Esther's Phone Call

0 4 0
                                    

(Avi)

"Hey, guys?" William asked, sticking his head in the makeup room.

Our heads swiveled around to his voice. Adam whimpered as he tried to turn to look at him, only to have his head turned back around firmly and set square on his shoulders to look straight ahead.

"Keep still," Jessica ordered. "How'm I supposed to detangle if you keep moving around?"

"Sandwich fixings in the break room," William told us. "Help yourselves."

"Awesome," Rob proclaimed, popping up from the couch. "I'm there."

"No you're not, you're here," Chance countered with a giggle, having gotten progressively sillier as the evening went on. Poor Scott couldn't even get him to cooperate with his dance lesson, because he just kept goofing off. At least Rob had tried. He was a bit hopeless—I'd tell him to move his body to the left and he'd move awkwardly to the right; I'd pat the hip I wanted him to move and he'd lumber through the move I'd tried to show him. He could barely coordinate a step, touch, sway, but at least he was actually working with me and attempting to do the casual dance I was showing him. Scott finally told him to go back to his box. Maybe Austin and Adam could carry them. They were the best of the bunch.

"Go get eats," Kevin agreed, nodding us forward.

We wound our way around to the back room and pieced together sandwiches. I helped myself to a bag of Lays and a sprig of grapes before studying the drinks. I spent so long tried to decide amongst flavored waters and teas (raspberry water? Lemon water? Lemon tea? There were almost too many choices for an indecisive me) that Rob and then Adam stepped in front of me and grabbed their own drinks. Kevin coughed impatiently after awhile.

"Fine," I mumbled, finally just closing my eyes and grabbing blindly. Lime water. OK, this could be interesting.

Chance grabbed a tea and we all started back, Rob already nipping at his sandwich before we got halfway there.

"Grab a drink and move on, Avi," Adam advised. "Be decisive."

"Couldn't make up my mind," I groaned, taking a seat by the wall. I opened my chips and carefully laid them by my sandwich, using one to scrape off a bit of stray mustard that had sort of exploded on my bread. Dang. Give it one good squeeze and pfwwwt!

"Yeah... good thing I didn't get dressed yet," Adam muttered, rubbing at a spot on his shirt with his napkin. He was trying to get it off, I knew, but he was only spreading it and rubbing it in. There was an increasingly larger yellow-brown stain on his stomach area.

"I watched Rob, Avi, and Adam get squirted and was careful," Kevin laughed, Chance now grinning and trying to balance his drink top on his nose.

"Chance, you been hitting the bottle already?" Rob asked, squinting at him. "You're acting all drunk and goofy."

"Nah," he denied. "Just playing." He adjusted the bottle cap on the tip of his nose.

"You're nuts," I told him, starting to play on my phone as I ate. No sense starting to comb my hair and do makeup now; I was just getting ready to get cleaned up. Current task: eat and chill. I got this. Easiest thing I've done all day. Engrossed in sending texts and wishing a few Visalia friends a happy New Year's Eve, I jumped when it actually rang. I grinned, seeing Esther's name.

"Hey, Esther!" I greeted her cheerfully.

"Avi, where are you?" she asked without preamble. No 'hello', no 'how are you', no 'what's up', nothing. Just a blatant question about my whereabouts.

Standing ByWhere stories live. Discover now