The Band

Pt. 1 - California

I took in my surroundings as I drove down the Colorado road. My best friend Tahlia was sitting in the passenger seat. We were moving to California because she got accepted into UCLA's Pre-Vet Program with a scholarship, ever since I had met her in driving school she has always wanted to be a Veterinarian, so it was a hard offer to turn down, and she didn't want to move all the way to California by herself, So I decided to go with her it wasn't like I was doing anything important back in Wisconsin, And I always looked for an adventure so it was the perfect opportunity. We gathered together our money to buy an apartment off the campus of UCLA. Who knows maybe I'll take a few courses at UCLA I've always Enjoyed photography. I look to the passenger seat and see Tahlia dozing off "TAHLIA!" I scream her name slapping her with one of my hands, she jumps awake "What the hell Aria!" She grabbed a bag of chips and begins eating them. "If I have to stay awake and drive, you have to stay awake too," I tell as we cross over to Utah. Tahlia rolls her eyes "we've been up for almost 24 hours if I don't get --- "shhh" I cut her off and turn up the radio. "Alright people here's your chance to win two free tickets to In Real Life's next concert in L.A. all you have to do is text the word Lifeline to 567328 in the next 3 minutes, the winner will be called in the next 24 hours! - again that's Lifeline to 567328" -- I pulled my phone out as fast as I could throwing it into Tahlias lap "Hurry! Text! Now!"

About 10 hours later we arrive at our new apartment building. We get out of my jeep to meet with the landlord. "Hello ladies, I'm Stephen your landlord." Stephen extends his hand, I shake his hand. "Hi Stephen, I'm Aria and this is Tahlia." I point to Tahlia, and she waves, "Okay, well there are a few rules not many just a few for the sake of the other residents." He continues, "If you have any pets like dogs be sure they don't bark excessively." Just then my Maltese dog Sam pops his little head out of the window of my jeep. "and no blaring music, be respectful of your neighbours, and if you need anything I live in apartment 101 here are your keys."

"Thank you!" I grab the keys and me, and Tahlia walked back to my jeep to get our stuff. I grabbed Sam's dog leash, A backpack, And suitcase. We find our way to our apartment we're on the 4th floor in apartment number 420. Tahlia unlocked the door "This is nice!" Tahlia made a 360 turn-taking in the entire apartment. To the left of the door, there was a staircase leading to a neat little loft, On the main floor was the kitchen/living to the right of the front door there was a door leading to the bathroom, and on either side of the apartment, there was a door leading to one of two of the bedrooms. "Aria, we have a balcony!" Tahlia could barely contain her excitement, Suddenly my phone began to ring. "Huh? An unknown number" I answered it anyway, "Hello! You're on the air with 302.6 what's your name?"

"Uhm, Aria," I replied unsure of what was happening.

"Well congratulations Aria, you just won two free tickets to In real Life's next concert!"

"Wait, is this for real?"

"As real as I am"  The radio show host chuckled.

"Thank you!" Was all I could get out.

"You're welcome!"

I hang up the phone, I could barely hold in my excitement now. "WE WON! WE WON!" was all I could say. "Wait, the tickets?" Tahlia looked at me in disbelief. "Yes, the tickets Tahlia" I gave a laugh. "When is the concert?" Tahlia asked. "Uhm, In two days." I look at her. "We get to go to an IRL concert in two days, We live in this apartment, And I'm starting a pre-vet program on a scholarship, can this seriously get any better?" Tahlia Chuckled. I look at Tahlia "Well they can for me, I call dibs on the biggest bedroom." I run to the slightly bigger bedroom. Tahlia Laughs and rolls her eyes "Fine but only because you're my best friend." She smiles. "Love you!" I shout out to her. "Love you too Aria" Tahlia shouts back as she heads to her room.

Two days later

"Hey, Tahlia! what should I wear?" I pop my head out of my bedroom door. "Uhm, How about your Green camo dress?" She plops on the couch. "Okay!" I head back to my room and put on my dress along with my favourite brown belt. "Hey, Aria?" Tahlia shouts. "Yeah?" I answer as I exit my room putting my brown hair in a ponytail. " Can you do my makeup for the concert tonight?" Tahlia Ask sitting up on the couch. "Yeah totally" I sit next to her on the couch. "Can you believe that in 4 hours we will be at an In Real Life Concert?" Tahlia says heading to my room and grabs my makeup bag, She sits back down on the couch and I begin doing her makeup. "It's pretty crazy, right?" I grab the eyeshadow and begin with a light purple. "It's like a dream," Tahlia says. "I'm still having a hard time believing it." I grab my black eyeliner pen and begin a wing. "Do you want me to braid your hair after this?" I ask Tahlia. "Yeah, thanks!" She replies. "No Problem" I finish her eyeliner and begin braiding her hair, I brushed out her silky Black hair and start a french braid. 

"Okay, I need to go fill up the jeeps gas tank," I tell Tahlia as I finish her braid. "Okay then do you want me to walk Sam?" Tahlia puts my makeup back in my bag. "Yeah thanks" I grab my keys and head to my jeep. After I fill up the tank I head back to the apartment to get Tahlia. "You ready Tahlia?" I make my way to her across the Apartment parking lot. "Yeah, Just gotta put Sam in the apartment." Tahlia makes her way to the elevator. "Okay," I say following her to the elevator. We put sam back in the apartment and head back down to the jeep. "I'm so excited," Tahlia says getting into the passenger seat. "Me too" I smile as I start the jeep and pull out of the parking lot.

 It was about a 45-minute drive to where the concert was, So we left early to get a good parking spot. Finally arriving we parked the jeep and got in line behind a bunch of other Lifelines that's what we call ourselves. We waited in line for about an hour until we were let inside, Tahlia and I made our way to the room where the concert will be, And before we knew it the concert had begun. We saw the boys walk on stage, "Look at drew, that's my baby," Tahlia said to me pointing to drew on stage, I just smiled. The boys started the concert off with a new song I hadn't heard before, It was good, But their songs were always good. I close my eyes and take a deep breath listening to the boys singing. The concert ended all to soon, everyone began to head out. Tahlia faced me "I have to use the restroom I'll be right back" she shouts to me so I can hear her over all the noise. "Okay, I'll wait here for you," Tahlia nods and heads to find a restroom. I watch as she disappears into the crowd, Suddenly I'm knocked over by a group of people trying to get out, I fall to the ground hitting my head on the hard floor, I couldn't get myself up suddenly I was left unconscious.