Saturday Afternoon- Jason
3:48 P.M.
After I left Tamia, I soon found Raymond and Caiden and we headed home. Luckily, they had done all they'd plan to do and were ready to leave.
We had been home for a little while we I remembered something. "Uh, Caiden?" I ask my younger brother.
"What's up?" he asks nonchalantly.
"I heard that we're doing a show here in LA next month. When were you going to tell us?"
"Oh I already knew," says Raymond. "Actually it was my idea. Caiden agreed immediately and set everything up."
"So you guys weren't going to tell me?" I asked.
"Yeah, we were, eventually," said Caiden. "But wait, how did you find out?"
I hadn't told my brothers about Tamia yet. I wasn't sure if I wanted to, but I did need some advice on how to break it to her that I'm a celebrity.
"He met a girl," Raymond said slyly, likely because he noticed the smile that crept across my face.
"Alright man!" Caiden exclaimed as he reached over to high-five me. "But wait, what about that girl, umm... Denise?"
"Onise," I corrected.
"You still talk to her?" asked Raymond. "I guess not anymore since you met someone else!"
"She's still my girlfriend," I say. "Remember, we started dating before the tour? And how do you even know that I met someone else? I never even said that."
"You never denied it either," Caiden said. "Bro, what's her name? How does she look?"
"Caiden, it's not all about looks man," I said, even though I thought Tamia was gorgeous.
"Oh so she's ugly?" Caiden asked, sounding bummed.
"No!" I argued immediately.
"Wow, he really does like her!" Raymond said.
"She's just a friend!" I said.
"You're defending her pretty hard, bro," said Raymond. "Plus, you did say that you 'met someone else'. Is this the end of you and Onise?"
"I hope so," said Caiden. "That girl talks too much."
I was beginning to see that I may not get the advice that I needed from my brothers. But, when I really needed them, they always came through.
"Guys, I really need some advice," I say to them. "She doesn't know that I'm a celebrity and she really wants to be my friend. She says that I'm down to earth and so different from other guys she's met. She gave me her phone number and everything. I want to keep my fame a secret, but I also don't want to keep any secrets from her. She trusts me. I don't know what to do."
At this point my brothers became more sympathetic.
"Just call her and tell her man," said Raymond.
"Yeah," continued Caiden, "if she's really meant to be your friend, she'll understand. Although, I don't see how she didn't recognize you. Not to sound full of myself, but we're a pretty big deal in the music industry!"
"She doesn't listen to contemporary music," I replied. "But her friends do. What if they expose who I am before I do? What if she never wants to see me again?"
"Bro, calm down," said Raymond.
"Hey, does she have social media?" asks Caiden.
"I don't know, I didn't ask," I replied.
"Bro, find your phone and let me help you!" said Caiden.
I laughed. "I actually have it on me," I say as I pull it out of my pocket. The first thing I did when we got home was find my phone and put Tamia's number in it. "Wait, you're not gonna call her for me, are you?"
"No," replied Caiden, "but you can use a person's phone number to find them on social media."
"Really?" I asked. I honestly didn't know that.
"Yeah," said Caiden, "Now what's her name?"
"Tamia," I say.
"That sounds sexy," said Raymond.
"Chill, bro." I say, super defensively.
"Found her," said Caiden. "And she's hot!"
I quickly grab my phone from him. It was her. Hmm, she's not too active on social media either. Ten followers and following ten people. Probably her friends and family. I begin to browse through her pictures and followers. Yes, I guess you can say I was snooping. According to my brothers, I'm naturally nosy. I just say I'm curious. Maybe too curious for my own good, because I have often found out things that I didn't want or need to know.
By now, I've come across a picture of her and her boyfriend. Great. Without even thinking, I go to his page. Larry. Scrolling through his page, I find no pictures of Tamia. Hmm, interesting. Well, I guess I can't say too much. I don't have many pictures of Onise. But he's way more active on social media than I am, and still... no pictures of Tamia? Are they happy together?
I quickly go back to Tamia's page. I notice Raymond looking over my shoulder. "Man, she is hot!" he says.
"You should definitely follow her," said Caiden. "I know she'll follow you back!"
"But she'll also find out that I'm a celebrity," I said.
"Hey! Then you won't have to tell her anything," said Raymond. "She'll figure it out for herself!"
"You're off the hook man!" exclaimed Caiden.
"No," I argue. "She doesn't need to find out like that."
I take a deep breath and decide to send her a text message. I'm sure by now her friends have revealed my face to her, therefore revealing my identity. I couldn't put this off any longer. I had to tell her, or at least find out if she already knew. She had no way of contacting me. So I open up a new message and type:
Hey! It's Jason.
Umm... we need to talk...
There's something I need to tell you.
No more than thirty seconds later did I receive a message, from Tamia, reading:
Hey!
Um, yeah. We do need to talk.
Saturday Afternoon- Tamia
4:02 P.M.
We were still silent. Too shocked to say anything. Well, at least I was.
Finally, Vie says, "Oh my gosh! Tamia! You met Jason Draper!"
Her exclamation didn't interrupt what I was already thinking. "No. No, I didn't," I say trying to convince her and myself. There's no way that they could be the same guy. Celebrities are way cockier than he was, right? And he told me a lot about himself, why wouldn't he tell me this? Did he think that I was a crazed fan? No, I told him that I didn't listen to contemporary music. But did he believe me? Wait, is that why he ran off so quickly? I knew he'd heard Morrissa on the phone! So he wasn't going to tell me???
"Tamia!" Morrissa says, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I know what you're thinking: 'That's not the same guy!' But listen, how can he look like and have the same name as Jason Draper?"
"I don't know," Vie said, "Jason's a pretty common name. Did you get his last name?"
"I didn't," I say.
"Did you at least get his phone number?" asked Morrissa excitedly.
Once again I replied, "I didn't."
"Not that I don't believe you," said Vie, "but are you sure that he looked like this?" she asked, pointing to Jason in the picture.
"Yeah," I said.
"This is great!" Vie said. "I'm beginning to think your prom dress is magical! You're branching out, gaining new confidence, you met a guy, talked to him, and he's Jason Draper!"
"He is not!" I said, trying to convince myself. This can't be Jason. Not my Jason. Wait, my Jason? I immediately grab the phone again to begin searching. I noticed that Vie was on The Draper Brothers' page, so I assumed that Jason had his own. I find it with ease and begin looking through his photos.
"What is she doing?" asked Morrissa.
"She's stalking him, I know it," smiled Vie.
Okay I was, but I had to see for myself. Hmm, not that active on social media. Also, no pictures of his girlfriend. Honestly, I was really curious to see what she looked like. His page seemed as down-to-earth as he was—minus designer clothing. Hmm. I quickly go back to the band's page and begin scrolling. Photos from shows, their most recent tour, and—wait. My heart sank. There it was. A picture of him and his girlfriend, from six months ago by the date of the photo. She was gorgeous.
"Uh oh, she found his girlfriend," said Morrissa. How do she and Vie know these things??
"Y'all new he had a girlfriend?" I asked.
"Well yeah," said Vie. "He's dating that actress Onise Taylor. I didn't think that we had to tell you right away because you said that 'your Jason' had a girlfriend."
I was still quiet.
"No, it's not the fact that he has a girlfriend that bothers me," I said, unsure of how true that statement was, "it's just that she's an actress. She's famous. Like him."
I don't know why I was bothered by this so much. It's not like I was looking to date him. I have a— okay, I'm saying that way too much. Like I'm now trying to convince myself that I'm with Larry. But why does this bother me? Maybe it's the fact that I found out he was a celebrity. Maybe it's the fact that his girlfriend is also a celebrity. We live in two different worlds. I wasn't ever expecting us to be together (that's definitely out of the question now, even if I were single), but how could we even be friends?
Just then, my phone dinged with a text message. Since I was sitting with Morrissa and Vie, I assumed it was my mom wondering where I was. I'm usually home from the mall by now. I looked at my phone and saw:
Hey! It's Jason.
My heart skips a beat. It's him! Wait, it's THE Jason Draper. Okay, now I sound like Morrissa and Vie. This is my chance to find out the truth, even though at this point, I already knew. How could it not be him? Before I could open up the message to reply, I got another text—from Jason:
Umm... we need to talk...
Uh oh. My heart sank. Talk about what? The reality was setting in.
"Is that him??" asked Mya.
Just as I nodded to confirm, and received another message:
There's something I need to tell you.
Yep, this was it. I began typing.
Hey!
Um, yeah. We do need to talk.
"What's he saying?" asked Vie.
"He says we need to talk," I said.
"What did you say?" asked Morrissa.
"I said 'we do.'"
"Is he gonna call you?" asked Vie.
"Are you gonna call him?" asked Morrissa.
"I don't know," I said. "Either way, I should probably go. I'm not feeling too good anymore after all of this."
"Oh okay," said Morrissa, "but please, let us know what happens! No matter what, we'll be here for you."
"Yeah," said Vie, "whatever you decide to do— or not do— we'll be here for you."
"Thanks," I said, grabbing my bag.
I began to walk home. I wonder when Jason was gonna talk to me. Was he gonna call? Was he going to continue texting? It's been like seven minutes and I haven't received another text. Just then my phone rang, interrupting my thoughts. It was Jason.
"H-hello?" I answered immediately, and nervously.
"Hi," said the sweet voice on the other end.
"Hi," I said back to him, even though I'd just said "Hello."
"Um, I-I want to talk to you in person," said Jason. "Can we meet somewhere?"
"Uh, sure I'm actually on my way home from my friend's house," I said.
"Cool, what's your address?" asked Jason.
"I live at 5052 Laski Way, in Horseshoe Bend," I responded immediately. Once again, I'm giving out information to this guy like it's completely normal. But I feel like he's harmless. Ugh, why does he do this to me? Well, my parents will be there— oh, shoot! My parents. I have a guy coming over, that's not Larry. It took a lot to get them to even allow me to date him, now this? But it was too late.
"Okay I'll be there soon," said Jason. "Talk to you later."
"Bye," I say. OH MAN!
I started walking faster. My house was just around the corner so I would have easily beaten Jason, but I wanted to prepare my parents. As I unlock the front door, I noticed that it was quiet. Maybe no one was home? I walk into the kitchen and immediately see a note on the fridge:
Dad got called into work and we all went out to the store.
Will be home soon, mom.
Man I wish my mother would've texted me this! At least that way I'd know how long they'd been gone and how soon to expect them back. But I had to focus—Jason Draper was coming to my house!
I didn't know where we would sit or what we would even do while we were talking. As I tried not to freak out, my mind wandered to him. I actually couldn't wait to see him again. I really wanted to text him again, to make sure he was still coming, to make sure he knew how to get here—I mean, it's not that hard with GPS. My thoughts were soon interrupted by a knock at the door...