Categories > Celebrities > The Used > Why Don't You Just Drop Dead, McCracken?
Approximately five minutes later we were pulling up to the curb in front of our somewhat decrepit apartment complex and hauling ass out of the van in an effort to beat the stampeding hoard of people who were no doubt trying to tear down the door to our loft at that very minute. I could only think of what Mrs. Ratcliffe would say as she watched vulture-like from her peephole as my pierced and dyed friends of friends walked out of the elevator and into the apartment right next to hers. I raced to the elevator, balancing as much equipment as I could without crushing Billy who was yipping excitedly from my hoodie pocket. Once inside the loft I dumped everything I was carrying onto Adam’s bunk bed that he shared with Payton and began to scramble around trying to straighten up as much as I could before any guests arrived. The boys were able to bring in everything else, Amy claimed that she had helped, but for some reason I didn’t believer her.
Almost as soon as we had a chance to catch a breath the buzzer rang and it didn’t quit its incessant noise until our loft was full to bursting with loud music and rambunctious acquaintances. I think that I knew almost everyone who was in my house, except I wasn’t so sure that being ‘Adrianna’s second cousin who I went to high school with’ counted for much in the way of an introduction but I just shrugged it off and enjoyed the festive atmosphere and the attention. I was, of course, the birthday girl. Many of those who showed up had taken Waldo’s plea at face value as brought some kind of food or another, ranging from raw sushi to popcorn to hamburgers from McDonald’s. Others arrived with alcohol and presents, both of which are always greatly appreciated at birthday parties. So everyone made it in the door, more or less, at times the party spilled into the hallway and one of us had to rush next door and apologize to Mrs. Ratcliffe while trying to usher people back into the confines of our loft.
The party had been in full swing for almost an hour before my friends Jessica and her boyfriend Brian buzzed for me to let them in. I made my way to the door to be there when they arrived so that I could catch up with them. It took awhile to get there due to the fact that I kept getting stopped by people who I hardly knew and being told happy birthday. By the time I made it to the door where you could hear someone knocking faintly over the music that was playing a little to loudly I felt as if my smile was plastered onto my face and I just wanted to get away from the crowd before I hyperventilated. I opened the door expecting to see Jessica but I was instead greeted with a huge stack of pizza boxes that were teetering precariously in the arms of someone whose face I couldn’t see.
“Special delivery for Marla Reynolds.” A deep voice said from behind the pizzas.
“Damnit,” I muttered under my breath before turning back to the party and searching for the roommate responsible for this fiasco. “Who ordered so many damn pizzas? If you think I’m paying for this you’re crazy.”
“Don’t worry,” a slightly familiar voice said as its owner stepped around the leaning tower of pizzas (haha I’m a dork). Quinn smiled at me and motioned for whoever was behind him to come on in. “It’s taken care of .”
“Besides,” Dan continued. “It was all Bert’s idea anyway.”
“Yea,” Jeph said following his friends into the entranceway . “He said he’d die, literally, if he didn’t get some pizza.”
I smiled at the way that they had all continued along the same train of thought, almost as if they were such good friends that they knew what each other was thinking. “I think this is a little more than some pizza.” I replied motioning them into the loft as the pizzas began to tilt dangerously.
Russ and Shay followed Jeph sheepishly into the loft, each giving me a kiss on the cheek as they went, like fussy old uncles. The pizzas staggered into the apartment and Quinn guided Bert to the kitchen counter where he set them down quickly before flexing his fingers and giving Quinn a playful punch on the shoulder.
“I thought I would lose those bitches for a minute in the elevator,” Bert said loudly causing the people closest to him to give him a look and then some of them did a double take as if to reassure themselves that they weren’t hallucinating.
I turned to shut the door and noticed that my long-awaited friends Jessica and Brian were staring at me with their mouths hanging open. I looked around furtively before stepping into the hallway and shutting the door to the loft behind me. The music was muffled by the thick door and so I was assured that our conversation would be unheard.
“Hey Jess…Brian,” I said timidly reaching out to give Jessica a hug. “Happy you could come. How’s Spencer? Is he with a babysitter or is your mom taking care of him?”
“Spence is with my sister,” Jessica said automatically, blinking for the first time since I had spotted her in the hallway. “He wanted to come and see you, but I had to explain that this was a grown-up party and that Aunt Marla would take him to the zoo or something for a party just for you two.”
“Y-you know,” Brian stammered pointing a finger at the closed door behind me. “That was um- that was- Was that The Used?”
“Yes,” I said slowly, beginning to wonder if everyone who I told would react this way or if someone would see it was obvious that CydeCwyped would eventually be signed. I mean, I hadn’t seen Brian stutter like this since junior high.
“W-Why are they he-hear?” Brian asked as he took several deep breaths in order to help himself calm down.
“Well,” I began kinda shrugging a bit, as if rock stars attended my birthday party bearing pizza all the time. “ We decided that we didn’t want everyone to know just yet, but we’ve been signed by Reprise Records.
“What?” Jessica shrieked jumping a little as she did, her bright red bobbed hair bouncing with her at the same time.
“They’ve been signed,” Brian said his stutter magically gone and speaking in an amazed sort of way. “Her, and Waldo, and Adam, and Payton are going to be famous and we are going to be telling everyone ‘we knew them when’.”
“OhMyGod,” Jessica shrieked again jumping up and down wildly this time and wrapping her arms a little too tightly around my necki “I’m so happy for you! Just don’t forget about us when you’re rich and famous.”
“Never,” I said hugging her back as my eyes teared up a little bit. “You’re like a sister to me Jess, besides what would Spencer do with only fuddy-duddy Aunt Amanda to play with?”
“I gotta call Niki,” Jessica said unwrapping herself from around me and reaching for her cell phone, I swear Jessica has the tiniest cell phone in the history of cell phones. “She’s just gonna die if I don’t tell her.”
“No,” Brian and I said at the same time causing Jessica to look back and forth between us in a confused way.
“Why not?”
“We don’t want everyone to know just yet,” I said with a resigned sigh.
“Yea,” Brian agreed. “Plus we don’t want to spoil her birthday party. Today is about her, not about the band.”
“Oh,” Jessica said. “I get it. Well, I’m happy for you at any rate. Now let’s get in there and celebrate!!!”
“So,” I said reaching to open the door and letting the sounds of the party fill the hallway with noise. “What’s so great about those guys?”
“Who,” Brian asked seeming kinda bewildered. “The Used?”
“Yea,” I replied as we made our way to the living room area of the loft.
Brian’s face brightened as the music reached a fervor pitch and people in the room began to sing along with it. “Why don’t you turn around and find out for yourselves?”
I looked at him a confused way before I turned around to see what was going on behind me. Apparently the boys of The Used had decided to have an impromptu show right in the middle of my living room. They had dragged all of the equipment out of Adam’s room and set it up the corner over by the balcony and now they were playing. If Brian had thought that telling everyone that we had been signed would steal my thunder then have a world-famous band playing in the middle of my living room definitely took all of the attention away from me and my stupid birthday.
“What the fuck,” I said under my breath as Bert spotted me and pulled me too the front of the crowd that had formed around the band’s makeshift stage.
“ It's our time to shine through the doubt glorified by what is ours,” Bert sang somewhat ironically to me in front of all my friends and my friends of friends and my not-so-acquainted-with acquaintances. “We've fallen in love we've fallen in love it was the best idea I ever had…”
‘God how I hate you,’ I thought maliciously with a fake smile plastered on my face the whole time.
Almost as soon as we had a chance to catch a breath the buzzer rang and it didn’t quit its incessant noise until our loft was full to bursting with loud music and rambunctious acquaintances. I think that I knew almost everyone who was in my house, except I wasn’t so sure that being ‘Adrianna’s second cousin who I went to high school with’ counted for much in the way of an introduction but I just shrugged it off and enjoyed the festive atmosphere and the attention. I was, of course, the birthday girl. Many of those who showed up had taken Waldo’s plea at face value as brought some kind of food or another, ranging from raw sushi to popcorn to hamburgers from McDonald’s. Others arrived with alcohol and presents, both of which are always greatly appreciated at birthday parties. So everyone made it in the door, more or less, at times the party spilled into the hallway and one of us had to rush next door and apologize to Mrs. Ratcliffe while trying to usher people back into the confines of our loft.
The party had been in full swing for almost an hour before my friends Jessica and her boyfriend Brian buzzed for me to let them in. I made my way to the door to be there when they arrived so that I could catch up with them. It took awhile to get there due to the fact that I kept getting stopped by people who I hardly knew and being told happy birthday. By the time I made it to the door where you could hear someone knocking faintly over the music that was playing a little to loudly I felt as if my smile was plastered onto my face and I just wanted to get away from the crowd before I hyperventilated. I opened the door expecting to see Jessica but I was instead greeted with a huge stack of pizza boxes that were teetering precariously in the arms of someone whose face I couldn’t see.
“Special delivery for Marla Reynolds.” A deep voice said from behind the pizzas.
“Damnit,” I muttered under my breath before turning back to the party and searching for the roommate responsible for this fiasco. “Who ordered so many damn pizzas? If you think I’m paying for this you’re crazy.”
“Don’t worry,” a slightly familiar voice said as its owner stepped around the leaning tower of pizzas (haha I’m a dork). Quinn smiled at me and motioned for whoever was behind him to come on in. “It’s taken care of .”
“Besides,” Dan continued. “It was all Bert’s idea anyway.”
“Yea,” Jeph said following his friends into the entranceway . “He said he’d die, literally, if he didn’t get some pizza.”
I smiled at the way that they had all continued along the same train of thought, almost as if they were such good friends that they knew what each other was thinking. “I think this is a little more than some pizza.” I replied motioning them into the loft as the pizzas began to tilt dangerously.
Russ and Shay followed Jeph sheepishly into the loft, each giving me a kiss on the cheek as they went, like fussy old uncles. The pizzas staggered into the apartment and Quinn guided Bert to the kitchen counter where he set them down quickly before flexing his fingers and giving Quinn a playful punch on the shoulder.
“I thought I would lose those bitches for a minute in the elevator,” Bert said loudly causing the people closest to him to give him a look and then some of them did a double take as if to reassure themselves that they weren’t hallucinating.
I turned to shut the door and noticed that my long-awaited friends Jessica and Brian were staring at me with their mouths hanging open. I looked around furtively before stepping into the hallway and shutting the door to the loft behind me. The music was muffled by the thick door and so I was assured that our conversation would be unheard.
“Hey Jess…Brian,” I said timidly reaching out to give Jessica a hug. “Happy you could come. How’s Spencer? Is he with a babysitter or is your mom taking care of him?”
“Spence is with my sister,” Jessica said automatically, blinking for the first time since I had spotted her in the hallway. “He wanted to come and see you, but I had to explain that this was a grown-up party and that Aunt Marla would take him to the zoo or something for a party just for you two.”
“Y-you know,” Brian stammered pointing a finger at the closed door behind me. “That was um- that was- Was that The Used?”
“Yes,” I said slowly, beginning to wonder if everyone who I told would react this way or if someone would see it was obvious that CydeCwyped would eventually be signed. I mean, I hadn’t seen Brian stutter like this since junior high.
“W-Why are they he-hear?” Brian asked as he took several deep breaths in order to help himself calm down.
“Well,” I began kinda shrugging a bit, as if rock stars attended my birthday party bearing pizza all the time. “ We decided that we didn’t want everyone to know just yet, but we’ve been signed by Reprise Records.
“What?” Jessica shrieked jumping a little as she did, her bright red bobbed hair bouncing with her at the same time.
“They’ve been signed,” Brian said his stutter magically gone and speaking in an amazed sort of way. “Her, and Waldo, and Adam, and Payton are going to be famous and we are going to be telling everyone ‘we knew them when’.”
“OhMyGod,” Jessica shrieked again jumping up and down wildly this time and wrapping her arms a little too tightly around my necki “I’m so happy for you! Just don’t forget about us when you’re rich and famous.”
“Never,” I said hugging her back as my eyes teared up a little bit. “You’re like a sister to me Jess, besides what would Spencer do with only fuddy-duddy Aunt Amanda to play with?”
“I gotta call Niki,” Jessica said unwrapping herself from around me and reaching for her cell phone, I swear Jessica has the tiniest cell phone in the history of cell phones. “She’s just gonna die if I don’t tell her.”
“No,” Brian and I said at the same time causing Jessica to look back and forth between us in a confused way.
“Why not?”
“We don’t want everyone to know just yet,” I said with a resigned sigh.
“Yea,” Brian agreed. “Plus we don’t want to spoil her birthday party. Today is about her, not about the band.”
“Oh,” Jessica said. “I get it. Well, I’m happy for you at any rate. Now let’s get in there and celebrate!!!”
“So,” I said reaching to open the door and letting the sounds of the party fill the hallway with noise. “What’s so great about those guys?”
“Who,” Brian asked seeming kinda bewildered. “The Used?”
“Yea,” I replied as we made our way to the living room area of the loft.
Brian’s face brightened as the music reached a fervor pitch and people in the room began to sing along with it. “Why don’t you turn around and find out for yourselves?”
I looked at him a confused way before I turned around to see what was going on behind me. Apparently the boys of The Used had decided to have an impromptu show right in the middle of my living room. They had dragged all of the equipment out of Adam’s room and set it up the corner over by the balcony and now they were playing. If Brian had thought that telling everyone that we had been signed would steal my thunder then have a world-famous band playing in the middle of my living room definitely took all of the attention away from me and my stupid birthday.
“What the fuck,” I said under my breath as Bert spotted me and pulled me too the front of the crowd that had formed around the band’s makeshift stage.
“ It's our time to shine through the doubt glorified by what is ours,” Bert sang somewhat ironically to me in front of all my friends and my friends of friends and my not-so-acquainted-with acquaintances. “We've fallen in love we've fallen in love it was the best idea I ever had…”
‘God how I hate you,’ I thought maliciously with a fake smile plastered on my face the whole time.
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