"Alright, so we have to go through this thing," my dad announced with a sigh, rolling open the door of the storage unit.
"Dear god, are you a hoarder?" I asked, shocked to see the little room so packed full of stuff.
"Hey, in all fairness, a lot of this stuff is older than you, and some of it got put in here when you were getting ready to move in."
"You have women in here, too?" I joked, noticing the crumbling pile of playboy magazines that sat on the top of a dresser.
"Ha-ha, you're so funny," he said sarcastically. "Those are worth money these days."
"Are they? Because they're falling apart, and they're probably moldy from being in here."
"No, some of them are still okay. It's just the one on top that's covered in dirt."
"Gross, Taime."
"What? These are vintage."
"Just like you," I said with a laugh.
"Uncalled for. Gloves," he said, tossing me a pair.
"What's first?"
"Uh... let's try this front row of boxes. Trash over there," he said, pointing to an open space. "Should we go left to right?"
"Yeah. Let's do that."
"Okay," he said, carefully pulling out a chest of drawers.
"Isn't that heavy?" I asked, walking over to help him.
"Nope; wheels on the bottom."
"Ah, smart."
"Indeed... So, who's Archie?"
"Oh my god, already?" I asked with a heavy sigh, putting my hair in a ponytail.
"Uh, yeah! I was trying to ask you earlier, but you didn't want to talk."
"He's a friend. There you go," I said, chuckling as I put my gloves on.
"More."
"Fine... Basically," I began, pulling down a box, "I went with Pepe and Olli to the Viper Room, which," I said as I cut the box open, "you already know. You really should label these things," I said, shifting through the mixed up junk.
"I know," he replied, rolling his eyes as he handed me a sharpie.
"Anyway, the three of us sat at the bar for a while and talked. Probably for about an hour or so, just catching up, y'know? Then the two of them decided to go mingle," I said with air quotes.
"Let's just toss this whole thing," Taime interrupted, rifling through the random things.
"Taime, you didn't even look."
"Let me see, weird old board games, gross, yellow stained, empty notebook, whatever the fuck this thing was," he said, holding up a mangled piece of plastic. "I think it's safe to get rid of it."
"Okay... Anyway, as I was saying, they went to go do their thing and I stayed at the bar so that I could just watch. You know me, people watcher. Archie started talking to me and he sat down next to me. He lets off a really good first impression," I said, opening another box, which happened to be full of books. "You read?"
"No, never learned how," he joked, taping the box shut again after I scribbled 'books' on the side. "Story?"
"Right, well, we ended up doing some shots and just talking. I mean, for hours that's all that we did. Eventually we noticed that the club was pretty much empty, so we figured it was time to go home-"
"That one's labeled already," he said, pointing to the box I was reaching for. "Sorry, continue."
"Uh, we debated going separate ways but his hotel was closer so we just went there instead, and he got a bottle of wine, so we kind of kept drinking all night," I said, laughing as my dad drug out a plastic bin.
"You don't seem hungover at all," he noted, cracking open the box. "Old Faster Pussycat stuff. Want it?"
"Hell yeah, I want it," I said, pulling the bin over to another separate space. "And I guess I just got lucky."
"Was that all you guys did?" he asked, a touch of disbelief in his voice.
"Mm, well we made out and he took my clothes off, but that was kind of it."
"He only took your clothes off?" he asked with a laugh.
"Yes; I was too tired to do it, so he helped me out a little," I said, wiping my nose with the back of my wrist.
"Hm. Sharpie," he said, waiting for me to toss him the marker. "How long did you guys stay up?"
"Until about four, I think. we woke up at around eleven. Hey, what's in there?" I asked, pointing to a large metal trunk.
"Trash, probably," he guessed with a shrug.
"Well, let's take a look," I suggested, pulling the heavy trunk over.
"Told you," he said as I opened the lid. "Trash."
"What? Don't you dare throw this stuff away!"
"Lucy, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not twenty-one anymore; if I was, you wouldn't be here. I can't wedge my ass into that stuff anymore."
"But you can't get rid of it," I whined, flipping through the layers of clothes. "They're your vintage stage clothes!"
"I know what they are," he said with a laugh. "They're just going to sit in that trunk- unless you want them."
"Yeah, I want 'em! This stuff is so cool," I said, pulling out an old scarf.
"Well, shit! I haven't seen that in almost thirty years. I used to tie that to my mic stand all the time," he said, running the soft, sparkly black material through his hand, a glimmer of nostalgia in his eyes.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I mean, obviously I used other ones, too, but at first, this was the one I had."
"That's so cool," I said, internally screaming at how awesome this was.
Little background: I was a huge 80s fan. Faster Pussycat was one of my favorite bands for a long time, and when I was nineteen, I found out that my mom was a bigger fan than I was; Taime was my dad. Finding out was under an unfortunate circumstance, but when I told him, he seemed to have no trouble accepting it, almost like he had known all along.
Taime was more like a cool uncle in my eyes, even if biologically he was my dad. He was just so easy to talk to, and he was fun to hang out with. He always had cool stories, or was taking me to Faster Pussycat shows, introducing me to people at hair band festivals.
"Just make sure you wash that stuff if you're gonna wear it," he said, grimacing at the thought of how nasty some of those clothes probably were.
"Well, duh. They've been in there for how long?" I asked, laughing as he reached for another plastic bin.
"What was going on with you when I called you earlier, by the way? You seemed distracted."
"I was; Archie kept speaking Finnish and being weird."
"What do you mean?"
"Like, he was dancing around and doing body builder poses," I said, laughing at the memory.
"Oh... Well then you went and disappeared on me," he trailed off as he eyed me.
"Well you interrupted-"
"That's enough!" he shouted, cutting me off as he threw something in the trash pile. "Don't wanna know."
"Fair enough," I said with a shrug.
For the next half hour, we went through countless boxes and bins, checking duffel bags and looking at old guitars, which he gave to me, as he didn't want them.
"Are you sure? Taime, there's like six," I said, motioning to the extensive stack of guitar cases.
"Yeah, I have new ones. Plus if I ever really need them, I know where to go." He smiled at me and I hugged him, thrilled with my new scores.
"Thank you, you're the coolest," I said.
"I know," he joked. "So, do you at least like Archie?"
"Of course, I do."
"I don't just mean as a person, Lucy. I mean as... your person."
"Oh... oh. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I do."
"You're only 'pretty sure', but you've already slept together?"
"I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like I've known him for years. He makes me feel so... safe. And it's like he's- ugh, I don't know," I said, feeling like I was about to ramble and make a fool out of myself.
"Well, you've only spent time with him once. Maybe you'll figure it out when you go on a real date."
"Yeah, that would be nice," I mumbled to myself, unknowingly smiling.
"Oh, yeah. You like him. Here we go," he announced with a laugh.
"Hey, it's not a bad thing... To be fair, I usually ignore guys, and you know that. Maybe this is the universe's way of saying that it's time."
"Yeah, I bet your boyfriend would agree with you on that."
"He's not my boyfriend," I reminded him.
"But would you be sad if he was?" I shook my head, blush creeping to my cheeks. "That's what I thought... Remember the other day when we were listening to Tesla?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because I have one of their songs stuck in my head now."
"Which one?"
"Call it What You Want," he teased with a smirk.
"Oh, shut up," I said, throwing a balled up paper at him.
°°°°°°
"Hey, I'm just calling to see if you're free," I announced on Archie's voicemail. "I guess you're probably doing something but if you get a chance and you want to hang out, I'll be at the Whiskey A Go Go tonight, so... yeah. Maybe I'll see you there; if not, that's okay," I said with a nervous laugh, knowing that I probably sounded like an idiot. "Uh, bye," I ended awkwardly.
"Come on, Lucy," my dad shouted. "We have to go!"
Rolling my eyes, I fired back with, "I'm coming! Relax."
Grabbing my shoes, I jogged down the stairs, annoyed that he was rushing me.
"It's a ti- those look familiar... you look pretty. What do I not know?" he asked, taking in my appearance.
"Nothing... I invited Archie, but I think he's busy; I just got his voicemail."
"You just saw him like two days ago," Taime said, laughing as he grabbed his coat.
"So what? I like spending time with him."
"What about your old man?" he asked, feigning hurt.
"You're going to be on stage so it's not like I can hang out with you."
"You can if I pull you onto the stage," he mumbled quietly.
"Do not do that!"
"Why not?" he asked as he held the door open for me.
"Because."
"That's not a reason, Lucy Marie."
"I don't want you to do that... what if Archie shows up?"
"What if he does?"
"No," I said plainly.
"Oh come on! You don't have stage fright, and it's been a while since you've been on stage. I'm not saying that I'm going to do it, but I should."
"Please don't."
"We'll see," he said, smirking as we headed to the car.
On the way to the Whiskey, I was playing Santa Cruz for Taime, and he seemed to be enjoying it.
"So he's lead vocals and what?"
"Guitar... I think he's lead. I'm not so sure on that one."
"Hm. He's not bad."
"Yeah, I know," I said, glad that the dark hid my blushing cheeks.
"Hey, why'd the music stop?" my dad asked when the music suddenly cut off.
"Oh, shit... He's calling me," I said as I answered my phone.
"Oh," he mocked.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Lucy! Sorry I missed your call, I was taking a shower," he explained.
"No worries; are you going to make it tonight?" I asked, biting my lip.
"Well, I want to, but I don't have a ticket. It's a Faster Pussycat show, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but don't worry about it. I can get you a ticket," I said, looking at Taime, who nodded in agreement.
"You don't have to do that... How much are they? I'll pay you back."
"No, it's fine. I know someone so I can get us both in for free."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah!"
"Well then I guess I'll see you soon!" he said excitedly.
"Okay! Text me when you get there so I can find you."
"You got it, pretty lady. See you soon."
"Okay... bye," I said, smiling widely.
"Oh, man, you've got it bad," my dad said when the music had resumed.