Lest I Forget

I'm So Emo Chanel

"Kirstie Kirstay! Kirstie Kirstay!" Scott's voice bellowed throughout the apartment as he set his keys down in the bowl on the table right next to the front door with a clink. He set his camera bag behind the bowl and made his way towards the couch.

"Scott Scott! Scott Scott... uh, your name is only one vowel. It's not as fun." Kirstin popped up from behind the counter in the kitchen, closing a cabinet and setting the cutting board down on the table. "How was work?"

"Really great, actually." Scott hopped on the couch, stretching his entire body out on the length of the couch and crossing his arms behind his head. "I didn't get much recording in today as I'd hoped. I got to talking to Troye about his new album and we spent the entire time talking about it. He let me hear his demos and I just basked in his glory. I can't wait until I've formed an album of my own."

"All in good time. You like onions, right?" Kirstin pulled an onion out of the bag she had on the counter. "I'm making pasta. Bring on the tears."

"I love onions! I'll comfort you while you cry. Can I help you with anything?" Scott lifted his head, watching as Kirstin began peeling the outside of the onion off and tossing it in the trash.

"No, you just do your thing. Cooking gets me in my zone." Kirstin began cutting up the onion and she sighed loud. "I'm so emotional. Play me something sad."

"You got it. Where's my uke?" Scott reached behind his head and felt for the ukulele, which he always left behind the couch. He only played it for leisure.

"You can't make a ukulele sound sad."

"Wanna bet?" Scott began tuning the strings, singing along with each note while he tuned, making hideous faces while tweaking the knobs. "G. C... C sharp... C... E-WWWW. Ew! E flat... E. A-HHHHH. B... B flat... B more flat... A. Strum." Scott strummed and rested with satisfaction. "Alright, let's do a sad D minor key."

"You're weird," Kirstin said with a sigh. "I'm not emotional yet. Sing me a song, Hoying."

"Okay, okay!" Scott cleared his throat and began.

"She's cutting onions on a rainy day.
Her heart is crying and her pain is here to stay.
Everybody knows that cutting onions is a myth.
These tears are raw emotion, baby."

"Oh god. Give yourself a Grammy." Kirstin fake cried, sniffling. "Keep going. My heart can't take it."

"She's making pasta, and she's feeling so sad.
She wants to hug her noodle and wants to hug her dad."

"Wait... you noodle, or the actual noodles?"

"You're interrupting my song, KT."

"Sorry." Scott cleared his throat again and continued.

"Now. Where was I? She's CRYING at the kitchen table.
She left her horse standing alone in the stable.
So she cuts onions to cover up her pain.
While she cries, it's pouring rain."

"The horse is all wet. I'm so emo chanel." Kirstin finished cutting the onion up and she wrapped up what wasn't used and tossed the small handful, into the boiling pot behind her. "Your creative brain gives me life, bae."

"You give me life." Scott absent mindedly continued to strum the ukulele, letting his mind wander. "So, what did you do today?"

"School is school. The kids were so well behaved today. It's the last week before all of their standardized testing. It's like they know how I feel during that week. You know how boring it is... we have to walk around the room and observe. We can't be on our computers. We can't read a book. We can't sit down. We've got to constantly walk in and out of the desks and monitor. Kill me now."

"You're changing their little minds, Kit. Be their beacon of light. Their sunshine on a cloudy day. Be their month of May." Scott began strumming the appropriate chords. "I guess you'd say, what can make me feel this way? Kirstin." Scott stopped strumming and covered his mouth, quieting his voice. "Kirstin. Kirstin! Talkin' 'bout Kirstin.... KIRSTIN!"

"My best friend is such a charmer." Kirstin rolled her eyes. "So, that was my day. How was yours?"

"Well... I didn't get much recording accomplished, but I did meet somebody new." Scott held onto the base of the ukulele and let the fret board stick in the air. He jerked it lightly like he was shooting bullets from the fret board.

"Spill!"

"His name is Mitch. Today was his first day at RCA. I've never met him before. He's got the voice of an angel, that's for sure. OH!" Scott nearly leapt off the couch. He put the ukulele back against its post behind the couch and grabbed his camera bag. He carefully pulled the photo out from behind the camera. "For the record, these old school Polaroids are so badass. That's what the future lacks... instant, tangible photos." Scott admired the two pictures of him and Mitch. The first was perfectly posed... raw, innocent, and perfect. The second captured Scott's nature in utmost sincerity. He was a hugger for sure, and he couldn't let Mitch go without expressing that fact. He set the camera bag down and took the photos over to Kirstin and held them up to her. She looked at the first photo and smiled, and panned her eyes to the second and shook her head, lightly laughing.

"He's a cutie. Don't go falling for him now." Kirstin chuckled. She put a lid on top of the pot and walked around the corner. "So, where are you going to hang those pictures? Or are you hanging them at all?"

"Absolutely I'm hanging them. They'll go on my corkboard and we'll see how things go." Scott headed towards his bedroom and began hanging the two pictures. He laughed audibly while placing the first one. "You know what's so odd? I notice that I always have more photos on this cork board every day. Some of them I don't even remember taking." Scott scrunched his face up. There was a photo of him and Kirstin with a Santa beard on Scott and, alas, Kirstin's newly blonde hair. He had no idea that she'd had it blonde since November of last year... but he wouldn't ever know that. He just woke up assuming she'd done it overnight for some bizarre reason. Nothing was to claim these newly added photos to his board. Some days he'd severely question them. Other days he'd just think, man, I must have been too drunk to remember... which is funny, because I don't drink anymore.

"That was a fun year," Kirstin spoke softly to herself, admiring her best friend from the doorway.

"What was that?" Scott's head snapped at the sound of her voice.

"Nothing." Kirstin approached Scott and put her hand on his back. "Funny... I don't remember that photo either. Maybe we were drunk."

"But you just dyed your hair this color?" Scott looked at Kirstin's hair and ran his hands through it. She had to think fast on her feet. As tired as she was this evening she knew she didn't want to have to go through his emotional realization tonight... it was easier to attack it at the beginning of the day rather than at night, because it kept him up all night and made his next day a living hell.

"Maybe it was a wig." Kirstin shrugged her shoulders and pat Scott on the shoulders. "Come on. Enough photos. It's time for dinner." Scott stared at the cork board and bit his lip.

"I just can't help but..." He shook his head and took a step back. "You're right. I'm overthinking it." He laughed with uncertainty in his tone and turned away from the corkboard. He turned away from the confusion and the memories... the memories he lived out but won't ever retain. The particular memory in question was from December 25th, 2013 at the Maldonado family Christmas party. Having Kirstin's family close by was an absolute blessing. With Scott's parents being deceased it made it easier on him to have them near. They "adopted" him into the family and made sure he belonged... and he did, especially at family parties. One of their gifts that year was a cute Santa and reindeer combination outfit. Kirstin squealed with delight when she saw the reindeer headband. It was inevitable that she'd choose the headband, while Scott put on the Santa beard and hat and held his stomach while letting out bellowing laughs.

All of these memories were captured in photos. They would remain on those photos and remain just memories... memories that Scott would wake up the next morning and forget.