You Laugh Cause I'm Different, I Laugh Cause You're All The Same
Chapter 3
By: Mollye
Now, to understand what happens next, one needs to know what Randy did for a living. Randy Olinger was a sound technician. She worked for a stereo company that specialized in systems that were used in concerts. Mostly, they were used in local shows, but every once in a while, the company did bigger jobs for tours of bands. Randy had just been promoted to special correspondent sound technician (sounds snazzy doesn’t it?). This meant that she would now get to travel around and work with the systems across the nation, and possibly around the world. This thrilled Randy. She couldn’t wait to get out there and see places around the world. She hadn’t been out of her state and now she wanted to see things. She wanted to be free. With that in mind, let’s continue on with this tale.
The ride to Randy’s mother’s house (and Manda’s house obviously) was…not pleasant. Manda proceeded to yell at Randy for talking so rudely to Benji. She accused Randy of trying to sabotage the evening and was convinced that Randy’s behavior was the reason why she hadn’t been able to get Benji’s email address and therefore, now she and him couldn’t become lifelong friends (and eventually get married).
“First off Manda, you are insane if you actually thought that you were in bounds to even ask for his email address. And secondly, the guy is a prick and who would want him as a friend?” Randy asked as she gripped the steering wheel harder. She was reaching her breaking point. This little snot wasn’t even grateful that she had taken her to the damn concert AND she had sat through the damn meal. Oh, her price had just doubled, her mother was going to pay for her mental anguish.
“Don’t you dare say that about Benji! He didn’t do anything to you!” Manda shrieked.
“Didn’t…did…DID YOU NOT HEAR HIM INSULTING ME?!?” Randy yelled back, her green eyes blazing. She glared at her younger sister who was adamantly staring back at her.
“Whatever he said to you, I’m sure you deserved it! I’m telling mom not to pay you anything. You don’t deserve it! You ruined my night!” Manda sounded like she was on the verge of tears.
“Shut up Manda!” Randy bit out venomously. She didn’t say anything else for the rest of the drive. She was so mad that she barely could see straight. She would NEVER do a favor for her again.
Once at the her mom’s house. Randy walked inside, only to find that her mother was half asleep on the couch. She couldn’t blame her mother, it was close to 2 in the morning. The one small pleasure of the night was listening to her mom rip (sleepily) into Manda for looking like a “two cent hooker”… aw, she loved her mom. She bade her mother a farewell and left (with her compensation of 90 dollars).
When she got home it was 2:25. She put on her oversized pajamas and flopped into bed. She stared at the ceiling and again thought of how bent out of shape Benji had been. It made her angry and she couldn’t figure out why. Well, deep down she knew why… she suspected it was because of the way she looked. She had always had problems with men because of her weight. She knew that that was the reason why Benji had treated her badly (it didn’t matter that she had called his music crap), that just HAD to be the reason.
Randy sighed and rolled over. She hugged her pillow to herself and fell asleep. Things would be better in the morning, she would soon forget the badness of the evening.
***
Joel nodded his head as he listened to the man over the phone. His tour manager had told him about this great place that gave great deals on speakers and sound systems for tours. They hadn’t had any major exposure, so they were waiting for their first big gig. From what Joel had heard, they were pretty good. And also, they were going to guarantee that the system would work because they were going to send a special correspondent technician. It would only cost them a couple thousand more, which still was three times less than what they were paying their first choice. For their second leg of the tour, they thought it would be better to go with a less expensive one.
“That sounds pretty good, Mr. Tomas. I think we have a new sound system coming our way!” Joel paused to listen to the excited man, “Not a problem, I’m glad we can do business. When can we expect to see this technician? Tomorrow? Great! What’s his name? Oh, it’s a girl, what’s her name? Miranda Olinger? Nice, I’m looking forward to seeing her. Thanks again! Bye.”
Joel put down his cell phone and down and hurried to the stage for sound check. Tomorrow they would be having a new system and someone would be able to work it. And best about it, they would be paying less for more. In Joel’s book, that was a good thing.
Once on stage, Joel told his brother the good news.
“Really? What’s the catch?” Benji said as he retuned his guitar.
“Nothing, there is no catch. In fact, they are sending a sound technician for only a couple of thousand bucks. She’ll be here tomorrow.”
“Nice! It’ll be nice to see another pretty face around here. What’s her name?”
“Miranda Olinger.”
***
Randy pulled up to her office, looking forward to another day. She loved working here, she was always good at figuring out what was wrong with sound systems. She loved this job. She wondered when she would be able to go out on her first assignment.
She went to the fifth floor of the building and the moment she stepped onto the floor, she was bombarded by her boss’s secretary. She was very startled.
“Miranda, there you are! Andrew has been waiting for you. You need to go into see him right now.” With that, the little lady was gone.
Randy walked over to Mr. Tomas’s door and knocked. A moment later, it burst open and she was ushered in. She sat down in front of Mr. Tomas’s desk and waited patiently. Did she already have a job? She could always hope.
“Randy, I have great news.” Mr. Tomas started, “You have just gotten your first job! You’ll be gone for two months. With breaks for Christmas of course. You need to go home and get packed. You also need to call someone to take care of your place. You leave tomorrow at nine. Your plane will take you to California where you will finish up with the American tour and then you will go onto Europe and Japan!” Mr. Tomas finished excitedly.
Randy didn’t know what to say. She was going to Europe? And Japan?? This was unbelievable! She didn’t even mind that she had only been given a days notice. This was going to be the trip of her life! But one thing..
“Who am I going to be working with?”
“Oh, sorry about that. You’ll be working on the Good Charlotte tour. Good deal huh? I’ve talked to Joel, he seems like a good guy. You should have a lot of fun.” Mr. Tomas started to work on his daily numbers and didn’t notice that Randy was staring at him in utter disbelief. She was dumbstruck. Spending two months with…them? With him??? God, this could not be happening.
“You better get a move on, you gotta be out of your house by 7 tomorrow. You are free to go. I’ll pick you up tomorrow and take you to your flight.” Mr. Tomas kept writing.
“No. I can’t go.”
Mr. Tomas’s head shot up, “What do you mean?”
“I cannot go. There’s not enough time. Why don’t you just have Edwards go?” Randy couldn’t tell her boss that the real reason she couldn’t go was because she would end up killing a member of the band. She just could not go. It would be the end of her sanity.
“You know that Edwards can’t go. He won’t do anything now that his wife is six months pregnant. You don’t have anything here that is all that urgent and you are the only one for the job. You have to go.”
“No, see you don’t understand, I--” Mr. Tomas didn’t let her finish.
“No, you don’t understand. This job is a huge step for our company. If you don’t go, we lose a huge sale. And if you don’t go, I suggest that you find somewhere else to work. Do I make myself clear?” His brown eyes were on fire.
Randy sighed inwardly and replied crisply, “Crystal.”
“Good, now go get ready. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
With that, Randy got up from her seat and made her way stiffly back to he Bronco. She cursed under her breath as she drove home. She couldn’t believe her luck. Now she had to deal with Benji for two months? This bit fat monkey ass. And to top it off, she had to call her mother and see if she could watch the house for her. She wouldn’t let her mom watch her cats, Ophelia and Strider, those cats were her babies and she would miss them too much. She also had to pack up pretty much all the things that she thought she might need in two months. God, she wasn’t even home and she was already annoyed with packing.
Once home, she pulled out all of her luggage and started to load her wardrobe into them. She rolled all of her clothes because it took up less room. She found herself looking at her twenty sized pants and wanted to go shopping. She might do that later today. First she had to get everything else arranged. With Strider and Ophelia meowing at her feet, she hurriedly rolled her clothes and put them into her suitcases.
Luckily for her, once all her clothes were in the suitcases, she still had room for all her shoes. She only had four pairs, but she insisted on bringing them all. Once she had finished that, she zipped up her bags (she had managed to fit all of her clothes and shoes into 2 large suitcases and she was proud) and went to look and see if she needed any new shampoo or conditioner. She didn’t and realized that if she did run out, she could always go buy more.
Once that was done, she raced off into her kitchen and loaded up all of her cats’ belongings. This included litter, empty (and extra) litter box, toys, cat food (wet and dry) and a pair of collars that she rarely made her cats wear. She stuffed these items into a duffel bag and sat them next to her doorway. She then ran into her bedroom and rolled out her suitcases. You would have thought that she was moving out… but as we all know, no woman likes to pack light.
After getting her clothes and cat things ready, she disappeared into her bathroom and pulled out all the things that she would take with her. She would only leave out the things that she would use tomorrow morning. She packed her moisturizer, her cotton balls and q-tips, her nail clippers, her nail file, her lotions, her nail polish, her face wash and a eyelash curler. She left out her toothpaste, deodorant, her makeup, her hair brush and a ponytail holder, her cleansing face wash (yes, she had two different kinds) and her toothbrush. She would pack all those tomorrow morning after she got ready.
Once this bag was packed she ran it to join the other bags. Once this was done, she grabbed another duffel bag and ran to her entertainment center. Randy pulled off all her dvds and stuffed them neatly into her bag as well as a couple of PS2 games she loved to play. She assumed that a bunch of boys would have a play station, so she didn’t bother taking that. Randy also stuffed her cd booklet (which contained over 110 cds) into the duffel bag along with her discman and eight double a batteries.
After she packed this bag, she grabbed her old backpack and went to her bookcase. Once there, Randy picked out a few of her favorites and dumped them into the bag along with her journal. Randy couldn’t leave without that. Nor could she leave without her laptop. She went into her kitchen and closed up her trusty laptop and placed it into the backpack.
After placing the bag next to all her other ones, she realized that she had packed six bags. But each one was essential and she would part with any of them. It wasn’t like she would be staying on the boys’ bus anyway…oh god she hoped not.
Now she finally looked at the clock. Her mouth dropped open. It was already five o’clock! She hadn’t even eaten. She felt a clawed paw on her fleshy calf muscle. Obviously, neither had Strider or Ophelia, they were both looking at her expectantly. She laughed and poured them some extra food. As they sat eating, Randy realized that she was very hungry. She also realized that she hadn’t left out any pajamas for her to sleep in, nor had she left out an outfit for tomorrow.
This didn’t really bother her much, she could just go get something cute. She liked to shop. She picked up her bag and pulled out her cell phone. She would call her mom and tell her about everything now.
As she pulled out onto the main street, she dialed her mother. After explaining what had happened, her mother was thrilled. She profusely told Randy that she was proud of her and wanted to see her tonight before she left. Randy said that she would come pick her and her father up. Oh, and she would also bring Manda with them.
She swung by her parents house, her father and mother were beaming…Manda on the other hand was livid. She stalked to the car and threw the door open, “I knew you liked them! Now you’re going to hold this in my face forever. It’s not fair that you get to go with them. You get everything.”
Randy arched her eyebrows at Manda, “You actually think that I’m going to enjoy this? I’ll enjoy this as much as I would enjoy another hole in my head.”
Manda was about to start, but her father cut her off.
“No fighting tonight, we are going to go celebrate Randy’s first big job. I don’t want to hear so much as an annoyed sigh to come from either of you.”
With that said, they all piled into Randy’s car and Randy took them all out to there favorite restaurant…well, at least she drove, her dad paid. During the meal, her mother warned her about cleanliness and always keeping her feet clean. Randy was warned about the ‘rock star’ image and to beware of the musician’s wiles. Randy almost laughed, but knew her mother meant well. Randy’s dad told her to take lots of pictures of London and Tokyo. He said he might try to get a week off so he could come out there with her. Manda remained sullenly quiet, which suited Randy’s tastes just fine. She liked Manda best when she didn’t talk.
After dinner and when she had dropped her family off at her house, her father slipped her a hundred dollars and told her to go buy herself something nice. Randy obliged and bid her family farewell. She drove over to the mall and bought herself a really cool outfit, or at least she thought so.
She purchased a blue t-shirt with the slogan, “If you grab my ass, I’ll kick yours” and a pair of faded denim cargos and matching underwear. She bought a pair of navy and sky blue vans to go with it (now she had five pairs of shoes). She also bought a pair of pajamas on which the top said, “Cum over here”. She thought they were classy. She had to remind herself not to wear those around her mother…EVER.
After she finished, she went home and settled down for the evening. By then it was 9:30 and she now had time to loathe who she was going to be working with. She really felt like pouting. This sucked, for some odd reason, she pictured god laughing at her right now. He always had loved irony. She knew it.
With an agitated sigh, she resigned to sleep. She knew she had to go, she couldn’t let her company down like that. She also couldn’t afford to lose her job. She nestled under covers and soon her two cats were resting on either side of her. Randy fell asleep listening to her cats purr.
The next morning, Randy got out of bed, grumbling unhappily. She knew that in less than a day, she would be reunited with a man that she didn’t like, nor would she be around music that she enjoyed. She took a quick shower and once out, she brushed her long black hair out and pulled it into a tight pony tail. She applied her makeup, mostly eyeliner and eyeshadow, and then brushed her teeth. She got dressed and clomped down the hallway with all of her extra stuff and placed it in her bathroom bag.
Randy managed to get Ophelia and Strider into their traveling pet carrier. And then fed them each a snack in which she had placed a small dosage of a cat sedative, she knew that they didn’t handle flights well. She wanted them to be okay during the flight.
Fifteen minutes before Mr. Tomas was going to pick her up, Randy was completely ready. She ate a quick bite, which happened to be smores pop tarts and a glass of orange juice. She waited for her car of doom to come.
Mr. Tomas showed up on time and helped her load up all of her stuff. She carried out her backpack and two duffel bags, while Mr. Tomas wheeled out her suitcases and the other duffel bag. Randy came back and got her cats. Once loaded up, they got into the car and all the way to the airport, Mr. Tomas reminded Randy of all the procedures. Randy hadn’t forgotten them. She told Mr. Tomas that everything would be alright, but secretly knew that if she lasted a week it would be a miracle.
All her luggage was tagged and marked at the airport and her cats were taken to the level with all the other animals. She was allowed to keep her backpack and that was it. She bid Mr. Tomas a farewell and found herself a seat out in front of her airline. She only had an hour to wait before they were going to be boarding. Not too many people looked to be getting onto the flight. She found herself wanting to jump up and scream ‘BOMB!’, but knew that it would be frivolous. She sighed passed the time by thinking of ways that she could avoid Benji. She came up with some pretty elaborate ideas, but knew that they wouldn’t work.
Soon, she boarded her plane to San Diego and knew she was flying into her doom…okay, maybe she was being dramatic, but she really didn’t want to go. After a hour and half flight, the plane touched down in San Diego. She gathered her stuff and made her way to the baggage pick up. That is where she would be met by the tour manager. She felt as if lead had been placed in her feet which caused her to walk slower.
Before going to pick up her bags, she first picked up her cats. After a few moments of questions, Strider and Ophelia were brought to her in a sleepy state. She then ambled her way to baggage claim. She saw two men that she hadn’t expected on seeing. She almost dropped her cats as she muttered, “This cannot be happening.”
Along with the tour manager, there stood two men… two twins to be exact. Why had they come along? This was already shaping up to be a wonderful day. Randy took a deep breath and walked over to Joel.
Joel turned and recognition slid onto his face “Hey! Funny seeing you here!”
Once he said that, Benji turned to her, his eyes darkened and he stated, “More like funny looking..”
Randy felt like she was going to throw up. Please, this could not be happening! She smiled weakly at Joel and replied, “Well, if you’re talking about yourself then yeah. What are you guys doing here?”
“Waiting to pick up a new sound tech we just hired. What about you?”
Randy laughed nervously and offered a hand, “Let me introduce myself, I’m Miranda Olinger.”
Benji’s eyes widened and both he and his brother’s mouths dropped open. And Benji thought the same thing that Randy had been thinking since yesterday.
‘This cannot be happening...'