---------- The Next Morning ----------
I didn't set an alarm to wake myself up. Usually, after a party, I don't set one just too see how long I'll sleep. After a normal party, I might wake up around noon, but today I woke up at about 9:30. I sat up and looked at the time. Why hadn't I slept longer? I was exhausted when I left. Was it because I actually had an amazing time with Joe? Joe. I couldn't get my mind off of him. I sat up in bed and shook the thought away from my mind. As I sat there, I realized I had nothing to do today. Maybe I could make a cover for my channel. If I had one done, then I wouldn't have to worry and stress when the ending of my break came up. I already had one music video in the can and ready to upload on the day I was supposed to be back from my break, so this would just be an extra song for next week.
I knew I couldn't do a full cover yet because I had sold my drums, but I could do a guitar cover of something. I pulled my phone out and started rifling through my songs to see if there was something I could quickly cover, even if I had to use some makeshift drums like my feet stamping or tapping on my guitar. I found a song that seemed perfectly ironic for my first video in L.A. A song by the Ides of March called "L.A. Goodbye". It had a lot of harmonies and not that much drumming. It was also perfect because it mentions the west side of Chicago in the song. I got to work looking up chords and fingerings on how to play the song. I sat there for a couple hours practicing the music before I recorded myself playing the guitar. I then recorded a basic tapping rhythm on my acoustic guitar to act as the drumming. I listened to the song about 20 times and tried to figure out every line of harmony and tried to recreate it. When everything was recorded, I got to work editing the audio and the video parts to make one cohesive video.
While I was editing, I kept thinking about some of the jokes Joe told me and how witty he was. I kept laughing to myself just thinking about our talk and how natural it all felt. I hadn't had a natural conversation with someone like that since Gio. Those are the people that you know you were always meant to meet. It felt right. But, that feeling that I had seen him somewhere before kept creeping back into my mind. Where did I know him from? Was it a movie or a show or something? It kept bugging me. A couple of hours later, I had finished editing my video and saved the final version to a folder titled "Finished Videos (Ready to Upload)" and I shut down my computer. I walked into my living room and collapsed on the couch. It was dark outside now which was normal for days when I recorded videos. The days went by so quickly, but I always feel a sense of accomplishment after doing something productive all day.
I pulled out my phone and an idea hit me. I know Joe's full name. I can look him up. I opened Safari and googled "Joe Mazelo IMDB". It auto corrects to the correct spelling of his last name "Mazzello" and I clicked on the first result. IMDB. The best resource for movie buffs like me. I scrolled down and see the first section about casting; the "Known For" section. The first credit on the was Jurassic Park.
"What?" I said out loud as I sat up straighter and focused in on the page. Nothing else mattered right now. How could he have been in 'Jurassic Park'? He's not old enough. I see that his character's name was Tim. I love movies, but I have a terrible memory. Since I love that movie, I knew that whatever character he was, I would recognize him, but I don't remember the character's names.
I opened a new tab and searched "Jurassic Park Tim". In less than a second, my mind was blown. I had been talking to the little boy from Jurassic Park! I was freaking out. Now I knew why Gio didn't tell me anything about him because if I had known this before, I would have been too nervous to speak to him. He was in this classic movie and seemed like the most down to earth human I had ever met. I sat there in a silence for a minute just thinking about his face. I knew that I knew him. He seemed familiar, but never in a thousand years would I have guessed this. I snapped back to reality and called Gio.
"Hello?" His voice seemed chipper on the other end.
"How could you not tell me he was in Jurassic Park? He's the little boy from Jurassic Park!" I was screaming into the phone. But, not too loud as to not disturb my neighbors. I am relatively new here after all.
"Well, usually when people talk on the phone, one person says hi and then the other person also says hi. It's kind of a standard thing." Any other time, I would have laughed this off and calmed myself down from whatever I was yelling at him about, but this was different.
"Gio!" I waited until he answered. I could tell that he was waiting for me to back down and say hi back, but that wasn't going to happen. I stood up and began pacing around my living room and kitchen.
"Alright," He sighed. "I didn't tell you because I knew it would freak you out, and you would never have the guts to talk to him. You're welcome." I could almost taste his snarkiness through the phone. I realized that through my fit of finding out Joe was in Jurassic Park, I didn't see what other movies he was in.
"Is there something else he was in that I should know about? Because if I'm going to talk to him again, I need to know everything. No more surprises." I wanted to talk to him again, but now I needed to separate the two images I had of him. One was a down to Earth guy who is friends with Gio, and the other is a famed and successful child actor who continued his fame into his adulthood. This was something I needed time to process, but I needed to know everything.
"Well," Gio began. Then there was a pause. Oh no. Was this going to be a long list? "He was in The Social Network, Simon Birch, and he wrote and directed and starred in his own movie. I don't really remember what it was called right now, but I know he was really proud of it. God, I can't believe I can't remember the name." While Gio went on listing movies and shows he had been in, I was having a small meltdown. How could I not know? How could I have evaded knowing about him for so long? Eventually, Gio stopped talking and I realized that I needed to say something.
"I..." I couldn't talk. What would I say? All I could get out was, "When is your next party?"
"Wow. You really want to come?" He seemed extremely shocked and overall very calm at the same facts that I was freaking out about.
"Will Joe be there?" I asked. I needed to talk to him. I needed to see his face again. My mind was in a tizzy. I really liked him, but how could someone as talented as that like me back? Why would someone like that even give me the time of day? And more importantly, why did he talk to me, enjoy my company, and want my phone number? I began feeling a little dizzy. I sat back down on the couch and laid my head down on the armrest.
"Yeah, he will be. He usually comes when he's in town. I know that Thanksgiving is next week, so it might be a gamble if he's there actually. Maybe I just won't have a party. Yeah, I won't. The next party is in two weeks." Gio tended to think out loud when we were on the phone together. He felt comfortable enough around me to just ramble and not be judged about what came out of his mouth.
"Well, then," I retorted. "I will be there in two weeks. Bye." I hung up without listening for his goodbye. I had to wait a whole two weeks before I could confront Joe about this. I just hope he will remember me for that long.