Not Quite Yours

Preface

Beep. Beep.

Opening one eye, Josie Bradford let out a little sigh before glaring at the vibrating phone on her bedside table. The bright rays of the morning sun nearly blinding her, she grabbed her phone off the counter before shielding herself with the duvet bed sheet covers.

Engulfed in the darkness underneath her sheets, she turned off her phone's alarm and stretched. It was going to be one long ass day. Slowly uncovering the sheets, she sat up in bed and found herself facing her roommate, Ki Abrams, holding a videocamera. 

"Oh, hi, I didn't see you there. I'm Josie Bradford and this is my morning routine," she greeted semi-casually—acting was never her strong suit—while ignoring Ki making weird faces behind the camera. Why was she friends with her again? She would never know.

Kicking off the bed sheets, she had one foot successfully off the bed before her other leg got caught and she tumbled loudly onto the floor. Groaning, she lay in the most awkward yoga pose, her face smushed into the ground.

"Ouch," Ki commented, stifling her laughter as she tried to keep the camera steady. "You okay there, Klutzerella?"

"We'll—we'll just cut that out," Josie murmured, her face still on the floor. Standing up and brushing herself off, she lead Ki towards the washroom. "And this is where the magic happens." Wiggling her eyebrows seductively, she opened the door revealing a plain bathroom. Ki rolled her eyes, pretending to gag at her bad joke. Well, that was one less subscriber she wouldn't miss, Josie thought. 

"So for those of you who want a face washing how-to, contrary to popular belief it's actually pretty easy," She grabbed a bottle of face wash and turned on the tap. "All you gotta do is combine the two and rub it on your face!"

"Losers." Sawyer Romero, their other roommate called out, shaking her head as she walked past the washroom. This was an odd sight to see as her roommate was notorious for never getting up before at least 1:40pm. Don't ask her why it had to be precisely 40 minutes but it was like Sawyer had an internal alarm clock that would go off at the same time everyday.

"Said no one ever." Josie muttered to the side, holding up a thumbs up and winking at the camera. A lot of her friends told her she had the worst jokes and puns but her subscribers loved them. Truly, she had no idea who or where she'd be without them. 

"What did you say?" Sawyer yelled from them kitchen.

"Nothing, mom!"

There was a moment of silence before a piece of bread was flung at her head. Staring at the bread on the floor, she diverted her attention to Ki laughing uncontrollably making for a terrible cameraman. "Why am I friends with you idiots?" She found herself asking aloud this time. Taking the video camera from Ki, she turned it off and picked up the piece of bread. "5 second rule?"

"Josie that was on the floor for at least 10." Ki corrected her, her eyebrows raised in a you-aren't-actually-going-to-eat-that-are-you way. Challenge accepted.

"Someone's phone is ringing!" Sawyer interrupted them, her head popping into the washroom. "I'm guessing it's Josie's because it's playing a dub step version of Bon Iver."

"Excuse you," Josie held up a finger about to correct her when she slowly lowered it and nodded her head dejectedly. "Yeah, it's mine."

Squeezing past her friends and out of the washroom, she nose-dived into her bed and answered her phone. "You know how it do."

"Josie?" A familiar voice replied. "Josie, why do you answer the phone like that? What if I was an important business call?"

"But you're not." She retorted sweetly. It was her managing rep Kat Sommers. She dealt with all of her business inquiries and lined up schedules for her. She'd come into her services a few months after Josie had hit 5.6 millions youtube subscribers. 

Kat laughed. "Where's the other girls? I have news."

"Girls!" Josie hollered, her hand covering the bottom of the phone as to not making Kat deaf. The woman needed her hearing if she was going to book more gigs for her. 

Ki tumbled in, belly flopping onto Josie's bed nearly missing her. Sawyer strolled in behind soon enough, one hand carrying a bowl of cereal and the other holding a notepad and pen. She was always writing songs whether it was commuting on a packed train, while working out, or any imaginable time it would socially be inappropriate.

Once everyone was settled, she put Kat on speaker. "Okay, we're all here. What's up?"

"So," Kat paused dramatically. Ki on the other side of Josie looked like she was going to strangle herself or the phone. Maybe strangle herself with the phone. Josie pat her on the head affectionately. Ki was her little weirdo. "What do you think of Viners?" 

Sawyer pouted her lips a little, contemplating her answer. She was the more mature one of the two. Always thinking a few steps ahead, analyzing situations and people before making a move. Life was like a chess game. 

Meanwhile, there was Ki. "Viners are hilarious, dude," She blurted, never one to think before she speaks. What was a filter? Ki did not know the meaning of one. But that's what made her spontaneous and funny. 

"I know some Viners. I met Sam Wilkinson and Nate Maloley when they were in New York during Christmas." Josie added. She vaguely remembered all three of them being super drunk and maybe some drunk bike riding at 3am in Central Park but she wasn't going to tell Kat that.

Sawyer swallowed a bit of cereal before chipping in. "I've done a collab with Shawn Mendes before. Other than that I'm not really in tuned with the Vine community."

"That's great. So there's a group of them that go on tour to meet fans and hold shows. They toured with Magcon for a bit but then long story short they're doing their own thing now. They want to add talent to their line-up this year and contacted us. It's a sixteen city tour in America and I think it'd be a great way to expand your channels while meeting your fans. What do you think? You guys up for it? It's mainly boys that Vine but they're trying something new by inviting Youtube artists. It's a great opportunity," Kat paused, rustling sounds taking place of her voice. "Shoot, I've got to get this important phone call on the other line but I'll call you girls back. Think about it and let me know, okay? It'll be fun and an experience. We'll keep in touch." With that, she hung up.

Josie blinked once and then twice. "What just happened?"

"I do not know," Ki answered, scratching her head. She looked more confused than the time Sawyer had to explain football to her. 'So, what's the point of the game?' She had asked after Sawyer had spent a good hour breaking it down. It ended up with Ki getting a pillow thrown to her face. Sawyer had a habit of throwing things. Thankfully it was soft things. Like bread, Josie thought wryly.

"Sounds fun," Sawyer commented. Setting down her empty cereal bowl, she started jotting down song lyrics onto her notepad. Without looking up, she added, "We should all go."

Josie and Ki stared at each other for a moment, silently thinking their decision through. Ki was the first to break out into a smile. "Did she say there'd mainly be boys?" The two other girls groaned, both grabbing pillows and throwing them at Ki.