I get to the kitchen and pack my bag. I look at my day-timer. It's the one with Dali paintings in it. I like Dali for some odd reason or another. He's just really cool... okay... some of them are really weird and you may think me a freak for liking them... I like a few of them. Anyway... having an artsy day-timer is great because I'm not much of a day-timer so his artwork actually draws me to my day-timer so therefore I see what I'm doing during the day and write it down. Aren't I amazing? Anyway, I look in Dali (that's what I've named it) and I see that I've got some piano workshops to go to. I'm helping out. Should be fun... little kids learning about Franz Liszt. He was pretty crazy. Have you heard his La Campanella? It's crazy!! He was also an arrogant man. He would sit at his piano in such a way so that the ladies could admire his profile. I can just see him smiling and throwing his head back and the girls all fall across the piano bench as he tries to play.
I walk out the door, tooth brush in my mouth, and I push the button for the elevator. The elevator door opens and who should be in the elevator but Owen. He abruptly drops his hands but he was too late. I knew he was looking at his reflection and fixing his hair. The elevator is surrounded in mirrors. It's kinda awkward. I step in the elevator and I continue to brush my teeth. Owen looks at me, "Your toothpaste smells good. It smells kinda like my shampoo..." I stop midbrush and just stare at him. Is this guy for real. I don't say anything. Awkward elevator music plays in the background. I feel like I'm in a movie. Owen turns to me again, "You know I've been thinking... what girl wouldn't wanna date this?" He circles his face and I nearly choke on my tooth paste. I literally cough. I keep coughing and Owen is wondering whether my reaction is positive or not. Thankfully the elevator doors open and I walk out, grab my three triangle cups, spit, throw them away and then try to leave the building before Owen can overtake me. Too late. He waits for me at the door. And follows me outside. "So... I was thinking that you and I should do another date..." I stop and turn. I've had enough, "What date, Owen? Oh you mean when you and Yal got in an index finger fight and somehow managed to fall in the pond and get covered in Pigeon crap?! You mean where you had your mom stand beside you so that I'd say yes to hanging out?! No! For the thousandth time, NO, NO, NO, NO!!" He stares at me for a few seconds. I feel like I've made myself clear. Who doesn't understand four "no's" being yelled at you? "Great... I'll see you soon then," He smiles and circles his face again, "This face is excited to see you!" I walk in the other direction. He's too much. I don't need any more crazy people in my life. I've got enough of them.
I walk down the street to my bus stop. My phone starts ringing and to my sheer horror it's farting noises. They're not like small farting noises... they're like... half fart, half... you get the picture. People stare at me as my farting phone continues to go off. By now people are looking at me as I'm searching through my bag. I'm sure I look like a person who has serious bowel issues.... Crap! Where is my phone? I dump out my bag onto the cement and am surprised by all that's in there. I grab my phone and look at the call display, "speaking of crazy people..." It's my mom... I hold my phone to the people watching me. "See, I don't have bowel problems... it was just a ring tone. I'm good. I only fart the normal amount which is you know... maybe... five... seven..." I stop when I see Ashton, the guy that hit me with a volley-ball, the hot guy who is probably hotter than Ashton Kutcher himself, walking towards me. I look at him not knowing what to say. If it wasn't my charm at the game the stopped him from asking me out, it's definitely my apparent bowel problem. He hands me a tampon, "You dropped this..." I take it. "Thanks, it's... yeah..." Ashton looks like he's about to say something more when my phone starts farting again. I answer it, "Hi mom." I try to apologize with my eyes to Ashton as I listen to my mom, "Hi Bridge, so um... are you coming to my beauty pageant tonight? I told you about it a few days ago... remember?" I close my eyes. For those that don't know... my mom lives for beauty pageants. It's her life. "Um, mom, I can't talk at the moment. I'll call you." I hang up, thankful to get rid of her. I hate talking on the phone with her. She sounds like Janice from Friends. Ugh...! I look at Ashton. He looks at my phone. "Some phone you got there..." I look at my phone and then back at him, "You know, I'm pretty sure it was my friend Peter. He does stuff like that. It's not like I would've chosen it." Ashton laughs a little and I literally feel like my mouth has lost all saliva, my heart has decided to go into cardiac arrest (either that or at this moment it's giving a cheetah a run for it's money), and my tongue has disconnected from the circuits that hold it to my brain, because for the life of me I don't think I'll be able to talk. "My friends do that to me too." I stare at him. I look at his hoodie. It's green with a Notre Dame emblem on it. Like The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Maybe he's been to the actual cathedral or seen the move. "I like the Hunchback of Notre Dame," Ashton stares at me confused, "What?" I realize I'm speaking out loud, "Notre dame. The hunchback. It's cool, right?" Ashton keeps looking at me and for the first time I wish my phone would start farting again. I shake my head trying to wake it up. "Did you go to Notre dame?" Finally. I said something normal! Yay! Good for me! The bus finally comes.
We get on the bus together and he stands nearby me. "Yeah... I got a degree in engineering there and played intermuruals". The bus goes over a bump and I swear I almost fall. "Cool... Rudy." Ashton looks at me again. I'm sure he thinks I'm incapable of speaking, "Rudy?" I try to clear my head and get some saliva back in my mouth so I can actually talk, "The movie. Like the movie." He stares at me for a second, "Right. Uh... where're you headed?" I shift my bag to my other shoulder, "Oh I'm the next stop. I teach piano at Motif Studios. You?"Ashton looks past me out the window and then back at me, "Um... I'm part of the Big Brother program. So I'm headin there." The bus stops and I smile good bye and walk towards the exit. I manage to trip off the stairs, but thankfully I didn't do a face plant into the cement.
I arrive at Motif in one piece and all the other teachers are already there setting up. My phone starts farting again. I answer the phone, "Mom, I told you I'd call you later."
"You didn't say when. And I have to talk to you about the pageant. I want you to come and listen to my speech. I've been working on it all day. You never come and watch. You know you could've been a beauty queen if you wanted."
I smile at my piano teacher, Clara, as I put my stuff in the office, just off the reception room. "Mom, how many times do I have to tell you... I don't wanna be a beauty queen."
"Look, I'm working all day today, so I'll come home tomorrow with Carina. We'll come for dinner, listen to your speech and then leave."
"Okay, hon, we'll see you tomorrow. Love, love!"
I don't even say bye. I hate the way my mom says bye. She's like this middle aged cougar who has no sense of... just no sense. I walk through one of the doors into the hallway. Four classrooms surround the hallway and each one has a piano in it. It's a really great set up. Clara is such a great piano teacher. She walks into the hallway. "That your mom?" I smile at her, whilst rolling my eyes, "Yup...". Clara smiles, "Another beauty pageant?" Again I roll my eyes as I quickly change my ring tone, "Yup. I mean... she doesn't get it. She's never gonna be a beauty queen. She's delusional." Clara gives me a sympathetic look as we walk into the piano studio. I set my books on the piano. I look around the all too familiar setting: A bookshelf piled with many different books of music. Some movie music, others music from different composers. There's a Monet painting above the piano and to the left there's a painting of a massive gate with light shining through it. Since I don't have a piano at home I always come here and practice and enjoy looking at that painting. Gives me hope that behind whatever gate or obstacle I'm facing there's something good. Something wanting to burst forth.
Sometimes when I watch a movie or movie trailer I get so emotionally involved in the story that I almost feel like it's a wooden spoon stirring an already boiling pot of desire to be around film or to be in film... so that painting gives me hope that at some point, hopefully, I'll get there.
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