I'm Seeing Double

James wakes up in a heap up blankets and pillows and also alone. He looks over at the bed. Rory might be there since he doubts that she fell asleep next to him. However, she isn’t there. He starts to get up to look for her, but then he doesn’t have to. He can’t see her, but he can hear her.
“You want it,
You got it,
Here’s your freakin’ song!”
James has no idea what his new friend is singing, but it doesn’t sound like a happy song. Well, it sounds like it’s a funny song, but it’s not very nice. He really hopes that she isn’t singing about him. Does he snore? Does he drool? Does he talk in his sleep? He really hopes that he doesn’t do all that stuff. He feels his chin. It doesn’t feel like it has dried spit on it. Well, they are just lyrics. Maybe he shouldn’t take them so seriously. When Rory gets back to the room, her hair is wet, and she’s not singing anymore. She’s also not wearing what she was wearing last night either. The teen spots him and goes over to him.
“I see that you’re up.”
“Yeah, I woke up not that long ago. Were you... Were you singing in the shower?”
“Yeah. My sister is the one that really likes Bowling for Soup, but I had one of their songs in my head. I heard her playing them before she left. Maybe that’s how it got in my head...”
“She left?”
“She went with our nana and papa to a coin show or something, and mom is taking Chubbs for a walk. That leaves us the only people in the house.” Then with a spooky voice, she says, “Meow...”
“O...K...”
“We’ll take you to the mall when Mom stops walking him and also when you want to. We are going to buy clothes for you. Well, I’m going to buy clothes for you. I don’t like giving Christmas presents anyway, so this is a great way for me to spend my money on something that isn’t a Christmas present.”
“I don’t get it. I mean, you’re still spending money on someone...”
“Yeah, I don’t get it either. So, what do you want to do before Mom gets in here.”
“How long are those walks?”
“I don’t know. She might be back already. I just wanted to do something before you have to shower, and get ready, and then leave with us. We could, um, play video games, sing, talk about fan fictions, play a card game, read... I don’t know. I do know what’s going to happen in one of my fan fictions though. I just thought of it. Des’s dad can take her to get her nose and lip pierced. Yeah, I like it. Des is this character in one of my stories that is pretty much me. She even writes fan fictions like I do, and has a sister, and loves the same music, and other stuff. You probably don’t want to talk about that stuff though. I could teach you a card game. Why don’t I fuse the video game and card game together by teaching you to play Magic through the video game? I could do that. I don’t know if you want to do that though. Am I being controlling right now? I’m in a hyper mood.”
James chuckles. “It’s fine. Maybe I can learn after we go shopping. I kind of want to get clothes that actually fit me as soon as I can.”
“Alright. We can pick up all of these blankets and pillows.”
“OK.”
The two of them start to work on the pillows. They grab a couple of them and take them over to the bed. Realizing that they don’t all go on the bottom bunk, they only put some of them on the upper bunk. Rory sits on the steps while James hands her the ones that go on the top. Luckily, most of them go on the bottom bunk. They then get started on the blankets. Since the brunette is already sitting on the steps, they get the ones on the bottom first before both working on the bottom bunk which has the most blankets. While this happens, James decides to question Rory about some more things that she likes.
“What else do you like or do besides what you’ve already told me?”
“I like acting. I’ve been in a couple of plays, and I’ll actually be in the Christmas one. I’m an elf, a really girly and bitchy one.”
“I can’t see you like that.”
Rory goes into her girly voice. “Oh my Goddess. Can you believe what she wore today? It was so trashy. Why would anyone want to step foot outside in that? Ew.” She goes back to herself. “Those aren’t my lines, but that’s a taste of girly and bitchy Rory.”
“Wow. That was some voice.”
“I like doing different voices.” She does a few of them. “I love funny voices.”
“I can see you as an actress.”
Rory goes girly and flips her hair. “Thanks.”
“Is there anything else that you do? Do you do anything else that is school related?”
“I’ve been in the talent show every single year.”
“How many years is that?”
“This will be my 8th year. 3rd graders weren’t allowed to be in it when I was one.”
“I assume that you sing each year.”
“I’ve done some other stuff too. Last year I sung and played bass. Do you... Do you want to hear that song and the one from the year before?”
“Sure.”
Rory goes over to her acoustic bass and grabs it. She takes it over to her bed which is where her computer is laying. After setting the bass down, she goes onto the computer and turns on the first song. It’s another that James doesn’t recognize, but he doesn’t mind. It’s a soft song with a male singer. Rory sings right along and gets into it. He’s not sure if she has an meaning in this song, but it sure looks like it. When it’s over, he claps for her, and she smiles at him.
“That was ‘Apology’ by Alesana. It was the acoustic version. I can’t do the real one because I can’t scream. I did that song acapella for the talent show because I had no music. That was some year. I was pissed off though because I stumbled on the last line. The one idiot that never showed during practice didn’t know when to do my light change, and I couldn’t say the last line until it changed from red to just the normal spotlight. The next song that I’m going to do also pissed me off. There was something wrong with my CD.” She says that last part sarcastically. “Please. I just used it the day before during practice. There was nothing wrong with it. They just didn’t turn it up. It was really low, but it was so low in the beginning that I didn’t even know it was playing. I missed the whole first verse because of it. Damn it. Now I’m getting upset again. I must think of something nice... Rory Fact: The singer of Alesana, Shawn Milke, is Rory’s favorite singer. Rory Fact: The singer of the next band, Alex Gaskarth, is Rory’s second favorite singer. This next song is called ‘Therapy’, and it’s by All Time Low.”
Rory plays the instrumental and starts singing when the time comes. She doesn’t even touch her bass. There is no bass at all in the first verse and first chorus. Once those parts are over, it picks up a little bit by adding more instruments and becoming stronger. The brunette hits all of the notes with her voice and also on the bass. The one thing that James notices is how much she is into it. He thought that she was into it before, but she must not have any connection because he can see the connection with this one. When the song is over, he claps, but it is a lot softer.
“That was beautiful,” he tells her.
“Thank you.”
“I thought that you had a connection with ‘Apology’, but I see it in ‘Therapy’.”
“‘Apology’ has no meaning, but...” She sighs. “The reason why I was so pissed off during last year’s was because I was dedicated it to a friend of mine. She still liked it, but I was mad that I couldn’t give her the real thing, you know?”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“Enough of this sad shit. You go and get a shower, so we can go.Mom already left some clothes for you in there.”
“Alright.” He gets up and starts to walk away, but he stops. “Are you sure that you don’t want to talk about it?”
“I’m fine. Maybe another day. This day isn’t suppose to be about me. It’s about you, so let’s turn it into it.”
And with that, James smiles and goes to get ready.

Notes