'Uhh. Yeah. Hi Claudia. Long time no see' I said. She remembers me as the bitchy punker chick probably. We had cussed each other out a few times in our past. We had been immature enough to spread rumors about each other too. Oh, the terrible, dreaded high school memories.
'You know each other?'
'Yeah. We went to school together. I haven't seen her since the day we graduated' She said. I didn't think I would see many people from school ever again. I don't know how this was working.
'You didn't say that, Kristy'
'I just made the connection' I put a fake smile on. Claudia could tell. I could tell her smile was fake too. We could both see the unreal actions that were taking place.
'DAD! There's your bag!' Frankito cheered. He was a cute kid. A ton of energy too. Tre I knew was energetic at times and I knew Claudia had a ton of energy.
'Thanks Frankie. You wanna get going?' He smiled. I could tell that he was very happy to be home with his kid. We started to make our way out to our separate cars in silence. Now, Tre wasn't going to ride with me. He probably either forgot she was going to come or just figured we would somehow come together, which made no sense at all.
'So how is this going to work?' Claudia broke the silence.
'What?' Tre looked confused.
'We came separately' She informed him.
'You can ride with your family' I spoke up. 'I'll be fine riding alone back to my place. You should really see your son' I failed to mention her. I had respect for her for her being with Tre and having a child with him even. I respected her for being a part of Tre's life. But our past wasn't helping me out. It was a long time ago yes, but it seemed like just yesterday.
'You sure?' Tre asked.
'Couldn't be more positive. I'll tell you what I wanted to later' I smiled.
'Okay. I'll call you. I promise' He reached over and kissed me good bye on the cheek and we walked our separate ways.
Later that day, sure enough he did call. This time I had more information though. Geffen Records. Yes, that was huge. And we were meeting with them in 2 days. Back to LA for Vivian and I. Actually Burbank. But they were really close to each other.
It was around 10 o clock. Of course I was still awake and willing to talk.
'You said you needed to tell me something' He said.
'Yeah. Vivian, Jenny and I are all headed back to LA for Geffen records. They want to sign us.'
'Really? Wow! That's excellent'
'I know but I don't know if I want to go huge like that'
'You don't? Why not?'
'I am willing to if the rest of the band is and they seem to be. Especially Vivian-' I started to ramble but he cut me off right there.
'Vivian. You on good terms or something all of a sudden?'
'We are on steady grounds'
'You're excited about this aren't you? I can tell' He laughed.
'Fine. I am' I admitted.
'Wanna celebrate tomorrow? Get a whole bunch of people together and reserve practically an entire restaurant?'
'I'm not paying for it, I hope you know that'
'I offered it. I'll take the tab. We can invite the guys, and you, Vivian and Jenny can invite people'
'Perfect'
'Is that all you had to say?' He asked. I was about to puke, I was getting nervous.
'Uhh. Yeah.' I lied. I had a secret, I wasn't going to share with him yet.
'Umm. Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then?' He wondered.
'Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Bye' I quickly hung up. I was nervous for some reason. But the party sounded increadible. So I instantly called Jenny and Vivian.
That day was pretty weird, I have to say. I wasn't expecting to run into Claudia again in my entire life, and I could only imagine what was going to happen later on. I think both of us were mature enough now, to not to get into fights. When I thought about it though, my stomach went nuts. I was afraid of her, because I didn't want to mess things up with Tre. I hadn't known him very long, but I felt like I didn't want to lose him. I wanted to keep him as long as possible. He was a really cool guy and I didn't want to mess it up somehow.
But I still had my secret I wasn't going to tell.
'Can I get you anything?' She looked at me. I just gave her a simple nod. 'Uhh. What would you like?'
'Pepsi' That was all I said. She looked afraid of me, and quickly gave me what I had asked for.
When we landed, I waited for the front of the plane to file out so I didn't have to run into her. I was avoiding her as much as possible. As much as I hate to admit it, I was afraid of her since then. I was afraid of her and her boyfriend.
Avoiding her didn't go as planned.
'Kristy, I want to talk to you' She said, waiting at the glass doors where we had entered the terminal.
'About?' I said, looking at the ground.
'I left Andrew for you' I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at her, my eyes itchy and red. 'I didn't want you to avoid me the rest of your life. You are scared. Right now you are. I can see it in your eyes. But... look.. you know how Jenny and I have been wanting to get our music "more out there?" '
I nodded.
'I know of someone that can get us a huge deal. And Jenny knows them really well. They heard some of our material and want to sign us right away. This label is huge too' She said. Jenny was the person in our band that played the guitar and sang for us. I shook my head no.
'Vivian. I don't want a huge deal. I don't want to be big. I have my own company' I said, starting to walk towards the exit, that was quite a bit away, as we walked around people of all kinds.
'But who said we will get super big. I just want to put our stuff out there. Have fun with it. Play for more people than we are now, have our growing fan base get bigger, make videos-'
'Vivian you are looking at the mainstream end-'
'No. I think this is a great idea' We kept cutting each other off. I didn't want to argue.
'What did Jenny tell you?'
'She wants to try it'
'You sure?'
'Positive. I just want to do this' She hounded on. I hesitated to answer.
'Fine'
* * *
The minute I got home, I threw my bags down, and called Jenny, while laying on my couch. I still didn't believe that she wanted to do this, but I still trusted Vivian.
'Hello?' She mumbled.
'Hey. How's it going?'
'I hate my life and I want to die'
'Seriously?' I asked, worriedly.
'Not currently. Have fun at the Grammies?'
'Well...' I told her about everything. How many people where there, Green Day, Andrew, Green Day, the fight with Vivian, Green Day, and Carrie. I was rambling about Green Day. I was growing attached to the people I never really liked within a few days. Then I brought the record deal up to her.
'I think we should do it' She answered.
'What if we suddenly become mainstream?'
'So? I don't want to be there but a lot of people don't and are anyways'
'I guess we are making a record then' I smiled.
'I'll call him right now'
For the rest of that day, I ended up just sitting around, catching up with people on the phone and spreading the word about us going to sign with this company. I didn't know much but I knew that isn't how record companies worked. But what do I know? I'm the little guy.
But I had to tell Tre.
* * *
The next day, I went to the airport to wait for him. I had called him early that morning, asking him what time he would be flying in. There was a strange variety of people there. Some made me uneasy about being near them and some made me wonder what the hell they were thinking since their body language was so unreadable. There was one girl there, that seemed to recognize me though.
'Hey. You know Green Day. Don't you?' She said, walking up to me. She looked and sounded almost exactly like Molly Shannon's old character on Saturday Night Live, Mary Catherine Gallagher. It caused me to laugh but I tried to hide it. Her skirt was even extra short and you could see her white and pink floral underwear sticking out of the back of it. I shook my head, trying to hide my laughter.
'Oh my God! You know them! How did you meet them?'
'And how the fuck do you know I know them?' I retorted, not meaning to be rude.
'I was at the Grammys. I saw you leave with him. Look I even got these pictures of you at a nightclub with him. You have to see them!' She said, starting to open her bag.
'No no. I'm good not seeing them. Thanks' I bit my lip and looked down. This girl just being there was cheering me up.
'OH MY GOSH! IS HE COMING HERE?' She suddenly burst out, causing a few people to look at us.
'No.. Sorry'
'What if he did come here...' She stuck her hands in her armpits and then smelled her hands. 'That would be amazing. I.. I don't know what I would do!'
I couldn't hold it any longer. I burst out laughing, making even more people look at us.
'What? When I get nervous I stick my hands under my arms and I smell them. It's gross because they smell so bad. It's dirty and bad'
'Okay is this some kind of joke? Honestly.. Or do you idolize Molly Shannon?'
'YOU JUST HATE ME BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE TRE!'
The girl confused me. I felt like I was on some TV show where they have cameras set up everywhere then laugh at you later on national TV. It was odd. But the girl was hilarious. I couldn't help but look at her floral panties just for kicks as she walked away. I'm not a pervert, but that was hilarious. I was looking around for cameras that could be for a TV show, but failed to find any.
About five minutes later, I was still cracking up at her even though she had left that long ago. Their plane had landed and I awaited them at the door, like Vivian had done the day before, for me.
'Hey Tre' I said, giving him a quick kiss and a hug.
'Hey! How you doing?' He said, putting an arm around me while he carried his carry on and we headed over to the baggage pick up.
'Great'
'Good'
'DADDY!' A little boy hollered, running over to us followed by a very familiar woman trailing behind him with a smile on her face.
'Frankito! Hey!' He said, as Frankito ran into Tre. You would never know it's his kid, that was for sure. But I could tell that, that had to be Claudia trailing behind him. The one I heard about. The one he lives with.
'Kristy?' She said. Holy shit. I know her. Claudia. School. Graduation. Bad times. Crap.
'Uhh. Yeah. Hi Claudia. Long time no see' I said. She remembers me as the bitchy punker chick probably. We had cussed each other out a few times in our past. We had been immature enough to spread rumors about each other too. Oh, the terrible, dreaded high school memories.
'You know each other?'
'Yeah. We went to school together. I haven't seen her since the day we graduated' She said. I didn't think I would see many people from school ever again. I don't know how this was working.
'You didn't say that, Kristy'
'I just made the connection' I put a fake smile on. Claudia could tell. I could tell her smile was fake too. We could both see the unreal actions that were taking place.
'DAD! There's your bag!' Frankito cheered. He was a cute kid. A ton of energy too. Tre I knew was energetic at times and I knew Claudia had a ton of energy.
'Thanks Frankie. You wanna get going?' He smiled. I could tell that he was very happy to be home with his kid. We started to make our way out to our separate cars in silence. Now, Tre wasn't going to ride with me. He probably either forgot she was going to come or just figured we would somehow come together, which made no sense at all.
'So how is this going to work?' Claudia broke the silence.
'What?' Tre looked confused.
'We came separately' She informed him.
'You can ride with your family' I spoke up. 'I'll be fine riding alone back to my place. You should really see your son' I failed to mention her. I had respect for her for her being with Tre and having a child with him even. I respected her for being a part of Tre's life. But our past wasn't helping me out. It was a long time ago yes, but it seemed like just yesterday.
'You sure?' Tre asked.
'Couldn't be more positive. I'll tell you what I wanted to later' I smiled.
'Okay. I'll call you. I promise' He reached over and kissed me good bye on the cheek and we walked our separate ways.
Later that day, sure enough he did call. This time I had more information though. Geffen Records. Yes, that was huge. And we were meeting with them in 2 days. Back to LA for Vivian and I. Actually Burbank. But they were really close to each other.
It was around 10 o clock. Of course I was still awake and willing to talk.
'You said you needed to tell me something' He said.
'Yeah. Vivian, Jenny and I are all headed back to LA for Geffen records. They want to sign us.'
'Really? Wow! That's excellent'
'I know but I don't know if I want to go huge like that'
'You don't? Why not?'
'I am willing to if the rest of the band is and they seem to be. Especially Vivian-' I started to ramble but he cut me off right there.
'Vivian. You on good terms or something all of a sudden?'
'We are on steady grounds'
'You're excited about this aren't you? I can tell' He laughed.
'Fine. I am' I admitted.
'Wanna celebrate tomorrow? Get a whole bunch of people together and reserve practically an entire restaurant?'
'I'm not paying for it, I hope you know that'
'I offered it. I'll take the tab. We can invite the guys, and you, Vivian and Jenny can invite people'
'Perfect'
'Is that all you had to say?' He asked. I was about to puke, I was getting nervous.
'Uhh. Yeah.' I lied. I had a secret, I wasn't going to share with him yet.
'Umm. Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then?' He wondered.
'Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Bye' I quickly hung up. I was nervous for some reason. But the party sounded increadible. So I instantly called Jenny and Vivian.
That day was pretty weird, I have to say. I wasn't expecting to run into Claudia again in my entire life, and I could only imagine what was going to happen later on. I think both of us were mature enough now, to not to get into fights. When I thought about it though, my stomach went nuts. I was afraid of her, because I didn't want to mess things up with Tre. I hadn't known him very long, but I felt like I didn't want to lose him. I wanted to keep him as long as possible. He was a really cool guy and I didn't want to mess it up somehow.
But I still had my secret I wasn't going to tell.
